Welcome to the Rose Mansion - Chapter 2
“My deepest condolences for the loss of your precious family.”
It was an afternoon when the scent of roses filled the garden to the point of overwhelming one’s nose.
The woman gasped for air as she stepped backward. The man looked down at her with a tender smile, as dazzlingly beautiful as when they first met.
“The contract duration is one year. During that year, you absolutely cannot leave Bertrand…”
“M-Mister Walter.”
“I believe I mentioned it before the contract. I had no doubt that you would be with Bertrand for a long time, Miss Lloyd.”
Her heart felt as if it were in the throes of an earthquake. The woman turned her head to look at the side door covered in rose vines.
Yes. That side door behind her.
Such a strange thing. She clearly passed through the side door and left the mansion.
Why, just why.
Why am I still in this hellish mansion?
“A, a, aah…”
The trembling woman eventually collapsed. The smile on the man’s face, watching her, was merely radiant and beautiful like a flower in full bloom.
“Do you have anything to say, Miss Lloyd?”
“I, I. I just—”
“The Young Lord and Young Lady will greatly miss you. It seemed they were quite fond of you.”
The man’s long shadow completely enveloped the woman. It was like a towering wave of despair that suddenly overwhelmed her, choking her breath away.
“Uuhh, aahhh.”
The woman clawed at her throbbing head with rough hands. Her hair, which had been neatly tied up in defiance, became a tangled mess.
The man watching this scene turned away without a second thought.
“Frederick.”
“Yes, Mister Walter.”
Suddenly, a middle-aged man dressed in a sharp black suit approached, followed by a circle of ten maids.
The middle-aged man bowed respectfully to the man.
“Thank you for your assistance. We have caused you an inconvenience.”
“Don’t mention it. The affairs of the mansion are my affairs too. After all, I am also a part of Bertrand.”
“Yes. We are one family. That’s why it’s deeply saddening to have to deal with our family member in this situation.”
“Hmm… Was there no vacancy in the mansion?”
“Even if we are short of hands, a tutor who breaks her promise is of no use.”
“That’s certainly true. How about sending her to the kitchen then? The kitchen always needs people.”
“Indeed, you are wise.”
At the end of a conversation filled with politeness and respect, the middle-aged man clapped his hands lightly. The sound, stimulating the last remnants of her consciousness, made the woman blankly raise her head.
Through her crooked glasses, she saw the maids surrounding her. Women in black clothes, like mourning attire, smiling with all their teeth showing.
Like they were molded from the same cast, those monsters were all smiling with identical expressions!
“P-Please, I was wrong!”
The woman trembled like a crushed bug. Her hands, frantically rubbing against each other, could no longer feel anything.
“I was wrong! I was wrong, it was my fault! I did it because I was scared. Because the scent of roses made it feel like my head would burst! I will not try to run away again! I will not break the promise!”
“Dear me…”
The man’s voice, shaking his head, seemed almost like that of a merciful apostle of God. A flicker of hope sprouted in the woman’s heart.
Yes, this man had always been kind to me. Because he cared for me. Since my first day at the mansion. Maybe…
“Miss Lloyd. I do like you but…”
The man reached out, gently patting the woman’s shoulder. With a soft and gentle expression, as if whispering love, he said,
“A family member who does not keep their promise must be punished.”
The man stepped back. The maids took his place, gripping the woman’s shoulders, pinning her arms, wrapping their hands around her delicate neck.
“No… No! Please save me! Mister Walter, Mister Walter! Please save me!”
Despite the woman’s screams and struggles, the maids’ bright smiles did not waver. Instead, they twisted her head more ruthlessly, forcing her mouth open.
A maid, who had momentarily stepped away, returned with an armful of roses, thorns still intact.
The maids, silently opening their mouths in laughter, began to push the roses one by one down the woman’s throat.
“―! ―!!”
The woman’s limbs convulsed. Tears streamed down from her wide-open eyes. The maids, their eyes gleaming strangely, watched as the roses were stuffed into the woman’s mouth.
One rose, two roses, three roses…
When all the roses had fallen, the woman trembled faintly, her eyes empty.
“Clean this up. Make sure the Madam does not notice.”
At the middle-aged man’s gesture, the maids dragged the woman away into the mansion. The man scuffed the blood and tear-stained dirt floor with his shoe.
“We’ll need to select a new tutor for Young Lady Penny and Young Lord Nero, Frederick.”
“I shall inform the Madam.”
“This time, we should offer a higher signing bonus. Money has the power to paralyze people’s rationality, after all.”
The shoes were dirtied. The man nonchalantly kicked the ground, dusting off the dirt.
Though the dust mostly cleared, stains remained on the shoes. The man looked at the stains for a moment, then murmured as if to himself,
“I do hope we find a good family member, one who will stay with us for a very long time.”
Jewel707
WHAT
SHE ATE ROSES
Maybe she won’t even be able to speak after this