“I didn’t expect you to think that way. I actually thought you’d feel uncomfortable around him, Lady Reina.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I heard that Sir Selgrize helped you through Madam Dorsha… so I assumed he’d done something wrong to you.”

“…Ah, I see.”

“If calling him that was rude of me, I’m sorry.”

That did make sense.

A simple conclusion I could have reached if I’d just thought about it a little more.

Reina Soilet and Theodore Selgrize were friends. If Theo had done something wrong, asked my predecessor to apologize to me on his behalf, and that was how I ended up becoming the princess’s attendant…

Friends fight all the time.

‘Seriously? That’s all it was?’

I suddenly felt embarrassed for spending all of yesterday agonizing over it.

Instead of wasting time wondering what kind of relationship Reina Soilet had with Theo, I should’ve been worrying about the stalker.

“I didn’t think it was rude. I was just asking, so don’t worry about it.”

I shook my head, feeling much lighter than before.

Only then did Grace finally relax.

The lesson began as usual.

While Shuni finished her painting, there wasn’t much for me to do.

This is a good chance…

While Shuni was completely focused, I quietly walked over to Nora, who was standing in the corner.

“Um… Miss Nora?”

“What?”

Nora turned toward me with a pout.

Her tone was openly hostile, but I simply smiled as if I hadn’t noticed.

As someone striving for a peaceful transmigration life, I didn’t want to make enemies—not even at a job I planned to quit soon.

“Doesn’t Her Highness look especially adorable today?”

People usually became friends by sharing the same interests.

“She always looks cute, of course, but today she’s especially precious.”

If I wanted to get close to a supporting character in a childcare novel, complimenting the heroine seemed like the most effective strategy.

“Ah…”

Nora blinked in surprise, then her face immediately brightened.

“Right?! So it wasn’t just me!”

Her friendliness skyrocketed in an instant.

“Exactly! Her Highness is unbelievably adorable today. Though, just like you said, Lady Reina, she’s always the cutest and most lovable person in the world.”

From there, Nora launched into an endless stream of enthusiastic praise.

“She’s wearing a brand-new dress today, isn’t it just the cutest? Everything looks good on our princess, but I think yellow suits her especially well. And don’t even get me started on those tiny little ribbons!”

“I know, right?”

“Ahh… How did I end up serving someone this precious and adorable? Honestly, I wish this could be my lifelong job.”

Apparently, complimenting Shuni had completely erased Nora’s wariness toward me.

The awkward tension created by her one-sided jealousy disappeared surprisingly easily.

“Absolutely. I’d love to stay by Her Highness’s side forever too.”

Talking about Shuni really had been the right choice.

“Our little Princess Shushu… especially when she gets so focused that she pouts without realizing it… she’s so adorable I could cry.”

Listening to Nora gush nonstop made the lesson fly by before I knew it.

After glancing at the clock, I gently nudged her away.

“Well then, Princess, I’ll be going now. I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

I hurried out more quickly than usual.

I wanted to know what had happened after the marquis and marchioness reported the stalking case to the city guard.

Then I ran into a familiar face.

Theo was inspecting the protective barrier surrounding the front courtyard of the detached palace.

“…Hi.”

Damn it.

My greeting came out awkwardly flat.

I knew I didn’t need to be nervous around him, but…

“Hi.”

All my worrying was for nothing.

He greeted me back as casually as ever.

“Oh, Lena. Do you have a minute?”

I was just about to walk past after exchanging greetings when Theo stopped me.

“Hm? What’s up?”

“First… Harry, go bring it over.”

Theo spoke to the man standing beside him.

He seemed to be Theo’s attendant.

The man called Harry looked as though he’d just been dumped.

“Oh, come on.”

He grumbled with a sulky expression.

“I didn’t come here to do errands, you know.”

Theo smiled pleasantly and muttered just loud enough for Harry to hear.

“Maybe I should rip his mouth open if I want to cure him of talking back…”

“…”

Author, please.

This is supposed to be a wholesome healing childcare novel.

If I only listened to the dialogue, I’d think I was reading a dark psychological tragedy.

“…I’ll be right back.”

Though he tried to act indifferent, Harry’s face turned deathly pale as he hurried into the palace.

