PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 1 by Shinobu Wakamiya

rasping voice challenged him from somewhere quite low down. It belonged to an elderly man in a threadbare black suit.
    The man was small to begin with, and on top of that, his back was terribly hunched, so his head was low. The upturned gaze he directed at Gilbert clung to him clammily; it seemed more appraising than suspicious.
    Although he felt rather repulsed, Gilbert spoke resolutely. “I am Gilbert Nightray of the House of Nightray. Is Miss Dahlia Garland at home?”
    “…Hmm. What business might you have with the young mistress, sir?”
    Gilbert had introduced himself as a member of one of the four great dukedoms, and yet the Garland family’s butler didn’t seem overawed in the least. On the contrary: With an air of superficially polite insolence, he had answered Gilbert’s question with one of his own.
    Gilbert made no attempt to sugarcoat the matter. “We’d promised to meet today, but she never arrived.”
    He’d come to see if she was all right, he said.
    At that, in a gesture that seemed vaguely theatrical, the butler bowed his already low head even lower.
    “My humblest apologies. I see. So that is what occurred.”
    “Is she feeling ill?”
    The butler answered Gilbert’s question with a slight, high-pitched chuckle.
    “Lady Dahlia began feeling poorly late last night. She has taken to her bed. She has always been rather frail, and this sort of thing is not unusual… I regret that we were unable to contact you.”
    Instinctively, Gilbert felt that this might be a lie. However, he didn’t have anything substantial enough to make the other man change his tune.
    Gilbert asked for permission to pay her a short get-well visit, but the butler turned him down firmly, although his tone was still polite.
    “…In that case…” Finding himself stalemated already, Gilbert pressed on. “Could I pay my respects to the head of the household?”
    “Dansen-sama will see no one. He is not fond of people, you understand. If you really must see him, you will have to put in a request in advance. …We cannot, of course, accommodate those who are ill-mannered enough to demand that the master present himself because they are unable to see the young mistress.”
    “Nrgh. Well, I…”
    Gilbert was at a loss as to how to respond. Of course, the butler had the more logical argument.
    Should he turn back for now, or force his way through?
    Gilbert was torn.
    Just then, there was a clatter somewhere overhead, from an upper story, and immediately afterward—
    He heard a faint noise. No, a voice.
    A voice so thin and weak it could easily have been mistaken for the wind.
    Gilbert started.
    Someone had called his name in a pleading tone, as if asking for help… Or so he felt.
    That’s Dahlia’s voice.
    Possibly the butler hadn’t heard it. He seemed perplexed by Gilbert’s abruptly sharp expression.
    In a corner of his mind, Gilbert thought,
This is going to create a big hassle later. …Still. Either way, I—
    At this late date, it wouldn’t bother him one bit to be treated like any more of a black sheep by aristocratic society, or by the House of Nightray itself.
    Gilbert’s lips curved into a faint, fearless smile.
    “Sorry. I’m coming in.”
    With that brief statement, he stepped into the mansion, pushing the butler aside. Beyond the door was a modest entry hall, and a large staircase that led to the second floor was directly in front of him. The butler put out a hand to catch his arm, saying, “Please, sir, you mustn’t,” but Gilbert shook him off and made for the staircase.
    In a normal aristocratic household, behavior like this would likely have brought the guards down on him. However, the mansion was so quiet that there might have been no other people in it. Once he’d freed himself from the butler, no one barred Gilbert’s way.
    He climbed the stairs, calling “Dahlia” as he went.
    Once he reached the second floor, at the top of the stairs, he knew right away:
    Through the door of one of the