5
Chapter 5
Tiger energy surges through my limp body.
I was about to jump up to hug Leo tightly and ruffle his hair into a mess, but dizziness struck, and I groaned, pressing my forehead.
Ugh, my head. I've regressed to a twenty-year-old body, but my stamina is even worse.
I waited for the flashing lights in front of my eyes to disappear and looked at Leo again…
'Why does he look like that?'
Leo was trembling like a rabbit in front of a predator.
Only then did I realize the state of my furrowed brow.
I'm not angry. So, there's no need to be scared…
If I hugged him now, he'd probably think I was going to crush him and have a fit.
Reluctantly, I was about to express my gratitude with words when.
Bang, crack.
The sound of something being cut and split apart somewhere made the fine hairs on my body stand on end.
Startled, I looked for the source of the sound and found that it was a servant chopping firewood in the yard.
'Phew, I thought it was something. I thought it was the sound of my head falling off like in the dream earlier.'
I wiped the cold sweat from my neck and opened my mouth.
“……”
But my throat was blocked as if it were tightly shut.
“Belinda?”
…What if I say something wrong and hurt Leo?
And then later, I'm misunderstood for abusing him, and my head gets chopped off like in ending number 1.
In the end, I had to be content with timidly taking the rag from Leo's hand.
And after checking the still unchanged Synchronization rate, I lowered my eyes slightly and opened my mouth.
Translation machine, please give me a righteous translation. Please!
“Acorn mouse, you don’t have to do anything.”
That's it, that was a gentle tone for a Belinda!
…Or so I thought.
I will probably never forget it.
Leo's expression, as if he had been shocked like a child who had his candy taken away, at my words.
'Why…'
I looked down at the rag in my hand. Clearly, what I took was not candy but a rag.
Was there actually a setting that Leo is a cleaning Fairy?
I felt like he was misunderstanding something, but I couldn't open my mouth rashly.
In the end, I had no choice but to turn around with only the rag in my hand.
After that, Leo repeatedly made a face as if he had his candy stolen every time.
“May I wipe the dust off the table?”
“Don’t do useless things and just sit huddled in that corner over there.”
“Then what should I do today…”
"What?"
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Why? I'm telling him to rest instead of working, so why is he so depressed?
'Did he get caught secretly peeking at me?'
As the days went by, Leo's face grew darker and darker, and he eventually reached the point where he desperately avoided my gaze, afraid of making eye contact with me.
On the fifth day after Leo came.
I realized.
“He’s scared of me.”
That I am no different from the real Belinda who tormented the protagonist.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Sharp eyes, only says mean things when she opens her mouth, and even gives him a name that's worse than having no name at all.
Looking at it this way, there are more reasons for Leo to be afraid of me than to like me.
I sat by the window with my chin resting on my hand and looked out the window gloomily.
The backyard of the mansion.
A child with a round back was bustling around diligently among the maids like a squirrel collecting acorns.
It was the first time in a while that I saw Leo looking so energetic, but my heart was heavy.
“If I… get to fluff the blankets… would that… not be okay?”
Leo was saying it so earnestly that I couldn't bring myself to say no.
As soon as I nodded, Leo hugged the blanket, which was bigger than his body, and ran out like a puppy going for a walk for the first time in a long time.
“The life I imagined with Leo wasn’t like this.”
I was going to watch the child munching on sweet snacks, or put him in new clothes every day and have a fashion show.
It was when I was sighing deeply.
"Oh, oh!"
Leo, who had climbed onto a chair to fluff the blanket, lost his footing and fell.
I was so surprised that I pressed my face against the window until my forehead and the tip of my nose were squashed and examined the child.
Fortunately, he quickly shook himself off and got up, but it seemed that he had fallen because his bangs were too long and obstructed his vision.
'Wouldn't it be okay to trim his hair?'
Yeah, I know it's my greed. But this is a matter directly related to Leo's safety.
So, when Leo comes back, I'll just say one thing: I'll trim his hair.
