They know that the reason his personality is like a demon isn’t because of any special wound but because he was born that way. Awakening as an SSS Multi User doesn’t become an indulgence for all evil deeds.
However, the servants who had watched over Evil since he was a baby who smiled brightly considered him each as their youngest sibling or youngest son. He was like a painful finger.
When someone they thought would live alone and lonely for life suddenly said, “A refugee is going to come live with me,” who wouldn’t welcome it?
All the mansion’s servants placed hope in this first-time occurrence. Because Evil’s strange behavior lately and even the instruction to prepare a room seemed like optimistic signs.
However, Hips didn’t have high expectations.
‘That brat built it up too much.’
Hips blamed his son James once again.
Last night, in front of the servants preparing to receive a guest, James declared as if proclaiming that Cheche would change Evil. He shouldn’t have made such hopeful remarks in front of everyone. It was too hasty a reckless statement because disappointment grows even more with expectations.
Hips, who never trusted his own son, intended to find out what feelings this refugee boy had for Evil, but Cheche didn’t fall for it easily.
He was a doll-like boy, just as he’d heard. A face without any emotion. Indifferent golden eyes that seemed like they wouldn’t react no matter what was said.
He could see why James said, “I can’t believe that guy’s a Soul Aura User.” James had repeated it several times. That he was just like a pretty doll, like a doll that knows no fear and feels no joy.
Hips thought he understood now.
Perhaps the young master needs someone like this.
Because Evil too lives knowing neither fear nor joy.
“I never dreamed in my wildest dreams that he would say he’d live with someone…”
“……”
Hips repeated the same content once more. Cheche only quietly listened to Hips’s words. Because the other party showed no answer or reaction, Hips couldn’t quite lower his guard. However, in truth, no matter how Cheche had answered, the old butler wouldn’t have softened his wariness.
The car moved smoothly and stopped in front of the mansion’s main entrance. As soon as Cheche got out of the car, he hunched his shoulders at the cold air he felt. Hips keenly noticed this.
“It’s already winter, aren’t you dressed too lightly? I heard you caught a cold not long ago too. Don’t make others worry needlessly and take care of yourself. Someone whose health isn’t even good.”
Cheche blinked.
“I’m healthy.”
“I heard from the young master. That you’re unwell.”
“Something like a sickly refugee kid with one deaf ear?”
“……”
Hips coughed for the second time today. Even the spacing was exactly right.
“I’m not physically weak. The cold was also the first time I caught one since coming to Alcity.”
“Are you saying you never had a cold even once before coming to Alcity?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no way that could be…, ah, Tar…”
Hips nodded with an understanding expression.
“That was a hot country. This place has four distinct seasons unlike Tar. You can get through autumn with knits and jumpers, but now it’s winter, so you can’t go out in such light clothing. There should be a few coats among your clothes, so wear those for now. I’ll buy new ones and send them to you soon.”
“Thank you.”
Cheche didn’t refuse. Just as when he signed the secretary contract two months ago, when they gifted him expensive clothing, he didn’t decline but accepted it—this time was the same.
Hips opened the double-locked door. Unless separate instructions came down, he had no intention of telling Cheche the code.
This place called a mansion had a classic exterior like where nobles of old would live, but its interior was a near-futuristic building where artificial intelligence provided all convenience functions. As they entered, lights automatically turned on and a spacious area appeared. Heating was already running at a comfortable temperature, but the scenery before their eyes made one feel a chill.
Nothing lives in this place where Evil sleeps. Not only no pets but not even a single common flowerpot. The mansion with its windows closed lest curtains flutter in the wind was as desolate as the scenery outside.
“It looks like a place where no one lives, doesn’t it?”
Cheche had only casually scanned the interior, but Hips explained as if he knew everything.
“Despite how it looks, we manage it carefully every single day. There are five window management staff just on the first floor.”
“Does the Director say the noise of cleaning is okay?”
“We clean after the young master goes to work or goes out. Because walls and furniture absorb noise during the day and release it at night, we all move quietly even during the day when the young master isn’t here. Our quarters on the east side of the garden are also surrounded by thick soundproof walls. So that he can rest comfortably at home, at least.”
“Yes, I’ll also live quietly.”
At the immediate answer, Hips’s wariness went down just a little.
Hips guided Cheche to the room prepared on the third floor. When they got off the elevator, there were only two doors in the middle of the wide corridor. The large doors positioned opposite each other were one white and one black.
“This is where Cheche-nim will stay.”
Hips opened the white door. Another corridor unfolded inside, and following behind Hips, there was a spacious living room. Hips calmly continued his explanation. That side is the bedroom, this room is the study, this is the dressing room…
The study, as Hips said, was filled with all kinds of teaching materials and books. On top of a sturdy-looking mahogany desk sat the same type of desktop and laptop that Cheche had used in the secretary’s office, and next to them was an Excel book like a set.
The dressing room was still empty except for belts and hats. It was so spacious that even if all of Cheche’s luggage came in, it would still look empty.
The bathroom was by the window.
“Because there’s a hot spring bath on the second floor, each room’s bathroom is a bit more modest.”
It was huge.
Seeing a bathtub big enough for five or six people with a window in front that showed the entire view outside, Cheche thought he’d never use that bathtub.
The tour ended with the bedroom decorated with a translucent canopy.
“Do you like the room?”
“It’s too much.”
“Too much? We prepared it in a hurry so it’s a mess. Can we come in while you’re at work for the time being and fix this and that?”
“Yes…”
“Then please rest. You can also tour the mansion. Feel free to go anywhere. We’ll be on standby in the west annex, so if you need anything, contact us through the intercom.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The black door caught Cheche’s eye as he saw Hips off to the corridor.
“Is the black door the Director’s room?”
“…That’s right.”
Hips, who had at least pretended to be kind until now, suddenly narrowed his eyes sharply.
“Our young master is incredibly handsome and charming, but if you invade his bed on your own in the middle of the night, or peek at him bathing, or steal his underwear, I’ll rip off your wrists, so know that.”
His threats were very rough, following his master.
“Yes, don’t worry. I won’t even look at the black door. I’ll live thinking of it as a room that doesn’t exist.”
“You must keep that promise.”
Hips couldn’t even imagine his future self begging Cheche to please even glance at the black door.
After the overly protective butler full of wariness left, Cheche re-entered the room where he would stay.
First thing, he shoved the bag he’d brought—refusing to let anyone else carry it—under the bed. The bed was wider than the total floor space of the house he’d lived in until just yesterday. He couldn’t bring himself to sit on it and just stared at it for a while before leaving the bedroom.
He passed through the living room and hallway, took the elevator down to the first floor, and the lights automatically brightened.
Cheche looked around the interior of the silent, solitary mansion. The only furniture consisted of a long sofa, a table, two or three side tables, and a dark TV. Not a single picture frame hung on the walls, and there were no decorative items on the side tables either.
Cheche ran his fingers along the back of the sofa. Not a speck of dust. It was a place that received devoted care every single day without fail, yet flowed with silence as if it had never once received a human visitor.
There are people who feel at peace simply by standing quietly alone in a serene space. Just as Evil was such a person, so too was Cheche.
Cheche looked down at the exceedingly comfortable-looking sofa.
If this house is a place where he can rest, then it must be a place where I can rest too.
A place where no one else is.
A quiet, solitary place.
A place free from any noise.
He had always longed for such a place.
However.
Cheche turned around. He could never sit on that comfortable sofa. The plush bed, the spacious bathtub—he must never indulge in such things.
The moment he feels comfort, a cold blade touches the back of his neck.
