The dining hall was excessively quiet for a gathering of just over seventy people. Only the clatter of dishes could be heard, and not a single person was talking.
'I'll pretend.'
I didn't have the luxury of evaluating the taste of the food. I could only watch in silence as dozens of people, who looked like dolls stamped out of a factory, chewed their food.
Just then, a small girl sat across from me. My gaze naturally shifted toward her.
'What about that child?'
I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them. It was because I thought my tired eyes, as if I had been playing a hidden picture puzzle, might have been deceiving me. I looked at the girl sitting opposite me again.
'It's definitely that kid.'
It was definitely the youngest member of the herbalist who had previously gone missing. It had been a long time since she was missing, but not enough time for her appearance to change.
'What was the name again?'
In fact, no matter how hard I racked my brain, nothing came to mind. After all, I had only been told she was the youngest member of the herbalist’s family, and I had never heard her name before.
I cleared my throat, hoping she would look this way. I even fumbled through my hair for no reason. But she remained fixated on her food, showing no interest whatsoever. In the end, I decided to ask Karen her name.
"Would you like me to introduce you to that maid?"
I certainly didn't raise my voice. Rather, I spoke more cautiously than usual, almost in a whisper. However, it seemed it was enough to break the silence of the restaurant.
At once, hundreds of green eyes turned to look at me, as if my voice had cracked the air in the restaurant and split it apart with a whoosh.
I dropped the fork I was holding without realizing it. As if that were some kind of signal, the eyes instantly averted their gaze.
Goosebumps rose up on my arms.
"Her name is Tara. I work in the laundry room."
Karen answered calmly, as if nothing had happened.
"...Ah. Yes."
I answered a beat late. I couldn't remain overwhelmed by the surrounding atmosphere forever. Hoping that Tara might recognize me, I offered a greeting.
"Hi, Tara. I'm Selinia, the new researcher."
Fortunately, this time no one looked at us. It was to the point where I wondered if it was because of Eon's order not to pay attention to us.
"Oh, hello, Researcher."
She answered quietly in a voice as faint as a mosquito's. It seemed she didn't remember me.
"When did Tara come here?"
I asked as gently as possible. Instead of answering, Tara looked around. Her eyes seemed to be seeking help, yet also wary. When no one paid her attention, Tara finally met my gaze.
I gave a gentle smile and signaled that I was waiting for an answer.
"I think it's been about six months now."
It was a period that perfectly coincided with when Tara went missing.
"Where were you before?"
"Uh, uh, uh, I...
Tara was even more anxious than before. Her body was visibly trembling.
'It wasn't even a difficult question, or are you being tortured right now?'
She originally had a friendly personality. So much so that she would often come to the store to help her parents with their work. She was clearly polite and kind, so customers liked her. That child has changed like that.
'Baddie.'
I muttered a string of curses without subjects in my mind. Still, since I couldn't get an answer from Tara, I eventually answered myself.
"Did your parents perhaps run a herbal shop at the Baynan 3rd Street Market?'
What I was expecting was for Tara to look at me with eyes that had widened several times their normal size, as if asking how I knew. Then, I intended to put on a sweet face once again and answer that I was a regular customer and had seen her before.
'From now on, it will be smooth sailing.'
I should let them know how much everyone has been looking for Tara and how her family is doing. If I call Tara into my room, she will be able to hear what has happened in the meantime. Maybe we can even discuss an escape plan together.
I was filled with such dreams, but it was Marilyn, not Tara, who spoke to me.
"You must not break the rules."
Marilyn's green eyes were casting a strange light, like those of a beast concealed in the darkness.
"You must not break the rules."
A hoarse voice clung to me as if trying to drag me into that darkness.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
It seemed as though that served as some kind of signal. The employees stopped eating and began shouting in unison.
"You must not break the rules."
"The rules of the Magic Tower are strict."
My chest tightened up in an instant. Their voices were exactly the same as the song that had persistently followed me in my dreams. The voices soon took shape, encircling my head and beginning to spin around and around.
"You must not break that rule."
"Those who break the rules are expelled."
Cold sweat started to flow, and I began to feel short of breath.
"You must not break the rules."
"You must not break the rules."
"Aaaah..."
I clutched my head and pushed the chair back. I wanted to escape from here.
"Miss."
Karen's hand grabbed my arm.
“Let go of this!”
I tried to shake her off, but her strength was beyond my ability to handle. I pushed her away with my whole body, but Karen didn't budge. On the contrary, she thrust her face close to mine.
