“Mike?”

“Yes, yes, Madam. This is Mike.”

I looked down at the dog with particularly round eyes, wagging its tail excitedly. A large black dog with a sleek build that easily surpassed my thighs, long nimble tail, and triangular ears perked up, panting as it circled around my feet. It was much more…

“Cute, isn’t he?”

…well. Rather than cute, it wasn’t as threatening as I had imagined. Mike buried his nose in the hem of my skirt, whimpering for a while before licking my fingers, urging me to pet him. Despite its appearance, his short black glossy fur was surprisingly soft and plush like a thick carpet.

“…He’s quite gentle.”

“Of course! He gets an undeserved reputation for being fierce because of his large black build, but that’s only from people who don’t know our Mike! Appearances can be deceiving, yet people still…”

I turned my attention away from the round, plump caretaker who was fidgeting with his short fingers while muttering, and stroked Mike’s eyelids with their luxurious eyelashes.

“Grrrr-“

Somehow I must have touched something wrong, as Mike bared his white, pointed fangs. I awkwardly held my hand in midair, neither bitten nor continuing to pet Mike, and quietly called his caretaker.

“…Rolf.”

“…Though he looks small and gentle and sweet and cute and adorable, Madam, when an enemy appears, he just—!”

“Rolf!”

“Ah! M-Madam. Um… this is… recognition, no, imprinting… Mike is beginning to recognize that you’ve entered this enclosure, so basically… that’s…”

A warm, moist tongue slowly moved between my fingers. The tip of his fangs that briefly touched my skin felt as sharp as a finely honed blade. Like he could devour my hand in one bite.

“…It’s not dangerous and won’t harm you, Madam… but why already… Oh, Madam, don’t move! I mean, it might be better if you don’t move… I certainly didn’t mean to get angry…”

“That will be enough, Rolf.”

“Ah, Head Butler.”

With one last warm breath against my skin, Mike released my hand from his mouth and curled his tail. Drip, drip—long, sticky saliva trickled onto the green grass.

“Grrrr, woof!”

Following the caretaker’s gaze as he firmly gripped Mike’s leash, I turned my head to see the Head Butler had returned, who had earlier disappeared saying she’d be back shortly.

“Madam.”

She seemed hesitant about something. Even after calling me, the Head Butler held back her words.

During the long silence, Mike occasionally growled, but neither the Head Butler nor I hastened to speak first. I didn’t know why, but it felt necessary.

Eventually, the Head Butler broke the silence.

“…Perhaps you would like to have your afternoon tea now?”

“Woof-!”

“Shh, shh, Mike! That’s not good! You mustn’t bark at Madam, okay?”

I couldn’t tell if he was barking at me or at the Head Butler who stood with her eyes lowered.

“Not a bad idea.”

As I confirmed that Mike was burying his nose in his caretaker’s palm—though I wasn’t sure who he had bared his teeth at—I turned to follow the Head Butler back to the mansion.

* * *

Apart from the unsettling disappearance of the former wives that continued to trouble a corner of my mind, the North was peaceful.

The Duke hadn’t sought me out since our wedding night, and the servants neither ignored nor looked down on me. While not quite like Miriam from the South, Miriam of the North also served me without any shortcomings. Everything was different from what I had imagined.

The northern environment was also surprising. The North, which I had expected to be perpetually covered in snow and white, was unexpectedly green. The mansion surrounded by pointed coniferous forests was filled with green everywhere I looked. Even the wind blowing beneath the white sky seemed to wear a blue hue—that’s how verdant it was. At least the current North, free of snow, appeared this way.

“Madam, do you like books?”

It was on a day when I had grown accustomed to spending time with Vivi.

After the day I met Mike, the Head Butler had appointed Vivi as my dedicated maid and returned to her original duties. As a result, only Vivi remained by my side while I attended to my duties as Duchess.

I removed the glasses perched on my nose as I pushed aside the documents I had just signed. Normally, Vivi would be quietly reading a book on the sofa in the corner of the office, but for some reason, she was looking at me with a curious expression. Or rather, she wasn’t looking at me but…

“Have you been to the library?”

She was staring intently at something behind me. Following her gaze, I turned to look behind me, but all I could see through the window was the pale white sky and the blue-green maze garden.

I separated the nib from the quill pen and dipped it in the cup of water I had prepared, then asked Vivi:

“…Library?”

Swallowing my question about what exactly she was looking at.

“Yes, the room at the very end of the left corridor.”

The leftmost room at the end of the corridor. On the day I first arrived at the mansion, when I was briefly shown around the first floor corridor by the Head Butler after giving some instructions to the servants unloading my luggage. If my memory served me correctly, there was…

“At the end of the left corridor, there’s a large still life painting.”

“Madam, that’s on the first floor.”

“The second floor only has a small terrace, doesn’t it?”

To my statement, Vivi pushed her open book to the corner of the sofa and replied:

“The fourth floor, Madam.”

The fourth floor… I placed the pen nib on a special cloth after removing it from the ink-clouded water cup, carefully choosing my words. The fourth floor was the Duke’s domain—a space exclusively modified for and dedicated to the Duke.

I recalled the Head Butler’s advice to avoid setting foot on the fourth floor, which had been renovated for the physically uncomfortable Duke.

Of course, the Duke himself had never directly ordered me to stay away from the fourth floor, but…

“Madam, there is nowhere in Manderley that you cannot go.”

Vivi raised her green eyes, so dark they almost appeared gray, and whispered:

“Nowhere at all.”

