Chapter 5 – [Part 2]

‘Ah, I wish this wasn’t where my forefinger had stopped.’

Is this destiny? Min-ha clicked her tongue.

However, I kept thinking that the old mansion would be the east annex building I had to clean in the first place, which is why I decided not to choose another building again.

Compared to the surrounding buildings, it seemed as though people would rarely go inside of it. On top of that, the atmosphere it gives off was perfect.

It was perfect because it perfectly fit an ex-wife of the Duke, whom he hated enough that he wanted to kick her out of the mansion right away.

‘You’re facing the karma intended for Minase.’

Min-ha walked to the annex with the bucket she placed on the floor earlier as she vowed to live a good life from now on.

Then, she grabbed the old doorknob, opened the door, and went inside carefully, as if she thought the building was going to collapse.

“Oh my god…….”

At the scenery, Min-ha uttered.

Dust had piled up in every corner of the building, and all the furniture was covered with white and old cloth. But, the inside of the annex was decorated with all kinds of colorful decorations.

On the ceiling were frescoes of angels that would only be seen in museums in Europe, and the closed windows were all made of stained glass. Furthermore, the paintings on the walls that were exposed were all beautiful enough to attract attention.

Min-ha looked around in excitement.

“So pretty. But, why is there so much dust?”

It was full of pretty and colorful things, but there was no sign of anyone ever touching anything here. However, Min-ha felt even more strange because it did not seem to have been left unattended from the beginning. Do they leave the well-decorated annex unattended, or do they sometimes visit it, but they don’t clean it? What on earth is the reason? Or is there something going on?

‘Did something happen before?’

Min-ha, who had been pondering and slightly touching things for a while now, started coughing at the dust that rose up whenever she moved and withdrew towards the entrance.

“That’s right. Now is not the time to be playing around.”

After all, I’m here to work.

Min-ha thought so and went out of the annex with the bucket she was holding and left it at the entrance. Then, she found a place where she could possibly get water.

Fortunately, there was an old well near the old building. Min-ha walked straight in front of it and started filling the bucket with water from the well. Min-ha, who had finished filling the bucket with water, entered the annex, wet the mop, and opened the window.

“Cough! They should ventilate the inside of the annex sometimes. What is this, really!”

As soon as I opened the window, the wind blew inside of the annex freely and dust could be seen everywhere.

Starting from the window frame, Min-ha wiped the dusty areas one by one, which made the mop quickly turn black.

Min-ha continued to mop the dusty areas of the annex, wash the mop whenever it got dirty, and repeatedly replace the dirty water with a clean one.

After repeating that many times, the old dusty windows were cleared up. Feeling proud inside, she walked to the furniture covered in cloth and started cleaning each of them one by one.

After cleaning from morning until nighttime, the first floor, which had been a mess before, gradually became clean.

“Huh?”

Min-ha raised her head when she felt someone’s presence.

He isn’t making his presence obvious as if he’s saying ‘I’m here.’, but it feels like someone is staring at me without saying anything. With puzzled eyes, she turned her head around in the direction where she could feel his presence.

‘It’s strange. I’m pretty sure there was someone there…….’

Min-ha, who turned her head, thought it was her mistake and walked to the entrance with a bucket full of dirty water.

After a few more mopping here and there and emptying of the dirty water to replace it with a clean one, I hummed as I felt content with the first floor, which had already become remarkably clean.

“Hmmm~ Hmmm~”

– Rattle

Then, I heard a rattling sound on the side of the stairs leading to the second floor.

‘Wh-What! Who is it! I-Is it a thief?’

Min-ha emptied the water out of the bucket that she was holding and went back in tightly holding it on one hand. With a bucket on one hand for self-defense, she climbed up the old wooden stairs that made a creaking sound every time she went up.

“Oh…….?”

Min-ha, who was looking around carefully, felt her pulse dropping as soon as she saw the person at the end of the stairs.

Sitting at the end of the stairs was a little boy of small build. The boy, who had black hair, looked up at Min-ha with widened eyes. Then, she rolled her emerald-like green eyes, which seemed to be quite surprised at the sight.

Min-ha quickly put down the bucket she was holding in her hand when she saw the boy, who was unaware that his silver-white high end shirt and velvet textured black pants were dirty, sitting on the dusty floor. Afterwards, she lowered her upper body and said,

“Oh, hello.”

“………!”

However, Min-ha’s voice startled the boy, and he crouched back as if he was scared of her.

Soon after, Min-ha’s face was filled with tears upon realizing that a cute child avoided her as if she was a monster. She intentionally lowered her body and approached him in order for him not to be afraid and to become calm, but did it have more of an adverse effect? Or is it because of her husky voice, which she got from inhaling too much dust?

After she coughed in vain, Min-ha called the child once again in a voice that was more pleasant to the ears.

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