Chapter 19
“…This is ridiculous.”
After returning from meeting Rain, Blake quietly looked down at the teddy bear sprawled out on the floor, sleeping in the shape of a starfish.
It had even dragged a blanket down from the bed and covered itself with it.
“My… wine!”
Well, would you look at that. It was even talking in its sleep now.
“Max! Leave some wine…!”
It was calling out the name Max in its dreams.
Max… was probably that butler it had bragged about before.
They must be close if he was appearing in its dreams.
A strange emotion flickered in Blake’s violet eyes as he watched Vivian.
When Ronald arrived with Rain instead of staying by Vivian’s side, Blake had been unable to hold back and ended up asking where she was.
‘Where did you leave Vivian and why are you here?’
‘Ah, well, she’s resting in her room at the moment…’
‘Don’t lie.’
Ronald insisted that he couldn’t speak because Rain was present, but once Blake told him that he already knew about Vivian’s existence, the truth came pouring out.
That was how he learned the whole story from Ronald. Apparently, she had caused quite a commotion trying to clear up the misunderstandings surrounding him.
Though Ronald apologized repeatedly and withdrew awkwardly, he did not forget to defend Vivian at the end.
‘She truly cares about you, Young Master. She was even singing songs about clearing away all of Blake’s misunderstandings. She was completely sincere.’
‘Pwahaha! Ah, that’s seriously hilarious! Commander! She helps you sleep, clears up misunderstandings, and even makes you laugh! I want that doll too!’
‘Rain. Shut your mouth.’
Hearing that, Rain was first shocked that Blake still had the bizarre teddy bear, then burst out laughing.
Why was she trying so hard to resolve whatever misunderstanding he had?
Why did she keep taking his side?
For Blake, who had never spent his life relying on anyone, the feeling was unfamiliar.
Did this teddy bear truly believe he wasn’t a bad person?
“Leave… mine…!”
The blanket was kicked so hard that it floated into the air before falling back down.
“Ha.”
The blanket had become a complete mess from all the kicking, but Blake quietly fixed it and covered her again.
Then he lay down beside her.
For some reason, he didn’t feel like waking the teddy bear up and demanding answers.
Even he felt he had grown unexpectedly soft, but only for today.
Tomorrow, he would cut away these uneasy and awkward feelings without hesitation.
Giving someone a place in your heart was the same as giving them the power to hurt you.
The lonely, endless night still continued.
Perhaps it would never end.
Until then, Vivian was nothing more than a formal assistant bound to him by contract.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
As Blake muttered those words, his gaze sank once more into the darkness of the night.
That night.
Molly, a maid of the LeBlanc estate, lay on her creaking bed.
“Molly, good night.”
“Yeah, you too!”
Molly answered cheerfully and pulled the cord to extinguish the light.
Soon her roommate began snoring loudly.
Staring at the dark ceiling, Molly let out a long sigh.
“Haaa…”
Was this mission a failure?
‘Spread a rumor that Blake LeBlanc killed someone at the social club. The payment will be generous.’
It had been about a week since Molly received that assignment.
She had been returning from shopping with one of the kitchen maids.
‘Make the servants of the LeBlanc estate terrified. Your job is to tarnish Blake LeBlanc’s reputation and paint him as a devil.’
‘I understand.’
She had been doing this kind of work for five years now.
Thanks to “that person,” who regularly paid her under the table and assigned her missions, Molly had been able to continuously send money back to her poor family.
If she had succeeded this time, she would have earned quite a nice sum.
‘What on earth was that note?’
The rumor had been nearly complete.
She had carefully spread it from person to person, making sure it didn’t sound too forced.
But then everything changed because of a single note.
The note included logical deductions, and before long all the servants had started agreeing with its contents.
At that point, insisting that the rumor was true would only have made her seem suspicious.
In the end, Molly had no choice but to back down.
‘My money…’
The thought of the reward she had lost made sleep impossible.
