Chapter 2
'Let's turn everything upside down!'
The diary I couldn't find yesterday might turn up. I've already searched Evangeline's room, so let's search the other rooms.
Here's the toilet, here's the bathroom, here's the drawing room, ah! Here it is!
The door was stiff and hard to open, but it appeared to be a storage room. Some things were covered with cloth, and miscellaneous items were stored in wooden boxes rather than paper ones. Wow... how would they move all this when they move houses?
The things covered with cloth were all paintings. I found some paints while searching, so Evangeline must have had painting as a hobby. Seeing there was also a bookshelf, it seemed to be a combination art studio and reading room. No wonder the curtains were drawn.
I left the paintings alone and examined the books. I can't read the letters, but a diary would be handwritten so it should have a different feel. Then I caught a big one! The cover was pitch black, which was a bit strange, but this was definitely handwritten. There were even traces of ink smudges. Seeing numbers written on top, this was a hundred percent it.
I roughly flipped through the pages when something strange fell out. Some kind of note? I picked up the paper.
'Summoning formation?'
A circle with geometric patterns. This is a hundred percent a summoning formation! A summoning formation came out of this crazy diary!
Seeing this, the place I possessed seems to be a novel that's been around for a while. These days, they don't really do contracts with non-humans.
I didn't hesitate. I needed to draw the summoning formation. Whether a spirit or a dragon comes out, I need to draw it first. A villainess needs at least one ability to protect herself.
There happened to be paint. There were no empty canvases and no suitable paper in sight, so I decided to draw on the floor. These things are always drawn on the floor anyway.
Worried the paint might run out while drawing, I decided to use the red paint which had the largest quantity. The brush had all hardened and wouldn't bend, so I just dipped my finger in the paint.
First, I drew a large circle, then a triangle, a star... there were lots of letters too. While drawing diligently, my hand got pricked on the wooden floor. Fortunately no splinter got stuck, but it bled. It hurt like hell for some reason, so I drew the rest with the stiff, hardened brush. It was uncomfortable but doable. Should have done this from the start. They say if your head is bad, your body suffers.
'I completed it!'
It was a bit squashed and had a strange feel to it, but I drew everything! I thought something would pop out immediately like in novels, but nothing happened. I guess I need to recite a spell after drawing everything? There is a spell written below the gorgeous summoning formation on the paper but... so what? I can't read it!
Since I went through the trouble of drawing it, I'll try spouting some random words.
"Spirit King? Spirit? Dragon? Excuse me...?"
Nothing happened.
"Um... I want to make a contract with something, anyone willing to come out?"
It was useless begging so pathetically. I guess I do need to recite a spell. I'll have to learn the letters first and try again. To think an illiterate can't even do a summoning. What kind of trash world is this?
***
Count Rohanson looked down at the maid before him.
Though she wasn't a criminal, Daisy was trembling with her eyes closed, bowing her head deeply. Considering Count Rohanson wasn't that heartless an employer to his servants, she seemed more frightened than necessary.
It was understandable, given that Daisy had spent the last two days in close attendance to that Miss Evangeline. Whatever was inside her, the outer appearance was very similar, so she must have glimpsed fragments of the young lady from Count Rohanson.
Knowing this well, Count Rohanson didn't scold the maid. The Daisy before him had been close friends with his late daughter regardless of status, which was why she had volunteered to serve 'that thing.' Count Rohanson slowly opened his mouth.
"So. What was it doing?"
"She asked about Miss Evangeline. How old she was, what her family situation was like. Whether she had favorite foods or habitual behaviors. And she acts like she's really the young lady. When told Miss goes for a walk at 8 o'clock, she said she'd do the same. She took out Miss's clothes and went walking..."
Her cute face dotted with freckles contorted. Her tightly closed eyelashes trembled. Daisy spoke as if vomiting out a confession to a priest.
Her enraged shouting gradually died down and became faint. 'It seemed like it wanted to become Evangeline.' She couldn't finish her words because she realized she was being too emotional. After all, no one would find it more horrendous than Evangeline's father, Count Rohanson.
"Servants who saw her didn't seem to care at all whether others fainted or not."
Was that all? Daisy recalled the young lady Evangeline watching a maid being dragged away with her mouth covered. When she cried so desperately to be saved, the emotion in those red eyes watching her was definitely disgust. Contempt lingered as if looking at an earthworm wriggling on the roadside.
The Evangeline that Daisy knew wasn't like that. That frail girl would rather fall ill herself than say a harsh word to others. If she wanted to become the young lady, she shouldn't have looked at people with such scorn. Don't look at people like that. Daisy lowered her head, afraid to meet her gaze. By the way... was that, were those eyes still watching me?
