Chapter 17
The next day, I immediately set my plan into motion.
When you thought about it, the fear and intimidation the servants felt toward Blake was only natural.
“Honestly, he looks like a cold, intimidating handsome man, and he barely talks.”
On top of that, there were rumors that he had killed an employee at the social club.
In a human world with a strict class system, the lives and rights of servants were often treated rather lightly by nobles.
Not that Blake was that kind of person.
“Still, considering what happened at the social club, they have plenty of reasons to be scared.”
It wasn’t anyone’s fault.
Blake and the servants were simply misunderstanding each other.
The biggest problem was that nobody seemed interested in clearing up the misunderstanding.
Why, though?
I genuinely couldn’t understand it.
If there was a misunderstanding, shouldn’t you just resolve it?
Well, unless there was some benefit to leaving it unresolved.
It wasn’t because I was some saintly witch, either.
The look in Blake’s eyes yesterday had been bothering me.
“Why do you let people misunderstand you like this?”
His daily life, silently enduring unfair accusations without defending himself, was exactly like it had been in the novel.
It reminded me of the brief descriptions of his mental state from the original story, though my memory was hazy.
A man who had been lonely his entire life.
That was the phrase that always followed Blake LeBlanc.
“Well, I’ve already decided where to start!”
First, I just needed to get out of the room.
I grinned at the firmly shut door.
“Hey, mustached butler. Are you going to keep standing there the whole time?”
I glanced at Ronald, who had been standing guard outside my room and pretending not to hear my muttering.
“Please understand, Lady Vivian. This is the duty I was assigned today.”
“Isn’t it boring?”
“Not at all. It is an honor to serve Lady Vivian.”
Ronald truly was the perfect butler.
Ever since discovering my true identity, Blake had been summoning Ronald to his bedroom whenever he briefly left the mansion.
Naturally, his role was to stop me from wandering around.
Looking up at the middle-aged man in his immaculate black three-piece suit and neatly combed white hair, I asked,
“Want to go out together?”
“I would very much like to, but… that would be difficult. Why not wait until the young master returns and go out with him?”
“No. I have something I need to do right now.”
At the mention of having something to do, his eyes narrowed slightly.
He was probably wondering what business a teddy bear could possibly have.
I quickly explained today’s plan.
“Ronald, do you know about the rumors spreading among the servants about Blake?”
“…I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I’ll assume you do. Everyone’s saying Blake is a murderer. Apparently, rumors are spreading that he killed a social club employee, and now the servants are terrified.”
“What? Who on earth is spreading such rumors…? And how did you hear about this, Lady Vivian?”
“Nobody told me. I overheard the servants talking beneath the terrace outside this room. I guess they didn’t realize Blake had been leaving the window open lately.”
I should probably warn them about that later.
Faced with my explanation, Ronald wore a troubled expression and nodded.
“Then do you also know that the whole incident was a misunderstanding? That the employee was actually an assassin?”
“Yes, I do. I don’t know all the details, but… did the young master tell you that as well?”
“Yep.”
Let’s just say I heard it from him.
Explaining my deductions would take too long.
I skipped straight to the point.
“I want to clear up this misunderstanding.”
“You do?”
“Yep. I’m going to do it myself.”
Ronald looked at me sprawled across the bed with obvious skepticism.
“…And how exactly do you intend to do that?”
He seemed to be trying his best to trust me, but he clearly doubted how I could clear Blake’s name without any evidence.
But I had no intention of searching for clues or providing a logical explanation.
Wouldn’t Blake’s subordinates, who were undoubtedly much faster and more capable than me, handle that sort of thing?
“You can make it happen if you help me, Mustached Butler.”
“Please explain what assistance you require.”
“Have you ever read the story The King’s Ears Are Donkey Ears?”
“…Pardon?”
“It was a fairy tale I read a very, very long time ago. Hundreds of years ago, actually.”
Not from my days as a witch, but from before I had even reincarnated into this world.
Ronald tilted his head.
“Then perhaps… A Rumor Travels a Thousand Miles Without Legs?”
“Not familiar with that one either. My education is lacking, I apologize.”
“No, it’s fine. It’d be strange if you knew it. Anyway, the simple version is this: fight rumors with bigger rumors.”
