Weird. That can't be possible.
This was all Simone thought about all day.
The day went by uneventfully.
Although she couldn't go out, the best meals were prepared for her as always, and after finishing the meal, she took a bath in warm, fragrant water and fell asleep in a cozy bed.
Nothing changed in Simone’s life.
Except Anna wasn't there all day.
The next morning, Simone did not get out of bed, but instead blinked and stared at the ceiling for a long time.
Then an attendant came in carrying a warm wet towel and greeted me warmly.
“Simone, how are you?”
It wasn't Anna.
“...What about Anna?”
The attendant smiled at Simone’s question.
"Well. Would you like to wake up?”
Well?
Simone got up from the bed and looked around.
Originally, Anna should have said good morning to Simone, handed her a wet towel, and asked if she had eaten.
But as soon as Anna disappeared, the servants took her place as if it was natural.
It was as if there had never been a servant named Anna from the beginning.
Simone looked at the employees doing their jobs without expression.
'What?'
This strange feeling of heterogeneity.
The unnaturalness of the situation.
The attendants in front of her began to feel like moving dolls.
"Ah."
She's losing her appetite.
Simone motioned to the servants who were preparing the meal and left the room.
Did Anna go on vacation without saying anything? That can't be possible.
If not, she hate to imagine, but what happened to her?
'This is the Illeston family's mansion.'
Cursed family, cursed mansion.
It was a place where it wouldn't be strange if something happened to Anna due to its influence.
'No way.'
Simone pursed her lips without even realizing it. Her pace became faster as she walked down the hallway.
She hoped her ominous premonition was wrong.
However, no matter how much she thought about it, it didn't make sense for Anna to disappear so suddenly if it weren't for the effects of the curse.
Above all, what are the servants who take this for granted and avoid talking about it?
'Should I go back to my room and consult the instructions first, or rather, the Archduke?'
It was a time when she couldn't keep track of her walking faster and faster.
“Simone?”
Simone stopped walking and looked away at the unfamiliar voice.
“...Oh, sorry.”
She hurriedly lowered her head as if frightened by Simone's sharp eyes, but did not run away.
She was a maid girl as young as Anna.
Although she had never seen her before, it was natural that she didn't know her face since it was a mansion so large that no one would ever see her except the people who took care of her.
Instead of asking her name, Simone asked what she was most curious about.
“Have you not seen Anna?”
"Anna? Sister Anna?”
Simone smiled in relief. Finally, she met a worker who gave her a decent answer to her questions about Anna.
When Simone smiled, the attendant seemed to have relaxed a little as well and finally relaxed his body.
It seems like she was afraid of the very existence of a necromancer like any other user.
“Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen Anna today... Uh? I think she didn’t even show up at the breakfast or schedule report.”
“You don’t know why she's not there?”
“Yes, because she is in charge of a different place than me. I don’t often hear about holidays or anything like that.”
Simone's expression darkened again.
She wondered if she might know since she called Anna a sister, but this employee also didn't know where Anna was.
Plus, she couldn't see her in the morning. Even if Anna can skip meals, it doesn't make sense for employees to not check on Anna's condition when she is not thereafter reporting the schedule.
Simone was becoming more and more anxious.
“Is something wrong?”
The person who was facing her also had an anxious expression on her face.
Simone spoke honestly.
“Anna suddenly disappeared.”
There was no need to hide it as someone else's business.
While she was talking to the young maid who seemed to have just entered the mansion, several maids were already passing by the two of them.
There were so many glances at the conversation between the two, but everyone just passed by, pretending not to notice.
In this strange situation, the only person who doesn't pretend to know Anna's existence is the attendant in front of her, so what would she do by hiding it?
The servant’s eyes widened at Simone’s words.
“Anna disappeared?”
“So I’m looking for her now. Because I'm worried. If you see her, will you tell me? Or tell Anna I’m looking for her.”
"Yes! I will definitely do that!”
The attendant nodded vigorously.
“I’ll look for her whenever I can! Anna is not the type of person who will disappear without a word. I’m worried.”
At that moment, Simone felt countless eyes on her and the young maid.
