Chapter 14
I’m the Villain Family’s Real Powerhouse, a Munchkin
I tried to pull my body back in surprise, but the wrist that had been grabbed didn’t budge at all.
Tionis’s hand was so hot it felt like it might burn at any moment, and for some reason, I could even feel a faint tremor.
…Was he holding back his anger?
“……”
I barely managed to swallow my dry saliva and rack my brain.
But no matter how much I thought about it, in a situation where I was barely covering my naked body with a single blanket on the bed—
With my wrist held like this, there was no way for me to escape.
Even when I tried to avert my gaze, I could clearly feel the blunt stare directed down at me.
I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes, but I was absolutely certain of it.
‘Did he mistake me for a ghost?’
There had been rumors about a woman wrapped in white bandages wandering around the Grand Duke’s residence. Maybe he was trying to see if I really was a ghost.
No, but he’s grabbing my wrist, isn’t he? If he’s decided I’m some other intruder—
Then my head would go flying…
My head, displayed in front of the mansion…
The moment that thought reached me, my body started trembling violently as if on cue.
I had imagined this future countless times, rehearsing what I would say if it happened.
But now that it was actually happening, my mouth wouldn’t open at all.
That was how intense the warmth from his grip was, and how piercing his gaze felt.
I squeezed my eyes shut once, steeled myself, and slowly raised my head.
But for some reason, Tionis was restlessly alternating his gaze between my expression and my wrist.
Like someone who was deeply unsettled.
‘…Huh?’
Seeing that, I ended up even more flustered.
Come to think of it… if Tionis had been gripping my wrist forcefully, enough time had passed for a dull ache to spread.
But not only was there no pain—there wasn’t even a red mark.
And inside his golden eyes, which were completely filled with my reflection, there was even a strange sense of anticipation.
Feeling like I had to say something, I fumbled my words and opened my mouth.
Unable to face that gaze directly, I lowered my head again.
“Um… th-that is…”
“Don’t tell me.”
The words I barely managed to utter were swallowed by Tionis’s voice.
Maybe it was for the best. Still, his voice sounded strange.
Almost pitifully so.
When I carefully glanced at him, the rigid expression he had worn until moments ago was crumbling.
“Did your memories come back?”
Tionis clenched his teeth as he spoke. He looked like he might burst into tears if left alone.
But that question—asked without any context—was something I couldn’t understand no matter how much I thought about it.
“Y-yes?”
When I asked that, the anticipation filling his face instantly gave way to disappointment.
“…Right. That couldn’t be.”
Tionis muttered to himself in front of my confused eyes.
He didn’t ask anything else, and he released my wrist with startling ease.
‘…’
I lowered my gaze to my pale wrist, where not even a single mark remained.
‘To think I erased her memories myself, only to end up disappointed.’
He had clearly resolved to wait until Marianne opened her heart and returned to being human on her own.
And yet, he had rushed her.
Dejected, Tionis recalled that day from three years ago.
“Her memories related to Your Grace have been completely erased.”
Even the gardener ‘Magnito,’ who usually grumbled every time he was given an order, was different that day.
“…Then does that mean Marianne will never remember me again?”
“There is absolutely no way for Your Grace to restore her memories. However, if a similar situation arises, something vague may surface in her mind. That is all.”
The red eyes that looked inhuman held not their usual irritation, but regret, and even the hand brushing back his white hair was calm.
Magnito does not lie.
Which meant that Marianne had merely loosened her magic, and fragments of a lullaby she used to sing had surfaced.
Her memories hadn’t returned.
But there was no time to sink into thought any longer.
From barely two arm-spans away, Marianne was looking up at him, wrapped in nothing but a blanket.
Worse yet, whatever misunderstanding she had fallen into, she was trembling all over in alarm like a small animal.
If she were in her cat form, she would probably look just like she had when they first met—fur puffed up to the extreme.
Tionis sprang to his feet and was about to open the small door attached to his bedroom’s dressing room.
‘Ah.’
His large hand hurriedly covered the lower half of his face.
Behind the door he was standing in front of was the small dressing room.
Clothes he had gradually collected with the intention of giving them to Marianne once she arrived safely at the Grand Duke’s residence—dozens, no, hundreds of outfits.
