“They say there’s a ghost.”

Caught off guard by the direct statement, May fidgeted with her fingertips. She couldn’t bring herself to deny it. In fact, the ghost was still standing behind the man.

Moreover, it was true that no one had knocked on the mansion’s door for weeks since she requested help from the employment agency. She had expected a few applicants, but thought at least one or two would apply given the salary she’d set much higher than average…

The problem was that the mansion’s notoriety was worse than she’d thought. Seeing May’s gloomy face, the man added nonchalantly.

“So it seems they didn’t mention the gender requirement to me.”

“Ah…”

So it wasn’t a mistake that he came in the first place. May looked at the paper with the employment agency’s seal with a troubled expression.

Come to think of it, even the coachman she met when coming here was like that. If a sturdy middle-aged man was hushing about this place, young women wouldn’t come here. May’s face grew even gloomier.

‘Does this mean I have to keep sweeping and cleaning this huge place by myself every day…?’

She couldn’t sell the mansion now that she knew her grandfather’s ghost was here. Of course, it was also unlikely that anyone would buy a house where even employees couldn’t be hired…

To think she’d have to clean more diligently than when she was a maid, even though she had more money now.

She was already struggling with how to deal with the compass, and now faced with this unexpected practical problem, everything seemed to go dark.

‘There are still so many places I haven’t even touched yet.’

But the thought of moving elsewhere bothered her because of her grandfather. May let out a series of sighs as she fell into a chain of worries.

And to her, the man spoke again.

“You can think of me as a woman.”

It was a proposal identical to the previous one, to the point of feeling like déjà vu.

“……”

May’s eyes swept over him, not quite rudely. The man was easily a span taller than her. Not only that, his broad shoulders and firm chest could never be mistaken for a woman’s.

May swallowed as she saw his well-defined forearms revealed as he picked up the teacup.

‘That’s nonsense…’

“It seems better than being alone in this mansion.”

However, it’s true that her heart wavered at his leisurely follow-up. Her gaze flicked again to her grandfather’s ghost. Her dark eyes, deep in thought, lingered on that semi-transparent body for quite a while.

Long enough to catch the attention of the person sitting across from her…

May turned her eyes back to the man and said in a small voice.

“…Shall we have a probation period for now?”

The man slightly raised the corners of his mouth in response. May’s eyes took in the worm-like letters on the employment contract.

Johan Diaz

It was the name of the man who became the only employee of the Ghost Mansion. As May left her signature next to it, she thought, she hoped this signature wouldn’t lead to regret like the day she met with the lawyer.

* * *

“Damn it…”

An irritated voice broke the silence of the dim room. Then came a series of loud crashes of objects breaking.

However, despite the commotion, no one came to knock on the door. Everyone was hushing about the cause.

The third young master, who had returned from his southern trip, had been throwing inexplicable tantrums for days, turning the ducal household into thin ice.

Butler Benedict became the biggest victim of this anger. The news of his dishonorable dismissal spread throughout the ducal household in less than half a day.

Dismissing a long-serving employee who had been by their side for generations was an act that lowered the family’s reputation. Moreover, it was extremely rude to cut off a noble with the status of a baronet with just a word.

To begin with, no one expected exemplary behavior from the third young master, who was known as the troublemaker of the ducal family and went around causing unnecessary noise… But even so, this incident was particularly out of line.

Therefore, Duke Hale, unable to bear it any longer, punished his grown youngest son by confining him to his room. Knowing that Aiden wouldn’t obediently listen, he even gave the thorough order to his second son, a mage, to magically lock the door.

Aiden sprawled on the couch when he had nothing left to destroy.

“Aiden, aren’t you old enough to stop causing trouble?”

He frowned at the light voice that suddenly rang out. After confirming that the door was still locked, he turned his head crookedly. At the end of that sharp gaze, a man waved his hand lightly in greeting. His brazen posture, sitting casually on someone else’s bed, was unparalleled.

“Get out.”

Aiden said quietly. But the uninvited guest who had entered the room silently and at will, lightly ignored this order to leave.

