Chapter 42
So she starved to death unjustly because of the director and Merai, and after 20 years passed, when Merai tried to commit another wrong, she possessed an empty body without an owner to stop her evil deeds.
My nose tingled. What, she's a kind ghost! So she got stabbed instead while trying to protect the kids? The fear seemed to fade a little.
And at the same time, I felt complicated.
I thought I met someone with the same possession motive. I just revealed that I'm a possessor for nothing. Daisy, Kanna, Pudding, Gabriel, and now even Melek knows, so it's not even a secret anymore. At this pace, by next week, all the mansion staff will probably know too.
"I'm sorry. Because I'm in this body..."
When I became dejected, Melek also became downcast in turn. But it's not really Melek's fault.
"It's okay. I told you I'm in a similar situation."
Come to think of it, I'm in the same situation as Melek. Whatever. I've managed to get by just fine without knowing the original story. And I have big data, so it's fine!
"Is that all you have to say?"
Melek nodded.
Then I should treat her now. I picked up the holy water bottle but hesitated. Melek is a ghost, right? Is it okay to sprinkle this on her? Won't she get exorcised?
Ah. That's why she spoke first before getting treated.
I put the holy water bottle back down. Then I have no choice but to call a doctor. It might not be as clean as using holy water, but since the body is a beast person, it might heal quickly.
But is she wearing that eye patch because her eye is injured too?
'What if...'
What if her eye turned because of the possession?
Avoiding the eye patch with that plausible guess, I opened the door.
"Can we come in now?"
Jelly and Pudding, who had been coiled in front of the door, leaped to find their places on the sofa and bed respectively. Pudding did kneading on the bed. Aww, so cute, my baby.
"Did you give her a name? What is it?"
"Merengue."
"Pfft, hahaha, Merengue? Merengue? That Melek bastard's body has the name Merengue?"
Meanwhile, the dog, no, wolf lying sprawled on the sofa was cracking up laughing. Pudding is cute, Merengue is cute too, but that one is not cute at all.
They weren't just acquaintances; it seems Melek and Jelly had quite a nasty history in their lifetime. Jelly hated the name Jelly, so seeing Melek get an even more ridiculous name seemed to delight him. Watching him, I got annoyed.
"I'll just call her Melek."
"What?"
Melek made a face like a child who had her toy taken away. Her eyes are covered, so why can I see her expression so well?
"Just like I'm Evangeline Rohanson, you're just Melek."
"I see..."
Fortunately, child Melek accepted it quickly. Then Jelly got angry. He slapped his tail against the floor as if displeased. But that doesn't change my decision.
"Then have you decided what to feed her too?"
Seeing that I had no intention of changing my mind, Jelly conceded and changed the topic.
Oh right. She said she was hungry. Since she's a ghost and not the real owner of the body, she probably didn't know what would fill her stomach. You can't feed a lion carrots and expect it to be full. Then since the original Melek was a beast person...
"Can't she eat the same thing as you two?"
Jelly and Pudding tended to eat separately outside of what the mansion provided. Sometimes they came back with blood on them and got scolded by Kanna; being beast people, they seemed to hunt and eat raw meat.
Jelly shook his head.
"She has different eating habits."
"Different eating habits? Then is she a herbivore?"
"What species is she? You're a wolf and Pudding is a cat."
"Ah. Melek is a cow."
A cow? Then she's definitely a herbivore. Then it would be a bit awkward to eat together. She wouldn't hunt anyway. Rather, if she went with them, she might get hunted instead.
Then under that eye patch, are there cow-like eyes? For a moment, I almost asked to see her eyes. But if they were turned, I felt like I'd really dream about it, so I couldn't bring myself to ask.
Anyway, a cow? Would a cow eat hay? Or since she's a beast person, would just giving vegetarian food be enough? The mansion doesn't serve greens often, so that probably wouldn't be filling.
For now, I should ask for a lot of greens to be bought as soon as it's light. If buying is burdensome, cultivating a field in one corner of the garden wouldn't be bad either.
The problem is I can't let her starve until then, so what to feed her...
I looked to see if there were any edible greens in the garden, and my gaze fell on the cherry tree. The petals hanging there in clusters looked like something a cow might eat. Cows eat a lot, and the cherry blossom petals seemed to have the most volume.
"Do you think she can eat that?"
"That tree?"
Melek's eyes went wide. It must be quite confusing to suddenly be told to eat some flowers. But there are things like flower pancakes, and I've had cherry blossom tea before, so wouldn't it be okay to eat?
"Want to try it?"
I don't know. Let's try it while eating. I've never heard in my life that cows have flower allergies, so it should be fine.
