The Attendant in the Horror Game C46

Chapter 46

“Meow—ak!”

“What’s gotten into you, seriously.”

Jade picked up Soondol and calmed him by settling him onto his shoulder. Soondol had been on the verge of tears from sheer frustration, but once he was embraced by that warm chest, he relaxed a little. Draped over Jade’s shoulder, he rubbed his eyes with his front paws. At that moment, he suddenly sensed a hostile stare.

“…Meow.”

Right below him stood Ian. Because Soondol was perched high on Jade’s shoulder, he came face-to-face with Ian peeking out from behind Jade’s back. His gaze was even colder than before.

“Meow, meow…”

The instant Soondol received that murderous glare, he flinched and shot up into the air, fluttering frantically. And in that moment, he made up his mind: today, he absolutely must not go near Ian. If he slipped even once, Ian would definitely grab him and throw him far, far away—and today, it might not even stop at just throwing.

Groooan—

The Blind Servant’s Wraith lifted its hollow gaze toward Soondol. Even with empty sockets, its head tilted upward as though it could see perfectly.

“Good grief…”

Jade scratched his head. This was troublesome. Not only could he not use his skill with Ian present, but he also couldn’t bring himself to attack the wraith. In the end, wasn’t it a pitiful spirit trapped here simply because it missed its dog so much that it never moved on? It must have been a gentle and kind person in life.

“It won’t really harm anyone. Let’s just go upstairs.”

Ian tugged on Jade’s sleeve, as if telling him to go read a picture book instead. He looked blatantly annoyed with the entire situation.

But Jade couldn’t move. The way the wraith was staring only at Soondol looked heartbreakingly lonely. It was probably seeing its dog in him—another small creature.

“That wraith… I think it’s looking for its dog.”

“Dog?”

Ian frowned as if Jade were spouting nonsense. He gave the wraith another dull glance.

Ian had absolutely no interest in wraiths. He cared even less about the backstory behind one. But Jade was clearly different.

“Soondol probably reminds it of the dog…”

“The first head of the family probably owned a dog.”

“You know that too?”

“It’s drawn in a portrait.”

“Wait—then does that mean this wraith is someone who died during the first duke’s era?”

“Most likely. This villa was still an empty wasteland before he built it.”

And that was still true now. Nothing but snowy fields stretched around the villa.

Come to think of it, the Blind Servant’s Wraith had to be someone who died in the first duke’s time. There couldn’t have been servants here before the villa even existed. And the first duke’s notebook described it as a wraith, which meant it was already dead in that era.

So the first duke had written down that his own servant had become a wraith? What a morbid hobby. And now that Jade understood the timeline, the wraith seemed even more pitiful. It had wandered across multiple generations, searching for a dog long dead.

Knowing its circumstances made the idea of destroying it feel wrong. It felt far kinder to help it pass on instead.

He only needed to “eliminate” the Blind Servant, after all. So whatever method he used—if the wraith disappeared naturally—the system would still reward him. That meant Jade could still receive the healing potion.

Now the question was: how do you make a wraith accept that its dog died long ago?

“Where is that portrait?”

Ian led Jade to the very top floor of the villa.

Though Jade was the one who handled nearly everything in the house, he rarely came up here—it was the coldest floor and basically empty.

He had only been here during the initial cleaning. But he definitely didn’t remember seeing a portrait.

“There was a portrait here?”

“In this room.”

Ian stopped in front of the most secluded room. Jade had cleaned most places in the villa thoroughly, but not every room. Some were just too hopeless to deal with. This room was one of them.

“I don’t think I’ve seen it…”

If he remembered right, the room held an old piano and piles of broken furniture. He’d only dusted it and aired it out because it was beyond saving.

Ian walked in without hesitation and approached a cabinet attached to the wall. Then he pointed inside.

“That one?”

“Yes.”

Something inside was covered with a cloth. Probably a framed picture. Jade opened the cabinet, took out the cloth-covered frame, and set it atop the piano. Pulling the cloth away revealed a portrait.

A lavish gold frame surrounded an image of a man.

“Wow…”

Jade gasped without realizing it. The man in the portrait wore a black ceremonial uniform and looked to be in his early thirties. Silver tassels hung from his shoulders, and the family crest was painted in the background.

