Chapter 19

“…This is ridiculous.”

After returning from meeting Rain, Blake quietly looked down at the teddy bear sprawled flat on the floor, sleeping with its limbs stretched out.

In the process, it had even dragged the blanket down from the bed and wrapped itself up in it.

“My… wine!”

Well, would you look at that. Now it was even talking in its sleep.

“Max! Leave some wine…!”

It was even calling out the name Max.

Max… that was probably the butler she had bragged about before.

They must have been incredibly close and loyal to one another if he was appearing in her dreams.

A strange emotion flickered in Blake’s violet eyes as he gazed at Vivian.

When Ronald had arrived with Rain instead of staying by Vivian’s side, Blake had finally lost patience and asked where she was.

“Where did you leave Vivian before coming here?”

“Ah, well, she’s currently resting in her room—”

“Don’t lie.”

Ronald had insisted he couldn’t explain with Rain present, but when Blake revealed that he already knew about Vivian’s existence, the truth came pouring out.

That was how he ended up hearing the entire story from Ronald.

Apparently, she had caused quite a commotion trying to clear away the misunderstandings surrounding him.

Ronald had apologized repeatedly, unsure what else to do, before taking his leave.

But he hadn’t forgotten to defend Vivian at the very end.

“I believe she truly cares about you, Young Master. She even sang songs about ‘Removing All of Blake’s Misunderstandings.’ She was completely sincere.”

“Puhahaha! Ah, that’s genuinely hilarious! Commander! She lets him sleep, clears up his reputation, and even entertains him? I want that doll too!”

“Rain. Shut your mouth.”

After hearing that, Rain had first been shocked that Blake still kept the strange teddy bear around, then burst into laughter.

No matter what misunderstandings surrounded him, why did she work so hard to resolve them?

Why did she keep taking his side?

To Blake, who had never spent his life relying on anyone, the feeling was unfamiliar.

Did this teddy bear truly believe he wasn’t a bad person?

“Leave some… for me…!”

The blanket she kicked shot into the air before flopping back down.

“Ha.”

Blake quietly straightened the mess she had made and tucked the blanket back over her.

Then he lay down beside her.

For some reason, he didn’t feel like waking her up and demanding answers.

Even he knew he had become unusually softhearted.

But only for today.

Tomorrow, he would cut away these uneasy and awkward feelings cleanly, like a blade.

Opening one’s heart was the same as inviting pain.

The lonely, endless nights still continued.

Perhaps they would never truly end.

Until then, Vivian was nothing more than a formal ally bound to him by a contract.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

As Blake muttered those words to himself, his gaze sank once more into the darkness of the night.

***

That same night.

Molly, a maid of the Leblanc estate, lay on her creaking bed.

“Good night, Molly.”

“Mm. You too!”

Answering cheerfully, Molly pulled the cord and extinguished the light.

Soon, her roommate began snoring loudly.

Staring up at the dark ceiling, Molly let out a long sigh.

“Haaaah…”

Had this mission failed?

“Spread rumors that Blake Leblanc killed someone at the social club. You’ll be paid generously.”

Molly had received the assignment one week earlier.

It was on her way back from the market with one of the kitchen maids.

“Make the servants of the Leblanc estate terrified. Your job is to paint Blake Leblanc as a devil incarnate.”

“Understood.”

She had been doing this sort of work for five years already.

Because of that person, who regularly slipped her extra money and assigned her missions, Molly had been able to send steady financial support to her impoverished family.

If she had succeeded this time, the reward would have been substantial.

‘What was with those notes?’

The rumor had been nearly complete.

She had carefully planted it among the servants one by one, making sure it never sounded too forced.

And then everything had been overturned by a handful of notes.

The notes had included logical deductions, and before she knew it, all the servants were agreeing with them.

At that point, insisting that the rumor was true would only have made her seem suspicious.

In the end, Molly had been forced to retreat.

