Rattle.

Now the sound of the window shaking began to bother her.

Rietta curled up, shivering.

‘Squirrel, I’m going to think of squirrels. A portrait of a squirrel. No, not a portrait!’

Rieta eventually jumped out of bed with tears in her eyes.

At this point, she had admitted it.

‘I’m scared…’

What would she do?

Rieta, agonizing over it, stepped out of the bed carefully.

Because of the cold floor, she shook slightly.

But if she left her room, would she be able to meet anyone?

She didn’t want to bother anyone working overtime, but now she was so scared that she couldn’t help it.

Rieta held the squirrel in one arm and carefully grabbed the doorknob.

Even though the sound of rain was loud at night, she could hear its creaking hinges clearly, probably because her ears grew sharp from fear. It was scary, and Rieta almost cried.

Rieta plucked up her courage a little more and pulled the doorknob.

The hallway’s cold air leaked in, making her white feet even colder.

‘Did…I get out of bed for no reason?’

Feeling slightly regretful, she suddenly caught sight of a shadow in a corner of her vision.

“…Agh!”

Surprise, surprise, it was Noel, who was hugging a big pillow.

Surprised that Rieta suddenly came out, he stared at her with a pale face.

“Y-you…”

He spoke to Rieta in a trembling voice, but soon returned to his usual grumpy behavior, scolding her.

“Why did you suddenly come out!”

“…..What?”

Rieta was stunned by his roar.

“So you want me to knock when I leave my room?”

“Well, not that! You have to be considerate of people outside. You’re a princess, right?! Ah, seriously.”

‘I thought I was going to die of fear,’ he said, quickly burying his face in his pillow.

Rieta stepped up next to Noel, chuckling.

“Was it scary?”

Then, Noel, who raised his head flashed, shook his head.

“W-who’s scared!”

“You said you were dying earlier because you’re scared.”

“I didn’t. I said my heart almost dropped in surprise because of a princess who has no consideration at all.”

He forced up his trembling lips into a grimace.

“Anyway, why would a princess go around without sleeping? Didn’t you say that you want to grow taller?”

He patted Rieta’s head, as if he were ridiculing her height.

“I’m going to bed.”

Rieta picked up the plush and hugged it, slightly pouting. Of course, Rietta didn’t want to be honest with Noel, saying, ‘I was scared.’ Noel would tease her using this as an excuse.

“……I’m a little thirsty and I needed to drink water.”

“You always have water next to your bed for a drink.”

“W-well is that so?”

Rieta averted her gaze, trying to find an excuse.

“I wanted to drink warm water.”

“Even when you’re thirsty?”

“…Why did Noel come out of bed?”

Rieta’s question made Noel’s lips drop for a moment, as he was stumped.

“To get…a book?”

“Now?”

“I’m taller than you, so sleeping this late doesn’t cause me problems.”

“I thought you were scared after hearing a scary story, so you came out to find someone.”

“W.. W-who!!”

Noel’s stuttering hammered in the harsh facts.

“I-I’m not scared of any of those stories. Do you think they make sense logically in the first place?”

“Ah, really?”

“Yeah, they must be cautionary tales adults tell to keep their children from walking around at night.”

“……. It didn’t seem like that kind of story.”

If you want to take a lesson from that story, wouldn’t it be ‘don’t kill people’?

“Anyway, I’ll keep walking down the hall, like… ‘I’m lost in thought’! Yes, that’s what it is. You wouldn’t know such a difficult thing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m going to get some water anyway.”

“Oh, yeah, bye.”

“Noel too, b-”

They were waving their hands to each other after saying goodbye.

When a very strong light flashed between the two.

And a few seconds later.

BOOM!

A tremendous thunderclap, incomparable to the previous ones, rang out.

It was so great that the children’s heart trembled together.

“……!”

“……!”

Both looked at each other in surprise.

Just for a moment.

But then, a fear that they couldn’t stand overcame then, and the two sprinted down the hallway screaming at the same time.

Their voices were so loud, that they woke Darrell up from his deep sleep.