Episode 09
“Don’t tell me… you’re thinking of summoning something like the Black Flame Demon King at this age? Isn’t that a few years too late for you?”
“That’s not it.”
“What a shame. I actually tried it seriously once before. I even remember the incantation. O one darker than blood, blacker than darkness…”
“Ah, please stop…”
Even in Honwood, dark magic was no longer treated with much seriousness.
“Anyway, since it’s Ophelia asking, I’ll try to get something at least halfway decent. This is Honwood—finding that kind of book isn’t hard.”
“Please, as soon as possible. I’ll come back in a few days.”
Even if I managed to get a proper book, whether I had the talent or intuition to understand dark magic was another matter entirely. But right now, I had to grasp at anything—anything at all.
I didn’t have much time.
After parting ways with Mr. Simon, I left the bookstore and headed home.
There was something else I needed to do besides breaking the curse.
To fix the romance that had gone completely off track.
No matter how objectively I thought about it, the deviation from the original story was largely my fault. There were no other variables that could’ve caused this.
If that was the case, then perhaps removing the variable from the background—meaning me—might allow things to return to normal. Like removing a foreign substance from a distorted organism.
Clements might fuss over a strange chick for a night, but by morning, he’d probably just think:
“The chick ran away. It must have gone where it belonged.”
Bella would see my note and know I was safe somewhere. She wouldn’t have the luxury to dwell on me when she had such an important guest to attend to.
Even if some incomprehensible instinct pushed her to harm him, and her brother spouted nonsense about seducing him… now, Bella would realize those impulses weren’t truly her own.
If I was needed, I could always sneak into the count’s estate at night. The night gatekeeper, Mr. Pero, would surely let me in.
Either way, as a damned chick, I was completely useless.
For now, I’d move only at night while searching for a way to break the curse, and stay safely locked inside during the day.
The plan sounded solid.
The plan did.
But then—
“Dear, our Ophelia hasn’t been coming home lately… We haven’t heard from her at all. Surely nothing has happened to her, right?”
The daughter who had gone through far too much froze just as she was about to enter the house, hearing her parents’ voices.
The Leora barony had long since fallen into ruin. Everything of value had been sold off, leaving only this crumbling mansion behind.
And in this crumbling house, conversations from a bedroom near the garden carried through the walls without any filter.
My confident steps toward the door halted.
Mother, Father, I’m home—but please don’t ask anything yet—
The long-winded excuse I had prepared vanished instantly.
“What could possibly happen? That child has always been so dependable since she was little. Honestly, she’s more reliable than either of us.”
Oof.
“But still… she’s only twenty. If she gets caught with even a single book by that sensitive and particular count…”
“Calm down. Ever since she locked herself in her room crying at twelve, she hasn’t shed a single tear. From that day on, she was determined to protect the young lady of the Monahan household.”
“How much pressure must that child have been under to act like that at such a young age?”
“The fact that she never once acted spoiled since then… it breaks my heart.”
“If only I, as the baron, had been a bit more capable…”
“Thomas.”
“Sniff… If anything were to happen to our child… I don’t think I could go on… Evangeline…”
“Don’t worry, Tom. Don’t worry. Oh dear—how can a grown man cry like this?”
Soon, the sound of my father quietly sobbing and my mother gently comforting him filled the room.
Then silence.
The lights went out.
Ah… this was troublesome.
My father, the current Baron Leora, was a fragile man who cried far too easily. If I burst in now and explained everything, he might cry himself into unconsciousness.
“…Ha.”
I slumped down against a wisteria vine just beginning to bud.
There wasn’t much time left. Dawn was approaching.
I had to decide now—return to the count’s estate, or enter my home.
Burying my small face into my palms, my short-cut hair fell forward.
Idiot.
If only I hadn’t made the wrong decision in the forest back then.
If only I hadn’t been so greedy over those herbs.
This disaster… wouldn’t have happened.
…
My “real parents” were in Korea.
It had been a long time since I’d seen them, after suddenly being thrown into this world. But I didn’t particularly miss them.
Even if we were apart, they’d manage just fine on their own.
The moment I became an adult, they let go of me like a kite with its string cut. You’re an adult now, you should be able to handle things yourself, they said, giving me nothing but a tiny rented room near a university.
While I took repeated leaves of absence and struggled through part-time jobs, my younger brother—two years my junior—was given everything he asked for.
So I was certain.
Even if I disappeared, they would endure.
But the baron and his wife of the Leora family—
They were Ophelia Leora’s real parents.
For eight years, they had supported me no matter what.
At first, I thought they were no different from my original parents. After all, they had sent a mere twelve-year-old child to work as a maid in another household.
But over time, I realized the truth.
They weren’t heartless.
They were simply… incapable.
They had clung desperately to every means of earning money available to their status, but it was never enough. The crumbling finances of a noble household drained everything they earned.
And in this world, where status was everything, abandoning one’s noble bloodline wasn’t a simple choice.
Still—
“She’s only twenty…”
That single sentence stirred something deep inside me.
I let out a long sigh and stood up, brushing off my cloak.
It was time to go to work.
In the end, I would once again remain in the count’s estate… as a chick… while a storm swept through.
If only that storm could be called love.
Yeah.
Let’s think positively.
After being treated so well, a chick that ran away like that—surely Clements wouldn’t feel any lingering attachment.
If I stayed out of sight for a day or two, he’d forget me completely.
…Right?
* * *
Late.
Checking the time for the third time, Bellarusia Leunis Monahan snapped her watch shut irritably.
Annoying.
That girl had always been irritating—since eight years ago, when they first met against her will.
She was annoying when she was around.
And at some point—
She became even more annoying when she wasn’t.
There’s no value in worrying about her.
After all, that girl had always been like this.
Send her to the market for something simple, and she’d take forever to return—only to come back much later, grinning foolishly with arms full of snacks.
“Sorry. Everyone asked me to pick up things for them when they heard I was going. Were you worried, Bella?”
Worried?
What a joke.
Trying to cover up her own mistake with such a sugary word.
“Worried? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m angry. If something like that happened, you should’ve at least sent word ahead.”
“S-sorry…”
And then she’d lower the corners of her large, round eyes—eyes with absurdly long tails that seemed designed to evoke sympathy.
As if Bellarusia wouldn’t see through it.
Her expression hardened further.
“But instead…!”
A spark flickered in those golden eyes.
Everything that passed through them seemed to leave a lingering trail—ridiculous, vulgar.
“And I bought a bunch of things to eat together! There’s this new pie shop on Tree-Lined Street. Their signature is lemon cream pie. I swear, it’s a taste I’ve never experienced in either my past life or this one—”
That voice.
Every time Ophelia chattered beside her, Bellarusia felt a strange, dreadful shiver crawl down her spine.
“Don’t talk.”
“…Talk?”
That thing.
I need to shut that babbling mouth first.
Her clumsy, hurried hand clamped over Ophelia’s mouth—
And yet, those wide eyes still blinked in surprise.
That foolish smile remained.
As if she understood something, she nodded enthusiastically.
“…!”
And then—
Just like the first time they met—
A sudden, contextless embrace.
I hated it.
From the very beginning, I hated it.
I really, truly, absolutely hate it.
Ophelia Leora.
So there was no reason to wait.
Standing at the gate, as if expecting to see that figure shambling toward her from afar—
She felt like a fool.
Do you even know what I had to hear… just to come out here to see you?
