"I finally get to see my darling again!”

Selene Donkrig, while being taken to the 6th floor by the Warden, turned to look at her loyal guardian and pursued her lips.

“Why can’t I come every day? Two days isn’t enough!”

Zenzo Jill, the stoic and tall man clad in heavy armor apologetically bowed his head, “My lady, two days is the limit. You have other responsibilities and the trip here isn’t safe.”

“It is safe, though.” She rebuked with a frown, “You’re by my side, aren’t you? No one can beat you, Zenzo!”

The knight’s expression didn’t change, he just kept his head bowed until she finished her complaints and resumed walking.

“This place always gives me the creeps. Can’t you at least clean it?”

Bernard Capilla, who was already used to her incessant remarks, just wryly smiled and promised to thoroughly ‘clean’ the prison. Then again, it was stupid of her to expect a place in which heinous criminals were locked up to look as good as a fancy hotel.

“Ah!”

As they were approaching the corridors, Selene suddenly freaked out and backed away. Zenzo took a large stride and appeared in front of her, his sword out of its sheath and tightly held in his hands.

Bernard too, panicked for a moment, but upon seeing what made her freak out, he rolled his eyes.

It was just a small and harmless black mouse, shivering in fright as it stuck close to the wall.

“Stay back, my lady.”

Although it was just something as small and weak as a mouse, Zenzo looked very serious as he seemed about to stab it. However, Selene grabbed his hand and stopped him.

“Wait! It’s just a mouse… and it’s somewhat cute.”

It was kind of stereotypical to expect a girl to be afraid of mice and rats, but reality was different. Her initial surprise notwithstanding, the spoiled girl wasn’t scared of the tiny black mouse. Instead, she tentatively approached it and extended her right hand, attempting to pet it.

“Aww! Look look! Isn’t it super cute?”

She giggled and carefully lifted the mouse, which didn’t try to escape her grasp. In fact, it nestled in her hand and rubbed its head against her palm as if it was trying to look affectionate.

“My lady, be careful. It’s dirty and might be carrying disease.”

“Diseases are not a problem thanks to my pendant! Furthermore, how can you expect me to leave such a lovely thing on its own? I’m sure it’s also fed-up with this dirty place.”

She caressed the docile mouse, a broad smile plastered on her face.

The presence of mice and other sorts of small creatures wasn’t particularly uncommon in the Shadow Keep Penitentiary, therefore, the Warden didn’t seem surprised or suspicious. He just wanted to take Selene to the 6th floor and quickly be done with this entire matter.

“My lady…”

Zenzo was still objecting to taking the mouse along, but he could only advise her to throw it away. Unfortunately for him, Selene was insufferably stubborn and didn’t care about anyone’s opinion. She kept holding the black mouse while gesturing for the Warden to lead the way.

..

‘I feel like shit. At least it worked…’

A grown man like Arthur was being treated like a pet by Selene. She was gentle, nevertheless, he felt extremely uncomfortable and wanted to get out of her grasp.

The plan was to ‘coincidentally’ encounter Selene when she was going to meet her ‘darling’ and use many hosts to catch her attention. If possessing a mouse didn’t work, he had been planning to try other generally cute creatures.

He was lucky as the girl took a liking to Old Kyrian’s mouse. The plan was officially in motion; It was the parasite’s chance to confirm Christopher’s identity.

As the elevator started going down, Arthur patiently waited till it reached the 5th floor. He knew it wouldn’t stop as the passengers’ destination was the 6th floor, which is why he, when it was time, suddenly leapt from Selene’s hands and landed on the metal handle near the door.

Instead of the modern elevators found on Earth, this one was relatively ancient and relied on a handle to stop it rather than buttons.

As the door metal and slightly rusty door slowly opened, the parasite jumped to the ground and dashed toward the circular room filled with reinforced walls and thick and numerous cell bars.

“Ah-... wait!”

Selene ran after it with Zenzo right next to her. As for Bernard, he was startled to hear the alarm go off so abruptly.

