Chapter 14 Part 3
Having finished writing the letter, I briefly pondered how to send it.
Normally, I would send Entrie, the messenger bird, but…
Turning my head, I saw the adorable Entrie blinking his pale green round eyes at me.
As an experienced messenger bird who had delivered many letters, it would be best to send Entrie if possible.
Besides, he seemed to have lost a bit of weight compared to yesterday, so maybe…
He might be able to fly.
“Here, Entrie. I need to send a letter to the Brissel Viscounty. Can you fly?”
After tying the letter to Entrie’s ankle, I gently stroked his small head and asked.
Peep! Peep peep!
Entrie answered energetically, as if saying to leave it to him, and flapped his short, plump wings vigorously with determination in his green eyes.
Flap!
Flap!
After flapping for a while, with a soft thud, Entrie’s head hit the floor.
I had hoped against hope, but I didn’t expect him to literally fall forward like that.
“…Is it his stomach? He does look a bit round.”
If only we could do something about that plump belly, he’d be able to fly…
A troubled sigh escaped my lips. But what could I do?
Even that appearance was cute… Ah, that’s not the point. He’s a messenger bird who can’t perform his messenger duties.
What should I do with him?
Just then, Hyle approached and carefully helped the fallen Entrie back up.
“Rosiel, let me say this again: feed Entrie only twice a day, morning and evening. If you keep giving him snacks at lunch too, he’ll never be able to fly.”
His tone was scolding.
But knowing that this situation resulted from not following his advice, I couldn’t bring myself to argue.
“But our baby wants to eat…”
“Our baby?”
“…No, never mind. I understand. From now on, I’ll only feed him twice…”
At his brightened eyes and question, I lowered my tail and had to nod reluctantly, swallowing my disappointment.
It seemed Entrie wasn’t an option, so I’d have to call Raphla…
“Or I could lend you my messenger bird.”
Seeming to have judged Entrie useless, Hyle turned a cool gaze.
But as someone already receiving various forms of help from Hyle, it was awkward for me to extract anything more from him.
“…It’s fine, I’ll call Raphla.”
At my words, Hyle frowned slightly and tilted his head.
He seemed to question my decision to use Raphla.
“Will you be alright?”
Sure enough, I heard him probing.
He meant whether using Raphla would cause any physical issues for me.
He seemed worried I might collapse like yesterday, but fortunately, I was in good condition today.
Thanks to someone.
“Hmm… excuse me for a moment.”
With a shrug of my shoulders, I skillfully nestled into his broad embrace.
The cramped posture, with our hearts touching, quickly widened in distance after a short while.
“Hmm, this should be enough. Raphla!”
Separating from the frozen Hyle, I called Raphla with a nonchalant face.
“What… what was that just now?”
Hyle remained frozen with his arms suspended in mid-air, exactly as he had been a moment ago.
Yes! This was the dorky Hyle I knew.
The one who gets embarrassed by physical contact with the opposite sex and freezes when approached.
…So that aggressive man yesterday must have been possessed by something.
“You said it yourself, to use you.”
As I answered simply with a look that said I didn’t understand the problem, Hyle’s eyes narrowed.
He didn’t seem pleased about being played with.
“…just kidding. I was trying to prevent the magical backlash from holy power. I’m not sure how effective it will be though.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Then I’m just a shameless person who hugged you for no reason.”
As I concluded with a gentle smile, Hyle placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head.
“Rosiel… what I meant was, how severe would the magical backlash be?”
“However it comes, it won’t kill me, so don’t worry. Someone impatient and rough gave me a lot of holy power last night.”
Finishing my words, I gave him a sidelong glance with a peculiar smile.
Seeing my brazen attitude, Hyle let out a small laugh and exhaled emptily.
“It didn’t seem like you received that much, though.”
“Oh, really? Then perhaps I confused you with someone else.”
I had just responded without much thought, but somehow Hyle’s face darkened.
As if a sudden downpour was about to fall.
“Besides me… are you receiving holy power from someone else?”
The displeasure was clearly evident in his careful question probing for the truth.
His face looked as if he would immediately sink into gloom if I were to nod here.
It would indeed be nice if I could receive holy power from others as he suggested, but unfortunately, I wasn’t in such an extreme situation that I needed to resort to last measures like Abel or the holy crystals.
He should know that fact well, so for him to abruptly ask like that, he couldn’t help but be quite the fool.
It was puzzling how this usually intelligent and shrewd man could be so swayed by a single word from me.
Is this what they call selective stupidity?
Anyway, Hyle was surprisingly gullible.
How did such a fool become the head of House Feros?
…Ah, that was because of me, wasn’t it? Looking at it now, this man does quite a lot of things because of me.
Not that I mind, but…
“I think I’ve said this before… I only have you, Hyle.”
I had said the same thing once before in a carriage.
It was probably during our first official party together.
That was when I first stood up Abel who came to the Laté estate.
It felt like such a distant past now.
Since that day when I vaguely took Hyle’s hand thinking of him as a lifeline, so much time had passed?
Looking back quietly, I realized how much Hyle had accommodated me.
He had simply trusted and followed me without complaint when I recklessly made plans and demanded his participation.
Even going so far as to say the absurd notion that he would save me. Perhaps… Hyle had been a fool from the beginning.
He could have insisted on his own opinion at least once, saying he didn’t want to, couldn’t do it, or questioning why he should do such things.
But from the day we first met, Hyle had believed in me and respected me at every moment.
…Though I haven’t done the same.
Anyway. What was Hyle’s expression like when I said something like that before? I’m sure his face turned red, and he asked if I was ill.
But today…
“That statement should be without lies.”
His green eyes had cooled and sunken into ash gray.
It was eerie how his pupils had grown frighteningly large, as if he wouldn’t let it slide if I was lying.
…This is kind of scary.
“Rosiel, how many Raphlas are you controlling?”
At Hyle’s question, my head tilted to the side involuntarily.
Hmm, I don’t think I’ve actually counted them…
Usually, I would attach one to each key person.
I was a supporting character with a precarious life, and all I could do was avoid the brutal developments of the original story by knowing them in advance, so my trick was to surveil the protagonists to defend against approaching events.
But the original story had twisted as I went on strike as the villainess for the sake of my survival… and as a result, I could no longer predict what would happen next.
At first, I thought, it’s just me, and took it lightly, but the absence of a villainess in the novel seemed to be quite a risk.
Otherwise, the original story wouldn’t have twisted this much.
The fact that I was designated as the Holy Maiden was still difficult to accept.
“Hmm, let’s see? I have reduced them compared to before.”
“How many after reducing them?”
