Chapter 2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2
Time to turn this place upside down!
I might find the diary I couldn't track down yesterday. Since I’d already gone through Evangeline’s bedroom, it was time to check the other rooms.
Restroom, bathroom, drawing room, and—ah! Here it is!
The door was stiff and resisted opening, but inside was a room that looked like a storage area. Items were covered in cloths, and various sundries were packed in wooden crates rather than paper boxes. Wow… how are they ever going to move all this when they relocate?
The cloths covered stacks of paintings. As I looked around, I found paints as well; it seemed Evangeline had a hobby of painting. Seeing the bookshelves, I figured this was a combination studio and study. No wonder the curtains were drawn so tight.
Leaving the paintings aside, I examined the books. I couldn't read the script, but a handwritten diary should stand out, right? And then, I hit the jackpot! Its pitch-black cover was a little odd, but the script inside was clearly handwritten. There were even traces of smudged ink. The page numbers at the top confirmed it. I was one hundred percent sure.
As I leafed through the pages, something suddenly fluttered out. A note? I picked up the piece of paper.
A summoning circle?
A circular shape filled with geometric patterns. This was one hundred percent a summoning circle! A summoning circle actually fell out of this crazy diary!
Looking at this, it seemed the novel I’d possessed was a bit old-school. These days, characters don’t really make contracts with non-humans that often.
I didn’t hesitate for a second. I had to draw this summoning circle. Whether a spirit or a dragon came out, I had to draw it. A villainess needs at least one ability to protect herself.
Conveniently, paints were right here. There were no empty canvases and I couldn't see any suitable paper, so I decided to draw it on the floor. In the stories, these things are always drawn on the floor anyway.
Worried I might run out of paint halfway through, I decided to use the red paint since there was the most of it. The brushes were all stiff and wouldn't bend, so I just dipped my finger in the paint.
First, a large circle, then a triangle, a star… and it was full of text. As I was drawing fervently, I pricked my finger on a splinter in the wooden floor. Fortunately, it didn't get stuck, but it bled. It stung way more than it should have, so I finished the rest using a rock-hard brush. It was uncomfortable, but manageable. I should have used this from the start. I guess it's true what they say: if your head doesn't work, your body suffers.
Finished!
It was a bit lopsided and looked a little strange, but I’d drawn the whole thing! I expected something to pop out immediately or for some change to occur like in a novel, but nothing happened. As I thought. Do I have to recite an incantation after finishing the drawing? There was an incantation written below the elaborate summoning circle on the paper, but… what was the point? I couldn't read it!
Since it would be a waste of all the effort I put into drawing it, I decided to just blurt out whatever came to mind.
“Spirit King? Spirit? Mr. Dragon? Hello…?”
Nothing happened.
“Um… I’d like to make a contract. Is anyone there who wants to come out?”
It was no use clinging to such pathetic hope. It really seemed like I needed to recite the incantation. I’d have to learn the alphabet first and try again. What kind of garbage world is this where you can't even summon things if you're illiterate?
* * *
Count Rohanson looked down at the maid before him.
Though she wasn't a criminal, Daisy was trembling with her eyes shut tight, her head bowed. Considering that Count Rohanson was not a particularly heartless employer, she seemed terrified beyond reason.
It was understandable, though. For the past two days, Daisy had served the Young Lady Evangeline at close quarters. No matter what now wore the body, its face was still identical to the Count's daughter, and in his features, the maid must have seen painful fragments of the Young Lady.
Knowing this well, Count Rohanson did not scold the maid. Daisy had been close friends with his late daughter, their difference in status meaning little. That was why she had volunteered to serve ‘that thing.’ The Count spoke slowly.
“So. What did it do?”
“It asked about Lady Evangeline. How old she was, what her family relations were like. Whether there were foods she liked or habits she had. And it acts as if it has truly become the Young Lady. When I told it the Young Lady used to go for walks at eight, it said it would do the same. It put on the Young Lady’s clothes and walked, but…”
Her freckled face contorted. Her tightly closed eyelashes quivered. Daisy spoke as if vomiting out a confession to a priest.
Her spiteful voice gradually died down. ‘It was as if it wanted to become Lady Evangeline.’ She couldn't finish the sentence, realizing that the one who would find that more horrific than anyone else was Evangeline’s father, Count Rohanson.
“It didn't seem to care at all whether the maids who saw it fainted or not.”
Was that all? Daisy recalled it watching the maid being gagged and dragged away. The maid had screamed so desperately for her life, but the emotion dwelling in those red eyes was clearly disgust. It was the kind of contempt one might have when looking at a worm wriggling on the road.
The Lady Evangeline Daisy knew wasn't like that. That fragile girl would rather fall ill than utter a single harsh word to another. If it wanted to be the Young Lady, it shouldn't look at people with such scorn. Don't look at me like that. Daisy lowered her head, terrified their eyes might meet. Wait… are those eyes… still watching me?
“Then, it suddenly said it wanted to learn how to read.”
