Chpater 09
Kanna must have seen the cat’s eyes too, right? Hena turned around, worried that her younger sister might be frightened—but Kanna wasn’t looking at the cat. She was staring at empty air.
“Kanna?”
“It’s nothing, unni. Huh? That cat….”
Only then did Kanna seem to notice the cat. She tilted her head for a moment, then checked its collar and ran toward Lady Evangelin with a bright smile.
“Is this your cat, my lady? So you were here.”
When Kanna stroked its chin, the monster purred as if it truly were a cat.
Hena immediately wanted to pull Kanna’s hand away and hide her behind her back, but the atmosphere between them looked so peaceful—almost like a painting—that she couldn’t step in.
The reason the cat was acting coy was simple: Kanna didn’t know its true identity. The thought that it might suddenly change the moment Hena moved kept her frozen in place.
Unaware of Hena’s worries, Kanna followed Lady Evangelin inside.
“Unni? What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
Kanna urged Hena, who was still standing there. For a moment, her beloved little sister felt strangely unfamiliar—but in the end, Hena followed her inside.
Lady Evangelin said they must be tired and that there was no need to see her to her room, then went upstairs first. Afraid Kanna might follow the lady, Hena grabbed her hand and climbed the stairs. Recalling the layout of the fourth floor, she opened the room directly beneath the lady’s chamber.
As she remembered, this was clearly the late Countess’s room. Hena had only been hired after the Countess passed away, so it was her first time entering it.
Even though the Count had strictly forbidden anyone from lingering near his wife’s room, someone must have secretly disobeyed and cleaned it—the room was in surprisingly good condition. It even felt lived-in.
While Hena was looking around, Kanna—already changed into fresh clothes—jumped onto the bed. At home, she always insisted on sitting up because she disliked lying down, so she must truly be exhausted today.
She had only just recovered enough to walk around properly, and yet she had been hurt again…. After changing into her nightclothes, the wound on her neck and the marks from the bindings stood out even more clearly.
“Unni. I can hear the lady upstairs walking around.”
Kanna, who seemed to be resting with her eyes closed, suddenly spoke.
A sound? Hena focused and listened carefully, but she heard nothing. The Rohanson mansion was particularly quiet at night, and thick carpets covered the lady’s floor. Lady Evangelin’s footsteps were light to begin with—how could Kanna possibly hear them?
When Hena looked up at the ceiling, she saw the chandelier swaying slightly, as if stirred by a draft. That must have been the sound Kanna mistook.
“Maybe it’s the chandelier shaking?”
“Really? I guess so. Anyway, I’m glad we chose this room. I like it.”
Kanna nodded at Hena’s explanation and changed the subject.
“The bed’s big enough for me to lie next to you, unni.”
Lady Evangelin had offered Hena a separate room as well, but she had desperately refused—she was too afraid to leave her sister alone. The Countess’s room was larger than their house, more than enough for the two of them. As Kanna said, the bed was big enough.
After getting ready for bed, Hena lay down beside Kanna. It had been a long time since they had slept together like this. In the darkness, they faced each other and played idly with their hands. Perhaps because the day had been so long, sleep quickly crept over them. Just as Hena was about to drift off, Kanna spoke softly.
“You know, unni. Thank you for coming to save me today. I was really scared.”
Hena squeezed her sister’s hand tightly. She felt guilty for having thought—even briefly—that her sister felt unfamiliar, when Kanna had been pretending to be fine while still terrified. No matter how Kanna behaved, she was simply Hena’s beloved little sister.
From now on, my goal has changed: I’m going to get close to Kanna.
Trying to approach the male lead, the Knight Commander, would just make me look like an obsessive villainess. I don’t even want to date someone from inside a book. The fastest way to escape being the real villainess is to get on the female lead’s good side!
All-in on my life—on Kanna!
Judging by how she got kidnapped from her very first meeting with the male lead, this world seems unusually dark for a romance fantasy. That means Kanna is definitely going to go through a lot more suffering. Since I’ll need to save her whenever something happens anyway, I suggested that we stay at the mansion full-time. Thanks to the affection points I’d built up, Kanna readily agreed. Plus, Hena too!
When I went to inform them that the two of them would be using part of the third floor from now on, I was told the Count was away on business. But the lights had been on in his room just last night—didn’t he stay up all night and oversleep?
When I stared silently, the butler bowed apologetically. Sigh. What’s the point of taking my frustration out on him? It’s all the Count’s fault.
“If you have a message, I will deliver it for you.”
Hena said she would speak directly to the butler, but I couldn’t let her get ahead of me. If she said something first and my carefully built affection points dropped, I’d be the only one at a loss.