He returned almost immediately.

In his hands…

Isn’t that the creature I saw at the Magic Tower?

The white little animal flapped wildly.

“Kyyaaaak!”

It struggled frantically while hanging upside down in Harry’s grip.

Then the moment its eyes met mine—

“…Guruk.”

It suddenly became completely still.

As though all of its attention had focused solely on me.

“Lena, didn’t you feel anything strange yesterday at the Magic Tower?”

“Something strange?”

I tore my gaze away from the creature and looked at Theo.

“Not really…”

Honestly, I hadn’t even had time to feel anything.

Everything had happened so suddenly that I’d been too shocked to think.

“The Department of Magical Creature Protection asked us to find you.”

“Huh…?”

“That magical beast has imprinted on you as its owner. They were wondering if you’d take care of it for a while.”

“…What?”

They wanted me to raise this thing?

A magical beast?

I stared back and forth between Theo and the little creature in disbelief.

“A magical beast…?”

This was way too sudden.

Still, it didn’t even sound like this was Theo’s responsibility, so it felt awkward to argue with him.

Besides…

“Coo… coo…”

Just moments ago it had been flailing like crazy in Harry’s hands.

Now it was looking up at me with pitiful, pleading eyes.

…How was I supposed to refuse after seeing that?

“Sorry, Theo. Can we talk about this again later?”

Honestly, my head felt like it was about to explode.

The teddy bear incident alone was already overwhelming.

Now they wanted me to raise a magical beast too?

“Sure. Take your time thinking about it.”

Theo’s voice was gentle, as if trying to reassure me.

“And you never have to apologize to me. No matter what it is.”

I was comforted by his kindness…

At least until he added that last part.

Hold on… Am I the only one who thinks we’re friends? You do think of me as your friend too, right?

“Mm… thanks.”

I answered absentmindedly and quickened my pace.

First things first.

I had to deal with the stalker.

As soon as I entered the marquis’s estate, I saw the marquis, the marchioness, and two city guards waiting.

“Greetings, Lady Soilet. My name is Pell Asel.”

The guard assigned to my case, Pell, was an incredibly young and rather inexperienced-looking man.

Judging by how the middle-aged officer behind him kept quietly coaching him, he seemed to be a newly appointed rookie.

“We’ve heard about everything you’ve experienced so far.”

Then came the bad news.

“Since you haven’t suffered any direct physical harm yet, there’s a limit to how much manpower we can assign…”

“…”

“B-but as soon as we find any leads, we’ll contact you immediately!”

Pell looked thoroughly uncomfortable throughout the explanation.

Apparently even he knew how unreasonable his own words sounded.

“…Ha.”

My expression stiffened.

I’d been too terrified to sleep at all last night…

And honestly, having a rookie assigned to my case didn’t inspire much confidence.

If a rookie was handling it, that probably meant the city guard didn’t consider the case particularly important.

“Then I…”

I started to protest before stopping myself.

I wanted to sarcastically tell them not to contact me with updates but to actually solve the case.

But saying that wouldn’t change anything.

Keeping my head lowered, I forced each word out.

“…Understood.”

The two officers left with the evidence I’d collected—the letters, except for the three or four I’d already torn up, and the teddy bear.

To be honest, I couldn’t shake the feeling that nothing would come of it even after handing over all that evidence.

What made me feel even worse was realizing there was nothing else I could do.

…I want to go back to my original world.

There had definitely been moments when I’d slowly grown attached to the people around me and thought,

Maybe living here wouldn’t be so bad after all.

But every time my life turned into a complete disaster like this, I found myself longing for my original world again.

As if it had been such a wonderful place…

I lay there listlessly for a while before suddenly sitting upright.

For now… just like the guards said, I haven’t suffered any direct harm yet.

I’ll keep living as usual.

Come on.

I pumped myself up, determined once again to maintain my peaceful transmigration life.

The next day.

As if I wasn’t already stressed enough, Millon started pestering me first thing in the morning.

It took every ounce of self-control not to grab him by the collar as he once again tried to convince me to become his fiancée.

After finally getting rid of him, I entered the Princess Palace—

“W-What in the…?”

The sight before me left me standing there with my mouth hanging open.