MPBAGS Chapter 8

No wonder the kid was so good-natured! Gutsy! Once I thought about it that way, the situation made perfect sense all at once. Extrapolating from my romance-fantasy expertise, I could practically see how the original story must have unfolded.

Here we had the villainess Evangeline, the villainess's faithful servant Donau, and Kanna—younger sister of the maid who served the villainess and also the female lead.

Evangeline had always bullied the Count's servants, but she'd been especially cruel to Henna. The harassment crossed the line, and she'd ordered Donau to kidnap Kanna, Henna's only sister. And then the male lead would rescue Kanna from danger—that's how the first meeting event would trigger!

Even though I'd possessed Evangeline's body, maybe the inertia of the original story still forced Donau to kidnap Kanna?

That would explain why Donau had been spouting nonsense. He kept muttering that he'd only done what I told him to. Wow... The original story's pull is terrifying. Truly terrifying.

Did that mean I'd stolen the male lead's entrance scene? Should I have just left it alone? No, but still—even if they're characters in a book, how could I just stand by and watch that situation unfold?

"Are there any more questions? The young lady looks tired, so we'll be going now."

Kanna cut off the conversation after finishing her explanation. Her attitude was far too cold for someone addressing the male lead.

This must be another effect of me rescuing Kanna instead of the male lead, right? The original female lead clinging to the villainess—this is a total villainess possession story! As expected from a romance-fantasy world!

"If any problems come up, please come find the Rohanson estate."

Inwardly admiring the situation, I said goodbye to the male lead and turned to leave. The kidnapper, the victim, and the rescuer were all from the Rohanson estate, so I told him to come find us if he got stuck writing his report. Good. One point for kindness logged.

Henna took the lead, offering to guide me to where the carriage was waiting. I started to follow her, but the back of my head prickled. When I turned around, the male lead was glaring at me sharply.

I haven't done anything particularly villainous, so why is he glaring at me? Could he be jealous that Kanna's taking my side? This is bad. It feels like I've stepped onto the rival route instead of the villainess route...

"Commander, the fire's been put out."

"Good work, Raphaela."

Gabriel, who'd been fixated on the alley where the snow-white doll had disappeared, finally came to his senses at his subordinate's call. How distracted had he been? The fire had been completely extinguished in the meantime. The building the flames had ravaged was now so crumpled it was hard to even call it a house anymore.

Unlike the woman who'd supposedly escaped the fire—pure white without a trace of soot—everyone else had worked so hard clearing debris that their uniforms were covered in black smudges.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help because I was investigating the young lady."

"It's fine. The fire, it put itself out."

"What?"

When Gabriel asked, Raphaela scratched his head and explained.

"Really. It was burning fiercely, then suddenly died down. It was strange from the start—how it only burned this one house without spreading to the surroundings..."

Gabriel looked at the debris with deep unease.

He'd also thought at first sight that it must be possessed by a demon. When a fire breaks out in a slum this narrow and packed together, it should spread to all the surrounding areas. That's why he'd rushed here with his knights—to evacuate people.

He'd arrived expecting carnage, but when he got there, the people weren't evacuating at all. They were watching a house burn down all by itself, as if an invisible firewall had been erected around it.

But what had stolen Gabriel's attention wasn't that bizarre phenomenon—it was the woman standing in front of that fire.

At first, Gabriel had thought a statue had been erected among the crowd. Even though there was no way such finely carved marble could exist in a slum like this.

He hadn't recognized it as a person because there was nothing you could call life force present in it. Comparatively speaking, a broken tree branch would be closer to human.

So when the eyes of this thing—which should by all rights be dead—turned their vivid red toward him, when its crimson mouth expelled human language, he nearly lost his words at the uncanny spectacle.

Gabriel had affected composure and conversed with the woman. As expected, it was far removed from anything human.

When she spoke about her servant's death, when she looked at Gabriel himself—not a single grain of warmth could be felt. Just as a person doesn't notice an ant passing by, to that woman, Gabriel was at best on the level of an ant.

The woman seemed at least interested in the maid beside her, the one called Kanna. Though the maid's condition didn't seem normal either, perhaps because she was receiving the attention of something inhuman. Her blind and fervent appearance was like looking at a fanatic.

"Commander! We found the body!"

A subordinate shouted loudly. Gabriel confirmed the corpse. Donau, was it? Even after death, the body was carbonized, limbs fallen away—no different from a sculpture.

"This is..."

"Strange, isn't it? Must be coincidence."

Behind the corpse with severed limbs, the soot on the floor spread out like wings, and behind the head, like a halo in a holy painting, it was drawn in a circle around the corpse's head as if glowing. Just like the halos that would be found on angels or gods in masterpiece paintings.

