BGDBP 07

Chapter 07

‘Those awful people! If only I were as small as a grain of millet, I could be pecked by chickens and still have nothing to say!’

If Pianni could move her body according to her emotions, she would have been trembling more than ten times per second.

Unfortunately, in her doll state, Pianni couldn’t even nod her head.

It had already been several days since Pianni had been left in Delis’s room like this.

Delis didn’t come to visit, and when a maid came to clean the room, she peered in, saying, “What’s this shabby doll?” then shook her head as if she’d seen something unpleasant.

‘I was so, so frustrated, hurt, scared, and lonely!’

To the point where just hearing Delis’s voice made her so happy she felt like crying.

But Delis, whom she hadn’t seen in so long, hadn’t come back alone, and just look at their conversation!

‘He didn’t love me! He was deceiving me all along!’

And today he even called me a kid! A kid!

‘He said I was lovely! That I was small, plump, and pretty! That I was his ideal type!’

Pianni felt wronged. Tears felt like they would gush out. No, she was actually crying. It’s just that, being a doll, no tears came out.

‘What am I supposed to do now?!’

Pianni had accepted the fact that she had become a doll. But she hadn’t come to terms with the entire situation. Even someone over sixty would be flustered by such an event, and she was only eighteen.

‘What on earth is going on?!’

Pianni was bewildered.

Who on earth was the person who had attacked her, why had she become a doll, how could she return to normal, and also—!

‘Why are those two about to kiss?!’

To be precise, Lea was grabbing Delis’s head and pulling it toward her face, but if things continued like this, they were going to kiss.

Pianni was furious. It was upsetting enough to learn Delis’s dark true nature and be unable to do anything about it, but now did she have to watch their lovey-dovey act too?!

[You damn bastards! I swear I’ll return to normal and bite the back of your heads…!]

Pianni gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

Then something strange happened. Pianni’s doll body, which hadn’t moved at all, seemed to lean forward slightly and then plummeted to the floor.

[Kyaaa!]

Pianni screamed. Falling from the fireplace in this small body felt like falling from the third floor.

‘Ow, I’m gonna die!’

If a person fell from the third floor looking at the ground, they would likely die. But Pianni’s doll body was made of soft cotton.

She didn’t go ‘thud’—more like ‘plop.’

Did that mean there was no pain? That wasn’t the case either. It felt like the pain of bumping your knee against a corner while walking. And Pianni was the kind of person who could shed tears over this level of pain.

[Waaah! Mom, it hurts! What great sin did I commit to deserve this?! Waaah!]

Just then, Delis, hearing the ‘plop’ sound, turned his head.

“What the….”

Shoving Lea away and standing up, Delis picked up the doll that had fallen pitifully on the floor.

Pianni, who had been sobbing, suddenly glared at Delis’s face holding her.

[I hate you, Delis-nim! Why did you deceive me?!]

Pianni’s mouth poured out words of resentment, but her pupils were filled with sorrow.

In truth, part of Pianni wished Delis would recognize her. She wanted him to worry about why she had become a doll and save her. And she wanted him to stammer and give her a lame excuse that everything he’d seen so far wasn’t true, that it was all a misunderstanding.

But in reality, all Pianni could do was endure Delis’s cold gaze with her whole body.

“Darling, what’s this shabby doll? Don’t tell me you also have a hobby of collecting stuff like this?”

As Lea, who had approached at some point, wrapped her arm around his waist and spoke, Delis frowned.

“I picked it up by the lakeside.”

Delis had even forgotten that he had picked up such a doll. If “this” hadn’t fallen, he probably would have forgotten about it forever.

“By the lakeside? When?”

“The night Pianni disappeared.”

Hearing this, Lea said nothing and looked Pianni over.

Feeling the cold, uneasy gaze, Pianni’s eyes sharpened.

[What? Why are you looking at me like that? Damn it! I feel like poking your eyes out!]

Pianni aggressively picked a fight.

Unable to hear this, Lea didn’t respond and instead tightly grabbed Pianni’s head.

[Gah!]

Delis, who had scrunched his face in displeasure, glared at Lea.

“What? What are you doing?”

Delis, as if not wanting Lea to take the doll, tightened his grip on it.

With her torso and head squeezed tightly, Pianni screamed.

[Eek! Let go, both of you! I’m going to burst and die!]

But then, at that moment. A sinister energy seeped into Pianni’s body. It felt similar to the energy she felt when she became a doll.