After tossing and turning for a long while, Molly finally threw off her blanket and got out of bed.
Outside the servants’ quarters stretched a pitch-black night sky.
How was she supposed to report this?
If she told that person she had failed, she would surely receive no payment—and probably no missions for quite some time.
The mission had seemed so easy.
Its meaningless failure left her feeling defeated.
Was there any way to earn the money back?
But if she kept pushing the rumor, people around her might begin to suspect her.
As everyone had said earlier, Young Master Blake was certainly frightening enough that most people didn’t dare approach him.
But he had never harmed any of the estate servants.
If anything, it was simply a workplace that paid salaries on time.
‘…It can’t be helped. I’ll drop it this time.’
As painful as it was to lose the reward, she couldn’t risk losing the stable income she earned working at the LeBlanc estate.
Still, the frustration remained.
Wanting some fresh air, Molly crouched on a bench beside the servants’ quarters and stared at the stars.
That was when it happened.
Rustle.
The branches above the bench trembled.
She assumed it was just the wind and tried not to pay attention.
Rustle. Rustle.
This time it happened twice.
The sound was clear enough that she couldn’t ignore it.
Molly immediately jumped to her feet.
This was the LeBlanc estate.
No ordinary person could simply sneak inside.
Then what was it?
A small animal?
She was about to look toward the source of the sound.
Something suddenly leaped down from the tree.
Before Molly could even scream, a quick-moving bundle of brown fur darted forward and firmly covered her mouth.
Feeling the soft, squishy sensation against her lips, Molly blinked.
Standing before her was a smiling teddy bear.
And then…
It spoke.
“Hello, Molly. So you’re the spy in this estate.”
Yes.
It spoke.
It opened its mouth, formed complete sentences, and attempted to hold a conversation with her.
Molly tried to flee in terror.
But she couldn’t move.
More accurately, her body simply refused to move.
“Ah, you won’t be able to move. I used a little bit of my power.”
When the soft hand moved away from her mouth, Molly gasped for air and asked in a trembling voice,
“W-Who are you?”
The teddy bear’s bright green eyes glowed softly in the darkness.
The beautiful, calm eyes contrasted strangely with the cute teddy bear appearance.
At the same time, it felt like something that didn’t belong in this world.
As if amused by the question, the teddy bear smiled brightly.
“Me? Blake’s guardian angel.”
The answer came without a moment’s hesitation.
Molly blinked slowly.
“What…?”
“Guardian angel. You know what that is, right?”
Of course she knew.
But weren’t guardian angels things that only existed in fairy tales?
Things she had believed in during the innocent days of childhood, before she learned how difficult life could be.
Did guardian angels really exist?
Molly’s quick-witted eyes darted around as she desperately tried to understand the situation.
But her body still wouldn’t move, and the talking teddy bear before her was far beyond common sense.
The teddy bear jumped from her shoulder back onto the bench.
Then it quietly asked,
“Who told you to act as a spy?”
Had she been exposed?
Molly swallowed nervously.
She couldn’t reveal anything here.
Quickly, she forced a harmless and innocent smile onto her face.
“I-I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’ve never done anything like th—”
“Is your friend who works at the social club a woman or a man?”
“W-What?”
Molly’s crafty mind spun rapidly.
Why was it asking that?
The entire story about hearing the rumor from a friend at the social club had been something she made up herself.
After all, not many people worked there, and it was difficult to get a job in such a place. Most people didn’t know anyone from there.
But had she made some kind of mistake?
Molly thought to herself.
‘No. This might be a trap.’
Was this suspicious self-proclaimed guardian angel testing her on purpose?
But she didn’t have much time to think.
The teddy bear—Vivian, Blake’s guardian angel—placed one hand on her hip.
“I’ll give you three seconds. Answer.”
If you can’t, you’re a spy.
Got it?
The grin that spread across her face was far too sly for someone calling herself a guardian angel.
