After a long hiatus, I decided to pay a visit to the butler.
The servants—who seemed to report my every movement to him—bowed their heads low and silently melted into the shadows, careful not to even brush against my passing figure. It was sad that even *this* reaction counted as progress.
"My lady? How may I be of service...?"
"I need information."
"What exactly are you interested in?"
"I heard there was a maid named Daisy who worked here."
The butler remained silent.
"The same Daisy who went to a monastery."
_He knows perfectly well who I'm talking about. Why the pretense?_
I felt like a detective interrogating a suspect.
"I need to know where she lives. I trust you have that information?"
What if the estate destroyed records of dismissed employees? Then again, it would be strange to retain personal information for people who no longer worked here. Besides, I was currently engaged in what amounted to illegal data collection, trying to track down her address.
"I understand she sold her house when she entered the monastery," the butler said carefully. "The monastery itself became her residence."
"The problem is that she's *no longer* at the monastery."
Daisy had fled because the abbess had been doing terrible things—and Daisy had wanted to expose them. Along with my own "evil deeds," apparently.
_So I'm on the same level as that monstrous abbess? And Daisy comes across as the noble whistleblower?_
"Does Daisy have anywhere else to stay?"
I had a feeling the butler was concealing something. Perhaps he was secretly the head of an informant's guild, or moonlighting as a hired assassin?
I kept pressing, and he finally yielded another nugget of information.
_I knew it._
"Ainoa's Shelter?"
"She mentioned that she grew up in an orphanage. If she left the monastery, she most likely returned there."
An orphanage?
So Daisy had grown up in an orphanage, then became my maid and suffered abuse, then fled to a convent where she endured psychological trauma at the hands of a deranged abbess. And at some point, she had been kidnapped by slave traders and escaped alongside Jelly.
_Wait a moment... Daisy's story is far more dramatic than Kanna's._
Perhaps the true protagonist wasn't Kanna at all—but *Daisy*? I had assumed she was merely a character created to obstruct the villain, but maybe I was mistaken?
I would have to see for myself and find out.
Before visiting the butler, I had changed into modest clothing and filled my purse with gold coins.
The carriage was already waiting at the gates. It wasn't Count Lohanson's usual carriage, but some other vehicle entirely.
_When did someone manage to arrange this?_
"It was Mr. Jelly who ordered it," a servant informed me.
I felt a pang of shame for having just thought poorly of him. Yes, Jelly could be frivolous, but he was obedient and surprisingly thoughtful.
"Well done, wasn't I?" Jelly smiled smugly, the claw marks on his face lending him a roguish air.
"Where is Pudding?"
"Right here."
Jelly handed me the cat. _Why did he bring him?_ We were about to ride in a carriage—it would be bumpy and uncomfortable...
"Pudding, do you want to come with us?"
Pudding nodded firmly.
I couldn't leave him behind if he wanted to go. If he was determined, I would simply have to take him along.
"Where to, my lady?"
The coachman Jelly had hired was exceptionally polite. Though he seemed to have some kind of nervous habit—he kept scratching at his neck. The visible skin was raw and red.
"To Ainoa's Shelter."
Well... it didn't affect his ability to drive a carriage.
---
## — Daisy —
Today, Daisy decided to visit the orphanage where she had lived several years ago.
After fleeing from the Temple, she had rented a room in a cheap hotel. Without work, subsisting only on her savings, her money was dwindling rapidly.
While counting her remaining coins, she noticed she had more than expected. Then she realized she hadn't visited the shelter in quite some time.
_It's time to see them._
Daisy always donated a portion of her earnings to the orphanage as gratitude to the director. Sometimes she brought bread and fruit for the children.
_I visited them before I entered the convent._
Today, she felt a particular longing to see her younger brothers and sisters—the children who had shared her difficult early years. With these thoughts warming her heart, Daisy gathered gifts and set off for the orphanage.
After such a long absence, the shelter looked completely unfamiliar.
And for some reason, it was so *quiet*.
Daisy sensed something was wrong, but she steeled herself and entered anyway.
There was no one inside.
All she could do was open door after door, calling for the children and the director. Her voice echoed off bare walls and empty corridors.
_Perhaps they all went somewhere together?_
Opening the door to the director's office, she saw something that should not have been there.
A very familiar symbol.
A drawing similar to the one the girl at the estate had sketched—similar to the one Daisy herself had summoned—was etched across the floor.
