After Lilith left, Elena obediently scrubbed every dish spotless, with no desire whatsoever to give Lilith anything to pick at.
Lilith was upstairs working now, which made this the perfect moment for Elena to act!
Not to poison her, though — to explore.
Poisoning her now would still be a little too obvious, and who knew whether Lilith was deliberately fishing for it.
Elena had only given the estate a cursory look when she arrived, and had not yet had a chance to investigate it in detail.
Besides the villa Lilith lived in, the estate had another building outside that looked like a standalone warehouse, and a garden.
There was a little wooden shed beside the garden too, and Elena had never gone in to look at either.
After a moment's thought, Elena headed for the garden.
Except that calling this place a garden was generous; an empty lot would be closer.
After all... there was not a single flower in it! And it looked as though it had been abandoned a long time ago.
Right beside it was the little shed, which was extremely small and extremely plain, nothing more than a rectangular box lying on its side.
The shed door was not locked. Elena gave the handle a light twist and pushed her way in.
The inside was lined with racks, and the racks held tools of every description, though they were basically all gardening and repair tools.
But these tools looked nearly twice as old as Elena was. Rust was the least of it — they had built up a thick layer of dust.
"Exactly how long has it been since anyone came in here?"
Elena could not help remarking on it, then looked things over carefully and finally turned up a few tools that were still barely usable.
Some rope, nails, a grappling hook and some gears, all relatively undamaged, not too rusted, and reasonably sturdy.
Looking at the pile of gear, an idea suddenly came to Elena.
These could be used to build a capture trap!
Lilith had used a trap just like that to string her up last night, and Elena intended to let her taste the same thing!
But this could only be Plan B; poisoning was still first in the order.
With that in mind, she took out everything she could use one piece at a time and packed it into a leather satchel.
The satchel had been found in the shed too. It looked very sturdy and hard-wearing, so she had helped herself to it, and now it was exactly right for carrying the gear.
Before long Elena walked out of the shed hauling a large bag and pulled the door closed behind her.
But now there was another problem: what was she going to do with a bag full of this stuff?
Elena sank into thought again.
She could hardly take it back to her room. Or put it in the villa's storeroom?
Either one would stand out far too much!
She turned it over for a long while and finally decided to leave the gear in the shed and come back for it when she needed it.
Besides, Lilith probably never came to this shed, or there could not have been a layer of dust that thick.
At that thought, it occurred to Elena to move the poison's hiding place here as well.
But thinking it over more carefully, the poison was already buried, and shifting it would be a nuisance, so in the end she left it where it was.
After spending a little time hiding the bag, Elena made her way to the other building.
The whole structure was built out of wood and appeared to have only one story, and from the outside it looked like a warehouse.
The warehouse's main door was only wedged shut with a plank, with no lock on it whatsoever.
"If you don't lock it, you can't blame me. Heh heh~"
Elena carefully lifted the plank away and opened the door, in case it made too much noise.
She went inside.
It was dim in the warehouse, with only a few small windows up high letting in some sunlight, and Elena could just barely make out the layout.
The warehouse was almost entirely bare — there were not even any shelves — and there was only a large wooden table in the middle of it.
On the table lay a heap of metal stock, along with some implements for taking things apart and putting things together.
The materials all looked like discarded half-finished pieces, and Elena had no idea at all what they were meant to become.
Timber, large blocks of metal, and fine hemp cord were stacked in the corners along both walls, presumably the materials for whatever was on the table.
Elena went around the place carefully twice more and did not find one useful thing; this entire warehouse held nothing but that pile of scrap iron and wood.
"What in the world is this place even for?"
Elena could not help asking it aloud.
She kept wandering, and when she reached one corner she suddenly noticed that the sound of her footsteps on the floor was not quite right.
"Hm? That's odd..."
She lowered her head, stamped hard on the floor a few times, and listened closely to the sound coming back.
Thud, thud—
And with a bit of an echo to it... it was hollow underneath!
Elena crouched down at once and shifted position slightly, and a thin shaft of light fell across exactly where she had been standing.
A brown rug was spread over the spot. She threw the rug back, and what had been hidden beneath it was revealed.
It was a concealed door, fitted with a metal lock that looked extremely solid.
"So there's a cellar hidden down here. Well, now that I've found it, don't blame me!"
With that Elena set about trying to pick the lock. The lock was new, completely out of keeping with everything else in the warehouse.
She also discovered that it was not an old-fashioned design; picking it with wire was all but impossible.
So... if she wanted to explore down there, she would have to find the key first.
Just then a voice she knew and did not want to hear reached Elena's ears.
"Elena— Where are you—"
Lilith was calling her.
The voice startled Elena badly. Her hands jerked, and the lock dropped to the floor with a dull thump.
"Dammit! Why call me now of all times? What does that old hag even want!"
"Elena—"
Lilith's voice kept on urging her, and Elena hurriedly spread the rug back into place and walked out of the warehouse.
Outside, Lilith had already come out of the villa, and the moment she reached the doorway she spotted Elena still looking rather flustered outside the warehouse.
She strode over toward Elena.
"So this is where you were."
Lilith spread her arms wide, looking as though she meant to throw them around her.
Elena saw where this was going and quickly dodged aside before answering.
"Nobody was running away! I just didn't hear you."
Lilith smiled at Elena's flustered state.
"So my little maid doesn't want to leave after all? Could it be you want to be my maid for the rest of your life~?"
"Who'd want to be your maid for life, hey! Don't flatter yourself!"
Elena turned her face away and shot back without hesitation.
"So what did you want me for? Shouting that loudly, too."
"To worry about my little maid going missing, of course. If my little maid suddenly ran off, I'd be terribly sad and terribly upset~"
"Huh?" Elena was lost for words.
"Pfft... What a cute expression~ All right, it's actually nearly evening. Time to get ready to eat~"
As she spoke, Lilith was abruptly right in front of Elena, tilting her chin up with her right hand, a strange smile on her face and a touch of threat in her voice.
"Even so~ Don't you go getting ideas about running away. If I have to catch you and bring you back, what's waiting for you is a far crueler punishment~"
Lilith's sudden forcefulness sent a chill through Elena. Her body shuddered before she could stop it, and she did not dare move at all.
The word "punishment" woke her bad memories all over again, and even her voice came out shaking.
"I-I understand..."
Only when she heard Elena's answer did Lilith nod, satisfied, and release her.
"Be a good girl~"
Lilith turned and left, going back inside the villa.
"Honestly... what even is any of this!"
"This woman — I'm supposed to be here to kill her..."
Elena stood where she was, and only once she had watched Lilith's back disappear through the doorway did she let out a breath and look toward the warehouse.
She had no chance to go exploring again now, and no key either. Once she found the key, she would go and get to the bottom of it.
With that thought, Elena followed after Lilith.