The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 04

Chapter 4

---

---

What was I supposed to do now?

The reality that I had fallen from being the witch who represented the West to becoming a teddy bear overnight was overwhelming.

I had to find a way.

A way to escape this ridiculous teddy bear body and return home.

But how?

No matter how hard I thought, no other solution came to mind.

There was no one who knew my identity, and no one who could save me.

Unaware of my panic, Blake grabbed the teddy bear Rain was holding—no, me—with a swift motion.

Under the softly glowing, chilly moonlight…

The man in the gray vest appeared before my eyes as though in slow motion.

And then—

‘Huh?’

I felt a thrilling surge of magic filling my entire body.

It felt as though someone had poured spring water into an empty container.

‘This feeling!’

It was definitely magic.

Without question, it was magic.

But how could my magic suddenly recover?

The moment had been brief, but the sensation of magic refilling me had been vivid.

Feeling the tingling in my magic pathways, I slowly rolled my eyes around.

It wasn’t enough to fully restore my power immediately, but—

‘This is definitely mana replenishment.’

I could clearly feel magic slowly flowing into me from the man currently holding my leg loosely in his hand.

‘Huh? I can move my limbs a little now too?’

 

 

Meanwhile, completely unaware that the teddy bear (me) was internally panicking and moving its eyes around furiously, the two men continued their heated debate.

“…Sometimes you act as though you have two lives to spare. My patience isn’t that great. You know that, don’t you?”

Faint irritation lingered in Blake’s slow voice.

Sensing his annoyance, Rain stepped back slightly and spoke in a quieter tone.

“B-But that gift really is a problem.”

“Is this gift really that terrible?”

“It’s just too different from normal gifts! If you want to make a good impression on Lady Everett, you should choose something else.”

Blake stared sharply at Rain’s firm response, momentarily speechless.

After a short silence, he let out a deep sigh and muttered quietly,

“I never intended to bother with this useless nonsense in the first place. Besides, why should I try to impress Lea Everett?”

The coldness in his voice was enough to send chills down one’s spine.

Rain fell silent.

A useless task.

That indifferent attitude as though nothing in the world held value.

That weary tone of someone who wouldn’t care even if he died tomorrow.

‘What the heck?’

Even I, who had been distracted by the replenishing magic, found myself staring at him.

‘That Blake guy…’

He’s the type who creates all his karma through his mouth alone, isn’t he?

“Handle this yourself.”

In the freezing atmosphere, Blake casually tossed me toward Rain.

“Oof!”

The moment Rain caught me against his chest, the flow of magic filling my body instantly stopped.

‘Huh? The moment Blake moved away, the replenishing magic disappeared.’

It felt like having a fine wine snatched away halfway through enjoying it.

I checked my magic pathways again, but the power I’d felt moments earlier had completely vanished.

Could this really be a coincidence?

Or…

‘Does that man possess some kind of mana replenishment ability?’

No way.

Even I almost laughed at my own absurd imagination.

Mana replenishment.

It was an ability I’d only ever heard about in legends, even in the world of other races.

Supposedly, once every few hundred years, a human would be born with the innate ability to supply magic power to others.

Honestly, I’d never believed such an ability truly existed.

I’d lived my whole life as a witch and had never once encountered it.

‘But just now, my magic definitely recovered.’

If someone truly possessed mana replenishment abilities, they would be an unimaginably precious resource to beings like witches and dragons, for whom magic was essential.

“Understood. Then I’ll ask the servants to dispose of this somehow. Should I send another knight to a nearby jeweler to buy a different gift?”

So if Blake truly possessed mana replenishment abilities…

“Do whatever you want. I’m heading back to the Leblanc estate. Deliver it yourself.”

“What? You’re leaving without even seeing Lady Everett? His Highness Prince Ian is supposed to arrive soon—”

“That’s exactly why I should leave. Once Ian arrives, those idiots over there will start spouting nonsense again.”

As Blake coldly turned away, my gaze lingered blankly on his fingertips.

Then suddenly, alarms blared inside my head.

‘You have to follow Blake!’

Really, even if it was only a tiny possibility.

Even if I knew it sounded utterly ridiculous.

If he truly was a mana replenisher…

‘Blake might be the only person capable of saving me from this miserable situation.’

I needed Blake.

More than anyone else.

And before I knew it, I desperately shouted:

“Don’t go, Blake!”

I called out his name.

“…?”

“…Rain.”

In the suddenly silent terrace, Blake slowly turned around with a creaking motion.

