Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi

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Chapter 16 – The Female Lead Of A Novel

In winter, the temperature drops day by day.

Bella started looking for Myu from the nearest city.

‘She’s most likely to be here…’

She knew it wouldn’t be easy to find someone. In a modern society where identification is not easily available, she went from house to house asking questions.

“Do you know a ten-year-old brunette girl? Whose daughter is she?”

“What’s her name?”

“Laura.”

But, even this can be done in a day or two.

It was already the fifteenth day.

Bella, who struggled everywhere she went, went into an alley where no one could see her and banged her head against her wall.

“How am I supposed to find her in this wide place? I can’t even organize them all by alphabet…”

However, it wasn’t Bella who gave up here. Taking out her cell phone, she searched for ‘Myu’ and looked for any other clues.

“My eyes will fall.”

Why is it the common brown hair? Wouldn’t it be nice to have blue hair like Iwer?

She meticulously looked for clues again once a day, but couldn’t find anything other than that she had brown hair and was ten years old.

‘After all, such a coincidence of picking up a character in a novel doesn’t happen twice.’

Bella rubbed her eyes and led her tired body.

When she joins Rosanne’s maid, it’ll probably mean Myu is registered with a job agency when Rosanne is looking for maids.

“Isn’t this the city?”

Her head was dizzy at the thought of going to another city and investigating as she had done before. Although Bella thought about just giving up, she got goosebumps when she thought that the ending would not be the same as the original.

‘After all, you can’t live in that place for five thousand years.’

Even if her stamina was low, the thought of it made her feel like her strength was rising.

“Wait… when Rosanne gets her maid, Wouldn’t it be nice to know where she puts the job postings.”

After all, perhaps it was a stick rather than a carrot*, with the desperate thought that she could not live in the demon realm for five thousand years, she came up with an idea that had never been done before.

“Eureka!”

***

During Bella’s struggle, people in the mansion, who knew nothing of her whereabouts, ran as close as walking on a tightrope.

A day or two passed, and on the third day, Iwer began to lie down in the middle of the table.

Kiehl, who was about to take a sip of water, became curious about Iwer, who has been in that position since morning.

“Iwer, what are you doing?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Can you think while you lay there?”

“This kind of posture allows me to think the most.”

Since Bella’s not around, Iwer was not afraid to joke. Still, Kiehl pretended not to know and turned his gaze away from Iwer and drank some water.

“Okay. So, what are you thinking?”

“Why won’t the Miss come back, I was thinking that.”

Kiehl, who was drinking water, stopped.

He just thought she was just away for a while.

“Bella… isn’t coming?”

Iwer seemed to have come to her senses for a moment, then lay down, then changed her posture and sat down on the table.

“Oh, no. The Miss is coming!”

“When is she coming?”

Just in time, Pur came into the dining room and she nagged Iwer.

“Iwer! You shouldn’t sit at the table!”

“Young Master, ask Pur.”

After leaving those words, Iwer got down from the table and disappeared through the door leading out of the dining room into the garden.

“What are you asking?”

“Pur, when is Bella coming?”

“I don’t know because Pur is a baby bear!”

“You don’t know? Are you pretending not to know?”

Kiehl was about to get mad. ‘Even if it’s a secret where she’s going, doesn’t Pur know roughly when she’s coming?’

“Ask Mister Zanbar!”

At that, he hurriedly ran to Zanbar. Kiehl stomped his feet under the roof and called out to Zanbar.

“Zanbar! Wake up! Zanbar!”

After a while, Zanbar yawned and came down lightly into the garden.

“What, kid… It’s practice time already?”“Zanbar, where did Bella go? When is she coming?”

“How do I know that?”

“You are the general of the animal kingdom, though you don’t know where Bella has gone?”

‘Why does no one know? It’s your princess…’

From then on, he also began to worry a little bit about Bella. She doesn’t have high expectations for Zanbar in the first place, so it’s obvious that she always wants to kick him out.

Zanbar muttered to himself involuntarily.

“Did she leave us behind?”

He shouldn’t have said that.

Hearing this, Kiehl’s heart thumped and fell as if trapped in trauma. As his eyes widened and his tears dripped down, Zanbar uttered everything in bewilderment.

“Little boy, you’re crying like that, so she ran away. You’re weak.”

He shouldn’t have said that either.

Kiehl pursed his lips and stared at Zanbar resentfully.

“Well, Jenkins would know. He knows a lot of things.”

After Zanbar’s words, the mansion had a more hellish time than the demon realm.

“Jenkins, when will Bella be back?”

“Well. I don’t know why she left home for a while.”

At first, he asked every morning and every night.

“Iwer, when will Bella come?”

