I fled from behind the barrel as fast as the shadows itself, not wanting to get caught at night listening to terrifying and horrific gossips from the guards themselves. Though, as I walk through the dark alleyway of the town.
I could not shake the feeling of something unnatural watching me from the darkness, and yet my gut does not react with that bizarre feeling. In any case, I trusted my guts more than my mental state. I quietly opened the door to the back door of the inn, ignoring the rising feeling of something creeping up behind me.
Such things can be comparable when you're going upstairs after going downstairs to your basement, and it is quite a terrible feeling that you acquire when doing that. A footstep to my left and I quickly hide beside the walls to avoid being detected, and my skin chills itself at the thought of the footstep belonging to something else.
Shut the hell up, brain.
I exhaled slowly as I crept up the stairs after checking carefully that the footsteps have faded away into the background. The lamp flickered as I went past them, and other than that, I was extremely aware of every little thing I hear — an advantage provided by the human mind after subjected or exposed to something akin to fear.
As I slid into my room, I immediately locked myself inside and locked the window shut and tightly. Not that it was not shut beforehand, but I double-checked it just to be safe. Strange of how afraid I was from the influence of a vampire when I was supposed to be a vampire.
I stared up at the ceiling of the inn room, seeing shadows dancing in the corners of my vision. It is quite ridiculous as the human mind is quite fragile by the definition of fear itself, and sometimes I wished that in this life I was immune to these simple fears but these were instincts designed by the human mind.
I can barely sleep with this ridiculous fear…!
A knock on the door made my heart jump into my throat, but I managed to control myself and answered the door with my voice that is hopefully not shaky at all. "Who is it?" and I barely managed to not make my voice cold and freezing.
"It's Anne, can I enter?" I raised my eyebrows. Why would Anne be still awake at this hour, though? Considering the time, she would've been already fast asleep in her room. Except for one possibility, she was quite shaken, judging by her uneasiness and concern and it seems that she witnessed firsthand of how the crime scene works.
Don't be ridiculous, that part of my mind. If she was a vampire, I would know already.
"Sure, I'll unlock the door." I conceded and walked to the door.
As Anne entered the room, I exhaled deeply to stave off the tension and the suspicion that my mind has gathered — she has done nothing wrong, and my mind is pointing its mental fingers to anything it finds suspicious.
"Sorry for intruding, Remi. It's just that I kind of feel guilty of—" I cut off her immediately, replacing my expression with a soft expression which some in the past such as my father has told me is quite the opposite of my cold glare. "Don't worry, Anne. I already know."
"Huh, where did you know?" She blinked in astonishment, and I merely smirked to give the feeling of mysteriousness. Anne merely rolled her eyes in exasperation at the theatrics, "You eavesdropped, did you?"
Wha-
My face burned crimson red and I hid my face to prevent Anne from ever seeing my face enveloped in scarlet for the second time this day. "You did, did you? I don't think I have to say how much I would have to scold you if I had caught you…" She trailed the finished word with a teasing tilt of her head but at the same time gave me relief of not having to suffer through embarrassment once more.
"Hmph!" I crossed my arms and Anne merely laughed, and that definitely eased off the tension in the room and around the inn itself. "Hey, Anne, who is it?" I spoke once more after some time in the silence and turned to look at my coworker with a curious stare.
"It's... Lilian." She paused and finished the word with some degree of hesitation, and my thoughts immediately focused on the acts of Lilian and what she did before her death. Lilian was one of the helpers with the cook, an assistant and she was quite familiar with one of the waiters. I usually watch and listen to her, and she's fond of it.
Lilian, what and who did you encounter?
I felt tear pricking at the edge of my eyelids, and yet I forge through as this will not be the last death that I will hear and see on the roads of my fate. My coworker, Anne, merely looked at me strangely. "Remilia, I want to ask you a question."
I blinked at her strange stance on this one, "Ask," I simply said.
What could be her question? Hopefully, it is not about my strange behavior and seemingly intelligent mind more than any children on Earth. Even a prodigy could not have mimicked my intelligence to my knowledge, as I'm a reincarnated soul or a person at least.
"How did you even resist crying? How did you even hold yourself from breaking yourself from imagining death? How—?!" I interrupted the long question that she spouted off by leaping at her and wrapped my hands around her.
