The Status Effect Count - Chapter 19

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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 Count, My Lord — Episode 19
No matter what she tried, that Quest seemed impossible to complete, which meant she might actually have to break into the Count’s bath after all.
But if she did that—
‘Well, I’d be fired.’
Thrown out of the mansion without a second thought.
And that wouldn’t even be the worst of it; she could be dragged away by the guard for insulting a nobleman.
“Uuuuuh—”
As Ann let out a groan thick with worry, Jaerongyi, who had circled through the air and perched atop a basket of potatoes, tilted his head and called out.
“Beginner Tip! Check your earned rewards.”
“Rewards?”
Now that she thought about it, there was something strange in her Inventory.
Ann quickly opened her Inventory.
Among the miscellaneous items Ann had stored, the picture she’d seen at the Washing Place yesterday was still there.
“That’s it. The strange spring.”
It was a picture of a small spring with a waterfall, mist hovering thick around it.
Ann pressed it in a panic.
Unlike she’d expected, it wouldn’t simply appear like everything else—
“What is this!”
A bright red hologram clung to the tip of her finger.
[!This location is not suitable for Installation!]
Installation?
The hologram stuck to Ann’s finger was enormous.
Every time she moved her finger this way and that, it struck the wall with a bang, the basket with a bang.
The hologram hit the wall and let out a warning sound.
[!This location is not suitable for Installation!]
[!This location is not suitable for Installation!]
“All right, all right.”
She pressed her finger again, returning the spring to her Inventory, and examined the picture.
A window suddenly appeared.
[Hot Spring of ????
Area 50×100 required.
MyHome Installation available.]
Area? MyHome?
What in the world did any of this mean?
‘The more I learn, the more bizarre words keep piling up.’
Ann felt another headache coming on and pushed the tray aside.
Whatever else she didn’t understand, one thing was certain.
‘I need a place to put this.’
A very spacious place, at that.
‘I know just the spot for something like that.’
* * *
It was a night black as pitch.
A woman carefully opened a door and stepped outside.
The hallway was silent as a tomb.
‘As expected.’
A faint smile played at the woman’s lips.
She had her companions torment the servants all through the morning, keeping them jumping.
Finding fault, dragging them here and there—thanks to working harder than usual, they had all collapsed into exhausted sleep.
A sleep so deep they wouldn’t hear a soul pass by.
The woman pulled down the hood pressed over her head. The face hidden by the hood slowly came into view.
It was Eclair.
‘Fools.’
She moved through the corridor with cold contempt, needing no light to guide her way.
Eclair’s return to this place had been far too easy.
She had exploited Dern, who as a housekeeper at Freneta Mansion had pestered her relentlessly for just one meeting, clinging to her with pathetic persistence.
‘To think he actually believed her words—that she’d expose the current Count’s suspicious secrets and seize the title of Count Freneta as a reward. The man’s stupidity knows no bounds.’
Eclair sneered at him inwardly.
Dern had been absolutely convinced that if he simply smuggled her inside, she would find the secret evidence that Nadan Freneta had hidden away.
Thanks to him, she had managed to slip in among his party.
‘He’s done his work well enough, I suppose. But. Hmph. That’s all he’s worth.’
It was a card she was prepared to throw away anyway.
Once Eclair had achieved her true purpose, she planned to discard Dern and slip away alone.
She knew the layout of the Count’s main residence better than anyone.
In the westernmost corridor of the main house, there was a narrow groove—barely wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.
No one knew why it existed, but since servants rarely ventured down that hallway, cleaning supplies were usually stacked there to conceal it.
Eclair shoved aside the broom and cleaning tools haphazardly arranged over the groove. The wall of the long crevice was revealed.
‘I never knew such a place existed here.’
How could that man have known about something even Eclair, who had been born and raised in this manor, did not?
‘Inside lies something very old and precious from House Freneta. A tragic accident ended the line, and the next generation never learned of it.’
