The Young Master was getting engaged.

  Supposedly, his fiancée was a highborn lady of matching status—beautiful, elegant, educated, and refined. A famous beauty of the capital.

  I heard it from Okoto. During this time when the Young Master went out, he'd been inviting this fiancée on outings.

  When she said this, her gaze held sympathy. I could only awkwardly scratch my hair, not knowing what reaction to give.

  I thought the lady about to marry the Young Master was more pitiable.

  I didn't know if he'd eaten too many people, but I could feel the Young Master gradually undergoing some kind of change.

  After injuries, his healing speed grew faster and faster. His strength and speed increased dramatically.

  Through me, the Young Master had already verified that even if you severed the head, monsters like us wouldn't die. We had almost no weaknesses except sunlight.

  Before, when he killed at night, he'd still cautiously select targets and handle the traces left behind.

  Now he was more unrestrained, deciding who to kill according to his whims, casually tossing leftover corpses by the roadside.

  Rumors of a murderous demon gradually spread through the capital. Residents dared even less to go out at night, yet new corpses appeared every night.

  Commoners lived in fear. Though the nobles in the city ordered their people to solve the case within a deadline, they didn't take it to heart.

  The Young Master's engagement proceeded as usual.

  That winter, the beautiful lady married into the Tachibana household.

  She had a lovely name: Ukifune.

  Though I actually had no relationship with the Young Master whatsoever, to reduce unnecessary trouble, the day after Miss Ukifune married in, I still went to pay my respects.

  She wore gorgeous layered robes. Her jet-black hair fell smoothly down her back. Her porcelain-white skin looked delicate enough to break at a touch.

  Sitting there quietly, she resembled an elegant, beautiful doll.

  "You're called Chihaya, right?" She asked with a smile, beckoning me to sit beside her. She reached out to hold my hand and gave a slight start.

  "Why are your hands so cold?" She asked softly. "I heard you always stay indoors. Don't you find it stifling?"

  I mumbled inarticulately, saying vaguely, "Because this servant... contracted a skin disease and cannot see light, so I cannot go out."

  "I don't like going out either." Miss Ukifune said with a smile. "If you have nothing to do, come see me. Let's talk together."

  Miss Ukifune and the Young Master were complete opposites.

  Her temperament was gentle. She never beat or scolded servants. When encountering someone who made mistakes, though she'd scold a few words, she wouldn't punish too harshly.

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  The servants who'd trembled for years under the Young Master's oppression felt as if they'd come from bitter winter into spring.

  Only I couldn't get too close to Miss Ukifune.

  At first, I didn't notice this. Ohagi had difficulty sneaking in to see me. Okoto and everyone else were servants with their own work to complete.

  Normally I could only read or space out in my room. But after Miss Ukifune arrived, we all had leisure time to gather together.

  I didn't know how much she liked the Young Master, but toward me—the nominal concubine—Miss Ukifune never made things difficult.

  When she wasn't handling household affairs, she'd sit quietly in her room doing needlework. When I had nothing to do, I'd go keep her company and chat.

  Until that day when the Young Master returned early and saw us sitting together talking. Those red plum-blossom eyes swept over me and narrowed slightly.

  I knew this was his signal of displeasure.

  "You seem very happy."

  That night, he stood in my room, fingers delicately squeezing my throat. "Happier than serving me... Chihaya, do you want to betray your master?"

  How... absurd.

  Though I wouldn't die, being choked by him—the feeling of suffocation was unpleasant.

  I answered with difficulty, "Absolutely... not."

  He laughed with a cold snort, applying more force. I seemed to hear my throat bones make cracking sounds. My vision darkened in waves from lack of oxygen.

  Even after becoming a monster who couldn't see light, I hadn't gained a strong body and power like the Young Master.

  I remained an ordinary person. Aside from the ability not to die, nothing special.

  Sometimes I wondered—if I could also possess great power, could I escape while the Young Master was out?

  I didn't want to stay by his side at all, but I feared even more the consequences of failed escape and his punishment.

  So I could only cower cowardly in the estate, enduring his cruelty and cold-bloodedness.

  In the end, he still didn't crush my throat. After a while, he released me.

  I collapsed on the ground coughing wretchedly, feeling my throat slowly repair itself.

  The Young Master crouched down, gently tucking hair behind my ear. "You must remember well who you should be loyal to."

  After that, I started avoiding Miss Ukifune. I no longer went to her quarters to talk, no longer showed anyone a smile.

  But Miss Ukifune—she was too clever. She shouldn't have been so clever.

  One night when the Young Master was out, she secretly came to my room and asked seriously, "The rumors of the murderous demon spreading through the capital—are they related to him?"

  I was both surprised and unsurprised. As an intimate wife, discovering her husband went out every night and returned with bloodstains or suspicious smells on his clothes was perfectly reasonable.

  But she couldn't discover this. If she knew the truth, would the Young Master spare her life because she was his wife?

  Impossible.

  To the current Young Master, people in his eyes were more like food.

  His gaze looking down on others was like looking at ants by his feet.

  Miss Ukifune hadn't yet realized the Young Master ate people. There was still room for maneuver.

  I begged her not to question the Young Master. If she couldn't tolerate his killing, she could make an excuse to leave and return to her own home.

  At least I was confident of this much—as long as she didn't expose it, the Young Master would give her some face and allow her to leave.

  Miss Ukifune looked at me sorrowfully, emotions of grief flickering in her eyes.

  "Why would you cover for him?" She asked me. "Did he threaten you? Because of this leverage, is that why he keeps you locked in this room?"

  Ah. When had she discovered this?

  "Because it's very strange." She held my hand, her gaze sorrowful and pitying. "That person's eyes hold no warmth. The way he looks at you... it's strange. Chihaya, don't let him trap you by his side forever."

  In that moment, I suddenly became afraid—panic I couldn't suppress.

  Forever... forever... forever!

  How long would my life be!

  Even severing my head hadn't taken my life. Would I still die? Would I age?

  No. My appearance from that time seemed never to have changed!

  If it were just a life of twenty or thirty years, being imprisoned here would be fine. I should've been atoning for the doctor anyway.

  But what if it was eternal life!

  How many years would I be confined? This torment stretched endlessly with no end in sight.

  I couldn't help trembling, terrified of that imagined future.

  Miss Ukifune quickly embraced me, sighing softly. "It's alright. That person... probably won't hurt you. I'll find a way to help you."

  My rationality returned. I continued the previous topic, asking her not to act rashly.

  Miss Ukifune promised me.

  But not long after, I heard she'd suddenly fallen gravely ill and quickly passed away.

  ~~~~??~~~~~~~~??~~~~

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