"To look like this—just like an angel."

Gabriel wasn't the only one who thought so. Gabriel fell silent. An angel... Wings made of ash would crumble before they could even flap, sending it plummeting into the abyss. That halo was the same. To him, that circular halo felt like it might flicker out at any moment.

"Should I give you a room in the estate?"

In the carriage on the way back, Lady Evangeline spoke. Henna doubted what she'd heard but couldn't bring herself to ask again.

"It must be frightening to go back home. I'll take care of you."

She hadn't heard wrong after all. Henna tried to politely decline, saying it was fine, but then noticed the young lady's gaze was directed not at her but at her sister. She closed her mouth.

She was asking for Kanna's opinion, not Henna's. Henna squeezed Kanna's hand tightly. Part of her wanted to tell her to refuse. But if she gave hints carelessly and upset the young lady's mood?

Donau, who'd displeased the young lady, and how he'd died—it was still vivid before her eyes. What was even harder to understand was that Kanna had been satisfied by that disgusting, nauseating death.

The young lady didn't rush for an answer.

The completely uncharacteristic consideration sent a chill down Henna's spine. Wearing a mask of kindness and imitating a merciful person—it would be strange not to be afraid.

Lady Evangeline had been relatively generous with Henna, but she seemed particularly toxic for Kanna. Though it looked no different from rescuing a trapped animal only to take it in.

"Can my sister stay too?"

"Of course."

"I want to choose my own room too."

"You can do whatever you like."

And Kanna was the same. Chattering excitedly at the young lady—Henna felt her breath catch.

She'd always been particularly fearless since childhood, but Henna hadn't known she'd act so brazenly even in front of the young lady. Henna glimpsed a fragment of the past in Kanna's satisfied smile.

Back when their father was still alive, lovely Kanna would sometimes throw tantrums and overturn meals to confirm his affection. After their father passed away, she'd grown older and matured enough not to do that anymore.

Had she opened her heart because the young lady saved her?

She'd stolen the holy water and lied that Lady Evangeline had given it to her, so maybe Kanna thought she'd been saved twice. It wasn't exactly wrong, actually. If it hadn't been for the young lady's cat, Kanna would still be bedridden, and if the young lady hadn't gone today, Kanna's wounds wouldn't have stopped at her neck.

"Then could I take the room directly below yours, my lady?"

The young lady had told them to choose any room except the fourth floor where she stayed, and what Kanna chose was on the third floor, directly below the young lady's room.

Kanna had never worked at the estate, so she must have just picked it randomly, but the third floor was where the late Countess Rohanson had resided. And that room—wasn't that the one the Countess had used? Of course, Lady Evangeline probably had no interest in the dead blood relative whose shell she wore.

"My lady. That room was used by the Countess."

"She's already passed away and there's no owner now, so it doesn't matter. The furniture's already there too, so it'll be convenient to move in right away."

Henna explained carefully, but the young lady just hammered it in, saying it was an empty floor with no owner, so it didn't matter. She even said she'd inform Count Rohanson and the butler.

Henna couldn't even object to the idea of giving the Countess's room to a maid, and she unconsciously nodded before stopping short.

The butler knew that Henna's sister had been seriously ill. If he found out the sick child had recovered overnight and was walking around, he'd be suspicious. He might even recall the holy water and discover that it had been stolen.

'That can't happen...'

"My lady. I'll speak to the butler myself."

"Do that. Then I'll only tell the Count."

Let's avoid the butler finding out at all costs. Henna recalled the butler's living patterns. The butler stayed on the second floor and didn't come up to the upper floors. Especially since the butler avoided Lady Evangeline, if Kanna stayed near the young lady, he wouldn't find out.

Just hold out a little. Count Rohanson would never allow the Countess's room to be used by a mere maid's sister, so they'd be kicked out before long. Let's just stay quiet until then.

Once the arrangements were settled, they turned the carriage around and stopped by Henna's house. At home, Henna and Kanna packed enough belongings for a few days. Actually, neither of them had much, so even packing nearly all their clothes didn't take long.

They loaded the luggage into the carriage and rode for quite a while before arriving at the Rohanson estate.

Normally a maid would get out first to escort, but Evangeline stepped down first without hesitation.

"Pudding! You came to greet me."

Then she spotted the cat draped over the gate railing, and a smile bloomed on her indifferent face.

Lady Evangeline was immensely fond of that bizarre creature. The sight of a monster reduced to a mere pet in the young lady's arms was always disconcerting no matter how many times she saw it.

The cat's three eyes glowed as it looked at Henna and Kanna, then leisurely closed them. Kanna murmured in a small voice.

"The eye disappeared?"