"Then suddenly she said she wanted to learn letters."
"Letters?"
Daisy nodded and continued.
"She said she lost her memory so she doesn't remember letters either, and asked me to buy some for her."
Daisy had promised to serve that thing, so she couldn't go buy books herself. She briefly left her post to just relay the message so someone else could be asked to do it.
During that brief time, the room was empty. Thinking she might have fled somewhere with the young lady's body, she searched the entire 4th floor. Then she saw the very last room was open. It was a room the young lady hadn't allowed anyone to enter. They couldn't even find the key, so they had just left it alone. She briefly wondered how it was opened when it had been locked.
The door was cracked open just slightly. Opening it further would make noise. Then Daisy would receive that disdainful gaze too. Holding her breath, she peeked through the crack into the room. That thing was definitely holding a book.
"Asking me to buy books because she doesn't know letters was clearly a lie to get me away. When I returned, I saw her reading a book. And, and..."
Everything after this came to mind clearly. She wanted to forget, but the more she tried, the more vivid it became.
"Blood was coming from her fingers. I think she drew a pattern on the floor with that blood. Just looking at it made me feel unpleasant."
She was drawing on the floor with her finger, but a rough sound came from it. It sounded like fingernails scratching wildly at the floor.
"And after finishing drawing it all, she murmured something. What I definitely heard was... 'contract.'"
She couldn't hear well. Daisy brought her ear closer to the door. Then she accidentally pushed the door slightly. She prayed please don't notice. But their eyes met. Terrified, Daisy squeezed her eyes shut. And that was everything Daisy saw.
"Contract..."
Count Rohanson stroked his chin. A pattern drawn in blood and a contract. No matter how he thought about it, it didn't seem like a good situation. Some kind of sorcery? His stomach was already burning because that thing had entered his daughter's body, and now another monster summoned by blood might appear.
Count Rohanson sighed. All this was because his daughter committed suicide. The temple wouldn't even perform funeral rites, and they couldn't even lay her to rest, so an evil spirit possessed that body. The problem was that even holy water couldn't drive out that evil spirit.
With no other way, they could only keep watching. He was about to encourage Daisy to endure a few more days when the maid still squeezing her eyes shut struck him as strangely puzzling.
"But why have you been closing your eyes since earlier?"
"Why? It's natural to be scared. That thing keeps looking at me. Count."
Rather, Daisy asked back as if puzzled. Looking at her? The Count suddenly turned his head.
And met the gaze of clumped eyes staring at him.
***
I was chosen by a three-eyed leopard-patterned cheese cat. What is this otherworld quality...? Why is even a cat extraordinary?
I don't know where it came from, but when I woke up, it was lying on the bed with me. Is this a cat the Count's family raises? I should ask the maid who came to serve me.
But this is a different person from last time. Well, they must be busy, so they'd rotate staff.
"Are there many cats in the Count's household?"
"Cats? They were all killed long ago."
All killed?
The maid explained that it was because of a plague spreading through 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 this close."
I desperately pretended not to know. Of course I'd hear it close by! No! Baby, don't cry! If you cry, you'll be caught! You'll die!
Fortunately, the maid left without searching the room.
Wow, I thought my heart would drop. I was originally against adopting pets without family permission... I hated that content like 'Our dad who opposed cats is now...!' giving updates like that! Then what am I supposed to do. I've become someone who nabbed a cat without family consent!
But still, it'll die! They said they killed them all because of a plague, so its family must already be dead too. Can't I raise it after getting it properly examined by a priest and doctor? They wouldn't kill the Count's young lady's pet cat.
First, I need to get permission from the Count.
He's in his office, right? Fortunately, I remember where the room is. I went down the stairs and headed to this floor. When I knocked on the door, the butler came out.
"I'd like to see the Count."
"I will ask for a moment."
The butler came right back out.
"I apologize, Young Lady. The Count says he cannot see you as he is currently busy."
"Is that so?"
Wow. The villainess's dad is really too much. His daughter died and came back to life, yet he doesn't even come to see her, and I knew something was wrong from when we never once ate a meal together. And now he refuses to see me even when I come to him? No wonder his daughter became a villainess. Being too busy to see her isn't even an excuse.
"If you have something to convey, you may tell me."
The butler bowed his head deeply. What kind of person was Evangeline that she receives ninety-degree bows from an elder? I put my hand on his shoulder to tell him to get up, and the butler was startled. Ah, I'm not hitting you!
"I want to raise a cat."
"A cat...?"
"Can I not?"
"No..."
Yes! Permission granted!
Lalala, I returned with light footsteps.
"Your name is Pudding!"