“Oh… she’s coming. It’s only been a few days, right?”

Three days… Four days…

Eventually, a week had passed.

Still, the door to the mansion did not open.

Kiehl grew increasingly nervous, and as the week went by, he started asking questions like a clock that rang every hour.

…As if he had set an alarm no matter what.

“Pur, Bella…”

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

Now, Pur ran away while screaming ‘Aaahh’ and Jenkins taught Kiehl to cover his ears.

“So, the ‘Sucrina’ herb is used only in small amounts.”

“Jenkins…”

“Yes.”

“When is Bella coming?”

Even Jenkins seemed to be getting fed up with this question. If she had told him where she was going, why, and when she would be back, it would have made Kiehl understand this frustrating situation.

‘Besides, what are demons…’

It is not an exaggeration to say that they live indefinitely, though demons do not think about human time.

To Bella, a full moon may feel like a day, but to this little child, it can be like a year.

“Master. Don’t trust her too much.”

Although Kiehl didn’t answer.

“I’m afraid you’ll get hurt later.”

His words were sincere.

They lived without getting old for three hundred years and received many suspicions from humans, but there was something they could do.

Unlike the demons who threw away Jenkins in an instant. But, Kiehl did not hear Jenkins’ sincere advice.

“…Jenkins.”

“Yes, I don’t know when she will come.”

***

Bella hastily headed to County Psilia. There was a mansion not far from the city she had been attending for a full month.

For her to spy, she turned into a cat and she entered the County.

‘Here it is.’

It felt very strange. Unlike the mansion where Bella lived, the count’s mansion was very luxurious and well-decorated.

In her own way, Bella thought she had decorated her own mansion well, but when she looked at the garden, where flowers were collected by area, she could feel the difference.

“My house was a playground, not a garden.”

She secretly opened the window and entered the interior as well, breaking Bella’s self-esteem. Unlike her mansion, where she puts decent furniture, this was like seeing the photos released by those who made home decorations on the internet.

‘This makes me a little jealous.’

Bella hid in the shadows from the crowd in search of the butler’s room who was managing the mansion.

Fortunately, she was able to go unnoticed because she was a black cat, but she had a hard time because the instinct to drop expensive plates or vases from above came up.

‘I’m not even a real cat…’

When she arrived at the butler’s office, she saw several documents. Bella made sure no one wasn’t there and she turned into a human and went through the papers one by one.

It was neatly organized, too.

‘Oh my gosh. Look at the money that comes in taxes every month.’

She glanced at the books and saw that they had large sums of money coming in and going out. It was very far from the life in Bella’s mansion.

‘Wow. You have so many tutors…’

She’s running one Jenkins that was harshly unpaid, but they’re hiring teachers for each subject.

Most were from the small town of Illinois.

It was strangely hurting her self-esteem and feeling bad for her to the point that she forgot her original purpose.

‘No. Greed is the root of all evil.’

Still, what is this uncomfortable feeling?

Come to think of it, Bella was the standard of evil in the human world.

Click—

Then, when she heard the door open, Bella quickly turned into a cat again. She’s trying to hide in the dark shadows.

“Oh, nanny! It’s a cat!”

Someone grabbed Bella’s tail hard, without even having time to check the incredibly bright voice next to her. She was so startled that she almost turned into a human again.

“Rosanne, Rosanne, be careful!”

Bella felt the hairs all over her body stand up.

Rosanne Psilia.

The female protagonist in this novel.

A cute little girl with her ponytail in pale pink grabbed Bella’s tail and pulled her.

“Lady, you shouldn’t touch animals like that.”

“Huh. I’m sorry, kitty. Are you in a lot of pain?”

Even her voice sounded like an angel.

Rosanne took Bella and put her in her arms, and stroked her long back. “I’m sorry, kitty. I’ll give you something delicious instead.”

‘My pride…’

She seemed to have a cute and pretty appearance, like a female heroine, and a kind heart.

‘This kid is Kiehl’s fateful mate.’

Rosanne, who thought Kiehl was a commoner, tried to abandon her family as well.

Kiehl heads to the underworld to further strengthen his position as the crown prince, in order to establish the Countess Rosanne on the outskirts.

She didn’t even think she was going to run into her.

Maybe that’s why this sudden meeting is only uncomfortable. In the first place, her favorite was Kiehl, and her second favorite was a villain, Shuriara.

She’s definitely a nice, angelic kid…

In this novel, Rosanne would be Kiehl’s destiny.

“Kyaak.”

Suddenly, Bella raised her claws unknowingly and scratched Rosanne’s face.

She didn’t even know why.

———

Notes:Stick and carrot: A metaphor for the use of a combination of reward and punishment to induce a desired behavior.

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