CH 16

‘I have something to do before going to bed.’

I entered the bedroom and reverently placed the strawberry whipped cream cake I had requested from Higgs in advance.

“Do some work, Guide.”

It was a kind of rain ritual.

I waited for the Guide with a Tibetan-fox-like expression at the window with a cake.

It has been a week since I’ve waited for the letter.

‘Is it working late because of the RRPs? It’s not coming today.’ (RRP: abbreviation for regressor, possessor, reincarnator)

Huftㅡ

A sigh came out.

‘I need to find out what that suspicious letter wants from me.’

I stared blankly at the night sky for a while, yet I didn’t see a single crow.

In the end, I thought today was a waste of time and tried to clean the cake plate.

“Chiiirp! Chirp! don’t clean it up! Didn’t you want to give it to me, chiirp!”

‘Huh?’

Looking up, I saw an insignificant white object flying at full speed through the black night sky.

“Guide! You’re here!”

Wow, I never thought that loud sound would be so welcoming.

“I made a cake like this to wait for you…”

Peckㅡ 

It seemed that the beggar was still hanging around in its stomach for it to immediately eat.

Without saying hello, the Guide immediately buried its face in the cake and started eating recklessly.

Then, as if remembering something, it pecked the air with its cream-soaked beak.

“You got a letter, chirp! Read while I eat!”

Shriingㅡ 

A package of letters flashed out of thin air and landed in my hand.

After finishing its work, the Guide proceeded to eat comfortably.

“T-The letter is here?”

“…”

“Yeah. I won’t interfere with your meal.”

Thump, thumpㅡ 

My heart was beating wildly.

It was more like tension than excitement.

I didn’t know what the sender’s intention was, but I can see clearly from this letter.

‘Whether this person really wants to play the original story or not.’

As I took out the letter and read the correct answer, my face hardened in an instant.

The correct answer isㅡ 

[I’m glad you got along well with Cassis. But it would be dangerous for him to keep going out, so why don’t you tell him not to go out? He might listen to his daughter’s request, nobody knows.]

‘This person also wants me to change the ending.’

What do you want by twisting the ending?

This author doesn’t even have anything to do with Dad, but seeing what they want…

‘It’s definitely related to my return.’

“What’s going on, chirp?”

‘Anyway, can I twist the original story in this way? There are many things I want to ask.’

I was lost in my thoughts, yet before I knew it, the bird had finished eating the cake and pecked at the back of my hand so it wouldn’t hurt.

“Ah, sorry. But if I reply to the letter, can you send it?”

“Everything I pass on belongs to the human world, chirp. There has never been such a thing.”

I asked again.

“Then you can’t reveal who the owner of this letter is?”

“…Of course I don’t know who they are, chirp. You know this business well, right?”

“I knew, but… I really didn’t think it would be like this…”

Hmm.

What should I do?

“…So you don’t know who the sender of the letter is, and I can’t reply?”

It was an overwhelming situation.

However, the method has become simpler.

“Well, that’s the way it is… chirp? Chiiiiiirpppp! What are you doing, chirp!!!”

Thanks to the cake, the Guide, who was shrewd, jumped up in amazement.

Shred.

I was quietly tearing up the letter in a sane state.

“I’m good at ignoring people, you know.”

Pieces of the letter torn from my hands fell mercilessly at my feet.

If I can’t reply, I can show it with actions, right?

Then they will answer my doubts on their own.

Flutterㅡ 

After tearing up the letter calmly, I was blowing it in the air.

“I’ve lived for several hundred years and there have been many troublemakers, but this is the first time someone rebelled so openly, chirp!”

The Guide, who had forgotten to be angry as if he was really bewildered, yelped nervously.

“Chirp, chiirp! It won’t kill you to calm down a biiitt!”

“Conversation is a two-way thing, not one-way. I can express my opinion too!”

Thudㅡ 

When I crossed my arms proudly, the angry Guide opened its mouth wide.

“This is the deprivation of human rights for soul-type extra professionals!”

“You’re tearing up the letter, chirp!”

Gosh. How noisy.

What kind of fuss is this just because I tore up a letter from that bastard?

“It’s my life, you can tell me why I’m regressing! I couldn’t reply, so I expressed it with my body, and soon the sender will write the reply I want.”

“The sender will roast you and boil you, chirp! It’s all because it has a meaning!”

“I lived 100 lives like that!”

In addition to the excitement of the bird, I screamed with emotion.

“Without knowing why, I lived as the daughter of a villain! You don’t know how hard it is to live a life where I don’t know when it will end and just live as I’m told!”

“Chiiiirp! That’s how I live my life, too, chiiiirp! I don’t knowww!”

The Guide, who had been chirping so much that its short fur stood on end, flew away as if it was tired.

No, isn’t it the bird who has a dirty temper, not me?

Should I be scolded like this?

“…I’d be fine if Dad wasn’t a villain. Dad must be having a hard time too.”

I tried to mutter something out of regret, yet the Guide was gone.

As I looked at the empty cake plate, a sudden silence came over me.

However.

[If you were born as the daughter of a villain, swearing like this is nothing, right? I envy you because you’re strong.]

[What is the best part of your role? The villain is also a role.]

“… I really wanted to ask, though…”

Right after I open my eyes to the world.

