Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 136

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 136.

At the edge of the Estate, where mist lay thick and heavy.

The Girl’s day began earlier than most.

Possessing nothing but a sturdy frame, The Girl opened her eyes before dawn broke, in that hour when the air ran coldest. It was in the early forest, where she had ventured to gather kindling, that she first saw her.

Between the crimson poppies, amid the bluish darkness, someone was walking.

“….”

White hair like moonlight transplanted into flesh, skin so translucent that veins shone through. A frail woman draped in a black cloak cradled armfuls of scarlet blossoms. A presence both witch and demon.

Those crimson eyes that the villagers spat upon and shunned turned toward The Girl through the veil of mist.

Thud.

“….”
“….”

The twig slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. The woman smiled languidly, bringing her index finger to her pale lips—a silent gesture asking for secrecy.

As sunlight pierced through the mist, the woman’s brow furrowed in displeasure, and she vanished into the darkness of the Estate. The Girl remained rooted to that spot.

It was a dawn when longing—longing that would never fade in a lifetime—pierced through her heart.

* * *

When daylight came, The Girl seized the villagers with the fervor of one seized by fever, crying out in an excited voice.

“Heüt inn der Morgenröth hab ich im Magsamenfeldt die Göttin deß Mondes erblicket! Ein gar edel Frawenbildt, weiß gleichwie der Schnee vnnd mit rothen Augen!”

Today in the crimson dawn, I beheld the Goddess of the Moon in the Poppy Field! A woman of truly noble bearing, with skin as white as snow and eyes of deepest red!

“Schweig still vnnd red kein Wahnwitz! Was für ein Göttin! Es ist ein vermaledeyt Vngehewer, welchs vnser Herr auß Schandt verborgen helt. Ein garstig vnnd sieches Frewlein ist’s, so das Liecht der Sonnen nit erdulden mag, vnnd vmb jrer blutrothen Augen willen nimmermehr an den Tag kumen darff!”

Hold your tongue and stop spouting such madness! A goddess? What nonsense is this? That creature is a cursed Monster that our Lord keeps hidden away in shame. A truly hideous and wretched girl, one who cannot bear the light of the sun, and whose blood-red eyes condemn her to eternal darkness, never to walk beneath the day!”

“Kein Göttin, sunder ein sterblich Mensch…?”

Not a goddess, but a mortal human destined to die?

The Girl could not comprehend it. How could a being that shone so brilliantly be despised merely for an affliction, locked away in a cold stone chamber?

The Girl gazed down at her own rough, sturdy legs and sun-bronzed healthy skin. Vitality was all she possessed. If that was the case, she would gladly offer this body to become her limbs, her instrument.

When they met again, a faint smile played at the corners of the Pale Woman’s lips.

“So bistu jenes Mägdlein, dem ich inn der Morgenröth begegnet bin.”

So you are the young girl I encountered within the crimson dawn.

“Du schawest gar… gsundt auß.”
“….”

You appear quite… healthy.

Captivated by longing, the Girl felt overwhelmed by that gaze alone. Intoxicated by the fact that she could remain at her side, she clutched her skirts and bowed her head.

Indeed, she was a true Witch.

….
….

* * *

Rawi tore at his short hair roughly.

“Damn it, where the hell did that madman go!!”

He wasn’t entirely without a clue. A single unassuming sword that Seme always carried lay abandoned in the room. The blade had turned pitch black—something was terribly wrong.

Black Magic. While Blood Magic was merely shunned, Black Magic was a calamity that demanded immediate extermination at any cost. The aura rippling from the blade matched exactly with the ‘omen’ his Uncle had once shown him.

‘Surely not.’

Rawi denied it desperately, swallowing a silent scream.

Black Magic was like a cancer cell that inflicted fatal errors upon the world’s laws. It was a grotesque distortion of causality—overlaying existence and usurping outcomes. No matter how I looked at it, the situation was catastrophic.

‘Should I contact someone? Or should I go find Lee Yeon-woo in Room 444?’

I couldn’t decide.

“….”

Then a telephone receiver, drooping and swaying limply, entered Rawi’s field of vision.

A phone with its cord yanked out. A machine that couldn’t even connect—what on earth had Seme been listening to through it? This Hotel was tolerable only in its meals; everything else defied common sense.

Rawi paced the room. Yet I couldn’t muster the courage to step outside. Lee Yeon-woo had always warned that ‘your assigned room is the safest place.’

‘If I leave carelessly and can’t even find the senior, only to meet with an accident….’

Then it would truly be over.

“Hah,”

When I suddenly glanced out the window, Rawi’s complexion drained to a ghastly pallor.

The sky twisted with an eerie dimensionality, as if oil paint had been layered upon it. Beyond the spiral clouds, an inverted cross burned, embedded upside-down. It was the ceiling of the Labyrinth, constructed from Black Magic.

“…I’m really losing it.”

A plea for help rose to my throat.

* * *

“Black Magic is certainly troublesome, I must say.”

