Stormy Night

"My brother's diary didn't refer to his biological mother when it mentioned his mother."

Marumi spoke slowly and clearly. "There's no doubt about it: my brother's mother is Snow Spider."

"So the only possibility is that the mother in my brother's diary was his foster mother, and she must have been sent by Father or Grandfather."

When she finished, Marumi looked at Xiao. He smiled. "That woman really was the young master's foster mother. She was one of our people, and she'd been taking care of him since he was born."

"As for whether it was the old master's or the lord's idea, I don't know."

Hearing his answer, Marumi didn't dwell on it. Instead, she continued sharing her theory. "My brother's childhood doesn't seem to have been happy. That much is clear from his diary."

"His foster mother was clearly unfit for the role, and with no father figure in his life, my brother suffered constant psychological abuse."

"That exposed the problems he already had, eventually leading to that tragedy."

Her voice grew firm. She quickly and emphatically stated her answer. "The truth about his foster mother's disappearance isn't that she suddenly vanished one rainy night, as the diary says."

"The truth is..."

"My brother killed her!"

Xiao looked at Marumi, his expression calm. He clearly wasn't surprised that she'd figured it out.

Rather than answer her question directly, he told her a story.

"To be honest, I didn't even know the young master existed until then. As you know, miss, I've always been by your side.

"Then, a few months ago, the old master gave me a task in private—to take over from that foster mother and look after young master Satsu.

"I don't know what that unfortunate woman was called. To make things easier for you to follow, please allow me to call her Miss A.

"Even before I went, I'd heard that young master Satsu had mental problems. The old master's orders were not to interfere too much. He said to leave the defective product to fend for himself.

"As soon as I arrived, I began listening to Miss A's report. The situation was clearly worse than I'd imagined.

"By then, the young master had tormented Miss A so badly that she was a wreck. She spent nearly the whole time hysterically recounting what he'd done.

"He'd wail and pound on Miss A's bedroom door in the middle of the night; stand alone in a pitch-black hallway, holding a knife and giggling; and follow Miss A everywhere, even though they were already at home. (I'd get in trouble if I made this too scary, but you get the idea.)

"By the end, she was even on her knees, begging me to take over as soon as possible.

"Despite what she said, circumstances prevented me from taking over immediately. I couldn't assume her position under a plausible identity at the time.

"Two days after I finished listening to Miss A's report, I received a new order from the old master: abandon the task and return to your side, miss."

After hearing Xiao's account, Marumi said sympathetically, "Judging by the outcome, no one took over that mess after you left."

"That wasn't the case, miss."

"Hmm?" Marumi asked.

"When I left, someone came to take over my task. It was... Snow Spider."

"This is her report after she took over."

Marumi accepted the document and began to read.

Snow Spider's inner thoughts:

When I first heard the news, I couldn't believe it. My son was a lunatic!

I accidentally learned that the people above intended to leave my son to fend for himself. I knew I couldn't change anything, but I wanted at least to see him once.

From the moment I gave birth to Satsu, he was taken away from me. All this time, he'd believed that his foster mother was his real mother.

I had to see my son. He had to know who his biological mother was!

After I fought hard for it, the lord finally allowed me to take over Xiao's task.

When I arrived at Satsu's location, Xiao hadn't yet begun his assignment.

Because the person taking over had changed, the official handover had to be delayed again. His foster mother couldn't accept it. She broke down and yelled at me, "Why did you have to come now? Aaaah!"

That was when I began to understand how serious Satsu's condition was. After three days, I had a basic grasp of the situation and was ready to take over officially. But that was also the day tragedy struck.

According to the plan, all his foster mother had to do was leave the villa. I would handle things after that.

But we failed at the very first step: her departure.

It was a stormy night, with heavy rain and thunder that shook the heavens.

I watched everything unfold on the security cameras.

His foster mother had just packed her things and was about to leave her bedroom when Satsu suddenly blocked the doorway.

Satsu's eyes were vacant, his voice numb. "Mom, where are you going?"

"Mom... Mom's going to find Dad. Someone will come take care of you soon. I've arranged everything, son." His foster mother tried to stay calm.

"Dad doesn't want us anymore!"

Satsu suddenly shouted, "You can't leave me too!"

Then a flash of cold light. Satsu's wild laughter and his foster mother's cries rang out through the security cameras, and blood soaked Satsu's diary.

I think his foster mother must have failed to keep her plans secret. Satsu probably realized she wanted to leave.

After that, both the old master and the lord gave up on Satsu completely.

The handover plan was canceled, and he was left to fend for himself.

I didn't leave. I kept watching Satsu's every move through the cameras.

He began to hallucinate. He even believed he hadn't killed anyone, that his mother had left one rainy night and rain had soaked his diary.

The rotting stench came from the sewers. The maggots were there because the house hadn't been cleaned. The supposed sewer cleaning and housecleaning were all made up. He hadn't done any of it.

Satsu was living with a corpse.

He'd gone completely mad. He began talking to himself by the bedroom door. At last, he slit his wrists and lay naked in the bathtub.

That night, we entered the villa, cleaned it up, and confirmed Satsu was dead. That was almost certain. With hemophilia, Satsu couldn't possibly have survived.

On the lord's orders, we didn't retrieve Satsu's body. We carried out the command to leave him to fend for himself.

Then something terrifying happened. Less than an hour after we left, Satsu woke up!

A hospital in X State, United States

"This is a new one. A dead man comes back to life and then changes completely. Could he have taken over someone else's body?"

"Only kids believe in supernatural phenomena like that!"

"The young master's resurrection was also what made the lord pay attention to him again, miss," Xiao said.

Marumi said coldly, "Enough. I'll be able to see my brother next year anyway..."

"No! I can't wait that long. Doesn't that school hold the Uninhabited Island Exam in the first half of every academic year?"

"Yes, miss," Xiao replied.

"I'll see my brother then."

"You'll need the lord's approval."

"I'll talk to Grandfather!"

P.S. I wonder how many people can accept this resurrection setting. But... I've already had a soul transmigrate into a book, and there's mind-reading too!