APIBAGS Chapter 30

The guard flinched, caught off-guard, and moved to help Daisy to her feet.

"Please, just tell me where she went. I have to see her."

"How would I know that? The carriage left ages ago."

The strength drained out of Daisy's body all at once. She'd believed that coming to Rohanson Manor would resolve something. Why had she believed that?

"You can't keep standing here making everyone uncomfortable. Come back after the young lady returns."

The guard's tone made plain that her continued presence was an inconvenience.

"Should I call you a carriage?"

"I'm—I'm fine."

She had no money for a carriage anyway. Daisy hauled herself upright on legs that had stopped working properly. I should have gone to the temple from the start. First things first: find the knights she'd seen before.

Back to the lodgings, collect her money, change into the nun's habit. She'd have far easier access to the temple that way.

Daisy turned her back on Rohanson Manor and walked toward the inn. Her legs ached from running all the way to the estate. Somehow, even the urgency that had been driving her had gone—dissolved somewhere between the gate and the road.

Then spots appeared on the ground. She looked up. She hadn't noticed when the clouds had rolled in, but raindrops were already falling. One landed at the corner of her eye and mixed with the tears already there, tracing a path down her cheek.

"It's raining, let's hurry!"

"Oof—!"

"I'm so sorry—!"

Children bolted past trying to escape the rain and collided straight into her. It was only children bumping into her, nothing more, but her legs had nothing left—she went straight down. The child, afraid she'd be angry, apologized without stopping and kept running.

Daisy had no energy to be angry. No energy to stand back up. She stayed where she'd fallen, sitting on the wet ground. It brought back the carriage that had nearly hit her earlier. If only it had.

She had her head down when a shadow fell across her, swallowing her whole.

Come to think of it, she was in the shopping district. She was blocking traffic.

"I'm sorry, I'll move."

"Daisy."

She knew that voice. The recognition snapped through her. The owner of the shadow was everything opposite to the darkness Daisy herself had made—white, completely white—and the person she'd been searching for so desperately, until just moments ago.

"Evangeline... Lady Evangeline."

She'd said the name once before; saying it a second time wasn't as difficult. She was still frightened, still full of resentment—and yet her body had the audacity to feel relieved. She found herself absurd.

The rain had gone quiet, as if the whole world had been swallowed by something. She'd thought it had stopped, but it was only an umbrella. The umbrella tilted toward Daisy was already soaking through the back of Evangeline's dress.

"How did you—how did you find me here?"

"I was looking."

She actually came looking and found me. Just like that. Like magic.

The thing that had turned Evangeline inside out smiled with something that looked like compassion. The smile was very like the one Daisy remembered from the real Miss Evangeline—the smile of the girl Daisy had once cared for.

"I have a request. You said you'd grant me a wish."

Daisy took Evangeline's skirt in both fists and held on. Like it was the only lifeline she'd been thrown. Like letting go would mean drowning.

"I did. But there'll be a price."

You know what I want, don't you? Evangeline asked.

A price. Daisy understood precisely what that meant. When she'd summoned the demon, the demon had looked at Father Berga and called him a sacrifice, right there to his face. It had said next time it would collect proper payment.

"You can... you can have me."

She'd already killed someone. She was no longer clean, unmarked, the kind of thing a demon would want. But Daisy had nothing else left to offer.

"So please. Please help me."

"Alright. I'll grant it."

Evangeline held out her hand. Daisy knew she shouldn't take it. She took it anyway. A cold, snake-like sensation wound up her arm, climbed toward her throat, and squeezed. She'd thrust her face into the serpent's open jaws.

The strange thing was how warm it was inside.

A thought struck her out of nowhere, somewhere in the middle of the carriage ride.

Wait. We're going to the orphanage, aren't we? The whole point is finding Daisy, but we are technically going to an orphanage. And I'm showing up empty-handed?

Whenever you saw people going to volunteer at orphanages, they arrived absolutely laden with food and gifts. Showing up with nothing felt wrong on every level—basic decency aside, from an image-management standpoint for villainess rehabilitation, I really needed to bring something.

"Let's stop at a nearby shop."

"Yes."

I hadn't even specified which one, but somehow the driver heard me anyway, and the carriage pulled up in front of a bakery.

"I'll go in," Kanna offered.

"Buy plenty of bread for the children, then."

I pressed a gold coin into her hand.

"Are you trying to buy the entire bakery?"

Ah. Right. Prices here are significantly lower than I keep forgetting. But a gold coin was all I had on me.

"Get a reasonable amount. Keep the rest as payment for the errand."

"Thank you so much!"

Kanna's whole face lit up as she jumped down from the carriage. She was so delighted about the errand money that I could hear her humming from here. I should start giving her a small allowance for things like this, shouldn't I?

"Jelly. Go and help carry."

"Yes, yes, fine."