I started simulating how I should say it so that Leo could understand me without misunderstanding.
* * *
“What? You’re asking what ‘assist’ means?”
Toma's face was sullen as he asked back.
He was very displeased with the small roommate who had suddenly appeared one day.
Because of this, his voice was very blunt.
“Assisting is doing what your superiors tell you to do, and sometimes protecting your master. What’s so difficult about that?”
“That’s… Belinda only tells me not to do anything.”
Leo replied, visibly deflated.
The words "don't do anything" sounded exactly like… he was not needed.
On the other hand, Toma's eyes narrowed at Leo's words.
He had an idea about Belinda's sudden change in attitude.
Now that the Marquess is dead and there is no one to back her up, she is keeping a low profile to see how things go for the time being.
If the young master becomes the head of the family, it wouldn't be strange for her to be kicked out to a monastery right away.
'To become a noble's exclusive servant at a time like this. This orphan is so lucky.'
He, who often took on the task of helping new recruits adapt as a senior, was actually a very narrow-minded man.
'Back in my day, trainee servants had to sleep in the stables.'
But an orphan who only has luck dares to share a room with him, a senior!
Could there be anything more unfair in the world?
It seemed necessary to teach the new recruit the bitter taste of social life for the sake of fairness in the world.
Toma's voice became generous in an instant.
“Hmm, hmm. I see. So, you’re worried about why the young lady doesn’t give you any work to do?”
"Yes."
If this idiot gets scared and makes mistakes, there's no way that nasty woman will let it slide, right?
Toma hid his vile smile and put on a pitiful face.
“In my opinion, it seems like she doesn’t give you any work because you’re useless.”
"Ah……."
A dark cloud hung over Leo's face. He couldn't dare to argue that it wasn't true.
The most common thing he heard when he was in the orphanage was "useless."
Besides, Belinda would often watch him silently with a cold gaze.
As if gauging his usefulness.
Toma's blunt hand patted Leo's slumped shoulders.
“Tsk, tsk, I feel sorry for you, so let me give you a few words of advice. You know I’m only saying this for your own good, right?”
"Yes, yes."
“First, you need to know what kind of person your master is.”
Soon, Leo's face grew paler and paler as Toma told him Belinda's story, mixing truth and exaggeration.
* * *
If you hear other people's slander every night, you're bound to develop prejudices you didn't have before.
The story of Belinda that Toma told was so terrible that Leo couldn't sleep every night and eventually had nightmares.
Thanks to this, the child would tremble and become intimidated whenever he stood in front of Belinda.
Whenever he tried to do his job as a servant, Belinda's frosty warning would immediately follow.
“Acorn mouse, I told you not to do anything, didn’t I?”
He was deprived of the rag, the broom, and finally, even the last cleaning tool, the duster.
There was nowhere else to retreat.
Leo eventually pleaded.
“If I… get to fluff the blankets… would that… not be okay?”
That was why Leo's feet, running down the hallway, were hopping rhythmically.
The child ran to the back of the mansion, hugging the blanket in his arms as if it were a treasure chest.
'Belinda gave me a job! I'm a useful servant now!'
It felt like his worries had melted away.
Although it was a job he had obtained by begging, if he proved that he was useful, wouldn't she give him more jobs in the future?
'Today, I'm just fluffing the blankets, but tomorrow, I'll wash the blankets!'
I have to sweep, wipe, and wash the room.
He wanted to become a full-fledged servant like Toma as soon as possible.
'So, I must never, ever make a mistake.'
Leo clenched his fists and climbed onto the chair to hang the blanket in the sun.
It was purely by chance that he inadvertently looked up at the second floor of the mansion while hanging the blanket on the clothesline.
'What is that?'
A dark figure standing by the window of Belinda's room.
The moment he discovered that the figure's fierce gaze was staring at him.
"Gasp!"
He was so surprised that his legs gave way, and Leo fell off the chair.
