Chapter 23
“Really? You found Mago?”
“More precisely, I found Mago’s whereabouts. Apparently, she’s coming to the Herb Festival in a few days.”
The words “Herb Festival” gave me a good feeling.
I broke into a wide smile and clenched my fist in excitement.
Voices murmured above my head.
‘Mago or herbs, whatever—just finish up and leave already!’
Ban was half-dead from boredom.
Honestly, he wished Herace would just take him out of here, but the man clearly had no such intention.
‘Herace! Herace!’
Even when Ban jabbed him in the thigh out of sight of the others, Herace didn’t respond.
More accurately, he pretended not to notice. Whenever their eyes met, Herace would curl his lips into a faint smile and then look away.
It was an obvious smirk.
Fine, whatever—he could live with that.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
‘Why does that human keep staring at me?!’
Sienna’s personal maid kept stealing glances at him.
Her gaze was so sharp it made cold sweat trickle down his back.
“Then on the day of the festival, we’ll send people out to search.”
“I’ve got something to do as well, so I’ll take my leave.”
At last, the long conversation came to an end, and Noah and Herace left the room.
Only Lina, tidying up, remained.
“My lady, this doll’s gotten quite dirty. Shouldn’t it be washed?”
“You’re right. It’s a mess.”
“Then I’ll wash it along with the laundry.”
“No, I’ll—”
Sienna started to stop her when she saw Lina reach out toward Ban, but—
Ban was faster.
“Laundry? Sienna! I will not tolerate that!”
“Ban!”
“Waaagh!”
Unable to bear it anymore, Ban shouted. Startled, Lina reflexively flung him away.
Thud! Ban hit the wall, then rolled to the floor, his wings twitching.
“The doll—it talked…! I knew I wasn’t imagining things earlier!”
Come to think of it, it had been suspicious, the way it kept squirming around.
“My lady, it’s dangerous. Please stand behind me!”
Protectively stepping in front of Sienna, Lina grabbed a handful of sugar cubes from the table and hurled them at Ban.
“Begone, you evil spirit!”
“Argh! Human! What are you doing?!”
Ban stumbled back under the sugary barrage raining down on his head.
“I am the great—!”
Just as he was about to declare himself a demon, his eyes met Sienna’s.
‘Say it and you die.’
That fierce look made him falter.
“I-I’m… a doll…”
Damn it, there went all his demonic dignity!
But he couldn’t help it—Sienna had a surprisingly heavy hand for someone supposedly unwell.
Meanwhile, Sienna quickly considered her options.
She could take Ban to Herace and have Lina’s memory erased, but if something like this happened again in the future?
It would be better to win Lina over and make her an ally.
Of course, that would require a little white lie.
“Lina, stop. Ban is a guardian doll Herace made for me.”
“A… guardian doll?”
“Yes. Remember how I was almost in danger because of the Light Order? Herace enchanted the doll to protect me.”
After that incident, when the whole mansion had been thrown into chaos, the excuse sounded plausible enough.
“If the mage made it for you, then…”
Lina lowered the hand that had been throwing sugar cubes and stepped forward to pick Ban up.
“Grrrr…”
“He seems a bit fierce, though…”
With no hesitation, Lina pried open Ban’s mouth.
“Still, he looks like he could guard you well. His teeth are really sharp.”
Ban blinked, startled by her fearless behavior.
‘Are all the humans in this mansion insane?’
He didn’t know that Lina’s mental fortitude was exceptional—after all, she had survived serving Sienna back in her hellion days.
“Since he’s covered in whipped cream and sugar cubes, I’ll wash him for you.”
“Wash…?”
Ban bared his teeth again. Lina bowed slightly in apology.
“Ah, you don’t like my choice of words. I’ll call it a bath instead.”
“A bath? Are you saying you’ll attend to my bathing?”
“Of course, Mr. Doll.”
“My name is Ban!”
“Mr. Ban, then. Shall we go?”
“I like that. Let’s go at once!”
Thrilled by the royal treatment, Ban grabbed her arm eagerly.
But before long, he deeply regretted his decision.
“Aaagh! It hurts! It hurts!”
“I have to get you thoroughly clean.”
“You said bath! This is just laundry!”
Ban’s screams echoed through the mansion.
In the end, not erasing Lina’s memory turned out to be the right call.
Now there was no need to live in constant fear of being discovered by the maids.
Although… Ban might disagree about it being a good choice.
“Mr. Ban, your tail’s angle is off. Come here.”
“No! It hurts!”
“You must maintain the dignity of a guardian doll.”
“I am the great demon!”
“Yes, a very cute demon doll.”
Ban flapped his wings desperately to flee, while Lina chased him down at terrifying speed. Watching the spectacle, Herace let out a dry laugh.
“Shishi. What are they doing?”
“Well… his identity got exposed. But I think it’s fine to leave them be.”
They actually seemed to be getting along surprisingly well.
Even if Ban revealed himself to be a demon later, she felt Lina would just shrug it off as trivial.
After all, she didn’t believe it now, no matter how much Ban yelled it.
“Sienna! Save me!”
“Herace, isn’t the weather lovely today?”
“Herace!”
“It is. Shall we take a walk?”
“Sounds good.”
Another peaceful day passed.
Time flew by, and the day of the festival finally arrived.