The butler asked me to write a letter instead, so I had no choice but to send one to the Count, requesting permission to use the vacant rooms on the third floor. Thank goodness for the language patch!
But I was worried he might coldly refuse, so I tore out a page from the late Countess’s diary and enclosed it. The page was filled with curses directed at her husband over their fraudulent marriage. Serves him right! If he feels even a shred of guilt, he’ll have to say yes. I handed the letter to the butler.
“Don’t open it. Just deliver it. I’ll be watching.”
I used the classic “the teacher has eyes in the back of her head” tactic. If the butler read the Countess’s curse-filled diary page, he might remove it. Absolutely not.
I thought it would take a day, but it took three for the reply to arrive. The Count scribbled that we could do as we pleased, but added that next time, if he was absent, we were to speak with the butler and never send him letters again. Then maybe he should actually agree to meet me in person?
The next day, the lights in the Count’s room were on again. He must have returned. Since I’d probably just be turned away at the door, I didn’t bother greeting him.
When I delivered the news to Hena and Kanna, who had spent four uncomfortable days waiting, Kanna was delighted. Hena still seemed somewhat uneasy—but perhaps, as the female lead, Kanna just adapts faster.
“My lord. Please, at least eat something. You’ve locked yourself in your room for three days—what on earth are you doing?”
I heard someone knocking and pleading earnestly, but I paid little attention. Who was knocking? My wife? My mother? Was I married? It didn’t really matter who it was.
Right now, fulfilling the mission given to me was far more important.
I dipped my brush in paint and drew a line. Onto a canvas where ash seemed to scatter, I captured flames. I painted a holy angel, its body the only thing left unburned amid complete destruction.
I was a painter who made a living through art. When I first debuted, I was praised as a genius newcomer—but my style didn’t suit the tastes of the nobility, and I quickly lost my fame and fell from grace. Now I was little more than a parasite living off my wife. I had to complete a masterpiece as soon as possible.
While wandering in search of inspiration, I came across a strange blaze. The flames had once burned like the sun, but by the time I arrived, only a few knights remained; the others had withdrawn. The public had begun losing interest when someone peered inside and shouted, “I saw an angel!”
With so few knights left to control the crowd, it wasn’t hard to slip inside. And when I saw it—the angel within the completely burned building—I could think of nothing but painting that scene.
I returned at once and picked up my brush.
I didn’t even sketch. Before the memory evaporated, I had to complete the painting. I had no appetite. Even if I withered away and died, it wouldn’t matter.
I don’t know how many days have passed. A week? A month? Or perhaps only two hours.
As I tried to finish the painting, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. Was it that my skill simply couldn’t recreate that moment? Miserable. In my agitation, I picked at the skin around my fingernails until it bled. I sucked on my finger, tasting the metallic tang. Then a strange impulse drove me forward.
My hands—my hands have to paint.
I grabbed a painting knife and stabbed my thigh. A sharp pain spread, and blood seeped through my trousers. I soaked my brush in the blood welling from my thigh and resumed painting. Only then did the angel’s halo become perfect.
It’s done!
I was admiring the densely filled pages with pride when Kanna suddenly popped up behind me.
“My lady, what did you write? I can’t read it.”
“It’s nothing.”
Eek! Th-that startled me. I thought my heart would drop out. I’d been so focused I hadn’t even noticed Kanna peering over my shoulder. Thank goodness I wrote it in Hangul—I almost got caught. Anyone else would be fine, but the female lead Kanna absolutely must not find out.
Pretending nothing was wrong, I covered the paper. This is my carefully crafted villainess-escape plan. After deducing as much as I could from the original story, I spent two whole days figuring out how I should act to prolong my life.
“Kanna. Don’t be rude to my lady.”
“It’s okay, unni. My lady likes me.”
Hena returned with food for two and scolded Kanna for clinging to me. I didn’t want to go down to the dining hall and eat alone awkwardly, so ever since the two of them started staying with me, we’ve been eating together in the room to grow closer.
“I wish unni would eat with us too.”
“I’m more comfortable in the dining hall.”
I’d invited Hena to join us, but perhaps I made her uncomfortable—she got indigestion and fell ill. So we agreed that only Kanna and I would eat together.
“Thanks for the meal.”
I finished quickly and sipped tea to cleanse my palate.
Kanna has such a good appetite that eating with her makes the food go down easily.
She even restores an appetite I didn’t have…. Is this the power of a romance-fantasy female lead? If she did mukbang in the real world, she’d be a huge success.
Wait—does that mean people who became popular through mukbang are actually romance-fantasy female leads? As I spiraled into absurd deductive logic, Hena called out to me.
“My lady, a letter has arrived.”