…My backlog of work was nearly complete, and I was curious about this library.

Perhaps I might even find a small clue about what had happened to the former wives.

Sometimes waiting isn’t the only answer, as I now knew.

I folded my glasses and placed them on the stand, then instructed Vivi:

“Lead the way, Vivi.”

Indeed, as Vivi had said, when we pulled back the long curtain hanging in the corridor, a small wooden door appeared. It was a low, small door that required stooping to barely squeeze through.

I wondered why the library would be hidden behind a curtain at the end of a corridor, but before I could ponder further, the darkness of the library greeted me.

“Be careful, Madam. There are stairs immediately below the door. There’s no railing, so… please hold onto this wall.”

Following Vivi’s advice, I gripped the rough left wall and took one step at a time, following behind her. Blink, blink. With each step on the stairs, the magic lamps attached to the wall flickered.

“The lamps… they take some time to light up, Madam.”

“We should have them repaired.”

“No! This place…”

Just as Vivi mumbled something quietly, the flickering magic lamps suddenly lit up with a flash.

Books filling the round walls, black iron ladders reaching to the ceiling. In the awkwardly sized room—neither too large nor too small—only a long wooden table stood alone.

Everything within reach, everything visible was books. The entire wall surface was densely surrounded by books, without even a single small window.

Without these books, this place would have looked more like a hiding room or a punishment chamber rather than a library. Otherwise, there would be no reason for it to be hidden behind a curtain.

“Vivi, this place…”

What exactly is it for?

“This way, Madam.”

Before I could finish speaking, Vivi grabbed my sleeve and led me behind the long wooden table. There, a rectangular hole gaped open, holding deep darkness within. It was the entrance to another doorway leading downward.

With a hiss, Vivi lit a lamp placed beside it.

“Be careful, Madam. From here on, there are no magic lamps…”

“Vivi.”

“You really must be careful.”

Ignoring my call, Vivi boldly stepped into the thick darkness.

Though I knew this was the Duke’s mansion, that I was the Duchess, and that Vivi couldn’t harm me, I couldn’t easily accept the situation. I turned away from Vivi, whose lower body had been completely swallowed by the darkness.

Whatever she wanted from me didn’t matter. The peace I had experienced until now had reached its limit here.

“…This place, Madam. It contains traces of the third person who came to the mansion.”

If Vivi’s voice hadn’t caught me by the ankle, I would have left without hesitation and returned to the Duchess’s office. I would have finished my remaining work, written a letter to Edith, and gone to bed.

Instead, I released the doorknob and turned back to Vivi.

“The third?”

“Yes. The third.”

Was she referring to the third wife among the five missing wives? Or did she mean something else? What did she mean by “traces,” and why had she brought me to this place? What did she want from me? But even before that…

“What… happened to her?”

“……”

Instead of answering my question, Vivi disappeared into the deep darkness. Not wanting to lose her, I hurriedly mounted the ladder. There was no other choice. I placed my foot on the ladder to follow her.

It was much deeper than I had thought, and darker than I had imagined. As Vivi had said, there weren’t even magic lamps. Far below, the crimson light, presumably from Vivi, was the only illumination in this place.

As if wind were blowing, the light flickered, and somehow I felt Vivi moving further away from me with each flicker.

Afraid of losing Vivi, I focused on the echo that sounded—thud, thud, thud—each time Vivi’s shoe heel hit the iron ladder. And then, at some point, the sound stopped.

Whether she had reached the bottom or not, I watched the crimson light that no longer moved away but bustled around in circles, when suddenly a wind carrying an acrid, sweet, yet bitter scent blew from somewhere.

“Madam.”

Finally, my toes touched a flat surface. Vivi’s voice came from behind me. As I released the ladder and slowly turned around, there stood Vivi with eyes that gleamed like those of a madwoman, with fire in her gaze.

With a terribly unfamiliar face, Vivi spoke:

“How much do you know about Manderley?”

“…I know how the name Manderley came to be. More importantly, Vi—”

“How much did Lord Lumière tell you?”

Step. As Vivi approached me, I instinctively retreated. Not because I was afraid of her, but because of an instinctive aversion.

A hidden underground chamber. A space with only two people. Beyond the darkness with its acrid, sweet, and bitter scent. I was momentarily swept up in the vague fear that the space evoked. It wasn’t fear of her…

“The capricious god…”

“Vivi…?”

Thud—my back touched the cold ladder. There was nowhere else to retreat. Vivi’s small hand was approaching as if about to strangle my neck.

I couldn’t even scream. Provoking her in this situation would be tantamount to inviting death.

“Is like a calamity.”

“……”

“Nothing can be predicted, and there is no cause for anything.”

But her hand only placed a cold, hard yet soft object against my chest before moving away. It was a leather book, so thin it wasn’t even as thick as a finger joint.

“This is my favorite passage. It’s the third sentence in this book. This book, Madam… was Bell’s most treasured possession.”

Bell…? Bell Izak? The third wife who married the Duke thirty years ago?

Leaving only her cryptic words, Vivi moved away from me and stepped without hesitation into the deeper darkness. Then, one by one, crimson lights increased. The round structures took shape in the flickering light. Giant circular oak barrels, taller than a person, lined up in a row that seemed to stretch endlessly.

This was… a storage cellar.

An abandoned storage cellar with only old oak barrels that were no longer in use.

“Please find Bell, Madam.”

Standing beneath those oak barrels with candlelight twinkling like stars behind her, Vivi knelt down.