Pitiful Young Master in a Reversed World

Chapter 6

Beya, who had been calming herself for a moment, suddenly stood up.

'Now is my chance.'

Realizing that even the minimal surveillance on her was gone, Beya cautiously placed her hand on the doorknob.

She had clearly seen that Louis only closed the door but did not lock it.

It was impossible to lock it from the outside anyway.

If he had, Beya's sharp senses would have definitely noticed.

Holding her breath, Beya carefully turned the doorknob.

As expected, the door opened smoothly.

Beya cautiously stepped outside.

Since she didn't know when Louis would return, her plan was to quickly check the surrounding layout and then go back into the room.

It was a habit she had developed while exploring dungeons where threats could appear at any moment.

In other words, it could be called an obsession that drove Beya to act.

Beya moved forward, taking care not to make a sound with her footsteps.

"What are you doing?"

At the voice suddenly coming from behind, Beya jumped and turned around in shock.

'How? I didn't sense anything at all?'

Was she still not used to her reduced magic power because of the sealing cuffs?

Beya frowned, feeling a sense of dismay.

The one who had caught her from behind was a black-haired woman.

With a neat ponytail, the woman tilted her head crookedly, her hands tucked into the pockets of her suit pants.

Beya quickly floated a sphere of blood into the air and closely observed her.

'.....Nothing.'

It seemed the woman lacked the presence that any living creature should naturally have.

Yet, that thing standing before her couldn't possibly be anything but human.

Seeing Beya's reaction, the black-haired woman twisted her lips into a crooked smile.

"You sensed it? You're not an ordinary human, are you?"

Beya opened her mouth, feeling a strange yet definite discomfort crawling over her skin.

"...Who are you."

The black-haired woman snorted at Beya's question.

"That's what I should be asking, outsider."

"...I'm not an outsider."

The black-haired woman let out a low chuckle.

"Kuhuhu, then are you some kind of toy? I've never seen anyone like you before."

"Because I just arrived today."

"Ah, is that so? But tell me. How many people do you think would even bring a woman into this house? At most, Nor- no. Father, Hamila, and Louis...."

"Seems like quite a few."

"Father is obsessed with black magic, not toys, so cross him out. Louis isn't interested in toys either, so cross him out. Then the only one left is Hamila."

"Louis is the only son in this house, right?"

"Louis... Right. The only 'son' is Louis."

"Then-."

"But our second child is a bit unusual. You'd never understand with common sense. And you're probably being used as a toy by that crazy woman. Bet you'll suffer quite a bit."

The black-haired woman spoke as if she was completely convinced Beya was the second child's toy.

"What if I'm not the second child's toy?"

At Beya's words, the black-haired woman raised one corner of her mouth.

"Then are you saying you're Louis's toy instead?"

Beya silently pointed behind the black-haired woman.

The black-haired woman turned around and fell silent.

Likely because she saw that the door to the room next to Louis's was open.

While the black-haired woman was lost for words, Beya continued forward to grasp the mansion's layout.

'Nothing unusual.'

The structure of this mansion was not much different from an ordinary mansion.

'Meaning it wasn't built completely from scratch.'

Or maybe they had made several secret passages.

Beya hesitated for a moment.

Should she go a bit further to investigate more of the mansion,

or just return now?

'This should be enough.'

If she went further and happened to get caught by Louis, it might be quite troublesome to cover up.

Since Louis had told her never to go anywhere alone without him.

Of course, from what Beya knew of Louis's personality, he'd probably just let it slide without saying much,

but a woman's instinct was not to want to leave a bad impression on a man.

".....Actually, this is better. Louis hasn't stained his hands with blood yet, has he? Or has he? Probably not......."

Leaving behind the black-haired woman who was muttering to herself, Beya returned to the room and closed the door.

Then she pondered deeply about the discomfort she had just felt.

'What was that? Why did I suddenly feel such discomfort....'

-Hey. My name is Luia. What's yours?

At the voice coming from beyond the door, Beya raised her head.

Should she tell her name or not.

After a brief hesitation, Beya decided to just say her name.

After all, just her name wasn't valuable information.

