It had been a few days since that talk with her older sister, about her dreams and wishes. Marilyn's passiveness had been breaking since then, with her asking more questions and thinking of things she wanted to do.

But ever since these past few days, she could not sleep peacefully like a normal child would, a curse of a young adult mind in a child's body. It was not out of her concern over not knowing what to do. It was for something else entirely.

Her father hadn't returned home for four days straight.

She knew of his previous job as a Hunter, but her paranoia, stemming from her previous father's death, was overwhelming her mind. It caused her to be anxious about this. She had asked her mother about how come her father had yet to return home, but her answer, despite being valid, did not satisfy her.

She had to find out for herself. She had to know more. She was worried about what might happen if she didn't go.

Which was why she was currently outside of the shared bedroom with her sister, who was soundly asleep, and sneaking out of the manor she had lived in for the past six years of her life.

Or at least that's what she liked to think. In fact, she had been trying to avoid the midnight patrols of the maid of the manor, Bethany.

Bethany was always the one to be last asleep from what she had noticed. She was very dutiful, very dedicated to her job. She was apparently a cousin of her father who had chosen to work for him out of respect, and ever since he got married to Anna Althorn, she had worked tirelessly to keep the cohesion of the family, not just the cleanliness of their abode.

She appreciated that more than anything; Bethany was like a much older big sister to her. But then again, this fact was detrimental to her mission of exiting the house in order to find out more about what her father was doing.

In fact, her action of locking the main entrance to the manor was currently the primary obstacle she had to bypass.

"There should be the keys somewhere nearby…right?" Marilyn said to herself, in her pajamas, thinking deeply about her predicament.

This was a dumb idea, a dangerous idea even. Why would she go out of her way to do this is beyond anyone but her. But her irrationality had overwhelmed her, her anxiety overwhelmed her, her fear overwhelmed her.

She must do it, for the sake of ensuring her father's safety. She didn't want another repeat. And so—

"Miss Marilyn, what are you doing here?"

"Eep-!"

There it was, the worst-case scenario for her. Or actually, it was more of an undesired scenario, for the absolute worst case would be the death of her father.

Bethany was a rather tall woman for a maid, equal to her father, who was 6'1. It was almost terrifying for Marilyn, who was not used to that fact. Maybe Violet would be, she was British after all. But Bethany's height intimidated her, especially in this case.

Other than her height, though, her flaming red hair and blue eyes were also very notable for her features. And her always neutral expression reinforced her fear factor. Having descended from the same bloodline as her older cousin, sharing the same traditions and all, she also knew how to fight.

"I-I was just…"

Marilyn tried to explain herself in a timid manner, perhaps intentionally pleading innocence. But in this case, it was a natural thing for her to do. Although, Bethany wouldn't buy it.

She noticed her intentions from looking at her alone. The youngest member of the Althorns had yet to know this, but the particular skill of reading and predicting people was quite mandatory for someone like Bethany as well as Robert. Because if they faltered in their judgment or were to be ignorant of a crucial detail for just a moment, they could die.

The maid sighed and approached the small girl, who flinched in response to her action. Afterwards, she knelt down.

"You're unsure of your father's safety, is that correct?"

She couldn't really lie here, so Marilyn just nodded and admitted to her plan of action.

"Y-yes…"

"Hmm…" To the maid, it was quite unusual for Marilyn's behavior to be active like this. But for a while, she had noticed her gimmick, of being passive for the sake of something else, not out of her environment. It wouldn't make sense otherwise, because the two parents had worked hard to ensure that their two daughters were raised adequately and happily.

Still, this was a terrible idea, "Why is that?" the maid would ask her, trying to get some type of answer from her.

"U-umm..." Marilyn trailed off, trying to find some way to explain her excuse here. "I-I...don't want to lose him..."

"Hmm..." Bethany would contemplate those words, having been moved by Marilyn.

She could perhaps have her accompany her to the outside world. However, that would be quite an irresponsible move by her without hindsight, but she wouldn't also want to make Marilyn overly worried. On the other hand...

"Then I'll make sure to keep him safe, you should go to sleep, Miss Marilyn."

"B-but!" Once again, Marilyn was being irrational, her small hands gripping onto the body-length dress of the maid. "I...I..."

Bethany held her hands close to her, she could see tears about to form in the girl's eyes. She knew of the words that could come out of this girl's mouth, about how she didn't want to lose her too, or some other baseless but emotional excuse. Her little lady really wanted her to make a blunder here, isn't she?

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She was lucky that the maid had a soft spot for emotional stubbornness. Bethany would blame the decades ago Robert for this.

"...fine."

Bethany relented, and would stand up, the rustling of keys being heard by Marilyn afterward as the woman's hands went into her pockets. This was stupid of her, but she had to make a compromise. She would try to entertain her small lady for some time until her worries die down. She was confident in her strength to do so at least.

"You are…?"

"Yes, but not without my protection. A young lady like you should know that," Bethany retorted, heading towards the door and unlocking it with the specific silver key to the outside world, opening it afterwards. "If we encounter something remotely dangerous, I implore you to run and hide, understand? I will defend you, so run as fast as you can while at it."

The rush of cold air was very apparent, and what met the two of them would be the night time descending upon the frontal garden of the manor that the two of them lived in. Bethany would turn her attention towards the little girl once more, offering her hand.

Obviously, Marilyn accepted, and the two would walk outside the door. Bethany made sure to close it afterwards, of course, and the two of them would descend the white staircase that led up to the manor.

It was quite a sizable building, but nothing too impressive. Certainly enough, it told the average observer that the people that lived here were well-off, nothing more.