When Simone turned her head, the maids passing by in the hallway stopped and looked at the two of them with pale faces.
“...”
“...Ah."
The maid groaned softly. The senior employees were giving a look that was close to a fierce glare.
Simone also froze. The look in her eyes as she silently turned her head to look at the young maid was so cold and strangely bizarre that even the viewer felt intimidated.
Simone had no idea that people, not even ghosts, could feel such strange feelings.
How much time passed in the sudden silence?
The people who had stopped slowly turned their heads and started going their own way again.
Among those who were standing still, a worker who appeared to be the oldest approached the two with a stern expression.
“Lise.”
"Yes, yes!"
The middle-aged maid glared harshly at the young maid called Lise, sighed, and then bowed her head to Simone.
“Simone, is this my first time meeting you? This is Ruth, the chamberlain of the mansion.”
"Hello."
Unlike when she greeted Lise, Ruth greeted Simone with a caring expression and stood in front of Lise.
“She's still a new employee, so I’m worried that she may have been rude to Simone.”
Simone looked at Lise. For some reason, Lise was more scared than when she saw the necromancer Simone.
“She wasn’t rude at all.”
"Fortunately. Then, can I take Lise with me? I was looking for this kid.”
“Well, that’s right.”
Ruth lowered her head, still with a kind smile on her face, and pulled Lise towards her.
Ruth's hand pulling the Lise was so strong that Simone thought it might hurt.
“Simone, how about you go back to your room now? I guess you came here while looking around the mansion. This is a space for users and is not a place to show to guests.”
“I’m looking for Anna.”
At first glance, it looked shabby, not like a mansion, so she knew it was a space for people.
That's why Simone came this far.
Ruth, who was smiling, spoke as if to comfort Simone.
“That child also looks for me. When I see her, I will tell her to go to Simone.”
It seemed like she wanted to send Simone away after making a reasonable effort.
"All right."
Simone answered reluctantly and turned away.
Ruth stood there and looked like she would never move until Simone returned.
However, as Simone was walking, she heard Ruth's angry voice coming from behind, making her realize clearly.
“Are you conscious right now or not?”
“Yes, yes?”
“You didn’t read the instructions properly. If you want to stay here for a long time, you had better get to know it properly.”
As expected, Anna's disappearance was due to the effects of that curse.
Simone's steps barely found their way.
Simone returned to the room and immediately opened the instructions.
As she quickly read the instructions, her eyes were fixed on one spot.
Eighty-eighth, do not look for the missing servant.
A servant disappearing from the mansion had happened even before Anna disappeared.
This curse is something she has never seen before, even in books.
The attendants gathered around Simone, who was seriously looking at the instructions.
“Simone, what kind of curse are you lifting this time?”
Simone looked up from the book and looked around at the attendants.
The attendants, who had been pale and indifferent when she asked about Anna earlier, were now glancing at the manual Simone was looking at with curious faces.
Ever since Simone lifted the curse of the man-eating tree, the lifting of Simone's curse has been a hot topic.
Simone answered bluntly.
“I will lift the curse on the disappeared servant.”
At her words, the servants' faces turned pale again.
Anyway, Simone said.
“I can’t leave Anna like this.”
It was Simone who had nowhere else to put her heart, no, it was Anna who first gave affection to Seo Hyeon-Jeong.
She can't let that warm, kind, and caring child disappear like this and become a lost employee.
“Simone....”
“Anna will come back to me again.”
At Simone's firm words, the attendants hesitated and exchanged glances with each other.
If something is forgettable, the user disappears. But they couldn't find them. Because it can become dangerous. Even if the person who disappeared was a friend with whom they had always slept, ate, laughed, and talked, they had to pretend not to know and rationalize that they would have just run away.
Because it was an inevitable curse.
But even so, there was no one here who could easily endure the sadness of losing a colleague.
“Simone.”
The expressions of the users changed.
“Let me tell you about that curse. There are also things that are not written in the instructions.”
The maids who had always treated Simone reluctantly and pretentiously were sincerely asking for her.
“Please save Anna.”
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