“To read?”
Daisy nodded and continued.
“It said it couldn't remember the letters because of amnesia and asked me to go buy some books.”
Since Daisy had promised to serve the thing, she couldn't go buy the books herself. She had stepped away for just a moment to pass the message to someone else.
In that brief interval, the room had been empty. Fearing it had run off with the Young Lady’s body, she searched the entire fourth floor. Then, she saw the door to the room at the very end of the hall was open. It was a room the Young Lady had never allowed anyone to enter. Since they couldn't find the key, they had just left it alone. For a moment, she wondered how it had opened a locked door.
The door was cracked open just a tiny bit. If she opened it further, it would make a sound. Then Daisy, too, would be subjected to that contemptuous gaze. Holding her breath, she peeked through the gap. It was definitely holding a book.
“Saying it didn't know how to read and asking me to buy books was surely a lie to get rid of me. I saw it reading when I went back. And, and…”
The events that followed came back vividly. She wanted to forget, but the memory only grew clearer.
“Its finger was bleeding. It must have used that blood to draw a pattern on the floor. It was a drawing that made me feel sick just looking at it.”
It was drawing on the floor with its finger, but a harsh sound had rung out—like fingernails frantically scratching the floor.
“And after it finished drawing, it muttered something. The only thing I heard clearly was… ‘contract.’”
She couldn't hear well. Daisy had pressed her ear closer to the door and accidentally pushed it slightly. She prayed it hadn't noticed. But their eyes had met. Paralyzed with fear, Daisy had squeezed her eyes shut. That was the last thing she saw.
“A contract…”
Count Rohanson stroked his chin. A pattern drawn in blood and a contract. No matter how he thought about it, it didn't sound good. Was it some kind of sorcery? He was already burning with anxiety because of the thing that had entered his daughter’s body; he prayed another monster summoned by blood wasn't about to appear.
Count Rohanson let out a sigh. This was all because his daughter had committed suicide. Because the Temple wouldn't even oversee the funeral or allow her body to be laid to rest, an evil spirit had taken up residence in her corpse. The problem was that the evil spirit couldn't be driven out even with holy water.
Since there was no other way, he had no choice but to continue the surveillance. He was about to encourage Daisy to endure for a few more days when the sight of the maid still squeezing her eyes shut struck him as odd.
“But why have you been keeping your eyes closed this whole time?”
“What do you mean why? Because I’m scared, obviously. It’s been staring at me this whole time, My Lord.”
Daisy asked back as if he were the one being confusing. Staring? The Count suddenly turned his head.
And his gaze met a cluster of eyes staring back at him.
* * *
I’ve been chosen by a three-eyed, leopard-patterned ginger tabby. What is with the quality of this isekai…? Why is even the cat so extra?
I don't know where it came from, but when I woke up, it was lying in bed with me. Is it a cat raised by the Count’s family? I should ask the maid who comes to serve me.
But it was a different person from last time. Well, they must be busy, so they probably have rotating shifts.
“Are there many cats in the Count’s estate?”
“Cats? They were all killed a long time ago.”
They killed them all?
The maid added that a plague had spread because of the cats. It seems something like the Black Death was prevalent here too.
Meow.
“…Don't you hear a cat crying somewhere?”
“I don't hear anything.”
“That’s strange… I hear it so clearly from nearby.”
I desperately pretended not to know. Of course it sounds close! No! Baby, don't cry! If you cry, you’ll get caught! You’ll die!
Fortunately, the maid left without searching the room.
Wow, I thought my heart was going to drop. I used to be the type who hated those “My dad, who was dead set against getting a cat, is now…!” type of posts. But so what? I’ve become the person who secretly brings home a stray without permission!
No, but she said it would die! They said they killed them all because of the plague, so its family must be dead too. Can't I just have it checked by a priest and a doctor and raise it myself? They wouldn't kill the pet cat of a Count’s daughter.
First, I should get permission from the Count.
Did they say he was in his office? Luckily, I remembered roughly where the room was. I went down the stairs to the second floor. When I knocked, the butler came out.
“I’d like to see the Count.”
“I shall go and ask.”
The butler came back out immediately.
“I am sorry, My Lady. The Count has conveyed that he is currently busy and cannot see you.”
“Really?”
Wow. This villainess’s dad is a real piece of work. I already knew he was cold since he didn't visit even after his daughter came back from the dead and never even shared a meal with her. But to give me the cold shoulder even when I come to find him? No wonder his daughter became a villainess. “Too busy” is just an excuse, isn't it?
“If you have a message, you may give it to me.”
The butler bowed his head. What kind of person was Evangeline that she got a full ninety-degree bow from an elderly man? I put my hand on his shoulder to tell him to stand up, and the butler flinched violently. Hey, I’m not going to hit you!
“I want to raise a cat.”
“A cat…?”
“Is that not allowed?”
“No…”
Yes! Permission granted!
I returned with light steps, humming a tune.
“Your name is Pudding!”