But as they would leave the grounds of the manor, heading to the locked gates that barred them from leaving, Marilyn would ask the maid.

"Why are you doing this?"

Bethany stayed silent, though opted to force herself to answer. "I'm as worried as you for your father, that is all."

The small girl's eyes widened a bit before turning her attention towards the gate. Quite pleasantly surprised she was, but it was to be expected. Her father was Bethany's family too, so it was natural for her to be concerned for his safety.

Eventually, the two of them would get past the gates to the manor and leave its grounds. The location that they were living in was rural, so certainly Bethany made sure that it was kept safe up to a point.

Marilyn would notice glowing lights amongst the tree line; they were Phantom Wards, at full power no less, used by the people of this world to keep these dangerous beasts at bay. And for several minutes, this fact was very much present.

"Wait here."

An immediate order was sounded out by the maid, causing Marilyn to halt. Bethany would step to the side, observing the dark forest present before them. She furrowed her eyebrows, noticing the odd pattern before her.

She expected that they would leave the safety of the Wards sooner or later, but she did not expect it to be this early…

Something had gone wrong.

Marilyn could only watch with anxiety in her mind, and Bethany approached the dark woods closer, extending her hand slightly to touch—

Space distorted, like water that had been disturbed by a falling object. Marilyn did not know what that meant, but Bethany knew. Concern filled her mind more than Marilyn's, knowing the implications of this event.

"Do not leave this place. Do as I have told you and run back home. Understand?" The maid's tone was certainly more serious now, as she herself had manifested a halberd upon her two hands and pieces of armor covering her shoulder and chest through the use of magic.

Marilyn could only reply with silence; she didn't know what to do. But her silence was enough, for Bethany would head to the distorted space soon afterwards, disappearing without a trace.

For a few good moments, Marilyn did wait. But an inkling of a feeling began to urge her to not do so, to enter the field, as if it was beckoning her to take action. She didn't know what it was, but she was compelled to follow it.

She ran towards the distorted space and entered the dark woods of this unknown pocket dimension. Her surroundings had noticeably shifted to a distorted and eldritch environment. Hostile atmosphere, darkened woods, unnaturally black soil.

She ran and ran, deeper into the woods and almost out of breath. But she would notice the shine of Bethany's armor under the moonlight, the two of them now present upon a clearing.

Marilyn tried to say something, but the maid roared out.

"What did I just say!? This place is dangerous, you have to leave!"

She had never seen her this angry, nor desperate, before. Marilyn was compelled to follow her command almost immediately, the previous order of approaching the space apparently overridden by the scolding.

Bethany turned around, her halberd's main end pointed downwards towards the ground, her expression grim. "Leave, before it's too late…please."

"Bu—"

She tried to call out to her, to leave with her. She felt unsafe to leave this place alone, after all. But that did not happen.

Instead, what did happen was a stab at her chest, blood pouring out of her heart. A black spike had pierced her, and Marilyn was forced to collapse upon her two knees.

"NO!"

Bethany rushed and dropped her weapon almost immediately, holding Marilyn in her arms. The world felt blurry to the small girl, tears swelling up due to the indescribable pain that she was experiencing.

Simply put, she was dying.

The maid tried to take the spike out of her body with haste, in an attempt to save her. But it was for naught. She's losing blood too fast, and the spike went too deep to be pulled out so easily.

"Stay with me! Miss Marilyn, please!!"

The world felt dizzying to the girl, she could not breathe, she could not even utter a single word. Every attempt to breathe resulted in her coughing up more blood. To what end would this suffering march into. What sort of fate would fell for her again.

The young girl did not think it would end like this. She could not imagine that her own recklessness would lead to this. This time she truly was guilty of her own demise. It was now simply her fault that—

"What…?"

Cold sweat overwhelmed her, for the spike left by itself, pushed out of the girl's body and dropped to the ground. Marilyn herself was surprised, gasping for air as her heart restarted anew.

No blood was ever present, not even upon the grass. Even the pierced cloth was born anew. And Marilyn sat up, confused.

"What just happened…?" Marilyn would think to herself.

The two of them sat in silence over the course of that moment, the weight of recent events pressing down on them. Marilyn's mind was still reeling from the bizarre and inexplicable healing she had experienced. She looked at Bethany, who seemed equally unsettled, though she tried to mask it with a stern expression. The night was eerily quiet, amplifying their shared tension.

But their uneasy peace was soon shattered.

"-!?"

The maid reacted first and turned around as a terrible draconic roar pierced the night, sending waves of terror through the darkened woods. The sound was otherworldly, filled with a primal rage that seemed to shake the very air around them.

An eldritch dragon emerged from the sky and landed, grotesque and massive in size. The beast possessed black scales, it possessed an ever shifting colour for eyes, almost like a tangible shadow. The dragon's presence was overwhelming, exuding an aura of great fear that made Marilyn's heart race.

Bethany quickly noticed that the origins of the distorted space were from this creature. With a swift motion, she picked up her halberd, the weapon gleaming in the moonlight. She stood up, positioning herself protectively in front of Marilyn, her eyes locked onto the monstrous dragon.

"Don't leave my sight until I say otherwise, understand?" Bethany's voice was firm, bringing no argument.

Facing the dragon, Bethany had ordered her once more, and Marilyn could only look onwards in shock. She had never seen Bethany like this. The maid's usual calm demeanour was replaced by a hardened resolve.

The small girl still wondered about what just happened to her. Her mind raced with questions, but there was no time for answers now. The reality of the danger before them was all-consuming. All that she could do was sit and watch what would happen next.