21. Dream

I had a strange dream last night.

It was a dream where someone was looking down at me for a very long time. But I couldn’t tell who it was, nor could I move my body at all.

Strangely, I couldn’t remember what that gaze felt like. Perhaps it was a warm and loving look? If so, maybe it was something like a guardian angel.

But that was just a dream.

I turned my body sideways while still lying down to face the window.

The window was already wide open. The vase of blue flowers placed by the window was showing off its brilliant colors today as well.

It seemed someone had tidied it up a bit compared to how it looked the day before.

When I looked at the sky outside, it still seemed like dawn, but Annie appeared to have already been here.

I remembered the promise I had made with Annie the night before.

Having waited one night as Annie had said, I could finally hear about Marie now.

“Annie.”

I quietly called her name.

Though it was early morning, her touch was evident throughout the room.

The ventilating window, the arranged vase, and the clean tea set and water bowl that seemed to have been brought recently all showed this.

She probably stepped out after seeing me asleep, so she couldn’t have gone far. She was likely waiting for me to wake up in the corridor in front or in the adjacent room.

But there was no answer.

Something was strange.

Annie had good hearing. One day, she had found me quickly even when she was outside the building.

Such a lack of response meant she wasn’t nearby or even outside the building.

Had Annie briefly left her post?

Though this was completely understandable since she hadn’t yet delivered news of her sister, I was a bit worried. Her sister’s condition must have been serious.

But even in the midst of all this, Annie hadn’t neglected her duties. I deeply regretted not stopping her quietly while sitting there.

She must have been very worried about Marie inside.

I sighed and got up from my place.

My gaze fell on an object placed on the table.

The whiskey bottle.

‘Throw it away as soon as you return.’

It was what the young master had told me to discard.

I walked briskly and picked up the whiskey bottle. But the bottle was a bit light. Not just light—it felt excessively weightless.

Why?

Visually and tactilely, it shouldn’t have been this light.

This felt as if there was nothing inside.

I shook the bottle once.

Only an empty wind arose, explaining this trivial weight. The inside of the bottle, which should have been sloshing, was indeed empty.

If it’s just empty, what exactly am I supposed to throw away?

His words about the gift needing to be changed seemed to be because of this.

Still, something was odd.

Didn’t the young master know this was an empty bottle? Perhaps he didn’t. Maybe the young master was unexpectedly more scatterbrained than he appeared.

I burst out laughing with a “pfft.” Disrespectfully, I also thought he was somewhat cute.

Why did he tell me to throw away the alcohol with such a serious face?

Since it was an empty bottle, throwing it away was natural. Unless one had a hobby of collecting bottles, most people would discard it. Yet, the reason he specifically mentioned it might have been a small kindness.

I took the whiskey bottle with me and went outside to throw it away.

The corridor scene, gradually illuminated by the morning sunlight, looked cozy and peaceful. Though I had a strange dream last night, I was full of energy.

My steps downward, holding the empty bottle, were very light.

Until I discovered something at the bottom of the stairs.

“Gasp, Annie……!”

Annie had collapsed in a corner of the stair landing. The moment I saw her motionless with her eyes closed, I ran down the stairs toward her, leaving the bottle on the floor.

Annie, who had lost consciousness, looked exactly as she had the night before.

“Annie! Wake up!”

I urgently checked Annie’s breathing. Fortunately, she was breathing properly. Had she accumulated fatigue from caring too much about work and family?

I stopped trying to wake her.

But I couldn’t leave her collapsed and sleeping in such a place.

Just as I was slipping my hands under her arms to carefully lift Annie’s body,

“Mmm……”

I heard someone moaning from behind. At the familiar voice, I turned around. At the bottom of the spiral staircase, someone who had been in a collapsed position like Annie was slowly raising their body.

I immediately recognized who she was.

She was the girl who occasionally stayed by my side in place of Annie.

“Lara?”

At my call, she made a startled face. After blinking her eyes a few times, she looked around hurriedly.

“Oh my, why am I here?”

That was what I wanted to ask.

“Lara, why are you there like that?”

“Well, I’m not quite sure. Annie asked me to take over at dawn, so I came here last night, but after that, my memory is a bit……”

Lara trailed off and smiled awkwardly.

“Oh my, Annie……?”

When Lara discovered Annie, who was unconscious and leaning on me, her face looked puzzled. What on earth had happened here last night?

Lara seemed to know nothing. Judging from this, Annie would probably be similar when she woke up.

Lara, who had sprung up from her place, quickly walked toward me.

“Don’t wake Annie.”

I cautioned her, worried she might try to wake Annie.

“Yes, I understand.”

Together with her, I moved Annie to the annex attached to the bedroom. After safely placing her there, Lara suddenly made an expression as if she had something to tell me.

“I heard you had a severe cold. Are you feeling better now?”

Ah, right.

I had forgotten.

I was in the middle of feigning illness.

But enough time had passed that I could stop pretending.

“Thank you for your concern. Thanks to resting well, I’m fine now. As you can see, I’m healthy.”

“That’s good.”

Lara flashed a bright smile.

I was still curious. Why had Lara and Annie collapsed in the corridor?

When Lara asked if there was anything she could help with, I asked her to dispose of the whiskey bottle I had found earlier. Soon she disappeared with the empty bottle.

Annie’s face, lying on the cot, looked peaceful. Like someone catching up on postponed sleep.

While it made sense for the exhausted Annie, why was Lara collapsed and unconscious in the same place as her?

That was definitely strange.

From our conversation earlier, Lara didn’t seem to have any major stress or worries. Then, the two of them being collapsed side by side might not be a coincidence. Perhaps Annie too wasn’t lying down simply due to fatigue.

Suddenly, last night’s dream bothered me a bit.

What if it wasn’t a dream?

Could the actions of that person looking down at me have been real? The thought sent a chill down my spine.

If that was true, this place wasn’t safe.

Given how easily someone could enter here, anyone could do something to me and the people staying here. Unlike this time, next time our lives might not be guaranteed.

It was fortunate that Annie and Lara weren’t hurt, but I couldn’t guarantee that such an intruder would spare us all next time.

I hoped it was just my vain delusion, but once the anxiety arose, it only grew.

I thought of the young master I had encountered yesterday evening.

Already receiving death threats, he had lost his reason as if possessed by something.

With a somewhat chilling atmosphere and an unfamiliar smile, he looked as if he had become a different person.

I was scared. At the same time, I felt sorry for him. I didn’t think I could endure like the young master. He was a strong person.

Next time we met, I felt I should definitely tell him that.

Just then, I heard someone quickly climbing the stairs from below. After noisy footsteps like someone running, Lara appeared at the doorway again.

“Miss!”

Her eyes sparkled as though she had just uncovered something significant.

“I found out what happened to us!”

“Pardon?”

She really seemed to have heard something remarkable outside.

“What happened?”

“They changed the well we were using yesterday, and it seems that’s why everyone fell asleep. It wasn’t just Annie and me! Jeremy and Damon, who were patrolling last night, all fell asleep right in front of this place too. The chef has warned that the well is dangerous and shouldn’t be used anymore.”

“Pardon?”

Because of well water?

“Is that really true?”

“Yes, it’s certain.”

I had been imagining a terrible scenario about an intruder here.

It was anticlimactic.

Not an intruder, but everyone had fallen asleep because they drank water contaminated with some drug.

At the same time, it was a relief. That made sense.

Unlike the young master, there was absolutely no reason for someone to target me and these people here.