I admit that I have no knowledge of calming one hysterical person, but my only instinct was to hug Anne and not say anything. Though, the tear stains will be quite annoying when I wake up in the morning.
I sighed deeply as her breath calmed down and seemed to still silent. Looks like she fell asleep while crying.. Good grief, why does it have to be me? And I merely leaned back to my bed, gently releasing my hold over her as she slept on the pillow underneath.
As I avert my eyes from her and to the window, I felt calmer having another presence after the short reveal earlier. A thought slipped into my mind, and I wondered if it would speed up my fate even further if I forced myself to meet the culprit or at least, the vampire that this town has.
On the other hand, I've thought out of possible things that happened with Lilian before she was brutally sucked out of her blood. It was possible that she let her guard down since both ways in are locked and there is no way getting in, and that means that it has to be someone that enters the room and Lilian locked the door behind her once more.
Or the vampire was already hiding somewhere in the room before she even entered, which is a risky move for that vampire as there are many cleaners going in and out of the rooms. Both possibilities are very possible and likely, but I can only concede my ideas and theories after I see the conclusion in the end.
I averted my eyes from the windows and back to Anne, her tears seemed to have dried out already. A terrible thought entered my mind, and I sighed once more at the burden that has been placed upon me in this life.
I can't promise to protect you all. I am sorry.
I am human, after all.
I laid down fully and closed my eyes to sleep and wake up in the morning, with the same work shift and tasks assigned to us by the manager of this inn. For quite a moment there, I felt regret of ever wishing to be reincarnated and even reincarnated to the life of Remilia Scarlet.
As the morning came, I woke up as early as possible to scout out the inn and find the culprit. It was to ensure safety to the inn workers and for the sake of my fate that I have to find and search for. Slipping out of the bed and changing clothes, I immediately unlocked the door as quietly as I could to not disturb Anne's sleep.
As I entered the halls, a chilly breeze went past me and I shivered at the cold morning air entering the inn. It is still quiet at this hour, but there may be some that are awake preparing for their shift.
As I searched the entire inn and found nothing but dust, I gave up and went to bathe and prepare myself for the day. Though, half the way through my preparing — I realized that day was rising from the horizons outside, my latest blunder, thinking that a vampire would even be active at this ungodly hour.
As I entered the kitchen, an array of footsteps was heard from behind and I immediately turned only to see a few seconds before Anne collides with my body that almost made me fall to the ground. "Did you just leave me upstairs!? When did you leave!?" I groaned at her growing complaint.
"I just scouted the inn, Anne!" I protested in her tight hold over me as I try to walk backward into the kitchen with her draping over me, there was Martin watching with ever-growing amusement after checking the dishes to see if they're in good condition. "You WHAT?!" She shouted in concern and anger.
Ah, this is one large predicament that I've gotten myself into.
After quite a moment grappling with one another argument, we've finally quieted down and I started to wait for the unclean dishes to come through. On the other side of the inn though, it seems that patrons are trickling much slower today. It could be that they've heard that the inn was attacked by a demon.
The only way that I could investigate the culprit was to wait for the evening to come, as it would be next to impossible to search for a vampire strolling in daylight.
Unfortunately, there were no nobles who decided to stroll into the inn as if they owned the place and thinks nobility haven't banished itself and perhaps fortunate for them. I was kind of looking for a way to stave off my uneasiness and elicit amusement by causing pain to those idiots.
This day is quite uneventful, the tasks are quite similar and there was a minimal customer that complained of their stay in the inn. Though, I cannot say how eventful it will be tonight. Anne seemed to have calmed down already, and she is back to her usual cheerfulness.
As I walked through the halls of the inn, I felt the familiar feeling that spreads from my gut to my entire body, the cold breeze that I knew was the same when I encountered that noble before. Judging by the behavior of this feeling, it feels like that this has a relation to my fate manipulation powers.
The hot fire feeling meaning that I was close to death, the cold breeze air seemed to signify that there is something happening nearby that may or may not relate to me. Though, I have no conclusion of what the feeling is to continue my fate. Just so that I could check out what this means, I hurried my way just before the break has ended.
The sun is still up in the skies, and that means that the inn and myself will be safe from harm for a moment. At this point in time, in a sense, it would be around 3 to 4 PM in the evening time.