‘I cannot possibly surrender something so precious from the Count’s household to that unworthy wretch.’
‘Rather, one such as you—who has buried your bones in Freneta—deserves it far more.’
The suspicious man she’d met just before fleeing to the Duke’s estate claimed to be the son of a former head butler of House Freneta.
Eclair hadn’t believed him at first, but his descriptions of the old house matched her memories so precisely that her doubt gradually melted away.
Moreover, he possessed intimate knowledge of the Count’s residence.
When she pressed her hand into the groove’s opposite wall, her fingertips caught on something rough and uneven.
Had that man not told her, she would never have thought to feel or press upon the wall.
‘Third from the top, then second from the bottom… in a straight line…’
Methodically, she pressed her hands against the wall.
When she finally pressed the center stone…
Click.
The seamless stone wall cracked open, and a massive stone door swung inward.
‘It’s real!’
She had prided herself on knowing everything about this house.
When he’d spoken of this secret chamber, she’d harbored doubts… but…
Yet here it was.
The Treasure Vault of House Freneta!
‘This must be a gift bestowed upon me by the lady. Even Heaven recognizes that I alone am worthy of preserving Freneta!’
Not some war spirit that appeared from nowhere to taint the house with corruption, but rather the true legacy meant for this Eclair, who was born in this manor and devoted her entire life to it.
‘I shall merely keep it safe. Until one truly worthy arrives.’
Eclair approached the stone door, her eyes bright with exhilaration.
Creak—
The sound of stone grating, and the massive door swung further inward.
Beyond was darkness so complete she could barely see her own hand.
Eclair had no choice but to retrieve the matches from her pocket.
With a sharp strike, the flame caught, and a staircase descending into shadow came into view.
‘I was right!’
Eclair was beside herself with excitement.
In her fervor, she failed to notice someone approaching down the corridor.
“Who’s there?”
Gasp!
A young girl’s voice called out from the far end of the hallway. Eclair snuffed out the flame and slammed the door shut.
Footsteps drew steadily closer. There was no doubt—she would be discovered.
A figure prowling the manor by night.
Anyone would find such a sight suspicious.
‘Better to step out first than be caught skulking about.’
Eclair strode boldly from the darkness.
“Eeeeeeeek!”
A scream pierced the manor before she could silence the figure’s mouth.
‘Noisy little wretch!’
Eclair seized the shadowy figure by the collar and yanked her upright.
Terrified, round eyes stared back at her. A face she knew very well.
“…Eclair?”
“Ann Marita!”
Eclair’s mouth twisted into a smile.
This had just become very interesting indeed.
Lights blazed to life at the commotion, and drowsy inhabitants stumbled from their beds.
Soon figures bearing lamps flooded the corridor where the two stood. As all the key players drew near…
Eclair seized Ann’s wrist and hoisted her high. Then, drawing a deep breath, she cried out in a loud voice:
“This girl was attempting to curse the manor!”
* * *
One quiet evening after everyone had gone to bed, Eclair slipped out through the back door of the mansion.
The mansion had been in turmoil all day long.
It was only today that Baron Dern realized there wasn’t a single knight in the Count’s estate, and in his haste to climb the stairs to the second floor, he’d gotten into a heated argument with Belence.
The two of them had quarreled so loudly that even the Count’s chambers had echoed with their voices.
Yet the Count hadn’t stirred at all.
‘I need to hurry. His hands have stiffened terribly.’
Eclair looked around, remembering how rigid the Count’s hands had felt when she’d last touched them.
Confirming no one was about, she darted through the bushes connected to the back door, disappearing into the darkness.
Beyond the overgrown shrubs, climbing upward, there stood a large building in a state of considerable disrepair on the midslope of a small hill at the rear of the estate grounds.
It was Eclair’s secret place—an abandoned building that no one used.
Being built on the mountainside and left unmaintained was a problem, but there was quite a spacious clearing in front of the building.

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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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