Jelly put on a deeply aggrieved expression, deposited Pudding into my arms, and climbed out of the carriage. Was he sulking because I wasn't paying him too? He was already living here rent-free, eating my food without lifting a finger, and he wanted pocket money on top of that? Pudding appeared to agree—he let out a small mreow of contempt.

Kanna and Jelly returned shortly with bread stacked in both arms. It genuinely looked like they'd emptied the entire bakery. A warm, golden, buttery smell filled the carriage completely.

My mouth was watering, so I swiped one from Jelly's stack and took a bite. Hm. Just... bread. The smell was extraordinary—fresh from the oven—but the taste was perfectly ordinary. Not bad, just ordinary. The Rohanson Manor cooks had probably ruined my palate.

"Next, a ready-made clothing shop."

"We're buying more things? Do we have to?"

Jelly clearly did not understand the operating principle here. If you want to win someone over, you start with their family first. Not that I was going to win Daisy over—I was going there to grovel on my knees and beg her to tell me exactly what she'd said to Henna and Gabriel.

I got out at the clothing shop too. I hadn't bought clothes for myself since the possession, or for Kanna, or for Henna—and here I was buying things for strangers. Were they bothered by that?

I glanced sideways at Kanna. She was completely enchanted by the tiny children's clothes, everything half her own size. That's the generous spirit of a female lead, I suppose.

"Is this fun for you?"

"Yes... I've never really done proper shopping before."

Kanna spoke as if embarrassed. Isn't the tragic heroine's backstory just too cruel? If there were a male lead here, he'd immediately grab her hand and take her clothes shopping. Everything from here to there, he'd say.

But I was just a villainess. I couldn't drop everything urgent right now and drag Kanna shopping.

"We'll come together next time. You and Henna both."

"Miss, that sounds wonderful!"

A consolation prize—but Kanna didn't know that, and she beamed like I'd handed her the entire world. Should I just buy her a shop? I was in the middle of a pleasant little fantasy about dressing Kanna and Pudding in matching outfits when I happened to catch Jelly's eye.

"What?"

Jelly opened and closed his mouth once, apparently decided against whatever he'd been about to say, and went back to piling clothes into the growing stack. Exactly how many was he picking out?

Because of Jelly, the stack of children's clothes had become so enormous it barely fit in the luggage compartment. The shop owner was giving us extremely suspicious looks by the end.

This is an opportunity. I made a point of explaining at some length—somewhat urgently—that Evangeline Rohanson was purchasing all of this to volunteer at an orphanage. This wasn't a shop that catered primarily to aristocrats, so the story wouldn't travel far. But even a little word of mouth wouldn't hurt.

"Mi—miss, please take this umbrella as well. The sky doesn't look—"

As a bonus, the shop owner pressed an umbrella into my hands. Her hands were shaking, she'd clearly bitten her own tongue, and she was keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the floor—so from the outside this probably looked less like an act of generosity and more like noblewoman forcibly extracts umbrella from trembling shopkeeper.

The umbrella had a lived-in quality to it—something she used herself. But if it was going to rain, why was she giving away her only umbrella? How was she getting home? I almost declined out of reflex. Then I thought about it.

If I refused, people would probably say Evangeline Rohanson was too proud to accept gifts from commoners, adding to my infamy.

"I'll use it well."

"Yes! Thank you so much!"

You're the one who gave it to me. Why are you the one saying thank you?

The shopkeeper's entire expression opened up when I took it. Five seconds later it folded itself back into the same anxious configuration, but still.

Outside, the sky was already doing exactly what she'd warned—raindrops falling steadily. Kanna smiled softly and opened the umbrella. It wasn't very large; just enough for the two of us.

Is Jelly going to sulk about this? I thought—but Jelly didn't appear remotely bothered. He walked straight into the carriage through the rain without a word. Do romance fantasy male leads not use umbrellas? Sub leads either?

The mystery resolved itself once I was back inside. Jelly was perfectly dry. Ah. Right. Werewolf shaman. Of course he has some kind of stay-dry magic. I'd worried for nothing.

"Is there anything else to buy?"

"No. Now let's go find Daisy."

Food and a range of children's clothes ought to do it. I didn't know what toys looked like in this world, so guessing was probably a bad idea.

The rain sharpened and began hitting the glass. I leaned back with Pudding in my lap and stroked him until drowsiness crept in. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Jelly was nudging me awake.

Already? I looked outside—it didn't seem like we'd come very far. Still narrow streets, buildings crowded up against each other. No large buildings visible anywhere. Shouldn't an orphanage be bigger than this? Was there class discrimination in where orphanages were allowed to be built in this romance fantasy setting?

"Is this the Ainoa Orphanage?"

"It's not..."

Kanna shook her head. Then why had we stopped? Just then, Jelly pointed out the window at a figure sitting crumpled on the ground.

"...Daisy?"