[Wh-what is this?!]

The energy that swept over Pianni’s body quickly disappeared.

Pianni was still a doll, and Lea’s eyes, which had looked uneasy, returned to their intense gaze.

“Hmm. It really is just a doll? That’s strange. I don’t think I’ve seen many human-shaped stuffed dolls before?”

“It’s just a doll, no need to make a fuss.”

Frowning, Delis looked Pianni over again. Looking now, this doll resembled someone.

‘That plump, trivial, cute girl….’

Lea, not liking the look that was subtly softening on Delis’s face, pouted and said.

“My, darling, did you really have a hobby of collecting dolls like little kids?”

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“Hoho. Suddenly? I’m saying that because you’re holding that doll so preciously. Ah! Come to think of it, this doll looks like that kid, doesn’t it? These chubby cheeks, and this coffee cream-colored hair are exactly the same.”

Lea said, poking Pianni with her fingernail. Already in pain from the fall, being poked with a fingernail hurt even more.

[Ow! Aaah!]

Lea, unable to hear Pianni’s pitiful moans just like Delis, giggled and said.

“Why don’t you cherish and carry this around instead of that kid? Comb its hair, have tea parties with it.”

“Hah!”

Delis let out a laugh as if exasperated and immediately opened the window. The cool late-night air rushed in like a tidal wave.

“This damn…!”

‘Huh?’

Sensing the ominous atmosphere, Pianni tensed up.

“Such a filthy doll!”

Gritting his teeth tightly, Delis threw Pianni. Suddenly launched into the air, Pianni let out a shriek.

[Help meee!]

On the first of every month, merchants from various regions gather on Rivel Street in the Central district, forming a huge market.

A doll artisan, for this reason, had brought his stall to this street. However, he was very late and couldn’t secure a good spot.

“Ah geez, really!”

Regretfully, he quickly arranged his dolls and energetically tried to attract customers.

“Buy some dolls! They’re made by the finest artisans from the East~!”

Honestly, he wasn’t the finest artisan in the East, but he said it anyway. In business, you need a bit of exaggeration, after all.

‘Ah, right! I need to display this one too!’

The artisan hurriedly took out a shabby doll from his pocket and displayed it among the other dolls.

‘By the way, the more I look at this doll, the odder it seems?’

Usually, stuffed dolls like this are mostly animal-shaped, but this one is distinctly human-shaped.

‘They say people in the old days considered human-shaped stuffed dolls to be bad luck.’

They believed that if you pierced a human-shaped stuffed doll with something like a needle, the person who resembled the doll would suffer harm or something.

Hardly anyone believes in that superstition these days, yet stuffed dolls are still almost exclusively made in animal shapes.

The perception that “stuffed doll” equals “animal-shaped doll” is ingrained in people’s minds.

‘So even for me, this is the first time I’ve had a human-shaped stuffed doll.’

And it was the first time he had seen such a unique doll.

‘Look at that simple, trivial face with a subtle smile! How did they achieve such an expression?!’

Just looking at the face, it seemed like a roughly made doll, but the eyes weren’t buttons but detailed embroidery, and the dress it wore was quite high-quality. The hair was also luxurious, like real human hair.

‘Whoever made it did a really good job.’

The artisan hoped this unique doll would serve as bait to attract people’s attention.

But it seemed his wish wouldn’t come true.

“Sigh.”

Already in a dim alleyway, the uninterested passersby paid no attention to the artisan’s stall, instead showing interest in the flashy dolls and decorations.

“Looks like I’ll be going back empty-handed again today.”

The vendor voiced his disappointment and picked up the shabby doll.

‘Mmm! The texture is still amazing!’

Even with such great texture, people these days don’t even glance at stuffed dolls.

‘Well, it’s not hard to understand.’

Infants are the ones who need these stuffed dolls. Once they reach about 8 years old, they look for pretty, slender dolls like porcelain dolls, not stuffed ones.

‘I hear there are even ones with smoothly bending joints? And the material isn’t that hard either.’

Dolls with good human-like proportions would definitely be more fun to dress up. They’re much lighter too, so they’d be easier to carry around.

‘Stuffed dolls have now become just childish toys for infants to play with.’

The artisan grew gloomy. Then, the doll in his hand—that is, Pianni—spoke.

[Mister. What’s wrong?
If you slump your shoulders like that, you’ll do even less business! Be confident!]

How did this young lady, suddenly giving business advice, end up here?