It reminded me of the tags that follow me like the shoes which trap my feet.

“Then, am I qualified to live the way I want to live now?”

I tilted my head to swallow the tears as much as possible.

It’s not something to cry about.

This is all because the bird head is mad at me.

‘Bad Guide.’

I jumped up from my chair and placed my small hand on the window sill.

I became resentful towards the Guide who gave me a scolding for no reason.

“Even if you’re a Salary Lupin, you must pay for the cake! Life is a give-and-take, you bird head…”

(Salary Lupin: employees who don’t do their work but still get paid)

“Billishia?”

?

When I turned my head, my eyes met the confused purple eyes on the terrace across from me.

“… Salary Lupin?”

Dad muttered blankly, as if he had stopped for a moment.

“… Bird, head?”

I’m doomed.

***

“While I was gone, you were told to protect and treat her according to her position as a princess. You did a good job teaching her strange things.”

That’s how Lisa had to be called to Cassis without knowing why.

“W-What do you mean by that…”

“Exactly what I’m talking about. What the hell did you say in front of Billishia, what’s wrong with her tone?”

“…Pardon?”

“You pretend not to know.”

Innocent Lisa was trembling in front of Dad.

Seeing that he was so angry that he couldn’t say anything, he seemed to think she had done something wrong.

‘No, Lisa. you did nothing wrong! What should I say!’

The duchy, which had been rarely peaceful for several days, was turned upside down.

Cassis, who finished his meal satisfactorily as usual, suddenly returned to the cold duke five years ago the next day.

Lisa’s behavior was so unique among the servants that they noticed it, butㅡ   

“Huh? It’s because she didn’t take good care of the Princess?”

“I rather thought that Lisa was being called away because she was too obsessed with the Princess…”

Lisa was equally bewildered.

Today, I was going to wake up with the smell of Higgs’ cake, but why was I suddenly struck by lightning?

The innocent Lisa blinked pitifully in her wet eyes.

Of course, he didn’t even flinch.

Distrust towards Lisa flickered in his dark purple eyes.

“Children are mirrors of adults.”

Winceㅡ 

Lisa raised her head, placing her clenched fists neatly on her lap.

“B-But I swear I never said that in front of the Princess…”

“How are you going to explain when you left the child alone in the garden?”

“…Pardon me?”

“My daughter was alone in the garden. Should I see that in my castle?”

“…That…”

‘That’s because Lisa was away for a while to bring a cake!’

I don’t know what it was, but Cassis’ expression looking at Lisa was unusual.

It wasn’t just now,  he didn’t seem to like Lisa since before.

“You’re the worst as a maid in charge.”

“!”

Stunned by those words, Lisa staggered as if the ground had collapsed.

Gasp. It’s ruined.

That’s the worst thing I ever said to Lisa in my past life.

Because of that Lisa became so timid then!

This won’t do. First, I have to stop Dad.

Actually, I kept my mouth shut as I was too scared, but Lisa is my person. I have to save her.

When I was about to stand up from my seat holding back my fearㅡ

“When it comes to the Princess, Your Grace has done a lot of things wrong!”

As if she had made up her mind on something, Lisa, who closed her eyes tightly, finally detonated the bomb.

‘Lisaaaa!’

Everyone was frozen like ice statues in such an unexpected situation.

Even Cassis, who was sitting loosely, seemed slightly surprised, as his calm eyes slightly widened.

“B-Both of you are very nice to me…”

Thudㅡ

When I intervened between the two of them with a clumsy smile, Lisa politely pressed me on the shoulder and stood up.

“Of course, I have a lot of shortcomings as a maid. However, as the maid in charge of the Princess, the result of watching over and over again! His Grace, as a father, needs to work hard!”

“What?”

Cassis, who had slightly furrowed his eyebrows, quietly rose from his seat.

A life that seemed to bring one to his knees itself.

Even while Agasa and all other servants bowed her head as if it were natural, Lisa didn’t give in.

She only paused for a moment.

However, she seemed to have accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction with Cassis as my maid in charge.

“You go out every night on an imaginary day, drinking and dancing. Whenever that happens, the Princess only waits for you!”

‘I’m not waiting! How much fun I played with you, Lisa, while Dad was gone!’

When I was about to get up again to say something.

Thudㅡ  

“Miss Baby. Quietly.”

This time, when I was pushed back by Dad’s hand and rolled over, Agasa, who was watching me from the side, hurriedly hugged me and escaped.

‘What is this! These people are fighting because of me, why would I pretend not to see!’

“Are you running your mouth now?”

“Didn’t the Princess run into you last night while you were drinking alone? As Your Grace said, children are the mirror of adults.”

“…”

“Looking at the Duke drinking alone and going out on an imaginary day, think of the Princess as a grown-up. It’s not good for the young princess. That’s just the worst dad ever!”

The cry of an evil maid.

The purple eyes that had been sharpened at those words wriggled.

[That’s just the worst dad ever!]

[That’s just the worst dad ever!]

He stood there for a while, stiffened as if he had been hit by an arrow.

“I, I’m… worst,”

Does Lisa’s voice sound like tinnitus?

Cassis, who stared into space for a moment and blinked, collapsed onto the chair.

It was the defeat of the Duke of Vallois.