In the orderly Manager’s Quarters, Lee Yeon-woo murmured in his usual composed voice.

“The Lover of Dawn is waiting for Seme to come of his own accord. He’s already drawn near. It seems he’s been enchanted by something—this will become dangerous soon.”

He adjusted his shirt collar in the mirror. White dress shirt, formal slacks. There was no better attire to lower someone’s guard.

“I sometimes wonder if I should have had him sign the contract sooner….”

Even if I could turn back time, I would make the same choice. I would have wanted to find some way to keep Seme bound to this Hotel. But in the end, I failed.

Now all that remained was to proceed with the existing plan without a hitch.

“Hired. Hired. Hired.”

Coco chirped happily beside me at the prospect of a new staff member.

“Seme. Hired.”
“This is truly something I shouldn’t do.”
“No?”
“Bringing a child into this insane place. Isn’t this illegal employment of a minor?”
“No?”

Regardless of Seme’s true nature, his outward appearance was merely sixteen years old. The guilt that came with that appearance clung to me more stubbornly than I’d anticipated.

Soon, Lee Yeon-woo stood alone in the middle of the Hotel Corridor.

My purpose was clear.

“I should arrive before Seme, shouldn’t I?”
“Aye.”
“Don’t worry.”

I placed my hand against the Hotel wall. Beyond the smooth surface, a strange, life-like pulse transmitted through my palm.

“The method may have changed, but the Hotel General Manager is still me, after all.”

A “bug” I was dusting off after a long time. Known as a Glitch.

I pushed my body through the rippling gap in the wall.

* * *

….
….

My dear, my beautiful dear.

Her eyes, the color of flowers held in those slender fingers, gleamed red. In the darkness of the stone chamber devoid of light, her white hair had shone with a sacred radiance, now flowing softly and gently….

“Greta.”

The voice calling my name was so tender, so gentle that it surpassed even the flowing waters of a stream. Whenever those faintly drawn pale lips parted in a smile, my gaze was always stolen away.

Are all Blue-Blooded Aristocrats like you, so perfect?

“Why are your cheeks so red…? You are like a ripe poisoned apple that might burst at any moment….”

When she traced my cheek with fingers as delicate as clouds, there was always a bittersweet fragrance and acrid scent lingering in the air. A secret perfume that only she and I could know.

Intoxicated by it, I felt I could do anything for my snow-white mistress.

“Come here and sit at my feet. So close that I may hear your heart beating.”
“….”
“It is no sin if it springs from love. Give me your hand, and let us share this darkness together….”

If you were to regain the color you had lost, what would you become?

When I rested my head upon her thigh, she grasped my hand in return. Her pale fingers traced across my wrist and cheek. Soft, perfect, and yet a cool smile veiled my sky.

Whether my eyes were open or closed, it was always you.

“….”

I remember you.

Beautiful appearance. Deceptive smile. Noble bearing. A master of dangerous alchemy, a perfectionist who could not tolerate filth. You shed your own blood, yet you cherished the young.

There were many things she loved, but I was not among them.

“….”

…look at me.

See me, please—not my uselessly healthy body or sun-darkened skin. Hold my soul in those crimson eyes of yours. You’ve always treated me with such cold indifference, and you deceive me.

Just once, please look at me….

* * *

No, don’t look.

“You’re still a coward.”

Don’t gaze at me with those eyes.

“Afraid of a love that cannot last forever,”
“….”
“You lack even the courage to recognize who I am.”

There is no eternal love in this world, and you exist beneath this sky yet do not love me.

“Greta.”
Greta.

That honeyed voice enchanted me.

“….”
“Why are your cheeks so flushed? You’re like a perfectly ripened poisoned apple, ready to burst at any moment.”

Whenever those cloud-soft fingers traced my cheeks, a bitter-sweet fragrance and acrid scent always lingered—a secret aroma only The Caretaker and I could know.

“Come sit at my feet. Close enough that I can hear your heart’s beating.”
“….”
“If this is what happens in love, then it is no sin. Offer me your hand, and let us share this darkness together….”

Pale fingertips traced my wrist and cheek. Soft, perfect, and simultaneously a cool smile obscured my sky. Whether my eyes were open or closed, it was always you. I remember you.

Beautiful features. A deceptive smile. Noble bearing. A master of dangerous alchemy and a perfectionist who could not tolerate filth. Even as you shed your blood, you cherished the young.

There were many things he loved,

“…Ah….”

The Girl did not

“Ah, ah, ah.”

enter into it.

“Ahhhhhhh….”

Don’t look at me that way.

Why are you so cruel to me?

Why do you make it so I cannot even turn away? Why do you obscure my sky, steal my body, trample my yearnings and dreams and future? When you have never granted me even a single drop of that overflowing compassion. Why?

My lady, my beautiful lady.

I….

“You are not my guest.”
“….”
“….”

Noble golden eyes curve sweetly, whispering with honeyed tenderness.

“…I love you, Margareta.”

I resent you.

“―■■■■■■■■■■■■―!!!!!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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