The Status Effect Count - Chapter 16

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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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Abnormal Condition Count: Day 016
‘The ice won’t melt!’
Ann opened her Inventory, summoning it inwardly.
The ice inside the cup she’d set in there earlier still sat solid and unchanged. And more than an hour had already passed!
Objects stored in this ‘Inventory’ wouldn’t break no matter how many times her body struck something or shook, and they never deteriorated no matter how much time passed!
‘Oh, precious thing, precious thing!’
Ann wanted to pepper this checkered tray with kisses.
But if she did, the contents inside would tumble right out, so instead she planted kiss after kiss on Jaelong-i perched on her shoulder.
The little bird just chirped “Chirp-tweet, chirp-tweet” each time Ann’s lips grazed its beak.
“I said it was noisy.”
Oh no.
Ann straightened her back. How had he known from across the room?
Nadan, lying beneath the drawn curtains, gave a dry cough.
[Count Nadan of Phrenetia
※Abnormal Condition—30 days until death]
The golden nameplate was visible from a distance now.
A full day had passed, and it had reset to 30 days again.
‘How am I going to extend it again?’
Ann drifted uncertainly closer to Nadan’s side. Outwardly he seemed perfectly fine….
A trickle of green ichor ran down Nadan’s pallid cheek.
‘I want to wipe it away for him.’
Ann’s eyes brightened.
Standing still made her itch to move.
She’d been watching quietly from a distance, hovering nearby, when suddenly Nadan’s closed eyes snapped open.
“What—?”
“…Really, you can’t stay put for a moment.”
Nadan sighed the words, watching Ann clutch her startled heart.
Though he’d been lying down for some time, his voice carried not a trace of sleepiness.
This was the moment.
“Shall I wipe it away for you?”
When Ann picked up a damp cloth, Nadan’s eyes narrowed.
“You’ll fall asleep right away once you feel refreshed.”
“Everyone’s scrambling to keep away from me, yet you alone seem desperate to draw near.”
‘Well, that’s because my job’s survival depends on it.’
Instead of saying that, Ann simply smiled brightly.
“I’m your personal attendant, after all.”
Though his expression showed disapproval, Nadan eventually gave a weak nod.
Finally!
Ann lifted the cloth, wrung it out gently in warm water, and deftly wiped the Count’s face clean.
The ichor came away with each pass of the cloth.
‘But why isn’t the combo appearing?’
Ann’s eyes flicked upward.
Today a different quest was written on the tray than yesterday.
[Clean up the Count (0/1)]
What in the world?
“Ann.”
Why isn’t it filling in?
—Scrub-scrub-scrub-scrub-scrub.
“Ann Marita.”
This is strange. There shouldn’t be any dirty spots left by now, should there?
This quest thing must be completely mistaken.
Ann gripped the cloth tighter.
Where? What other filthy corner could still need—
“Ann Marita!”
“Huh?”
Ann’s eyes flew open.
Before her stood Nadan, his face utterly flustered, staring down at her.
“…Do you have any idea what you’re doing right now?”
“What? I was….”
Ann looked down at her own hands. Oh—her fingers had wrapped around his shirt as if to tear it apart.
“Mom!”
Anne quickly released her grip and stepped back.
Beneath the stretched-out shirt, firm abdominal muscles flexed visibly before her eyes.
Get yourself together, Anne Maritha. He’s your employer.
Her flushed cheeks drained of color in an instant, turning pale instead.
‘What have I done?’
Nadan exhaled a soft sigh.
“I never suspected you of approaching me like that, but…”
“That’s not what this is!”
Suspicion was piling upon suspicion.
“I was so focused I didn’t realize what I was doing! I was tearing, pulling, no—ripping at your shirt, I mean—I didn’t intend to—!”
Anne protested earnestly.
But Nadan, watching her with narrowed eyes, unceremoniously drove her out of the bedroom.
‘And I still have more hours left on my shift…’
Anne lifted her gaze to the tray that refused to disappear.
[Make the Count presentable (0/1)]
The tray still hovered mockingly in midair, unchanged.
“You’re the reason I got thrown out.”
Anne muttered quietly to herself.
* * *
“Have you never heard the term ‘workaholic’?”
Sonya let out an exasperated sigh.
Warm sunlight.
Cool breeze.
Anne answered nothing and moved her feet with determined vigor.
With each step on the bedding, excess starch water drained away.
More than satisfying—it was exhilarating. The very stress seemed to be wrung out along with the water!
