After eating her dinner in silence with the others, Agnes returned to her room, changed into her nightgown, and then slipped into bed.
Just when she was preparing to sleep, she heard a knock on the door.
"Lady Inez?" just as she was thinking, a familiar childish voice called out to her from the outside.
"Come in." Agnes sighed in relief and straightened up. The room was already dark with only moonlight spilling in from outside.
The door creaked open slowly before Tessa stepped in with a hesitant look on her face.
"What is it, Tessa?" the older lady asked.
The little girl shyly twirled and asked, "Can I sleep with you lady Inez?"
Hearing her request, Agnes’s expression softened ever so slightly. "Come here, and I think I told you to just call me Inez or... sister Inez."
"Kay!" The little girl jumped into the bed excitedly and shifted under the sheets.
"Sister Inez, are you planning on staying in this city?" the little girl peeked out of the sheets and asked carefully, making Agnes chuckle. "Can you stay with us?"
"I am sorry, dear, but I cannot stay." Shaking her head, Agnes brushed her hair and answered, "I came here for a short period of time. I will soon move on to another place."
Hearing this, Tessa went silent.
"What were you doing in Veloria?" Agnes tried to shift the girl’s focus away from herself, but she only looked saddened. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NoveI-Fire.ɴet
"My mother, she is very sick." Tessa said, her voice barely a whisper. "She cannot even come out of her room. Even I cannot go into her room. We went to Veloria city to ask for the help of the church."
"The Church?" Agnes looked confused; even though churches were known to cure many ailments, there was no church in that city that was capable of doing so.
Tessa nodded again and continued, "My father said that only the church can cure my mother now."
Her innocent voice broke with sadness when she said, "I can only listen from the distance as a strange voice comes from mommy’s room at night. Sometimes the voices are so loud that I cannot even sleep in my room."
"Sometimes I... I feel like that whoever is in that room is not my mother." Finally being unable to hold herself together, Tessa started crying. Her sobs echoed in the silent room.
Agnes panicked and brought the girl closer to her chest and hugged her tightly. "Hush, dear. I am sure that your mother will return to normal soon. I am sure she is also very impatient to be with you."
"Really?" the little girl managed to utter a word between her sobs.
"Yes, dear, I am sure of it." Although Agnes promised her this, her mind wandered about the illness Tessa’s mother had. ’Strange voices... what could it be?’
While her thoughts kept spiraling, Agnes heard the sound of even breathing from the side.
Looking at Tessa’s sleepy face, she shifted into a more comfortable position and closed her eyes.
Agnes was exhausted from all the traveling, and the weight of the day pressed down on her body.
Despite the worries running through her head, sleep claimed her quickly. Her breathing grew soft and steady as she drifted into deep slumber.
But the stillness of the room did not last for long.
The little girl beside her stirred. Slowly, her eyelids lifted, and the innocent warmth in her gaze was gone.
Tessa’s eyes were no longer the childish, gentle ones of a girl her age—they were sharp, cold, and knowing. A heavy chill spread through the room, making even the night air feel icy.
The girl sat up without making a sound. Agnes did not stir. She only turned faintly in her sleep, still lost in dreams.
Tessa’s small feet touched the floor, her steps quiet as a whisper. She slipped from under the covers and walked toward the door like a ghost.
The door creaked faintly as she opened it, yet Agnes did not wake.
Tessa cast one last glance over her shoulder, her burning cold eyes lingering on the sleeping woman, and then she stepped into the hall.
The room fell silent again, except for the cold chill lingering in it.
A second after Tessa left, Agnes suddenly woke up as well. She quickly sat up and stared at the closed door with a terrified look on her face.
’What was that malice? That sinister aura—why did I not sense something earlier from her?’ Agnes recalled the aura Tessa gave off when she woke up and trembled again. Her heart refused to calm down. ’There is something very wrong with this place.’
Getting out of the bed, she ran up to the door and made a gap wide enough to allow her to see the hallway.
The first thing she heard was the distant echo of footsteps. ’Don’t be scared. You are now awakened. There is nothing that should scare you.’
Agnes steeled her heart and stepped out of the room and walked down the hallway that led deeper into the mansion.
Her bare feet padded softly on the polished wooden floors, echoing in the silent mansion.
The shadows of the long corridor stretched endlessly, twisting with the dim light of the oil lamps that flickered on the walls.
She followed the sound of footsteps. They were light, quick, and childlike, but soon they faded.
Agnes froze. Her breath caught in her throat. Before she could even think of something, the sound returned.
Only this time, it was not the sound of footsteps.
A low growl, rough and guttural, crawled through the hall. It was followed by faint moans, muffled but distinct, like voices caught between pain and despair.
Her body tensed. She should have turned back. Every part of her told her not to follow, but curiosity took over her rational sense of fear; her legs moved anyway, carrying her toward the unnatural sounds.
The noises pulled her deeper until she reached a wide hallway with a single open door at the end. A faint light flickered inside the room, creating static noises.
Agnes did not continue walking because the sounds... they were coming from this very room.
Agnes swallowed and looked inside the room. Her heart almost leapt out of her chest at what she saw...
A woman, dressed in a maid outfit, was tied to the bed. Her wrists were bound to the headboard with thick rope.
Her hair stuck to her face with sweat, her chest rising and falling in sharp, panicked breaths. Her muffled cries seeped past the cloth gag in her mouth.
But what made Agnes’s blood run cold wasn’t the woman.
It was the little girl standing at the foot of her bed.
Tessa stood there with her back towards Agnes, her figure outlined by the trembling light.
Agnes did not dare to breathe when she realized that Tessa’s slightly hunched figure trembled before the voice spilled from the room. She placed her hand on her mouth to make sure not to let out a sound that could make the little girl turn around.
Because now she was sure of it. The sounds—those chilling, animal-like growls and moans—they weren’t coming from the gagged woman.