MLMAS 13

Chapter – 13

“C, Crofort? Wait a moment. I have something to tell you!”

“Say it later. If you slow down any more here, you won’t make it in time. Go read a book!”

No matter how many times she called, the answer was always the same.

‘I guess I shouldn’t interrupt during work.’

Calming her startled heart, Marie waited for Crofort to come out of the warehouse, but the chance did not come easily.

With the deadline drawing near, he even began eating meals inside the warehouse, and Sasha’s lessons were shortened.

Moreover, Crofort’s temper had become more violent….

“Mariposa, I told you we’ll talk later because I’m busy!”

“Wait a moment, Crofort!”

And so, only watching from the sidelines, time mercilessly passed until the day before the children’s hymn.

‘This isn’t good.’

Marie anxiously searched for Sasha.

“Shasha, where did the doll go?”

Since Sasha had lost interest in doll play recently, she didn’t carry the baby doll around much. After thinking for a while, she pointed toward Crofort’s warehouse.

“I took it earlier but got scolded. So I came out, but I think it’s inside there!”

Since it was the scheduled delivery day, the work should have been finished.

Just then, Crofort opened the door and Marie hurried toward him.

“Crofort, is the doll job finished?”

“Ah.”

Crofort brushed his pure white hair back with a tired face and nodded.

“I just finished. By the way, is your four-year-old messing with books again? I told her not to.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Sasha rolled her eyes, checking Crofort’s mood. But she didn’t let go of the thick book in her hand.

Crofort checked the clock hanging in the study and realized it was already evening.

“Let’s go have class first. It’s already this late.”

“Class?! I want to play more!”

“No. I’ll finish before dinner, so follow me.”

Perhaps because the work was finished, Crofort seemed to be in a good mood.

‘Yes, today is the day. If I don’t speak today, there will be no chance.’

Marie decided to confess her sin.

Since Crofort was going to teach, she thought she should find the doll first and carefully headed toward the warehouse.

Suddenly, he called her.

“Mariposa.”

“Yes, yes?”

Marie flinched and turned around.

Crofort narrowed his bright blue eyes and stared at Marie before saying stiffly,

“Don’t polish antiques. And don’t prepare meals.”

“Oh, yes….”

“Just read a book until class is over.”

Marie quickly nodded.

Only then did the crease between Crofort’s brows relax, and he entered the small room with Sasha.

Marie sighed in relief and stepped into the dark corridor where the warehouse was located.

The warehouse that had been filled with dolls was clean. No, not clean — it had returned to the warehouse’s state before the dolls arrived.

The corners that Crofort didn’t use often were covered in dust, while the desk and sofa that had been used a little looked touched by human hands.

Marie scanned the messy warehouse.

‘Crofort really didn’t clean again.’

She rolled up her sleeves and looked around, then her expression hardened.

There was no sign of the doll where Sasha might have put it — on the floor, sofa, or various chairs.

‘Why isn’t it here? Did we lose it?’

Marie’s face turned pale.

If she not only infused the doll with a gem but also lost it, something serious might happen.

Marie quickly racked her brain and rummaged through the warehouse in a panic.

Then she heard a rattling sound.

Marie stopped searching the drawer and straightened her waist.

This sound was….

“Don’t tell me!”

She passed through tangled antiques, pushed aside an old curtain, and looked into the wardrobe.

As expected, about six hundred dolls prepared for shipment were inside the wardrobe.

Good heavens. Marie stared nervously at the wardrobe, which seemed to twitch as if it might spit out the dolls at any moment.

What if, just what if, Crofort had been happy after finishing work and, without properly checking, put even their doll into the wardrobe?

This was bad.

Marie swallowed hard, checked behind her once for signs of anyone, and carefully opened the wardrobe door. Then, before the dolls could spill out, she hurriedly squeezed inside.

The wardrobe was enchanted with spatial expansion magic, so the interior was very spacious. But there were so many dolls piled up that a giant wave of dolls almost buried Marie.

Marie swayed and waved her arms. At first, she tried to be careful not to damage the dolls, but now she was terrified by the baby dolls reaching her chin and struggled desperately.

‘I—I feel like I’m going to fall!’

Marie whimpered and looked around desperately, hoping to find the baby doll Crofort had given her.

If it wasn’t here either….

Marie’s green eyes, already filled with anxiety, widened suddenly.

“Found it!”

Was it a blessing?

Amid the hundreds of doll piles, she found the baby doll she wanted.

Marie reached toward the baby doll with a bright face. But then the wardrobe began to vibrate.

“Uh, uh, uh?”

Frozen by the sudden situation, Marie’s body stiffened.

When she turned around, the enormous interior of the wardrobe distorted, and the wardrobe door that had been marking its position slammed shut with a bang.

The inside of the wardrobe instantly turned dark.

Marie, trembling, dragged her unmoving legs forward.

But moving through the dolls piled up to her chin in a wardrobe shaking like an earthquake was almost impossible.

In the end, Marie misstepped and fell backward.

“Mom… Mom!”

The fear that had been building up reached its limit.

Marie, tears welling in her eyes, waved her hands to block the baby dolls filling her vision.

And at that moment.

The wardrobe flipped.

The huge vibration stopped, and the room fell into silence. In an instant, Marie felt her body floating.

She couldn’t feel her weight. The dolls were also floating in the air, circling slowly.

Seeing her tears drip upward instead of downward, Marie reflexively reached out her hand.

And then gravity returned to normal.

“Eek!”

Thud!

Marie fell together with the dolls onto the wardrobe floor. Her whole body ached as if it would break.

The mysterious atmosphere that had surrounded the wardrobe faded, leaving only pitch darkness.

Wiping her tear-filled eyes, Marie stood up, pushing aside the dolls.

What happened? Why did the wardrobe suddenly flip?

‘Could it be that Poramen…?’

Marie nervously looked around again.

At that moment, the wardrobe door suddenly opened.

“Ahhh!”

A strange scream accompanied the bright light pouring in. Marie hurriedly hid inside the pile of dolls.

Her heart was pounding violently.

“What is this? Why are the dolls like this? Won’t they get damaged?”

“What’s going on? What happened?”

“No, senior. Look at this. The boss said dolls were coming, and this is what happened.”

“Whoa, what is this?”

People gathered while murmuring. Sweat ran down Marie’s back.

It was clear that Poramen had activated.

The dolls had been delivered to the toy shop as ordered.

She had arrived in the magical world, Primus Magia, together with the dolls!

Marie’s green eyes trembled.

“Okay, everyone. Bring your magical tools. It’ll take some time to move this. We must finish work by dawn today.”

“Yes!”

The people dispersed to fetch magical tools.

To think she had come to the magical world by accident. This was a bigger disaster than infusing the doll with a jewel!

Marie’s vision blurred.

Although Sasha had once gotten lost, Marie had never been lost herself. Trembling with the anxiety and confusion of experiencing this for the first time in her life, her hands and feet shook.

But Marie’s 고민 lasted only a very short time.

She couldn’t stay here like this. To find someone familiar, she carefully moved her feet.

If this was a toy shop, she had to find its owner, Letus.

If it were him, he would know the location of the antique shop and could activate Poramen to bring her back.

“Ah!”

The baby doll flashed in Marie’s mind.

What should she do? Could she find it quickly?

If she wasted time here….

Marie’s emerald eyes, already dim with moisture, suddenly widened.