Mrs. Rowan shook her head gently. "I can’t... seeing her belongings will only make rember that poor woman all over again."
The sadness in her eyes was so clear that it made my chest tighten. Who would’ve thought the person who mourned my death the most was my apartnt manager, not the people who t every day at work?
"Okay..." I whispered, giving her a small smile. "Thank you for the key."
When I reached the sixth floor, I saw the police tape dangling loosely in front of my door. It looked like Mrs. Rowan really hadn’t stepped foot here again because it would hurt too much, and since most of the tenants in this building were very private, no one bothered to take down the tape.
I sighed as I pulled the tape away. What was the point of the police searching my apartnt if they still ended up closing my case as a simple suicide?
When I opened the door to my apartnt, the scent of lavender greeted my nose. It seed like the air freshener I placed inside hadn’t fully run out yet.
My death hadn’t been that long ago, so it made sense the apartnt still looked the sa.
But if the police had truly searched my place to find anything suspicious about my death, this room would look ssy, and yet it didn’t.
The apartnt looked exactly the way I left it, showing that the police didn’t even try to find the truth behind my death.
I looked around the apartnt, and at that mont, a strange feeling settled in my chest.
This room used to be my little heaven, but now it was nothing more than an empty space that still carried traces of its forr owner.
There were clean clothes on the couch, an empty cup on the kitchen island, and puzzle pieces still half-finished. I even saw my makeup bag lying open on the floor, with products scattered everywhere because I didn’t have ti to fix them before leaving.
Back then, I left all this ss behind, thinking I would clean it when I ca ho. But who would’ve guessed that I’d die and never return?
I stood by the door for a mont, and after such a long ti, I finally realized... I really had died.
Helena Moore had died.
Every little ss in this room was proof that her life had ended.
As I thought about it, tears slowly fell down my cheeks. No wonder Mrs. Rowan didn’t want to step into this apartnt again.
People say that objects carry a bit of life from the ones who use them, and when the owner dies, those objects die too.
Maybe it sounds like a ridiculous thought, but now I realize it’s true.
No, the objects didn’t literally die, but the way they stayed frozen in place since the day I died felt like they had lost their life along with their owner.
[But you haven’t died, Host,] Penny reminded gently. [Your body may have decayed, but your soul is still alive. In every living being, the soul is always more important than the body.]
For so reason, her words made feel a little lighter, and I finally stopped crying. After taking a mont to calm myself, I walked farther into my apartnt and gently closed the door behind .
"There are so many things here... do you think I should take everything with , or... should I just donate them?" I asked softly, my voice still shaky.
[Penny suggests that you keep all of these items for now, Host,] she said. [There might be sothing useful to help clear your old na from all the bad rumors.]
Useful? I frowned. It wasn’t like I kept anything dangerous or suspicious in my apartnt. How could any of these things help ?
Even though I wasn’t completely sure, I still chose to follow Penny’s advice. "Then... I guess I’ll have to ask soone to move all of these things to Lando’s house," I murmured. "Do you think Lando will agree to it?"
[Has he ever refused any of your requests?] Penny asked.
I fell quiet for a mont, and only then did I realize... he really had never said no to anything I wanted.
"Yes, yes, he definitely won’t mind if I do that," I said quickly.
Besides, Lando was already handling my case and even hired a private detective, so he would probably need all of my belongings—well, except the secret ones, of course.
I headed straight to my old bedroom and pulled out a box I had hidden under the bed. A wave of relief washed over when I saw that all of my toys were still there, untouched.
[Host, you were such an interesting woman back then!] Penny said excitedly. [Penny never expected you to have such a complete collection, and—]
"Stop talking!" I yelped, snapping the box shut as fast as I could. "I will throw these things away today!"
[Why?]
For so reason, Penny sounded sad—like she actually hoped I’d start using all those unholy things again.
"Of course it’s because I changed bodies!" I said.
Logically, Helcia’s body and Helena’s body are both mine, but physically they’re different. I’m sure I didn’t have any kind of sexual disease, but it still wouldn’t be safe to use sothing that was used by soone else, even if that ’soone else’ was !
[Don’t worry, Host. Penny also has a complete collection of sex toys in the system’s market, you—]
"Penny, stop talking about sex toys! You’re not a pervert system!" I snapped.
After making sure the box was tightly sealed, I carried it out of the room. I took a slow look around my apartnt, and with a soft breath, whispered, "I’m ho."
It felt strange talking to lifeless objects, but sohow it made my chest feel lighter, as if I was telling them, "Don’t worry, your owner is still alive."
[Your sex toys probably want to feel their owner again too, Host.]
I groaned loudly. At this point, Penny really sounded like a grown woman going through her ovulation phase. I chose to ignore her completely because if I answered even once, she would never stop talking.
Since I planned to ask soone else to pack and move everything to the manor, I didn’t bother cleaning anything.
Besides, staying in that apartnt for too long made my chest feel tight because every corner of it reminded of my own death.
I finally left the apartnt and handed the key back to Mrs. Rowan. After explaining my plan to take all of Helena’s belongings, I walked out of the building.
"Would you like to go anywhere else, Young Madam?" Mr. Silo asked once I got into the car.
With a box of my toys resting awkwardly on my lap, I whispered, "No... just go straight ho."
After seeing my empty apartnt, there was nothing I wanted more than to go back ho and see the people waiting for there.
===
The next day, the people I hired to move my belongings from the apartnt to the manor finally arrived at the manor.
Since it was Sunday, Lando happened to be at ho, and he frowned the mont he saw so many items suddenly arriving at the house.
Actually... I hadn’t told him anything about this because I thought it would be better to explain once the things had already arrived.
"Helena’s belongings?" Lando widened his eyes as soon as he heard my explanation. "Did she allow you to do this?"
I frowned. "What do you an? It’s not like Helena can rise from her grave and scold for stealing her things."
Lando was flabbergasted. "Helcia, that’s not what I ant," he said quickly. "I’m just worried you might get caught up in sothing illegal. Even if you were her friend, the only people allowed to take the belongings of soone who has passed away are their family or their legal guardian."
I looked him in the eyes before saying, "But Helena didn’t have any family left." Then I added, "And she was buried at her old orphanage... I don’t think anyone there would want to take her things."
Before I died, I never wrote anything specific in my will about giving my things to the people from the orphanage.
The only thing written there was that all my money would be donated to charity. But since I barely had any money in my bank account, and the items in my apartnt weren’t expensive or luxurious, I didn’t think I needed to give them to a charity organization.
Besides, I had been dead for more than a month, and according to Mrs. Rowan, no one had visited my apartnt even once, except .
It was strangely sad, but I guessed people also knew from the news that I had been poor for a long ti, so no one tried to take any of my belongings.
But wasn’t my death insurance still active? And all of my docunts—except for the ID card that went missing when I fell from the building—were still neatly stored in my apartnt, which ant no one had ever tried to look for them before.
"Relax, husband." I patted his shoulder and said, "Nothing bad will happen to ."
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