"Invasion"

The mistress was coming, on this cold afternoon.

The pencil whispered across the paper, lines of varying darkness spreading and linking as if they had lives of their own, gradually taking shape. Richard devoted himself wholeheartedly to this "welcome," while a sense of peace and anticipation slowly filled his every thought.

Before he knew it, the cold had faded, along with that inexplicable emptiness that had been appearing from time to time lately. A smile appeared on his face, and only one thought, one image, remained in his mind—she was coming.

That beautiful lady, that mistress he had never met. He admired her and eagerly awaited her visit... Would the mistress like this place? Would she like the arrangements he had made? Would she smile and praise Ragdoll's loyalty?

Scratch, scratch, scratch... The pencil danced lightly across the white paper. The mistress's gentle gaze came from the page, watching him with a smile.

Excitement surged through him, yet Richard's hands were steadier and faster than ever—he could not even remember when he had acquired such skill at drawing, enough to sketch these marvelous lines so swiftly. In the end, he even picked up a pencil in his left hand, both hands flying so fast they seemed to leave afterimages...

Then footsteps suddenly came from the corridor. Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud. Urgent as a heartbeat, bringing irritating disruption.

"They've come for you, dear Ragdoll..."

That faint, delicate voice drifted through his mind like the wind, carrying indistinct noise within it.

That irritating, familiar cold returned. Irritation welled up inside Richard. Someone was coming to disturb him, to disrupt the moment he would meet the mistress. They were almost at the door—but he was not finished drawing yet.

He sped up once more, both hands dancing over the paper, but