“I heard the butler refused to return even though Mother offered appropriate compensation. He must be disappointed in you. Or his pride was hurt. Well, he was also at the age of retirement.”

“……”

“It’s just like you to cut off a reliable right-hand man because of one commoner girl. And to ruin your reputation by acting without discretion, following your temper.”

All the words that followed were enough to irritate Aiden’s nerves.

“But this time it’s too much. You’re past the age where your tantrums can be considered cute.”

The uninvited guest who had contributed to Aiden’s confinement, the mage, and his second older brother, Derrick Hale, continued his words despite his anger-filled blue eyes, merely shrugging his shoulders.

Derrick soon got up from the bed and started poking around the room. Aiden irritably said, seeing him calculating the value of the broken items with a mischievous expression,

“…How can an employee who deceived and tricked me be a reliable right-hand man?”

Benedict handed a letter to Aiden, who had returned from his trip, without any explanation. The round handwriting on the envelope that read [To Mr. Aiden] was that of his maid.

Recognizing it at a glance, Aiden let out a hollow laugh. He remembered how she, unusually, didn’t run away in a hurry when he said he wouldn’t take her on the trip and told her to leave the room. The black eyes that looked up at him hesitantly without following his order to leave were vivid.

It was something he had thought about throughout the trip. Therefore, before opening the letter, he thought she was trying to act cute to him out of nowhere. A kind of trick to melt his anger with an amusing letter.

In fact, it’s true that his remaining anger subsided just from seeing the handwriting.

The man, unable to hide his smile, pondered what reward to give his maid, not noticing the butler’s subtly stiffened face. …Not knowing it was a premature thought.

And when he finished reading the letter. All the things he had bought in the south, thinking of his little maid, instantly became trash.

“…Are you saying May quit?”

“Yes. She said she had received your permission.”

“Did you believe that?”

“I did not.”

Yet he still let May go.

Aiden furrowed his brow, recalling the old man’s calm face. It was nonsense to trust an employee who had arbitrarily disposed of his master’s property.

“You all talk as if you know something.”

“Well. Isn’t it proof of trustworthiness that he ended your ridiculous play-pretend that had been going on for years? To be precise, the delivery was just late, and he never deceived you.”

Seeing the eyes curling up, it felt like a punch might fly, brothers or not. But before Aiden could open his mouth to say anything, the annoying voice beat him to it.

“Rather, it’s you who deceived, Aiden.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“I’m talking about how you deceived that maid.”

“……”

“Acting like a savior while being the very person who isolated the naive maid. That’s what we call deception.”

Giggling, Derrick spoke softly while looking at his brother’s hardened face.

“Stop throwing unnecessary tantrums and go.”

It seemed like he was finally getting to the main point.

“What?”

“Should I even prepare some pocket money for you?”

The door behind him, who was talking playfully, was slightly open. Aiden, who belatedly noticed this, raised one eyebrow.

He had no intention whatsoever of admitting his mistake, so there was no way the Duke would lift his house arrest. The fact that the door was open now meant it was Derrick’s unilateral decision.

Derrick smiled brightly at the blue eyes glaring at him, asking what he wanted.

“From what I see, there’s no other answer to your lovesickness.”

Lovesickness? Aiden frowned at the sudden diagnosis. He was just upset about the maid who had arrogantly run away while he was absent.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

However, despite the quite fierce response, Derrick didn’t withdraw his intention.

“Mother may hate courtesans, but what can we do.”

“……”

“If you want it so badly, you should take it.”

“……”

“If you’re going to be mean anyway, do it thoroughly.”

It’s not like anything will change if you have your way with one commoner, right? Aiden.

Unable to bear the words that continued like a devil’s whisper, Aiden irritably ran his hand through his hair. A fierce smile was already on his face.

“Ha, I wondered what you knew to be talking so much.”

You’re telling me to take that girl? It was a laughable suggestion. Aiden, who got up from the couch, spoke with an arrogant face where his temper had momentarily subsided.

“She was mine from the beginning.”

So going to find May now is simply retrieving a lost item.