As the girl didn’t waste time chasing after her new pet, it was hard to determine the origin of the alarm. However, since she wore several high-grade artifacts, it was natural for the 5th floor’s Anti-Magic Formation to act up.

It was for this reason that Bernard had to constantly accompany Selene. He had absolute control over the multi-layer formation, so he needed to momentarily deactivate as she entered the floor.

Someone of Selene’s status, especially when far from home, was equipped with insanely-expensive artifacts. So much so that they would make the Formation react due to the large quantities of Mana they hold.

“Where are you going?!”

Selene, with rapid steps, went after the black mouse, which dashed around the cells only to stop before one. Just when she was about to swoop her hands and catch it, it went into one of the cells.

“Ah!”

Selene stomped on the ground and glared at the criminal locked inside.

“Give it to me!”

Her haughty and arrogant nature resurfaced as she glared at Christopher, who was stupefied by this unexpected turn of events. He gazed at the black mouse, not knowing how to react.

The black-furred creature was near his feet, giving him an odd meaningful gaze.

Thanks to Bernard’s interference, the alarm rang only for a minute before the silence returned.

“The hell?”

Christopher examined the mouse before shifting his attention to the girl in front of his cell. With one hand on her hip and the other extended forward, she silently demanded her pet back.

“What are you staring at me for? Give it back to me.”

“U-umm…”

Although he was perplexed, Christopher saw no reason to defy her. He lifted the motionless mouse and carefully put it outside of the cell.

“Good job!”

Selene happily smiled and picked up the mouse, humming as she caressed its head.

“My lady…”

Zenzo gently pulled her back while sweeping his cold gaze across the dark cells. He could feel thick murderous intent coming from several of them… No doubt the 5th floor inmates weren’t happy to see this many visitors.

“Oooh! What grace and nobility! What charm and innocence! If it isn’t Selene Donkrig in the flesh!”

The Painter yelled with loud and clarion voice, which echoed in the dimly-lit floor as he glued himself to his cell’s bars and intensely stared at the creeped out girl.

“Huh? Who are you?”

She was disgusted by his deep stare and unnecessarily compliments.

“Ah!” Like a dramatic actor, the serial-killer held his aching chest, “It wounds me that someone of your stature wouldn’t recognise this handsome visage! Surely you have seen one of my renowned paintings. My Artistic genius has spread to the farthest reaches of the world.”

Confused, Selene looked at her Knight for answers but he just shook his head and pulled her back.

“He’s a dangerous man, My Lady. Do not listen to him.”

“He seems to know me, though.”

“Aha! Of course I know you! Yes yes, you would make a memorable and potentially legendary painting!”

“What’s he on about?”

Arthur, who wasn’t interested in this ridiculous conversation, suddenly snapped out of his long daze. With an impressive speed, he leapt in the air and intercepted a finger-sized barely visible projectile that flew from the cell adjacent to the Painter’s.

Not even Zenzo seemed to have realized what happened as the parasite landed back on the girl’s hand while munching on something small.

Soon after, Selene, who wanted to know more about the eccentric Painter, was pulled back into the elevator.

Meanwhile, the inmate who failed in killing her, revealed herself. It was a relatively tall black-haired woman with a gloomy face, a lot of scars on her face, and a thick silver choker around her neck.

She gazed at her hand, which held miniature white arrows that were painstakingly-made. She had flawless precision and her previous silent attack shouldn’t have failed, but it did.

She saw the black mouse move with a ludicrous speed and intercepted it.

“People… gentlemen… ladies! I’m telling you something weird is going on here! Join in my masterpiece!”

As per usual, the serial-killer kept rambling incessantly. Meanwhile, the woman drifted closer to the cell bars and glanced at Christopher’s cell.

‘A conjured familiar? Something is indeed going to happen.’ She thought to herself as she slowly started agreeing with the Painter’s ridiculous and ever-escalating assumptions.