Which meant the dressing room was filled with women’s clothing.
But if he showed this to Marianne now?
‘…It would look extremely suspicious.’
The hand covering his face slowly lowered and stroked his chin.
He thought that if Marianne found out beforehand that the portal connected to the North, she might refuse to come.
Since she practically lived in the Fontine family library—a pro-imperial household—she was likely to harbor an unconscious aversion to the opposing ‘Cabellug Grand Ducal House.’
So right before crossing the portal, he had instructed Becky to tell Marianne.
So that she could adapt to the situation.
[Miss, the coordinates I wrote down were actually not for the South, but for the North.]
[The Cabellug Grand Duke has agreed to help provide you shelter.
He will take good care of you.]
Unfortunately… perhaps there hadn’t been time to properly convey the message. The note hastily written was stained dark red with blood in that part.
Marianne had probably never seen it and continued pretending to be a cat.
How was he supposed to explain handing hidden women’s clothing to her—a suspicious act no matter how you looked at it?
‘Ha…’
Letting out a silent sigh, Tionis turned around and headed straight for Marianne without hesitation.
Not understanding what was happening, Marianne hugged the blanket and backed away.
She only stopped once her back hit the bed frame. She squeezed her eyes shut, but then snapped them open when she realized something was wrapping around her body.
“…Ah!”
A cry almost like a scream escaped her lips.
Her hips, which had been pressed against the bed as if fused to it, suddenly lifted into the air.
In that brief moment, Marianne’s entire body was wrapped tightly in the blanket several times over, and she was lifted into Tionis’s arms.
Only after confirming that Marianne’s body was completely covered did Tionis curl his lips upward in satisfaction.
But when he came face to face with her wide, cat-like blue eyes, he turned his head away.
“…We have a lot to talk about. Let’s go to the sofa.”
He walked casually as if nothing were wrong, but he couldn’t hide his reddened ears.
He quietly set Marianne—who had gone stiff at the words “a lot to talk about”—down on the sofa.
Then he sat on the sofa across from her, crossing his legs as naturally as possible.
‘What should I say so that Mari won’t be on guard?’
But with his chin propped on his hand and his gaze cast downward, he looked like anyone could tell he was deep in thought.
The kind of deep thought that felt dangerous and ominous.
After carefully watching Tionis’s expression, Marianne decided that if she delayed any longer, her head might really roll, and hurriedly opened her mouth.
“…Actually, I’m Mari. I didn’t mean to stay a cat the whole time. I was just afraid you might think I was an intruder…. I’m sorry, Grand Duke of Cabellug.”
With thoughts of death dominating her entire body, her mouth moved on its own.
Since it was her first time facing someone for so long in her original form, her hands clasped in her lap trembled uncontrollably.
She couldn’t bring herself to look Tionis in the eye, so her gaze stayed fixed on the floor.
Once she finished apologizing, memories of the outrageous disrespect she had shown Tionis while pretending to be a cat flashed through her mind.
Still, receiving a cold glare was better than being mistaken for an intruder and getting her head chopped off.
…Or was it?
Come to think of it, those rude actions might also be enough to warrant execution.
Panicking, Marianne hurried to continue speaking. Her eyes were tightly shut now.
“There’s tangled magic near Your Grace’s heart. I can restore it to its original state. You’ve heard rumors about a woman singing every night, right? That’s actually me. It’s my ability—ahh!”
She raised her clenched fist to sound as confident as possible. Her voice cracked at the end from nerves, though.
She rambled incoherently, but at least she thought she had said everything she wanted to.
She deliberately left out the fact that she had run away from the Fontine Count’s family—just in case.
Panting from lack of breath, and even feeling a strange sense of accomplishment, she glanced at the man sitting opposite her.
But no reply came.
Meanwhile, Tionis slowly pressed his index finger to his temple. In the next instant, his brows furrowed.
Marianne’s heart, which had been watching his every move, felt like it was about to drop to the floor with a thud.
Did the cold Northern Grand Duke have a secret fondness for cute things after all?
Ability or not—
Was he thinking that a human, not a cat, was completely useless and deciding whether or not to summon the knights immediately?
Marianne’s thoughts spiraled downward.
As the silence stretched on, she even finished imagining her own execution.
