Chapter 39

The Maid’s Mansion was a generic term for the space where the employees of Valentine’s Castle stayed and lived.

Dana and Betty, who lost their home overnight and became homeless, shouted loudly at the same time in surprise.

“Then we should put out the fire!”

“Now that the shaman has arrived, the flames will be extinguished soon. Before that, you two will have to come to rectify the situation and calm the employees.”

“…..”

“…..”

The two looked at Aria at the same time.

Aria was startled to hear that there was suddenly a fire, and she opened her rabbit’s eyes at the same time as she was pushed back as if to tell her to go.

“I’ll be back soon, so go on the trail you always used to go.”

“She doesn’t even have an escort knight…”

It was when Betty was muttering as if worried.

A black jaguar, who had been watching Aria from a distance, walked up to her. And it circled around her as if to protect it.

It was just walking, but for a moment it was in such a threatening state that it took her breath away.

“By the way, there was a reason why she didn’t have a separate escort knight.”

She forgot for a while. Betty realized later and nodded her head.

And they hurriedly ran towards the maid’s mansion with a peace of mind.

Aria, who was left alone with the black jaguar, started walking along the trail she used to walk every day.

After a moment’s hesitation, she stretched out her hand. And gently stroked the hair.

‘Oh, he’s not shaking it off this time.’

She vividly remembers that she had been hit before and nearly cut her wrist, but luckily it seemed to have opened up its mind more than then.

It was when she was passing under a tree with many branches.

After Aria confirmed that there was no one around, she whispered to the jaguar.

“Your name, how about Black?”

Grrrr-

The jaguar cried low at the crude and insincere name.

‘He doesn’t like it enough to reveal his teeth.’

Silver likes it.

Aria scratched the back of her head. Although she tried to come up with something else, she wasn’t very good at naming things.

“Then it’s Yellow because your eyes are yellow.”

Hearing those words, the jaguar suddenly lowered its body low as if it was very wary, entered an attacking stance, and jumped up.

As if it was about to attack Aria.

‘Did you hate it that much?’

At the sudden turn of events, she closed her eyes tightly and crumpled her body.

However, the jaguar pushed Aria in one leap and flexibly cut through the air.

“Ah!”

The thrown out Aria fell on her butt. At the same time, the shawl that Dana had wrapped tightly around her even in the hot summer flew in the air.

And on the shawl hung a black snake.

‘Eh?’

Aria remained frozen for a moment, not figuring out what had happened.

‘Did I almost get bitten by a snake?’

She was shocked. Because she didn’t even think that there would be an animal that would rush to her.

All animals love Aria.

It was a rule and there were no exceptions.

Just as the Grand Duke’s wolf that broke the orders of their master, the Grand Duke, didn’t kill Aria.

But the snake, which fell on the grass, rushed to her without hesitation.

‘I’m getting bitten…..!’

Aria quickly covered her exposed nape with her hand and closed her eyes tightly.

However, the jaguar rushed over and killed the snake without hesitation.

“……”

And Aria received the snake.

The jaguar who finished its hunt, like boasting about the carcass of the dead snake, put it over the hem of Aria’s skirt.

Is this the cat’s repayment she’s only heard of?

‘No…….Jaguar’s repayment……’

With a bewildered expression on her face, she looked down at what was….. The snake.

It was somehow familiar in her eyes.

‘This snake, maybe…..’

From the beginning, she thought she had seen scales black enough to shine somewhere.

It seemed to be a viper that would become popular among the aristocrats in about five years. Precisely, among the fallen nobles.

‘Taxidermist.’

Once bitten, the body hardens like a stone and makes it immobile like a doll. The peculiar thing is that the victim dies while maintaining the shape they had at the time it was bitten by the snake.

Like taxidermy.

‘There are many nobles who want to own whatever they like, even if it is a stuffed person or something.’

A lot.

Eventually, it became a social problem and was banned outright.

‘Why is the taxidermist here?’

It was evidently the dark district, the gutter, that first began to distribute taxidermist.

‘The gutter….’

An intruder that appeared near the Ingo Mountains.

A fire breaks out in the maid’s mansion, and the taxidermist is aimed at Aria.

Combining all of these circumstances.

‘Kidnapping?’

The taxidermist’s venom was not fatal enough to die immediately after being bitten.

Rather, it takes several months for one to die from being bitten by the snake. However, it was perfect for criminal use as it completely paralyzes the body and renders it immobile.

‘Kidnapping in broad daylight.”

It was such a daring and reckless way.

Valentine’s isn’t easy enough to hide in the middle of the night, so did they choose to go that far?

‘Then they would try to finish it quickly.’

