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Episode 9
“Stop it right now!”
I shouted without even thinking.
Crap—too late, I covered my mouth, but everyone was already looking at me.
My hands were shaking as I forced myself forward toward the small, bloodied animal.
“What? Who are you, barging in like that…?”
“Are you stupid? Don’t you get it? That’s the first young lady of this estate!”
The boys whispered among themselves and then ran off in a hurry.
I bit my lip helplessly as I watched them go.
The only small relief was that they were just young servants who didn’t know how badly I was treated in this family.
Even Marta’s maids, who knew everything, used to look down on me since I had no power.
“Oh my God… it’s hurt so badly.”
I carefully picked up the tiny kitten that looked like it was barely breathing.
Even if cats were seen as bad luck in the empire…
“If I leave it here, it’ll just end up like this again.”
Should I take it back to the count’s estate? Would that even be okay?
As I stared down at the weak little creature in my arms, something felt strangely familiar.
And then it hit me again—the description of Vermont from the original story.
An inhumanly beautiful appearance.
Long, shiny silver hair, a pale face with a beauty mark.
Sharp eyes that made it hard to approach.
It all matched.
“But… this is a cat.”
An unbelievably cute, inhuman-looking cat.
Milky-white fur with spots, slightly upturned eyes…
“What…?”
What if the “familiar” didn’t mean a human?
Confused but instinctively gentle, I hugged the cat closer.
“Ver… Vermont?”
“Myaak.”
The cat answered with a tiny sound.
“W-what?!”
I was completely confused, but either way, I had to treat it first.
Just as I was about to walk back to where Sara was—
“Myaa… meow…”
The cat weakly cried and refused to go that way.
Then it firmly stretched its tail and pointed in another direction.
“Th-this way?”
“Myaa.”
That direction led toward a back entrance of the ducal estate.
I didn’t really want to go in there, but…
Ignoring the strangely intelligent cat felt even more unsettling.
So I followed where its tail pointed.
Inside the ducal estate, there was a room that had been locked for a long time and never opened.
I knew even the maids avoided it—that it had once belonged to the late duchess.
“If you keep causing nightmares and making a scene, I’ll lock you in that haunted room where the dead duchess’s ghost appears!”
Just remembering those words made my shoulders flinch.
Somehow, I had made it here without running into anyone.
“Are you seriously telling me to go in here?”
“Myaa.”
Following the cat’s lead, this was the place it brought me to.
At the very end of the corridor, the room looked eerie and cold.
“If I turn back now… no, I can’t. Sorry!”
I pushed open the door, defeated by the cat’s clawing insistence.
“Ugh! Cough, cough…”
The first thing I felt wasn’t awe—it was dust.
The room had clearly been abandoned for at least ten years.
Waving my hand through the dusty air, I stepped inside.
For a duchess’s room, it was surprisingly simple. The only notable thing was a huge bookshelf.
Old sofa, old desk…
I scanned the room and went straight to the bookshelf.
“‘Witch Alura’s Teleport Magic Recipes,’ ‘The Basics of Summoning Magic,’ ‘Hey, You Can Make Potions Too…”
As I read the titles, something felt strange.
Was the duchess… a mage?
I had always thought it was odd that Enrica, an extra, was given the setup of a mage.
So her mother’s magic being inherited… made some sense.
“Ah—don’t scratch me. What? Look at the lower shelf?”
At this point, I was basically communicating with the cat.
I crouched down and checked the bottom shelf.
A thick bundle of leather-bound papers was there.
I carefully opened the first page.
[My name is Vivian Montemur.]
Wow, pretty name. Montemurro must be her maiden name.
I casually admired it and kept reading.
[I cast a spell so no one else can read this diary.]
[If someone other than me is reading this… then something must have happened to me, and the spell has been broken.]
So this wasn’t just a book—it was a diary.
But I didn’t have time to read it here.
I tucked the diary into my arms, planning to take it back to the count’s estate.
“I’m sorry. I’ll read it carefully and return it.”
I apologized sincerely in my head and picked up the cat again.
Satisfied, the cat stopped struggling.
I ran back and reunited with Sara.
“Sorry, I’m late!”
“I was really worried, my lady. And this is…?”
Sara’s eyes widened at the filthy kitten.
“We’ll explain later. Let’s get to the carriage.”
I felt bad for the aide who had waited so long for us.
Sara and I hurried to the carriage with the sleeping kitten.
“Welcome back.”
“Sorry, did we keep you waiting?”
“It’s fine. This is my job.”
The gentle-looking young man replied.
“Do you happen to be allergic to cats?”
“I like all animals.”
His eyes softened as he looked at the injured kitten.
He didn’t ask questions and simply went to the luggage area.
He brought cloth and a basket and started treating it.
He carefully cleaned the blood from the fur and wrapped it up.
“Wow… he’s really capable, just like he looks.”
I helped him while thinking about that.
“Are you planning to keep it?”
“I think so. Do you think Kael will dislike it?”
At Kael’s name, Melua’s face darkened slightly.
“Right now… I think he would approve of anything you want.”
His gloomy expression made me tilt my head.
“Kael doesn’t sound like a very good boss.”
“Huh? Not a good boss?”
He looked shocked, like he’d never heard those words before.
“I thought he seemed kind…”
“Kind…? Huh?”
Leaving the confused Melua behind, the carriage started moving.
Maybe this was a useful trip after all.
I looked at the sleeping kitten in the basket.
“If it’s not Vermont, then I guess I just saved a life.”
Ugh… I’m sleepy.
Between the exhausting trip and lack of sleep, I slowly dozed off.
Sara gently offered her shoulder.
I never would’ve imagined something like this before—resting on the shoulder of a “villainess.”
“Then… just a little…”
My voice trailed off as I fell asleep.
I opened my eyes in a foggy space.
I almost screamed, thinking I had been kidnapped.
Ah. It’s a dream.
I relaxed.
In front of me sat a middle-aged woman whose face was hidden in mist.
A warm, gentle feeling surrounded her.
“Enrica.”
A clear voice reached my ears.
“Do you really want to meet your familiar?”
I must really be thinking about Kael’s curse too much.
Even my dreams are like this.
“Of course. I need to ask him about the curse.”
“Even after suffering so much because of magic?”
“Me? When?”
I blinked in confusion.
Was she talking about the carriage ride today?
The woman smiled softly.
“If you want, you can break the contract now. Forget magic, forget curses, and live a normal life.”
This was definitely my exhausted brain talking.
“If I hadn’t met Kael. But not now. I want to help him.”
I shook my head.
“Then that’s fine.”
The misty woman smiled faintly.
“Your magic was never gone in the first place.”
“…What?”
Before I could ask anything else, I woke up.
Warm bed.
Sara must’ve carried me to bed without waking me.
On the bedside were the kitten and the diary.
Then I noticed something strange.
“…Huh?”
The cat was gone.
“Kitty? Kitty!”
I jumped up and searched the bed.
It shouldn’t even be able to move, let alone escape.
My heart dropped.
“Where are you?”
A voice suddenly rang out in the room.
“Where are you looking?”
My entire body froze.
When I turned around.
“You’re not seriously calling me ‘kitty,’ are you?”
There stood the cat.
And it had transformed into a man.