"Beya."

-Good, Beya. Congratulations on becoming Louis's first toy.

"Am I supposed to be happy about that?"

-Of course! It's the very first! Our cute nephew who's been single for twenty years finally got a woman, so how could I not celebrate?

Luia's words gave her another faint sense of discomfort, but there was something more important.

'I'm Louis's first....'

Beya felt her heart pounding for no reason.

The sense of conquest rising from deep within surprised even herself.

"Is that all you had to say?"

She waited a moment, but no more voices came from beyond the door.

'With no presence, there's no way to check.'

Just how skilled was she at hiding her presence?

Even her comrade, who boasted of being the best at stealth techniques, couldn't conceal her presence that well.

-Let's chat for a moment.

'She's still in front of the door.'

"About what?"

-What do you think of this mansion?

"Even if you ask, I haven't even been here for a full day yet."

A small chuckle came from beyond the door.

-Then just your first impression is fine.

"First impression......"

Beya stroked her chin.

"A garbage dump full of human trash who treat people like toys?"

-Hahaha!

A hearty laugh came from beyond the door.

It was a refreshingly feminine laugh.

-So, a garbage dump? Is that what Louis thinks?

Beya's eyes widened.

Come to think of it.

Most of what she currently knew about this place had been told to her by Louis.

Beya could only hear what Louis wanted to say.

And usually, when people explain something, they unconsciously project their own feelings about it.

If Louis viewed this mansion negatively-

then it was only natural that Beya, who had heard the explanation from her, would also develop a negative perception of this mansion.

In a way, that might have been inevitable.

-Well, from Louis's perspective, how unpleasant must this place be? With men dying day after day. Mother is really too much sometimes.

Maybe it would be better to just send the second child away somewhere else.

While chatting with Luia, Beya suddenly grew curious.

"How on earth does a place like this manage not to get caught by others?"

With such a huge mansion and so many toys being carried around, how could no one have noticed?

At least as far as Beya knew, there was no information about such a place existing within the capital.

Beya prided herself on having decent connections and intelligence built up through her life as an adventurer, yet she had never heard of it.

Unless the information was tightly sealed or completely unknown, it would have reached Beya's ears at least once.

So, either matters about this mansion were tightly hidden, or no one had caught a whiff of it yet-one of the two.

-There are plenty of ways. You can come in through the underground, sneak them in by carriage, or move around freely since the mansion's very structure allows it.

"...The mansion's very structure? Are you talking about secret passages or something?"

-You'll understand when you see it yourself. It's so intricately made that even family members find it despicable.

Only then did Beya realize why Luia kept feeding her information during their conversation.

It seemed Luia, like Louis, was not fond of what went on in this mansion.

'Even family members can have different values.'

For Beya, that was fortunate.

Because of that, Beya could continue the conversation with her much more comfortably.

But she still did not consider Luia an ally.

Trusting someone you just met immediately was something a sheltered young master like Louis might do, but Beya was no naive rookie.

-How many sealing cuffs are you wearing right now?

Beya glanced at the sealing cuffs fastened around her ankles and opened her mouth.

"Two."

-Two? And you actually allowed them to put those on?

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to infiltrate the mansion.

Beya swallowed the words that had risen to her throat.

Besides, it was Svela who had put on the second sealing cuff.

For Beya, who was already wearing one, Svela was an opponent she couldn't defeat.

And since she had planned to infiltrate the mansion anyway, there was no reason to resist.

-Wearing two sealing cuffs is pretty rare. You must have made quite a name for yourself.

'Stealth skills good enough to avoid even someone like me.'

Beya's eyes narrowed.

'Did Louis call this mansion a demon realm?'

Just what kind of secrets was this mansion hiding?

Her instincts as an adventurer, who had uncovered the unknown and cleared countless dungeons, began to stir.

Svela had made two mistakes.

First, she had gifted Beya, who was hostile to Black Robe, to Louis, who also disliked this mansion.

Second, even with two sealing cuffs on, Beya was still a formidable fighter, far stronger than an ordinary person.

If she used this well, she could both gather information on Black Robe and bring this mansion down from within.