“Have you finally lost your mind? Even if you want to stop me, why have you been speaking casually to me this entire time—”

“T-That wasn’t me! Seriously, why do you keep accusing me?! I didn’t say anything!”

“Then who did?”

He raised a brow while scanning the terrace, where no one else besides the two of them should have been.

“I don’t know either! But I heard it too! Wasn’t it clearly a woman’s voice?”

“A woman’s voice?”

Apparently offended that Blake couldn’t even distinguish that properly, Rain pounded his chest dramatically.

Then he shivered and muttered that this whole situation was terrifying.

Nobody seemed to think that I was the one shouting.

Hmm, why not?

Was my voice too quiet?

Tilting my head, I inhaled deeply once more.

Then I shouted at the top of my lungs.

“Blake Leblanc! Over here, over here!”

The two men flinched as their gazes slowly turned toward the source of the sound.

Oh! They finally noticed me!

“Where exactly is that voice coming from…?”

Rain lifted my body—the teddy bear he held in his right hand—and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, I must be losing my mind. I swear I just heard this doll shouting the commander’s full name.”

“Wait a second, Rain. That teddy bear is moving right now.”

“No matter what, there’s no way a teddy bear could mov—”

Then he spotted me blinking my pea-like pale green eyes.

“……”

“Hi?”

“AAAAAAAHHH!”

The moment Rain screamed, Blake immediately drew the sword at his waist.

“Rain!”

“T-The bear! The teddy bear is talking! It greeted me!”

“Calm down.”

“AAAAH! It’s a ghost!”

Pale-faced, Rain hurled me away in panic.

Whoa, dizzy!

With a loud thud, I slammed into the wall and clutched my spinning head.

That was unnecessarily violent.

Though thanks to that, I’d escaped his hands.

Barely regaining my balance, I staggered forward and faced Blake directly.

Only then was I certain.

From the man standing less than a meter away from me, I could clearly feel the overwhelming power of a supernatural ability.

Mana replenishment.

Blake Leblanc was unquestionably a mana replenisher.

And an incredibly powerful one at that.

“H-Hey, hey!”

That overly dramatic guy named Rain pointed at me while shouting.

Finally seeing the moving teddy bear (me), Blake’s beautiful violet eyes widened slightly.

He froze completely, as though he had just seen a ghost.

Looking up at the greatest and most beautiful swordmaster in the Empire, I greeted him cheerfully.

“Hello, my savior!”

 

 

 

Blake Leblanc

Blake Leblanc.

The greatest swordsman of the Kasdonia Empire.

The eldest son and heir of House Leblanc, a man blessed with looks that attracted attention wherever he went.

A person who possessed every quality others would envy.

And yet—

If one had to summarize his life in a single phrase, it would be:

A waking nightmare.

Even though Blake Leblanc was called a genius among the prestigious House Leblanc, a family so renowned in swordsmanship that even the Imperial Family treated them carefully…

People occasionally pitied him.

Because of the “Curse of Sleeplessness” carried by the Leblanc bloodline.

The Curse of Sleeplessness.

An ancient curse passed down through the family for generations, and one of the greatest mysteries no one had ever solved.

Who placed the curse upon them?

When?

And where?

Since no one knew the cause, naturally no cure existed either.

‘The price paid for talent granted by the devil.’

Some people described the curse that way.

They claimed the family’s superhuman swordsmanship had been obtained in exchange for selling their souls to demons.

Swordsmanship beyond human limits.

Dark circles beneath their eyes from never sleeping.

A cold, irritable personality.

And a family that rarely appeared in high society.

The House of Leblanc was always surrounded by rumors.

 

 

‘Did you hear? The Leblanc family wiped out the McKane Cartel this time.’

‘The McKane Cartel? The mercenary organization that ruled the eastern region?’

‘Exactly! A business I ran in the east failed because of those bastards!’

‘Be careful. I heard there isn’t a single organization or cartel in the Empire untouched by House Leblanc. If you want to do business, you have to watch their mood carefully.’

‘Haah… but how are we even supposed to do that?’

 

 

Every terrifying cartel and criminal organization was supposedly under House Leblanc’s control.

Their eyes and ears existed everywhere.

And those who offended House Leblanc disappeared without a trace.

Those were the rumors spread throughout the Empire.

Of course, all of them were true.

But there was one thing people didn’t know…

The ruler of the underworld, Blake Leblanc himself—the man rumored to be violent because of his curse—

‘…I’m sleepy.’

Was actually suffering from extreme exhaustion caused by catastrophic sleep deprivation.