The town still has people strolling around in the streets, merchants yelling and shouting to attract customers to their shop and stands. The cold feeling is still in my gut and it's slowly making me uneasy, but as I scanned the area — I saw the same noble from yesterday who disturbed the patron.
The cold feeling grows in my gut, implying that there are some problems with this noble that I have to investigate. Has he not been warned that there will be consequences? I sighed as I approached the noble that seemed to be on the lookout.
"A-ah! It's you, Lad- Miss Remilia!" The noble sputtered and stuttered as soon as he saw me approaching him, though he seemed to tense enough to be suspicious. I said dully, "You seemed suspicious today, sir." without betraying any sense of emotions from the freezing feeling in my gut.
"H-hmph! You can't just accuse somebody that they're suspicious, girl." He paused in his words, rethinking the phrase, and said the words fully. At least that this noble is trying to be as normal as possible, but the cold feeling is still persisting in my gut — there is something wrong here.
My face morphed into a cold expression, I need to do something here so that I won't regret anything in the future. "Are you sure, sir?" I zoomed to his face and sweat begins to go visible on his forehead, traces of saliva that he seemed to gulp in fear. I stood tall in my hell, yet it won't bring me fully to his face.
Then his face formed to hatred, "Fine, girl. You caught me." the snarl of a former noble never has been sound so grating and annoying. He stepped back and his spine hits the wall behind him, "Tell me, what have you been doing?"
The man merely snorted derisively, "I know, girl. You've been trying to isolate yourselves from the public, have you?" My eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and my gut suddenly transformed into a hot fire mixed with freezing cold air that made me concede it to the conclusion that my gut is telling me to stop this man from putting me in a history book.
This will destroy my future. The original future!
"So, I see. You're trying to slander me, are you?" A never heard sound rose from my throat, releasing in almost one guttural growl that echoed in the man's ear, and yet he merely ignored it as just mere whining from a little girl. "Is it not that obvious, girl?"
I swear to my future and my past life, I will stop this!
I slid down the walls of the alley with a sigh, in the end, I could only make his slandering much worse instead of lighter. The former noble added blackmail to his list of slanders, in which that blackmail will reveal that there is a violent former noble in this town. He will start the gossip tomorrow, meaning I have such limited time to prepare…
In any case, slandering and gossip will work whether they are formerly noble or commoners if they have the resources enough to make it work. There are plans running through my mind at this point and most of them lean toward murder and torture which is much more likely to point the evidence towards me and proving his slander true.
No matter, I must find new ideas and planning to prevent the future from breaking apart and this cold and hot feeling burning in my gut is getting quite annoying. I stood from the alleys and entered the inn from the back door to continue my shift until night has fallen, for now, my safety matters more with the intruder within the town.
After I finished cleaning the last of the dishes, I sighed tiredly and joined a conversation with the other coworkers in the kitchen. The patrons are trickling littler every hour as the night comes, but this night, I am going to patrol the inn and ensure that nobody suspicious enough escapes my line of questioning.
As I went upstairs when almost everybody except the night shift has gone to their room, my thoughts went back to the slander speech that the former noble has prepared, though assuming the man has prepared documents and papers to make a journal or newspaper — that will be more problematic to void all the evidence.
I froze on my track as soon as I reached upstairs, in front of the room door owned by Martin stood someone rather familiar and yet so chilling at the same time. A little girl on the verge of knocking on the door with a red dress, cream yellow hair that flows behind her, and pale skin.
Scarlet eyes glimmered within the halls and it seemed that she has noticed my presence judging by her narrowed eyes that seemed almost feral and playful at the same time. My breath seemed to freeze at the sight of someone that is supposed to be in my family, and yet they are not.
Flandre Scarlet, the playful character of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and its family.
She squealed lightly, the sound echoing within the halls and it sent chills down my very spines. "Oh no! Somebody caught me sneaking!" The giggle that she released should be endearing and adorable, and yet it is not for somebody familiar with the name of Flandre Scarlet.
"Catch me if you can!" She giggled as she turned around ran to the windows, and I could merely watch on in horror but my instinct forced me to run towards her instead of away from her. This is not what I expected to see or even chase this night!