In blood.
_Where did this come from?_
Daisy couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. Why was this drawing in the orphanage? Where were all the people?
An ominous premonition gripped her chest like a vise. The hair on the back of her neck stood rigid, and her throat constricted until she could barely breathe.
Her legs gave way beneath her. She crawled toward the drawing on her knees.
It was unmistakably a magic circle for summoning a demon. That sticky, darkening color was all too familiar. A nauseating iron smell hung thick in the air.
_What is this..._
The drawing seemed to be *following* her. Haunting her. Appearing wherever she went.
_What happened to the director? To the children?_
Daisy still remembered them running toward her with joyful cries, their small hands reaching up for the sweets she brought. Had they really fallen victim to this ritual...?
She searched the entire orphanage—every room, every closet, every shadowed corner—but found not a single living soul.
Not even a body.
All that remained was the symbol drawn in blood.
Daisy sat on the cold floor for a long time, her mind blank with horror. Then, her legs trembling violently, she forced herself to walk out of the shelter.
She couldn't stay there any longer.
She needed to see someone alive.
---
She was walking without direction, lost in the maze of her own thoughts, when a carriage sped past directly in front of her.
A wheel the size of her torso passed within inches of her body.
She fell to the ground in shock.
"Are you *insane*? Tired of living?!"
The coachman, without even slowing, hurled curses over his shoulder. He was transporting someone important and couldn't stop without displeasing the nobleman inside.
Daisy sat stunned on the dirty street. A passerby helped her to her feet.
"Well, who's the crazy one here? Miss, are you all right?"
He even brushed the dust from her clothes with gentle hands. Daisy bowed her head repeatedly.
"Thank you. Thank you."
"Are you feeling unwell? Then go home and rest..."
The passerby patted her shoulder kindly and continued on his way.
Daisy considered his words.
Then she covered her face with her hands.
Tears welled up in her eyes again.
_Home? Where? Where should I go if I don't have a home anymore?_
_Director... Children..._
_I need to inform the guards..._
_No._ She shook her head. _That's pointless. There are no bodies—people have simply vanished. What would the guards say? Besides, a magic circle is involved. This can't be solved by conventional means._
She needed to find someone else. Someone who could help her right *now*... in the way she needed.
Daisy flagged down a passing carriage.
"To the estate... To the Lohanson estate."
> "If you need anything from me, come. I'll help."
> "I have a favor to ask of you... Come, I will fulfill it."
She remembered the demon's words. Evangeline's words.
They had told her to come if she needed help.
_Is that true? Will they really help?_
Her rational mind insisted she should go to the Temple, not to Evangeline. But could she simply walk into the Great Temple? Last time, it had taken her three days to gain an audience. That was far too long.
Besides, the investigation into Priest Berg's case was surely in full swing there now. Any search for the missing people from the shelter would only be delayed while the Temple sorted its own affairs.
But Evangeline...
She *definitely* knew about the magic circle.
"Five coppers," the coachman said.
Daisy reached into her pocket for money.
Her wallet was gone.
_Where... Where did I lose it?_
She remembered the kind passerby who had helped her after she was nearly run over.
_He stole it._
"If you don't have money, get out."
"I have urgent business! Please—I will pay you later!"
"Young lady, do you think this is my first day driving? People like you always say you'll bring the money and then disappear. It's happened to me before. Sorry, but you'll have to find another carriage."
Daisy had no choice but to climb down.
All she could do was walk.
She walked slowly at first, one heavy step after another. But gradually her pace quickened, and she broke into a run.
They would help her at the Lohanson estate.
They *had* to.
Daisy ran. When her lungs began to burn like fire, she slowed to a walk. When her legs felt like lead weights, she forced herself to run again.
And finally, gasping and drenched in sweat, she reached the Lohanson estate.
"What do you need?"
The doorman blocked her path. He must have been hired after she left—Daisy didn't recognize him. If he had been someone familiar, she might have easily persuaded him to let her in.
Daisy hesitated, her throat dry.
But finally, she spoke the name:
"Evangeline... I came to see Lady Evangeline."
That day, Daisy acknowledged for the first time that the being occupying the dead girl's body was called "Lady Evangeline."
And she herself had spoken that name.
It felt like she was killing someone who had already died once.
"My lady is not at home at present."
_What do you mean she's not here?! She told me to come if I needed help!_
Daisy lowered her head, despair washing over her like a cold wave.