MPBAGS Chapter 9

Had Kanna seen the cat's eyes too? Henna turned around, worried her sister might be frightened, but Kanna was actually looking at empty air, not at the cat.

"Kanna?"

"It's nothing, sis. Huh? That cat..."

Kanna seemed to only just notice the cat now. She tilted her head briefly, then checked the cat's collar and rushed to the young lady with a bright face.

"Is this your cat, my lady? So you were here."

When Kanna stroked its chin, the monster purred as if it really were a cat.

Henna wanted to immediately pull Kanna's hand away and hide her behind herself, but their atmosphere looked so picture-perfect harmonious that she couldn't approach.

The reason the cat was putting on airs was because Kanna didn't know its true nature. The assumption that the cat might suddenly turn vicious the moment Henna moved tied her feet in place.

Without even noticing Henna's worry, Kanna followed Lady Evangeline inside the door.

"Sis? What are you doing, not coming?"

Kanna urged Henna, who'd stopped. Her beloved sister felt slightly unfamiliar, but eventually Henna went inside too.

Lady Evangeline said she was tired and didn't need help with bedding, then went upstairs first. Henna, worried Kanna would follow the young lady, held her hand and climbed the stairs. Recalling the fourth floor's location, she opened the door to the room directly below the young lady's.

As expected, her memory was correct—this was definitely the room the Countess had used. Henna had been hired after the Countess passed away, so this was her first time entering.

The Count had threatened them not to wander near the Countess's room, yet someone had disobeyed orders and secretly cleaned it—the condition was quite decent. It even felt lived-in.

While Henna looked around the room, Kanna, who'd somehow finished changing already, jumped onto the bed. At home she'd always insisted on sitting up, saying she didn't want to lie down, but today must have tired her out.

She'd only just recovered enough to walk around, and then she got hurt again... Now that she wore pajamas, the wound on her neck and the binding marks showed even more clearly.

"Sis. I can hear the young lady moving around upstairs."

Kanna, who'd seemed to be resting with her eyes closed, suddenly spoke.

Sound? Henna concentrated and listened carefully, but couldn't hear anything. The Rohanson estate was particularly quiet at night, plus the young lady's floor had thick carpet laid down and the young lady's footsteps were quiet—how could she hear that?

When Henna looked at the ceiling, the chandelier was swaying as if wind was blowing from somewhere. It must have been that sound she'd mistaken.

"Could it be the chandelier swaying?"

"Really? Maybe. Anyway, I'm glad I chose this room. I like it."

Kanna didn't respond to Henna's words at all, just nodded and changed the subject.

"The bed's big enough for us to lie down together, sis."

Lady Evangeline had tried to give Henna her own room too, but Henna had desperately declined, afraid to leave her sister alone. The Countess's room was bigger than their house, not bad for two people to stay in, and as Kanna said, the bed was big enough for both of them.

Henna finished preparing for bed and lay down beside Kanna. It had been a long time since they'd lain together like this. In the darkness, they faced each other and played with each other's hands. Perhaps because today had been such a long day, drowsiness quickly overtook her. Just as she was about to fall asleep, Kanna quietly spoke.

"Hey, sis. Thank you for coming to rescue me today. I was really scared."

Henna squeezed her sister's hand tightly. She felt guilty for thinking her sister was unfamiliar, even briefly, when Kanna was still terrified and pretending to be okay. No matter how Kanna acted, to Henna she was just her beloved sister.

My goal going forward has changed to becoming close with Kanna. If I try approaching the knight commander male lead, I'll just look like an obsessive villainess. I don't want to date a character in a book anyway, and the real shortcut to escaping villainy is getting on the female lead's good side!

Betting my life fully on Kanna!

Seeing how she got kidnapped from their very first meeting, this place seems pretty brutal even for a romance-fantasy, so Kanna's definitely going to suffer through a lot going forward. It'll be good to save her whenever incidents happen while building our friendship, so I asked if she'd like to live at the estate permanently, and thanks to building up good favorability, Kanna readily agreed. Plus bonus Henna too!

When I went to tell them the two would be using the third floor from now on, they said the Count was away on business. The lights were definitely on until last night—did he pull an all-nighter and oversleep?

When I stared silently, the butler bowed and apologized. Oh dear. What's the point of taking it out on the butler? It's all the Count's fault.

"If you have a message to convey, I'll deliver it."

Henna had said she'd speak to the butler herself, so I couldn't preemptively interfere. If I spoke first and all the favorability I'd carefully built up flew away, I'd be the only one at a loss.

When the butler asked me to write a letter instead, I had no choice but to send the Count a letter saying I'd be using an empty third-floor room. Thank goodness for the language patch!