We would cover up the frightening murder rumor with an even bigger one.
“Everyone seems curious about how a woman died without shedding a single drop of blood.”
“Were they?”
“We’re going to use that. We’ll give the servants little hints. Let them discover clues themselves and draw their own conclusions.”
I grabbed a piece of paper from the side table and scribbled quickly before handing it to Ronald.
The Ultra-Top-Secret Truth Behind the Billiards Club Employee’s Death!
→ Find the next note if you want to know more!
“The next note explains ways to kill someone without drawing blood. The one after that talks about different types of poison. Then signs of poisoning, skin discoloration, things like that.”
“And in the end, the clues naturally lead them to conclude that Young Master Blake wasn’t the culprit.”
I gave him a thumbs-up.
The idea was to spark curiosity, encourage speculation, and create a bigger rumor.
And because they’d be finding the clues themselves, they’d be more inclined to believe it.
As people pieced together convincing evidence on their own, the story would spread naturally.
“So? What do you think of my plan?”
Ronald carefully read through every page I had prepared.
Then he muttered softly,
“Hmm. I cannot deny it. Lady Vivian, you seem to be quite the strategist.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
I puffed out my chest proudly and jumped to my feet.
Then I suddenly stopped and looked back at him.
“Oh, by the way, Butler. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you know much about the social club Blake visited?”
“Not in detail. What would you like to know?”
Ronald straightened his posture, signaling that he would answer whatever he could.
I brought up the question that had been bothering me since yesterday.
“What was the gender ratio of the staff there?”
“The staff ratio…”
He rubbed his chin briefly before answering.
“As far as I know, all of the employees at that social club were women. They specifically recruited professional maids who had served high-ranking nobles for at least five years.”
“…Really?”
“Is something wrong?”
“No. Something just didn’t add up.”
As I suspected.
There was definitely something suspicious about the maid who claimed she had heard it from a male servant.
Why invent a friend who didn’t even exist just to spread a rumor?
I need to find that maid.
The plan was complete.
Now it was time to put it into action.
“All right, Mustached Butler! Let’s begin our adventure.”
Smiling kindly, Ronald tightly gripped the papers and nodded.
“So what’s down this hallway?”
“The dining hall.”
“And over there?”
“The guest rooms.”
“Where’s the laundry room?”
“Behind the mansion. Shall we go there?”
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
Thus, the alliance known as Operation: Clear Up All of Blake’s Misunderstandings—a name Ronald definitely had not agreed to—was proceeding smoothly toward its objective.
I was hidden comfortably inside Ronald’s suit jacket, quietly directing him.
Was it stuffy?
Not at all.
It was surprisingly comfortable.
Ronald was observant and gentle.
“We’ve already placed the fourth note on top of the laundry pile. Only one remains—”
Suddenly, Ronald fell silent.
After noticing something, he hurriedly looked at me and whispered,
“I completely forgot that Sir Rain was visiting today.”
Sir Rain?
Seeing my confusion, Ronald used ventriloquism-like whispers.
“He is the vice commander of the army unit that hunts magical beasts alongside the young master. He mentioned stopping by briefly on his way back from leave.”
Apparently, Ronald had forgotten because Blake had ordered him to guard my room.
Ah.
As soon as Ronald explained, someone immediately came to mind.
The blond man who had been standing beside Blake at the Everett Count family’s banquet when I first arrived in the human world.
He’s here?
Since he had already discovered that I was a talking teddy bear, I was about to poke my head out and greet him.
But before I could—
Ronald abruptly turned around and yanked me out of his jacket like a radish being pulled from the ground.
“Wah!”
“My apologies, Lady Vivian. If Vice Commander Rain discovers you, the young master will be furious. I’ll distract him, so please hurry back to your room.”
“Wait a second—”
“I shall buy you time!”
With that, he shoved me into a corner of the hallway and hurried off toward Rain.
No, I know that blond human!
He knows me too!
You don’t need to abandon me here!
I stared blankly as Ronald greeted Rain in the distance.
For a moment, I stood there holding the remaining note in both paws.
Then I turned and headed toward my next destination.
Ronald had told me to return to my room, but…
I never intended to do that anyway!
“The servants’ lounge is the final destination, right?”