But more striking than anything else was the man’s appearance. A sharp jawline, keen eyes—their gray-blue irises glinting coldly even from within paint.

His hair was a slightly deeper shade of blond than Ian’s, brushed neatly back to give him a resolute profile. His lips were pressed in a firm line; he didn’t smile at all. There was an ascetic, disciplined air about him.

“He was incredibly handsome!”

“…I don’t really see it.”

Ian responded frostily. Arms crossed, head tilted, he stared at the portrait with open disinterest.

“What do you mean you don’t see it? He looks incredible!”

If this man existed today, he’d be a famous actor for sure. Even as a painting, his commanding aura was overwhelming. His cold gaze seemed to pierce straight through anyone who looked at it.

While Jade marveled at the portrait, Ian watched Jade instead. The endless praise made something sour twist inside him.

“But this person… looks like you, Ian.”

Those words replaced Ian’s irritation with startled embarrassment.

“N-no he doesn’t. Not even a little.”

Why would Jade say that after praising the portrait so much? Ian turned away to hide his reddening cheeks.

“Whoa…”

Jade still couldn’t stop staring. In truth, he wasn’t praising the portrait’s beauty because he simply found the man attractive—but because it made him imagine what Ian would look like as an adult.

The atmosphere was different, but the resemblance was real. Jade could practically see Ian growing into a man like this—cool, elegant, imposing.

Even in the game, Ian’s adult design had been absurdly beautiful. If the real Ian grew into anything like this portrait, he would be breathtaking.

“Huh? He’s holding a dog.”

Only now did Jade notice the dog in the portrait. He’d been too distracted by the handsome face. Ian had been right: the man was indeed holding a dog.

“And the dog is black?”

Coincidentally, it was the same color as Soondol—glossy, round, and black. Maybe that was why the wraith liked Soondol so much. Realizing this made the wraith seem even sadder.

The Blind Servant was probably the caretaker assigned to this dog. Servants wouldn’t have been allowed their own pets.

While Jade stared at the dog, Ian spoke.

“So, what are you planning to do?”

“That’s the problem… I can’t exactly find the dog for him. I wanted to show he’s gone now, but just a portrait won’t be enough…”

“Don’t bother. It’s not even a harmful wraith.”

Ian replied coldly, clearly not understanding why Jade cared.

“But then it’ll just keep wandering the villa forever. Missing its dog the whole time.”

“Just leave it. It has nothing to do with us.”

Ian didn’t see why any of this mattered. Whether the wraith wandered a hundred or a thousand years—it wasn’t their concern.

“At least for me, Ian… it does matter.”

Jade scrambled for a reason he could say aloud. He couldn’t mention the healing potion, so he needed another justification.

“We’ll run into it again and again. That will bother me. And the smell is bad, too—it affects the villa.”

Hearing that, Ian’s gaze slipped toward the cabinet.

It wasn’t the villa or the smell that bothered him. What bothered him was the idea that Jade would keep worrying about the wraith. Someone Jade didn’t even know. Someone not even alive.

Ian hated this part of Jade.

Jade was gentle—and his kindness wasn’t directed only at Ian. It was spread out evenly toward everyone.

But Ian knew Jade cared about him too.

If Jade cared that much about the wraith, then Ian wanted it gone. Completely removed—its lingering regret resolved if necessary.

“…There are belongings from the first duke.”

“What? You have his possessions too?”

“This villa was originally built by him.”

When the first duke built this place in the middle of nowhere, no one understood why. But it served as a symbolic territory marker, so his descendants left it standing.

He probably never imagined his descendant would end up trapped here.

“How did I not see any of his belongings?”

The duke’s items would be valuable. Jade, who needed money to prepare for escape and Ian’s survival, should have found at least something—like jewelry or fine fabric.

But he hadn’t found anything useful.

“…You tore them up and used them as rags.”

“Sorry—WHAT?! Those clothes were HIS?!”

Jade, still holding a rag, jumped like he’d been electrocuted.

When he first explored the villa, he’d found some clothes in this room. They were so old and worn that he cut them into squares and turned them into rags.

No wonder they’d felt oddly soft and luxurious despite being tattered.