"Brother Scarecrow, what's going on here?"
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he looked at the refugees in front of him, puzzled.
The Scarecrow's eyes rolled toward Ethan. Then it glanced at the hands Ethan and Attendant Five were holding, turned its head away in annoyance, and thought, ["Hmph! Shameless couple."]
Of course...
That was only the Scarecrow's inner thoughts.
But Attendant Five still noticed its gaze. Embarrassed, she tried to pull her hand out of Ethan's.
Ethan didn't let go. Instead, he smiled and said, "What? Not cold anymore? Or do you mind what others say?"
"N-No!"
Attendant Five shook her head repeatedly before quietly explaining, "I just don't want to make things difficult for you, Lord. After all, you're good friends with Mr. Scarecrow too."
"It's fine. It has someone now too."
Ethan lowered his voice as he spoke and gave Attendant Five's hand a light pat.
Just then, the Cursed Doll suddenly jumped out from who knew where and stood on the Scarecrow's shoulder, loudly announcing her position.
"That's right."
"I'm its partner. Listen up, all you shameless floozies! None of you better lay a finger on my man."
"Otherwise, you'll be the first one I curse to death!"
"..."
Everyone was speechless.
After all, who would compete with a doll over a scarecrow?
How twisted would that be?
"Lady Doll, don't worry. No one's going to steal your man."
"That's right, Lady Doll. We definitely don't have any feelings for Mr. Scarecrow. We only respect and admire him!"
"Mm-hmm! Mr. Scarecrow and Lady Doll are the perfect match!"
Everyone living in the manor knew about the Cursed Doll.
Now that they'd heard her declaration of love, every single one of them wholeheartedly supported the Cursed Doll's love for the Scarecrow.
After all, other than the Cursed Doll, no one else was really "worthy" of Lord Scarecrow.
Just then... among the dull-looking refugees in the cafeteria, one refugee sitting in the corner wearing a cloak stared at the Cursed Doll with shining eyes, as if plotting something.
Then, the cloaked refugee glanced at another refugee sitting nearby.
The next second, that refugee's eyes instantly turned red.
Then...
"ROAR!"
The refugee, who had been eating the Boom-Boom Mushroom Soup handed out by the kitchen, suddenly went mad. He threw down his soup bowl and charged straight at the Cursed Doll.
But after everyone saw what the refugee was doing, no one tried to stop him.
Because...
Everyone knew that the two people you absolutely could not mess with in the entire manor were the Scarecrow and the Cursed Doll.
Touch either one, and you were as good as dead.
At that moment...
Not only did no one stop the sudden attack, they even moved aside and cleared a path for him!
"What's this guy doing?"
The Cursed Doll was clearly stunned when she saw someone suddenly charging at her.
The Scarecrow glanced at the red-eyed refugee and complained, ["Another lunatic. Can't you people come up with something new? Does it ever end?"]
"A crazy person?", The Cursed Doll's eyes darted around. Then she instantly put on a terrified expression and threw her arms around the Scarecrow's neck, "Ah! Hubby, I'm so scared! Hurry and freeze him in place! He's scaring me to death! Boo hoo~"
["Can you be any faker?",] The Scarecrow looked at the Cursed Doll with disdain, ["And I'm not your husband. Could you stop hugging me in public?"]
"ROAR!"
Since the Scarecrow had ignored him... the crazed refugee somehow broke through the crowd and rushed right up to the Cursed Doll. But the instant his hand touched her...
It was as if he'd been struck by lightning. His whole body instantly stiffened, and he fell backward.
Dead with his eyes still open.
"Tch! How boring!"
Seeing that the Scarecrow wouldn't play house with her, and that the attacker had dropped dead the moment he touched her, the Cursed Doll sat back down on the Scarecrow's arm with a disappointed look.
"Scarecrow, can't you treat me a little better?"
"I even went all the way to the Many-Eyed Monster's nest for you. That place was like a pigsty, filthy and stinking. You have no idea how many times I had to wash before I got clean."
"And do you know how heavy those Many-Eyed Monster eyeballs are?"
"They're at least more than ten times heavier than my body. But for your sake, I dragged that pile of super, super, super heavy and filthy things all the way back over mountains just so I could cure your fear of eyes."
"And this is how you treat me?"
As the Cursed Doll spoke, big clumps of cotton immediately started falling from her eyes.
["All right, all right, stop crying! I was wrong, okay?"]
The Scarecrow might have been carefree, but he couldn't stand seeing women cry.
Not even girl dolls.
But he also didn't want to give in to the Cursed Doll, so he could only grit his teeth and say, ["I only treat you like this because you don't know how to talk. Who calls someone by the middle part of their name?"]
["You can call me 'Scare,' or you can call me 'Crow,' but why do you have to call me 'Straw'?"]
"Because you're my Straw!"
The moment the Cursed Doll heard that the Scarecrow actually knew how to comfort her, she immediately smiled through her tears. She even sniffed the clump of cotton hanging under her nose back inside.
"Besides, you're not very good with words either. Who apologizes by saying, 'I was wrong, okay?' Were you even being sincere?"
["That's how I apologize. Listen or don't,"] The Scarecrow snorted and stopped paying attention to the Cursed Doll.
"I'll listen, I'll listen! As long as you're apologizing to me, I love hearing it!"
The Cursed Doll wrapped her arms around the Scarecrow's neck again and kissed him over and over.
Meanwhile... as the two non-humans openly showed off their affection, the cloaked refugee hiding in the corner watched the strange Cursed Doll with shining eyes.
He seemed extremely interested in this being that could kill with a single touch.