Chapter 08
Somehow, the kid was just too kind. And strong-minded, too! Thinking that way, the whole situation became clear in an instant. Based on my rofan experience, it was obvious how the original story must have unfolded.
Here we have the villainess Evangeline, the villainess’s loyal servant Donau, and the heroine Kanna, who is the younger sister of the maid serving the villainess.
Evangeline had always bullied the servants of the count’s household, and she must have especially mistreated Hena. The bullying must have crossed the line, and she probably instigated Donau to kidnap Kanna, Hena’s only younger sister. Then, by rescuing Kanna when she was in danger, the first meeting event with the male lead would occur!
Even though I possessed Evangeline’s body, maybe Donau kidnapped Kanna because of the original story’s forced narrative?
That would also explain why Donau kept babbling nonsense. He muttered that he only did what I told him to do. Wow… the original story’s coercive power is terrifying.
So does that mean I stole the male lead’s entrance scene? Should I have just left it alone? No— even if they’re characters in a book, how could I just stand there and watch that happen?
“There’s nothing more you need to ask, right? The young lady is tired, so we’ll be leaving first.”
After finishing her explanation, Kanna abruptly cut off the conversation. It was far too cold an attitude to be directed at the male lead.
Is this also because I saved Kanna instead of him? The original heroine sticking to the villainess—this is totally a villainess-possession story! As expected of a rofan world setting.
“If any problems arise, please come to the House of Count Rohanson.”
Admiring inwardly, I bid the male lead farewell and turned to leave. The kidnapper, the victim, and even the person who saved her were all connected to the Rohanson estate, so I told him to visit if he ran into trouble while writing his report. Good—one act of kindness added to my tally.
Hena offered to guide us to where the carriage was parked and walked ahead. As I followed her, I felt a prickling sensation at the back of my head. When I turned around, the male lead was glaring at me fiercely.
I didn’t do anything particularly villainous—so why is he glaring? Don’t tell me he’s jealous because Kanna took my side? This is bad. Instead of the villainess route, I think I’ve stepped onto the rival route…
“Captain, the fire has been extinguished.”
“Good work, Rafaela.”
Gabriel, who had been staring at the alley where the pure white doll-like woman had disappeared, finally came back to his senses at his subordinate’s call. He must have been quite distracted—while he was lost in thought, the fire had already been put out. The building swept by the flames was now too crushed to even be called a house.
Unlike the white-clad woman who claimed to have fled from the fire yet bore not a speck of soot, everyone else was covered in ash from diligently clearing the debris.
“My apologies. I was investigating the young lady and couldn’t assist.”
“It’s all right. That fire… it went out on its own.”
“What?”
When Gabriel asked, Rafaela scratched her head and explained.
“It’s true. It was blazing fiercely, and then it suddenly died down. It was strange from the start—it didn’t spread to the surroundings and only burned this house…”
Gabriel stared at the ruins with a deeply unsettled expression.
When he first saw it, he thought he had been bewitched by a demon. In a narrow, crowded slum like this, a fire would normally spread to the entire surrounding area. That was why he had hurried over with the knights to evacuate the people.
He had rushed in expecting devastation, but when he arrived, the people weren’t even evacuating. Instead, they were simply staring at the house that burned alone, as if an invisible firewall had been erected around it.
But what stole Gabriel’s attention wasn’t that strange phenomenon—it was the woman standing before the fire.
At first, Gabriel thought a statue had been placed among the crowd. There was no way such delicately sculpted marble could exist in a slum like this.
He hadn’t even recognized it as a person because it lacked anything that could be called vitality. Compared to it, even a broken tree branch would seem more human.
So when the red eyes of something that ought to have been dead turned toward him, and crimson lips spoke in human language, he nearly lost his composure in shock.
Feigning calm, Gabriel spoke with the woman. As he had expected, it felt far removed from conversing with a human being.
Whether speaking of the servant’s death or looking at Gabriel himself, there wasn’t a single grain of warmth in her. Just as a person pays no mind to a passing ant, Gabriel must have been no more than an ant to her.
The woman at least seemed interested in the maid named Kanna beside her. Perhaps because she was receiving attention from something inhuman, the maid herself didn’t appear entirely normal either. Her blind and fervent demeanor was like that of a fanatic.
“Captain! We’ve found the body!”
At his subordinate’s shout, Gabriel examined the corpse. Donau, was it? Even in death, the charred body—its limbs severed—looked almost like a sculpture.
“This is…”
“How curious. Just a coincidence, right?”
