CATB Chapter 2

Knock knock knock

"Lady Alexa, it's time for your morning routine."

"......."

Knock knock knock.

Knock knock knock.

"Ah, so noisy."

My head is pounding with a hangover like a gong is clanging in my brain, and someone keeps knocking on the door.

"What crazy bastard comes to the house this early in the morning?"

I sluggishly get up to open the door.

Hmm... did we redecorate our place? The rooftop room suddenly feels expensive...

Click

"Kyaaah!!!! I'm sorry! I'm just!"

"Who are you?"

As soon as I open the door, a woman screams and prostrates herself flat. Why is she acting like this? And what's with that maid outfit? Is it cosplay?

"Please spare my life... just my life... I have starving siblings... Without me!!"

"I asked who you are."

"Yes... yes? Yes, Lady Alexa... Lily... hic! My name is Lily hic!"

Now the woman is even hiccupping.

Why is she trembling so unpleasantly, as if I did something to her?

And what kind of name is that? Is it a nickname?

"Who is Lily?"

"Hic! I've been serving Lady Alexa since last month... hic!!"

"Stop trembling. I'm not some monster."

"Hic! I'm sorry! I've committed a mortal sin! Please, just spare my life!!!"

The woman prostrates herself again in shock, trembling and crying as if I'm about to kill her. The situation seemed quite serious. If she dies of shock here for no reason, I don't have an alibi, and wouldn't I get interrogated?

"Hey, calm down. You said Lily, right? Yes, Lily. I have no intention of doing anything to you."

"...Re... really?"

"Yes."

"You... you won't kill me?"

"What... what? Why would I kill you? There's a limit to treating a perfectly normal person like a potential murderer."

Sigh, I got all worked up for nothing, worried I'd get a mark on my record.

Orphans have to be extra careful since we don't have parents to clean up after us.

If I get a minor criminal record, they say I can't get a job.

"...I... heard that Lady Alexa kills maids to improve your mood when you're in a bad mood..."

"What bullshit is that? And I'm not that Lady Alexa."

"Bull... bullshit? Lady Alexa, what do you mean...?"

"That Lady Alexa isn't here."

"Lady Alexa! Why are you saying such things...?"

"I told you I'm not Lady Alexa."

"Lady Alexa!"

What is this, Alexa bot?

Who is this Alexa that this girl is so desperately looking for?

I turned around and looked around the room. Maybe she's some passerby I brought home drunk yesterday...

"The person you're looking for doesn't seem to be here...?"

While speaking, I felt a very strange sense of displacement.

My room wasn't this spacious to begin with, was it?

How did this tiny room where I could barely stretch my legs become as big as a playground?

My room has been packed with accumulated household goods and clothes since childhood (poverty doesn't let you throw things away), with no room to step. Why is this place so empty?

All I can see is a bed, a table, and huge glass windows flooding the room with sunlight. Glass windows as large as cathedral windows take up the entire front wall, bathing everything in light, but somehow they can't shake the room's ominous atmosphere.

"What is this?"

.

.

.

"Where is this?"

"A... Lady Alexa?"

The girl cautiously calls out to Alexa, watching me as I stand there speechless.

"Maybe..."

"That Alexa you're looking for..."

I slowly turned around. I looked down at the crown of the girl's head as she hung it low.

"Is it me?"

"Lady Alexa, what are you talking about... I really can't understand... I'm sorry... I'm sorry!"

I barely soothed the girl who was about to burst into tears again.

I'm also a woman, but maybe because I've lived through so many hardships in the world, I hate whining.

I listened enough earlier, so if she keeps crying, I think I'll really get annoyed, and then this girl will probably have an even bigger fit.

"I'm Alexa?"

"...A... Lady Alexa?"

"Am I Alexa?"

"...Yes... Yes! Yes yes!! Lady Alexa! Please speak informally! And if you did cough, the head maid wanted to know if you'll be having breakfast in your room again today!"

Looking at the girl frozen stiff, I sighed.

I don't know why this girl feels fear toward me, but well, there have been others who felt uncomfortable with my sharp-looking face, so this girl must be one of them.

Though that discomfort is a bit excessive.

Looking at the girl trembling and unable to even face me, I felt strangely disgusted, but I also felt the urge to pee. Ah, I drank yesterday.

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Yes? Yes!! It's over there!!!!"

Following the girl's finger pointing to the right side of the room, I shuffled over.