"Miss, look at me."
She was smiling brightly, as if trying to reassure me. However, the smile—with only the corners of her mouth pulled up against her stiff face just like before—only backfired.
"Are you feeling unwell?"
Asking if it was inconvenient... There was a limit to how much you could tease someone.
"Can't you hear this? Everyone is shouting at me!"
"Shouting? Marilyn was just trying to explain the rules to you, young lady."
Karen forcibly pulled my hand away from my ears.
"The rules of the Magic Tower. You are breaking the rules right now, young lady."
The singing voice that had been targeting me was no longer heard.
'Was it my imagination?'
I thought that at this rate, I might be regarded as a madman, just like the Count's family.
"Marilyn, please continue what you were going to say to the Young Lady. However, you would do better to speak a little softer. You heard the Tower Master tell you to change your attitude because the Young Lady is scared, right?"
So, it seemed Eon was watching this situation from somewhere out of sight, manipulating people without lifting a finger. But there was no time to think about that any further.
"You know, Miss."
Instead of a hoarse grin, a high-pitched, sweet voice flowed from Marilyn's lips. As if fully charged, her cheekbones shot up, and her eyes began to widen.
"There are a few rules to follow in this magic tower."
Marilyn, looking as if she had transformed, was staring at me with cheeks puffed out as if eggs had been stuffed inside and eyes that were about twice as big. Then, she moved her mouth once again, stretching it endlessly to both ends.
"If you don't follow that, you'll be kicked out of Magic Tower. So you'll have to be careful, right?"
She held out her index finger and nodded as if she were a kindergarten teacher. Her eyelids blinked incessantly, perhaps because she had opened her eyes wide.
I wanted to turn my head away at the strange sight, but I couldn't. It was because the moment I turned away from Marilyn, I felt that the fork in front of her would be aimed at my neck instead of the plate.
"First rule. Never speak of what happened before coming to the Magic Tower."
Marilyn said, counting on her fingers.
"I'm saying you shouldn't say where you came from, what you did, or what happened. That's what the young lady asked Tara just a moment ago, right?"
“That’s the rule?”
"The Lord of the Magic Tower is a benevolent employer who does not care about the past of those gathered here. No matter what mistakes you made in the past, you can live as a new person here."
Karen added an explanation.
"We also do not dwell on the past to uphold that meaning."
This was truly a case of interpreting a dream before it was even dreamt. To tell someone involved in a crime to cover up the past? It was nothing more than an action to avoid having one's own guilt exposed.
“The Magic Tower Master!”
It was when I shouted to expose his identity.
[Miss Selinia. Are you enjoying your meal?]
It was Eon. He continued speaking in a relaxed voice, as if this situation had nothing to do with him.
[I thought you might need some advice. Please think carefully about whether those around you right now will follow you or me before you act.]
At his words, I looked at Marilyn and Karen, who were feigning affection. They were undoubtedly the most loyal maids here.
This time, I broadened my field of vision and watched the people engrossed in their meal, paying no attention to this side. The forks and knives held in their hands seemed to gleam exceptionally brightly.
"Miss, what is it? What do you mean by the Tower Master?"
Marilyn craned her neck and asked. A strange light flashed once again in her green eyes.
"I was wondering if the Tower Master was... too much of an idealist."
In the end, I blurted out something ridiculous. Karen chimed in as if it were the answer she had wanted.
"That's right. That's why we need to follow the rules even more strictly."
It ended up being a strange conclusion, but that’s just how it is now; it didn’t matter.
"About the rules to follow in the Magic Tower. Since I've already mentioned it, let me tell you a few more."
"The second rule is that you must return to the Magic Tower by five o'clock at the latest."
"You can't be even a minute late."
Karen sent a message.
"Does that mean you can go out?"
The fact that I could go out anyway, rather than the rule that I had to be back before five, caught my ear.
"Sure."
“Of course”
"How?"
"Ask another researcher about that; it will be different from a maid."
Even without hearing it, I had a hunch that getting permission to go out would be extremely difficult. After all the trouble they went to to confine me in the magic tower, there was no way they would let me out so easily.
So, I thought that if a situation arose where I had to follow the second rule, I should actually be grateful.
"Anyway, even researchers have to follow this rule. The researcher who came last broke it and got kicked out."
It was a very unsettling word that could be interpreted in various ways, such as 'kicked out.'
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