Worried he'd coldly refuse if I only sent that, I tore out a page from the Countess's diary and attached it. The page was filled with the Countess cursing her husband who'd trapped her in a marriage of convenience. Bad man! If his conscience pricks him, he'll say it's fine. I handed the letter to the butler.

"Don't open it and just deliver it. I'll be watching."

I used the ‘teacher has eyes in the back of her head’ tactic. Just in case the butler saw the curse diary written by the Countess and removed it. Absolutely not allowed.

I thought it would take a day, but it took three whole days for a letter to arrive. The Count scrawled a reply saying to do as I pleased, and added that from now on when he's away, I should talk to the butler and absolutely never write him letters. Then meet with me in person so we can talk face to face, why don't you?

The next day, lights came on in the Count's room again. The Count must have returned. I didn't go greet him since I'd just get turned away at the door anyway.

When I delivered the news to Henna and Kanna, who'd been uncomfortable for four days total, Kanna was very pleased. Henna still seemed a bit uncomfortable, but Kanna—as expected of the female lead—must have exceptional adaptability.

"Jim. Please, at least eat something. You've been locked in your room for three days. What are you even doing?"

I heard someone knocking on the door and earnestly calling me, but I didn't pay much attention. Who was knocking on the door right now? My wife, or my mother perhaps? Had I gotten married? Actually, who it was didn't matter much.

Right now, fulfilling my given mission was more important than anything. I dipped my brush and drew a line. On canvas where ash seemed to swirl, I captured flames. I rendered a holy angel, burned black until only its body remained.

I was a painter who made my living through art. When I first debuted, I was hyped up as a genius newcomer or what have you, but my work didn't match noble tastes, so I quickly lost fame and fell. Now I'd become someone parasitic on my wife. I had to complete my masterpiece as soon as possible.

Hoping to gain some inspiration, I'd been wandering around when I discovered a strange fire. After the sun-like flames burned out and only a few knights remained while the others all withdrew. When people had lost interest and someone peered inside and shouted that they'd "seen an angel."

The remaining knights couldn't control the crowd. Thanks to that, it wasn't difficult to check inside. And the moment I found an angel in the completely burned building, just as someone had said, all I could think was that I had to paint that scene.

I came straight back and picked up my brush.

I didn't even sketch. I only thought I had to complete the painting before the memory evaporated. I had no appetite. It would be fine if I withered and died like this.

I don't know how many days have passed. Has a week gone by? Maybe a month? Or perhaps only two hours have passed.

I tried to finish the painting, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. Could my painting not recreate that scene? How wretched. Anxious, I tore at a hangnail on my fingertip and it bled. Holding my finger in my mouth, the metallic scent filled my nose. And a strange impulse whipped me onward.

Hands—hands had to paint. I picked up the painting knife and stabbed my thigh. With stinging pain, drops of blood stained my pants. I soaked the brush in the blood seeping from my thigh and painted again. The angel's halo was finally perfect.

Done!

I was proudly examining the densely filled paper when Kanna popped out from behind me.

"My lady. What did you write? I can't read it."

"It's nothing."

Eek! G-goodness, you startled me. I nearly dropped my heart. I'd been so focused I hadn't even noticed Kanna looking at the paper from behind. Good thing I wrote it in Hangul—I almost got caught. I can't let anyone find out, but especially not Kanna, the female lead.

I covered the paper as if nothing was wrong. This was my carefully devised villainess escape plan. I'd extrapolated the original story as much as possible and agonized over how I should act going forward to extend my lifespan before completing it. It took a whole two days.

"Kanna. Don't be rude to the young lady."

"It's fine, sis. The young lady adores me."

Henna, who'd returned with meals for two, scolded Kanna for clinging to me. I didn't want to go all the way down to the dining room and eat uncomfortably alone, so ever since living with Kanna, I'd been eating with her in the room to get closer.

"It would be nice if you ate with us too, sis."

"I'm more comfortable in the dining room, so it's fine."

I'd asked Henna to eat together too, but she seemed uncomfortable with me and got indigestion and fell ill, so we agreed to just have Kanna and me eat together.

"That was good."

I quickly finished eating and cleansed my palate with tea.

Kanna has a good appetite, so when we eat together, food goes down smoothly.

To restore an appetite I didn't have... Is this the female lead's power in a romance-fantasy? If she did mukbang in real life, she'd be incredibly successful.

Wait, then are people who got popular through mukbang romance-fantasy female leads? I was using deductive reasoning to develop absurd logic when Henna called me.

"My lady, a letter has arrived."