What? There's a bathroom inside the room too? Nice.

The bathroom is also luxurious. Where is this? Was there such a big hotel in Seoul?

The actual floor space seems to be about 5,000 square feet... Oh shit, the accommodation fee... what do I do?

What bastard brought me here?

Je-yook, who knows my situation well, wouldn't do this, so what crazy person...

Grinding my teeth, I finished my urgent business first.

Ah, I slept without removing my makeup and it feels greasy.

My face has been subtly itchy since earlier, so I must have gotten pimples.

Annoying.

Grumbling, I stood in front of the sink.

Even the faucet here is marble.

Fuck, the accommodation fee...

Splash!

I splashed the cool flowing water on my face.

I feel like my hangover is lifting a bit...

After splashing water five or six times, I raised my head.

I faced the large mirror placed on the sink.

?

My eyes are itchy. I must have seen wrong. I blinked.

???

I rubbed my eyes.

????????????????????????

What is this?

What is this furry thing?!

What is this monster I'm looking at right now?

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

At my scream that shook the bathroom, the girl from before burst open the door.

"Lady Alexa! What's wrong."

"This! This!!!!!!!"

"What! What's wrong with Lady Alexa's face!"

"This! This isn't my face!!!"

"It is! It's Lady Alexa!!!"

"No!!! It's not me!!!"

Lily is also making a fuss and screaming, making my eardrums feel like they'll burst.

I took a deep breath. I need to calm down and look at this f*cking situation properly.

I looked straight at the mirror.

A yeti like I'd seen in fairy tale books once,

A giant covered in fur all over was standing in front of the mirror.

Except unlike a yeti, this furry thing covering me is brown.

That makes it look even more disgusting.

And apparently it's still female—

(I confirmed while doing my business earlier that there wasn't anything extra attached)

Long black hair that looks like it's never been cut covers my back, and it's so greasy and rough that even a straw broom would be better than this.

The only way I could tell my face was still face-shaped were the round, gleaming golden eyes and the teeth that looked relatively bright against the dark fur.

"A beast?"

"Eek? How do you know that..."

Lily is startled by my muttering and covers her mouth, as if she spoke without thinking.

"I'm sorry! What did I say!"

"I'm a beast?"

"Eek!!! I'm sorry! Please spare me!!!"

Here we go again. I sighed.

"Lily, I won't hurt you."

Fuck, what kind of cheesy line from some movie is this?

But I had to endure this to confirm something with Lily.

"Tell me honestly. Who am I?"

"...A... Alexa the Beast..."

"The Beast?"

"Eek!!! I've committed a mortal sin!!! I'm sorry!!! Everyone calls you that, so I thought you knew!!!"

The Beast?

Beast?

Beast in English, beast when translated too?

"I'm a beast?"

"Yes?"

"Tell me the truth. I can't remember well right now. Sigh"

Lily seemed to feel guilty about my tired voice and hurriedly began adding words.

"Lady Alexa is under a spell! I heard you were originally very, very beautiful! But you incurred a witch's hatred and were cursed!!!"

"I incurred hatred?"

"Yes! When Lady Alexa came to this villa for vacation, a witch came on a rainy day, and you drove her away saying she looked shabby, so the witch got angry and cast a curse! That's how Lady Alexa became a beast. Originally, you were a very beautiful princess of this kingdom!"

"What is this, it's not even Beauty and the Beast..."

?

This seems to be Beauty and the Beast?

Something about the setting seems to match oddly?

Both being rude to a witch and receiving a curse.

And receiving the punishment of becoming a furry beast.

Now that I think about it, it looks a bit like the beast from Disney too?

At least I understand that where I am isn't reality.

Settings like magic and princesses couldn't be possible in 21st century Korea.

My survival instinct, always focused on survival wherever I am, tells me.

This isn't Korea, and I'm not Lee Han-byeol.

Since I wasn't reborn but seem to have entered this furry thing called Alexa's body,

A possession story?

Fuck, did I enter a possession story?

But then why am I like this?

Usually, don't you get possessed as an incredible beauty beloved by everyone, a cheat character?

Shouldn't I have dazzling skin or shining golden, silver, pink, or at least brown hair?

Why am I a beast?

Why am I the Beast?

Fuck, I'm a woman!

Even if not a curvaceous knockout, shouldn't I at least be able to function as a human?

What do you mean a furry monster?

"I'm a beast?"

"Yes... yes?"

"I'm a beast????????????"