Anne wiped away her perspiration and smiled contentedly.
A week had passed since Anne became the Count’s personal attendant. The demanding service that had been difficult from the start had quickly become routine.
Even the Count, who used to give her tedious errands, had changed.
‘He was probably just testing me from the beginning, wasn’t he?’
Anne put more strength into her feet as she trampled the laundry.
Sonya shrieked.
“You’ll tear it!”
“It’s fine! It’s good cloth!”
Anne felt Sonya’s gaze full of disbelief but pretended not to notice.
Besides, once Anne began ignoring the quest tray, her work became dramatically easier.
Often the tray would wail with a loud siren and blaze with rainbow light in wild protest, but Anne steadfastly ignored it.
‘I don’t want to be misunderstood again!’
No matter how hard she tried to help, she only ended up being doubted.
Anne grumbled internally.
‘From now on, I’m ignoring it. This tray, the quest, all of it!’
The tray erupted again.
Now immune to its constant intrusions, Anne squeezed her eyes shut and shoved the tray forcefully into the corner.
Having finally overwhelmed the tray’s stubborn resistance, Anne exhaled a long sigh.
“Don’t sigh—if you’re tired, stop and rest.”
“I’m fine!”
“I’m just saying, don’t blame me later.”
Sonya shot back pointedly.
“I could’ve done all of this myself without you insisting on helping.”
“Mmm…”
Anne glanced at Sonya’s laundry basket with glazed eyes.
Sonya, whose turn it was to do laundry that day, had only barely scrubbed one apron so far. Her hands rubbing at the grease stain looked thoroughly clumsy.
“What, what are you looking at!”
“Want some help?”
“I told you to go rest!”
Sonya’s face burning red, she shoved the apron roughly into the tub and scrubbed it vigorously.
Anne straightened the remaining laundry with an awkward smile.
She reached to touch the pile that was left, only to get the back of her hand swatted by Sonya.
Such a difficult friend indeed.
Ann shrugged and let herself drop onto the grass beneath a nearby tree’s shade.
It was nice not to think when she was moving her body.
Hmm. But gazing up at the blue sky, her mind grew tangled.
‘Is it alright to leave things as they are?’
A week had passed since she’d ignored the quest.
The Count’s deadline steadily shrank, and his condition grew worse with each day.
Yesterday he’d scarcely left his bed. Things probably weren’t much better now.
Ann felt as though his decline were somehow her fault.
‘But what else can I do?’
Whenever she tried to bathe him, he would open those blue eyes to narrow slits and stare at her for a long moment.
As if to say, ‘I know exactly what you’re trying to do.’
Ann pulled an apple from her Inventory and bit into it.
She was growing accustomed to using the Inventory in secret.
Ann used it quite liberally—brooms and rags, soap and washboards, even water buckets went in and out.
Not just tools, either; she’d stocked away simple snacks and sweets she’d received as errand money, all neatly arranged.
‘I don’t know what I’d do without it now.’
Ann sighed contentedly and gazed slowly through her Inventory.
‘Huh?’
Ann’s eyes widened. Between the grid squares, something she’d never put in caught her attention.
A small ornament shaped like a spring.
Where on earth had that come from?
Ann searched her memory.
Had it gotten mixed in when she dumped things meant for the Count?
‘I’ll know once I take it out.’
The moment Ann reached toward the ornament——
“Ann, Sonya! We have a crisis!”
Peter came running toward them, his face drained of all color.
* * *
The manor was in chaos.
Many people stood in the lobby of the house.
A man in expensive-looking noble attire was causing an uproar.
Ann approached the gathered servants and asked.
“What on earth is happening?”
“Someone showed up claiming to be from a collateral branch of Phrenetia!”
“A collateral branch?”
“But wasn’t the Phrenetia line supposed to have ended?”
“He says he’s the cousin of a cousin of a very distant relative of the previous Count.”
What? That’s basically a stranger.
In that moment, the lobby rang out loudly.
“Ha! So you dare to block my way, then?”
The voice was arrogant and overconfident.
“I am Dern, also of the Phrenetia family. What right have you to stand in my path?”
Belence answered firmly.
“The Phrenetia household is currently enforcing strict restrictions on outside visitors.”
“Outside visitors? This place is as much my home as anyone’s!”
Really?
Ann glanced at Peter and Sonya, who had worked here far longer than she had.
Yet both Sonya and the other servants bore expressions of someone who had never heard the name Dern before.
So he was lying, then.

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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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