‘My money…’

Thinking about the reward she had lost made sleep impossible.

After tossing and turning for a long while, Molly finally threw off her blanket and got out of bed.

Outside the maid dormitory stretched a pitch-black night sky.

How was she supposed to explain this?

If she reported her failure, that person would almost certainly withhold her payment and stop giving her assignments for a while.

The frustration was overwhelming.

The mission had seemed so easy.

Was there some way to earn the money back?

But if she pushed the rumor further, the people around her might start suspecting her.

As everyone had admitted earlier, Young Master Blake was certainly frightening enough that nobody dared approach him casually.

But he had never actually harmed any servant in the estate.

If anything, it was simply a workplace that paid wages reliably every month.

“…It can’t be helped. I’ll drop it this time.”

As painful as it was to lose the reward from her failed espionage mission, she couldn’t risk losing her stable income by continuing to work at the Leblanc estate.

Still, the frustration lingered.

To clear her head, Molly sat on a bench beside the dormitory and stared up at the stars.

That was when—

Rustle.

The branches hanging over the bench shook.

She assumed it was just the wind and tried to ignore it.

Rustle. Rustle.

This time, twice.

The sound was clear enough that she could no longer dismiss it.

Molly immediately stood up.

This was the Leblanc estate.

Nobody could simply trespass here.

Then what was it?

A small animal?

Just as she turned toward the sound—

Something leaped down from the tree.

Before Molly could scream, a quick-moving bundle of brown fur darted forward and firmly covered her mouth.

Her eyes blinked in surprise at the soft, squishy sensation against her lips.

Standing before her was a teddy bear.

It grinned.

And then…

It spoke.

“Hello, Molly. So you’re the spy in this estate.”

Yes.

It spoke.

It opened its mouth, formed sentences, and attempted to hold a conversation with her.

Molly nearly fainted from shock and tried to run.

But she couldn’t move.

More precisely, her body simply wouldn’t obey her.

“Ah, you won’t be able to move. I used a little bit of power.”

When the soft hand covering her mouth pulled away, Molly gasped for air.

“T-Who are you?”

The teddy bear’s light-green eyes glowed softly in the darkness.

The adorable appearance contrasted strangely with its calm, beautiful gaze.

At the same time, it felt like something that didn’t belong in this world.

The teddy bear smiled as though it had heard an amusing question.

“Me? Blake’s guardian angel.”

The answer came without a moment’s hesitation.

Molly’s brown eyes blinked slowly.

“Pardon…?”

“Guardian angel. Don’t you know what that is?”

Of course she knew.

But guardian angels only existed in fairy tales.

They were beings children believed in during innocent days untouched by hardship.

Was it really saying guardian angels existed?

Quick-witted Molly’s eyes darted back and forth as she tried to assess the situation.

But her body remained frozen.

And the talking teddy bear before her was far beyond anything she could understand.

The bear hopped down from her shoulder and landed on the bench.

Then it asked quietly,

“Who told you to act as a spy?”

Had she been discovered?

Molly swallowed nervously.

She couldn’t reveal anything here.

Hurriedly, she forced a harmless, innocent smile onto her face.

“I-I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’ve never done anything like—”

“Is your friend at the social club a woman or a man?”

“W-What?”

Molly’s crafty mind spun rapidly.

Why was it asking that?

The story about hearing the rumor from a friend at the social club had been entirely fabricated.

After all, very few people worked there, and it was difficult to get a job there in the first place.

Not many people knew enough to verify her claim.

Had she made some mistake?

Molly thought carefully.

‘No. This might actually be a trap.’

Was this self-proclaimed guardian angel deliberately testing her?

But she didn’t have much time to think.

The teddy bear—Blake’s guardian angel, Vivian—placed one hand firmly on its waist.

“I’ll give you three seconds. Answer.”

If you can’t…

Then you’re a spy.

Got it?

The grin spreading across its face was far too sly and sinister for something claiming to be a guardian angel.