I picked up the glass bottle decorating the table. When I mentioned during a walk that catching falling cherry blossoms makes wishes come true, Kanna gathered cherry blossom leaves and gave them to me as a gift. Our heroine is so kind-hearted, it brings tears to my eyes.
I shook some cherry blossom leaves into my hand and held them out for a taste. Melek thought for a moment, then buried her face in my hand. No, I gave them for her to take, why is she using my hand as a bowl!
Melek chewed the petals thoroughly. It looked a bit subtle... is it bad?
"...It's tasty?"
Nice! It must have suited her taste.
"That's tasty?"
Jelly, who was horrified, took a petal and put it in his mouth, saying he wanted to try a bite too.
"It's tasty? Why?"
Even Jelly, who eats meat, gave a positive response. Is this really a delicacy? I was curious too so I tried a bite, but it just tasted like strange grass.
Perhaps Kanna did some processing while washing them clean, because the taste was even stranger. It was like an astringent persimmon, but maybe it only suits beast people's taste? Of course, I'm a generous person who respects all tastes and palates in the world, so I didn't mention that it tasted bad or anything.
"Eat that for a while."
I don't know. As long as it suits the person's taste, it's fine. I can't give what Kanna gave me, so I should ask for some fallen petals to be gathered.
"Then follow me, I'll assign you a room."
"What? Won't I stay here with you?"
I almost got serious at Melek's question. No, is a strange man trying to share a room with an unmarried noble lady? Of course, Jelly and Pudding are also strange men... but Pudding is a baby kitten and Jelly stays as a wolf most of the time, so it didn't feel real.
But when Melek transforms into an animal, she's a cow, right? Sharing a room with a cow is a bit... This seems like animal discrimination.
"There's no place to sleep in my room. If you don't want to sleep on the floor, I'll give you a room with proper bedding."
Jelly has the sofa, and Pudding and I sleep on the bed, so the only thing left is the floor carpet. Melek didn't like the floor either, apparently, and quietly nodded and followed me out.
Ah, come to think of it, I should go to the butler first before choosing a room. I need to ask for a doctor, and tell them I brought a guest and about Daisy's reinstatement.
And I need to tell them Gabriel is coming tomorrow. Sigh... I'm scared to meet Gabriel. I wish tomorrow wouldn't come.
***
Perhaps because it was an especially long day, or thanks to being freed after suffering mentally while trapped underground for several days, the children went to sleep without worry. The Countess's bed was large enough for two adults to lie down with room to spare, so it was sufficient for laying down three children.
Daisy stroked the head of the foolish Mary who had fearlessly insisted on following her to the Rohanson mansion.
"Thank you for taking care of the kids."
Daisy gave her thanks, but no answer came back. Hena was staring into space with hollow eyes. That appearance was exactly like a patient who had lost the will to live, and Daisy's heart tightened.
That was exactly how the young lady looked when she was alive. As if there was nothing in the world worth loving, barely breathing by force. That's why Daisy wasn't so surprised when Evangeline committed suicide.
"Um, Hena."
Just as Daisy was about to say something, the door burst open. There were only a few people in this mansion who could behave so rudely and be forgiven.
"Sister! Oh, Daisy, you're here too."
The flower nurtured by a monster smiled shyly.
"You're late."
Unlike Daisy who went to find the children immediately upon arriving at the mansion, Kanna had served Evangeline first, so Hena ended up waiting.
"Kanna, please don't disappear without saying anything next time. Do you know how worried I was?"
How bad was it that I went to find my sister with the awkward, unpaired Sir Gabriel?
"Sorry for worrying you. I'll make sure to tell you before I go anywhere from now on, so please don't avoid me either. Okay?"
"Yeah. I will."
Instead of making excuses like asking if she hadn't said she was going out briefly, Kanna quietly embraced Hena. She knew that the reason Hena overreacted was because of trauma based on her experience of being kidnapped.
"Then I'll be back for a bit."
"Now? Where are you going?"
"The young lady said she needed cherry blossom leaves. I happened to have gathered some, so I'm going to give them to her."
There were three bottles containing cherry blossom leaves in total; one was given to Evangeline, and the remaining two were shared between Hena and Kanna. Kanna packed a bottle to give her share. Originally, Kanna's wish had already come true, so she didn't particularly need it.
Kanna, having dutifully revealed her destination, left the room.
Just one person left, and the room became especially quiet. Hena watched the door her sister had gone out through, then quietly spoke.
"My sister spent her whole life lying down. She was dying, then miraculously recovered thanks to holy water, and it hasn't been long since she's been able to walk, run, and laugh like that."
Hena's voice was as quiet as if talking to herself, and Daisy belatedly realized that it was spoken to no one but herself.
"I've decided to love Kanna no matter who she is."