Behind the dismembered corpse, the soot on the floor spread out like wings, and behind its head, the burn marks formed a circular shape, like the halo painted behind saints in holy art—like the divine radiance that adorns angels in masterpieces.
“It looks just like an angel.”
Gabriel wasn’t the only one who thought so. He fell into contemplation. An angel… Wings made of ash would shatter before they could even flap and fall into the abyss. And that halo— to him, it looked as though the ring might flicker at any moment.
“Shall I prepare a room for you at the estate?”
In the returning carriage, Lady Evangeline spoke. Hena doubted what she had heard, but she didn’t dare ask again.
“It must be frightening to go back home. I’ll look after you.”
So she hadn’t misheard. Hena was about to politely refuse when she realized the lady’s gaze wasn’t directed at her—but at her sister.
She was asking Kanna’s opinion, not Hena’s. Hena tightly gripped Kanna’s hand. If she could, she would tell her to refuse. But what if giving even the slightest hint offended the lady?
The image of how Donau died after displeasing the lady was still vivid before her eyes. Even more incomprehensible was the fact that Kanna had seemed satisfied by that grotesque, nauseating death.
The lady did not rush her answer.
That utterly mismatched consideration sent a chill down Hena’s spine. It was stranger still that she wore a human face while imitating benevolence.
Lady Evangeline had been relatively lenient toward Hena, but she seemed particularly gentle toward Kanna. Though it felt no different from rescuing a trapped animal only to keep it.
“May my sister stay with me as well?”
“Of course.”
“I’d like to choose the room myself.”
“You may choose as you please.”
And Kanna was no different. She chatted excitedly to the lady—Hena felt her breath catch.
Though she had always been unusually fearless since childhood, she didn’t even know how to restrain herself in front of the lady. Watching Kanna smile with apparent satisfaction, Hena glimpsed a fragment of the past.
When their father was still alive, the lovable Kanna would sometimes throw a tantrum and knock over her meals to confirm his affection. After he passed away, she matured and stopped such behavior.
Did she open her heart because the lady saved her?
She had covered up the theft of holy water by claiming Lady Evangeline gave it to her. She might believe she had been saved twice. And it wasn’t entirely wrong. If not for the lady’s cat, Kanna would still be bedridden. And if the lady hadn’t gone today, Kanna’s injuries might not have stopped at her neck.
“Then… may I take the room directly below yours, my lady?”
Lady Evangeline told her to choose any room except those on the fourth floor where she resided, and Kanna chose the room directly beneath it on the third floor.
Kanna had never worked at the estate, so she must have chosen it at random—but the third floor had once been where the late Countess Rohanson resided. Wasn’t that her room? Of course, Lady Evangeline probably had no interest in the dead blood relative whose body she now inhabited.
“My lady. That room belonged to the Countess.”
“She’s already passed away, so it has no owner now. It’s furnished, so it’ll be convenient to stay in right away.”
Hena explained carefully, but the lady firmly stated that since the floor was empty, it didn’t matter. She even said she would inform Count Rohanson and the butler.
Hena nodded unconsciously at the declaration that a maid’s sister would take the Countess’s room—then froze.
The butler knew that Hena’s sister had been gravely ill. If he saw her suddenly walking around fully recovered, he would grow suspicious. He might recall the holy water and discover that it had been stolen.
That must not happen…
“My lady. I will inform the butler myself.”
“Very well. Then I will inform the Count.”
Let’s avoid the butler noticing as much as possible. Hena recalled his usual movements. He stayed on the second floor and rarely came upstairs—especially avoiding Lady Evangeline. If Kanna remained near the lady, she likely wouldn’t be discovered.
They only needed to endure for a short while. There was no way Count Rohanson would permit a mere maid’s sister to occupy the late Countess’s room. They would be expelled soon enough. Until then, they should remain quiet.
After settling the arrangements, they turned the carriage toward Hena’s home. There, the sisters packed enough belongings for a few days. They didn’t own much to begin with, so even after packing nearly all their clothes, it didn’t take long.
After loading the luggage and traveling for some time, they arrived at the Rohanson estate.
Normally, a maid would disembark first to escort the lady, but Evangeline stepped down without hesitation.
“Pudding! You came to greet me.”
Spotting the cat sprawled across the front gate’s bars, her previously indifferent face broke into a smile.
Lady Evangeline adored that bizarre creature. It was always strange to see a monster reduced to nothing more than a pet in her arms.
The cat’s three eyes gleamed as it looked at Hena and Kanna—then it leisurely closed them.
Kanna murmured softly,
“The eyes disappeared?”