Aria leaned close to Jaguar and looked around, vigilant.

They will definitely be around.

‘The one waiting for me to fall.’

That moment,

Rustle-

She heard the sound of stepping on the grass from the person who hid their body.

She turned her head towards that side with precision without a single notch.

And then she rolled her fingers into her hands and bit them, and blew a whistle.

Whik-!

At the same time, the birds heard Aria’s call and flew in without hesitation.

They pecked with momentum to tear the flesh of the assassin who had been hiding and targeting her.

“…!”

Attacked by birds, the assassin scrambled and whipped his hands, twisted his body, and let out a silent scream.

He had no choice but to jump out of the grass. He was a man with a gloomy impression.

“……”

Not even a scream.

‘There is a high probability that it is the rats’ prey.’

Aria looked at the man, crouching on the floor, biting his lips as if he was muttering something.

She narrowed the gap between her eyes.

And she tried to read the shape of his mouth, as Lloyd did.

‘Can…..not?’

What’s wrong?

Aria was puzzled and at the same time suddenly felt a sense of anger.

How should she say it?

‘It’s like I shouldn’t be approaching… ’

For a moment she felt eerie and reflexively stepped back from him.

Grrr-

But from the moment the man appeared, the jaguar, who had been growling wildly, ran towards him like bouncing.

“No..!”

Aria quickly reached out her hand.

But it was already too late.

The man lifted his head as the jaguar attacked him as if to devour him and she heard the jaguar’s cries as close to a scream.

“Kiiing!”

Aria stood up with a pale face. Because the jaguar was lying on the ground and not moving.

‘The whole body is paralyzed.’

She quickly approached the jaguar and checked its condition.

The beast was only breathing heavily. It had the same reaction she had when she was bitten by the taxidermist.

‘But there were no snakes near that man?’

The only snake that was there was bitten by the jaguar.

Aria held the jaguar in her arms as if protecting it and quickly bit her finger.

And again she whistled.

No, she was going to whistle.

“Ah!”

Aria couldn’t help but scream. It was because her arm was bent behind her back by a strong grip.

“Why is this little kid still moving fine, huh? If you can’t do one of those things, how are you making this team work?”

Behind her, she heard the voice of a man she had never heard before.

‘Clearly no one was there!’

He suddenly appeared out of the air.

He shoved the jaguar in Aria’s arms with his feet and forcibly pulled it apart.

Aria couldn’t resist, and she looked down at the jaguar spread out like a doll, lost for a moment.

“Isn’t it weirder than that? I’ve heard this one can’t talk.”

An audible voice. Aria, who had her head bowed for a moment, lifted her head with cold eyes.

Then a man tilted his head and blocked her movement. He wrinkled his eyebrows as if in doubt.

‘Unlike the prey, his tongue is not cut off.’

He spoke in good condition.

That means….

‘One of the limbs of the gutter rat.’

A skillful one too.

Because she felt the flow of magic from the flesh that touched her for a moment as she was suppressed. Aria stared at her opponent as if to kill him.

“Aww, I’m scared.”

The reaction was ‘funny’.

Hans smirked at Aria’s blazing eyes and ignored it. It was nothing to subdue a ten-year-old kid who had no power.

‘As the rumor goes, it looks like she knows how to deal with animals.’

However, he was puzzled by the fact that the candidate for the Grand Duchess was speaking in a different way from the rumors.

Did he get it wrong?

‘Anyway, the age, the clothes, and the impressions are exactly the same.’

Hans said, holding Aria very firmly to keep her from moving.

“I don’t have time. They’ll notice her and come rushing in, so let’s hurry.”

Then the prey touched the ground with both hands, and suddenly began to squirm and vomit black slime.

‘What is this….’

Aria couldn’t keep her mouth shut at the bizarre sight that was hard to capture in her eyes.

She just thought he was spitting up a black, slimy mass, but she looked closely and it was a snake.

So, a living snake.

The man, to his surprise, was raising the taxidermist in his body.

‘I was wondering how you get a snake and pass that tricky check!’

If he hides it in his body, of course they won’t be able to find it. And the jaguar had been beaten by the taxidermist that the man had in his body.

‘Dozens of taxidermists….’

Physically, she had no way of knowing how he had all that in his body.

However, one thing is certain: the moment one gets bitten, one will be used for the rest of their life by the gutter rat, and then they will die.

“Let me go!”

She hurriedly twisted her body, but it didn’t really move.

“Be quiet, kid. It’ll sting for a while and it’ll be over.”

There was only one way left.

Aria wasn’t gagged and both the men’s ears were open defenselessly.

Aria saw the snake running fiercely towards her, and she hurriedly opened her mouth.