Chapter 16

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Suddenly, I woke up.

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Komei?

I thought with my dazed mind.

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It can't be.

Komei died in the last year of high school.

So this meowing must be from another cat.

Another... cat?

I sat up abruptly.

It's impossible to hear a cat's meowing from outside in this territory... no, in this country.

As I rushed out of the room, two doors at the back opened.

"Sister!"

"Emma!"

It was Georg and William. They must have heard it too.

I couldn't sit still.

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I'm being called. I'm being searched for.

I can't shake the feeling, as if it's a dream.

Without hesitation, I ran outside.

"Hey, Emma!"

"Sister!"

Even if she were a countess, Emma is forbidden to go out alone. The same rule applies to Georg and William, the count's sons; they can only go out with permission from their father and with a servant and guard.

Going out without permission at midnight is out of the question.

Since Emma can't unlock the front door, she went out through the back door, running past her shed... and suddenly, a strange sensation fell on her head.

While running impatiently, she picked it up with her hand—it was her favorite purple spider.

"You... managed to escape, huh?"

The spider, which had not only eaten its fellow spiders but also the food meant to fatten the silkworms, had grown to a size that wouldn't fit in Emma's two hands.

"Hold on tight."

She put the spider back on her head and ran in the direction of the meowing.

"Whoa, Brother! Emma has a spider on her head and is running!"

"That guy... is like Na○ska."

Today, Emma's nightgown was a blue dress.

It's better than a giant silkworm larva... Georg muttered as the gap between him and Emma widened.

"Sister, you're so fast!"

"I'm a thousand times faster than at the port!"

If Emma goes out alone, their father will scold them. Emma's mistakes are their mistakes.

The Palais territory is relatively safe, but it's hard to believe a child can walk around at night and return unharmed.

Georg, still in his nightgown, chased after her with his favorite sword. He had cut down many monsters but never a human. He gripped his sword tightly and chased after her desperately.

"I thought things had improved since the port..."

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The meowing continued.

Emma's speed increased as if urged on by it.

If she had run like this at the port, she could have escaped from Love more easily...

Eventually, she reached a town a few kilometers from the mansion.

Her speed didn't slow down.

Georg and William were long left behind.

Emma arrived at a street lined with taverns she had never visited before. Here and there, people could be seen.

The next day was a weekly rest day, and thoroughly drunk men spotted Emma.

"Huh? What's a little girl doing out at this hour..."

Before the man could finish, Emma ran past him.

"Whoa! She's fast! What was that?"

"Hey! Catch her!"

The men shouted at the other drunkards in Emma's path.

The drunkards, wondering what was happening, tried to catch Emma... but she ran past them so fast it made them question if it was even a person.

"Alright, line up! We'll catch her for sure!"

The drunkards, getting serious, lined up to block the road.

Just as they lined up, the spider on Emma's head released a purple, glowing thread at their faces.

With their vision obstructed, the men struggled to remove the threads while Emma leaped over them.

"Whoa!?"

These were tough men who had been drinking all night.

A girl who could easily leap over them, all of whom were tall.

A jump of over two meters.

"Whoa!?"

And on her head was a spider so large it was terrifying.

"Whoa!?"

The men, who had been so easily bypassed, began to question their sobriety, thinking they must have been dreaming.

Even the men with purple spider threads wrapped around their faces believed it was a dream, it was that unbelievable.

They all agreed they shouldn't drink any more and decided to head home.

Emma... a monster...?