006
“You’re seriously mistaken. Right now.”
“There’s no way I’m mistaken. If you’re not a fairy, I’ll change my family name.”
Theodore was not only about to become an idiot without even realizing it, but he was also about to change his family name.
After repeating this conversation several times, perhaps because he thought I was changing the subject after he had hit the nail on the head, Theodore’s voice softened.
Gone was the prickly tone with which he had been relentlessly pestering me, replaced by a gentle manner of speaking.
“Are you still going to say you’re not?”
“I don’t even know where I’m supposed to start explaining.”
“There’s no need to explain. You just have to admit it.”
So, what am I supposed to admit? What am I admitting? If it’s not true, he should just believe that it isn’t. It wasn’t even proof that I was one, and where was I supposed to find proof that I wasn’t?
Perhaps he was anxious that I might leave in the middle of all this, because Theodore quietly grabbed my ankle.
“Please don’t.”
Wait a minute. But what would happen if I said I wasn’t a fairy here?
“Sir. If I’m not a fairy, what are you planning to do?”
“You’re not a fairy?”
“No, I mean. If. If I’m not, what are you going to do?”
“If you’re not a fairy, there’s no reason for me to remain this docile.I’d pull the bell rope and call the Head Maid immediately.”
“A-and after you call her?”
“You’re an intruder who secretly entered my room in the Grand Duke’s mansion, and at dawn, no less. Do you really think I’d simply throw you out? You’d probably spend nearly a month being subjected to severe torture in the underground dungeon―”
“Young Master!”
When I called out to him loudly, Theodore’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit.
“As expected of the handsome young master of House Francis. Your judgment is truly exceptional. Yes. Since things have come to this, I suppose I have no choice but to reveal my hidden identity.”
Even if I were eventually found out, the important thing was to somehow get out of this situation.
With a shameless smile, I pointed at myself. Thinking about home made the smile come naturally.
It was time to reveal an identity even I hadn’t known about.
“I am that legendary fairy.”
“You kept denying it until now, though?”
“Ah, well, about that. Young Master. It’s because I’ve been shy since birth.”
Fooling an innocent young master was difficult the first time, but the second time was easy.
The lies simply flowed automatically every time I opened my mouth.
“…….”
I thought he would make a fuss, saying, “See? Didn’t I tell you?” and “Weren’t you trying to deceive me?” But once Theodore saw me acknowledge it, he became docile.
Theodore gently held me for a while before setting me down on the bed.
A soft sensation touched my bottom.
“My nanny was telling the truth.”
Theodore neither smiled nor frowned.
Instead, he nodded as though he had known it all along.
“Of course. There’s no way you could be human when you’re more beautiful than any of the nymphs in the legends.”
“Beau, ti, ful? Cough! Gack!”
Judging by the way he muttered with his pupils completely unfocused, he seemed lost in his own thoughts.
“Yes. I knew it. I knew everything from the moment you fell into my arms. There’s no way I’d have this much trouble breathing while looking at an ordinary person.”
“Wait a moment. Could you please not let me hear your thoughts out loud?Ahem, hack, stop, I’m sorry!”
My face turned bright red as I continued coughing.
Only after Theodore handed me some water did my coughing finally stop.
“By the way, I heard that banshees naturally enter people’s homes, so why did you fall from the sky?”
Of course, it’s because I’m not a fairy, Young Master.
And since I’m human, I can’t exactly enter someone’s home naturally, either.
Since I had already decided to lie, I decided to see it through to the end.
“That’s because I’m a new Dobby……. I mean, a fairy.”
“Do fairies have newcomers, too?”
The young master tilted his head in confusion.
Please don’t prick my conscience with such innocent, sparkling eyes. I don’t know either. I’m just spouting nonsense to survive.
“Things like that exist. The fairy world is more complicated than you think.”
“So why did you come here? Is it because my time to die has finally come?”
Theodore seemed strangely excited as he spoke so casually of death.
He braced both hands against the bed and leaned his upper body toward me.
The distance between us became close again.
“Hm?”
“You have no idea how long I’ve wished for this day to come.”
Theodore suddenly grabbed my hand.
His pale, delicate hand was cold like a corpse, making me flinch in surprise.
Theodore’s body temperature was several degrees lower than other people’s.
The texture of his skin was similar to that of a reptile.
Holding both my hands as though he were praying, Theodore spoke in an earnest tone.
“You’ve come to take my life. Haven’t you?”
“Well…….”
Come to think of it, he said a banshee was a fairy that appeared just before someone died.
If so, shouldn’t it be normal to be terrified and afraid?
There wouldn’t be anyone who would like the presence of someone who had come to announce that they were about to die.
Yet Theodore had been welcoming my existence all this time.
I couldn’t help but be troubled by Theodore’s reaction.
“Aren’t you afraid, Young Master? You said banshees appear when someone is about to die.”
“Afraid? Me? What a joke! You have no idea how long I’ve wished to die.”
Theodore spat out the word “death” as casually as if he were grinding his teeth.
“Every day. Every moment, I’ve been waiting for the day I die.”
“…….”
I looked down at Theodore’s cold hand, which he had desperately clasped with mine.
It was slightly larger than Gretchen’s hand, but still delicate and soft.
Even though he was still young, far too young, it was too difficult to comprehend what reason he could possibly have for wanting to die.
So there wasn’t much I could say to Theodore.
I was just a high school girl who had been forcibly kidnapped into a novel while taking the CSAT, and my status itself wasn’t that of an imperial princess or a princess, but a maid.
If I had been a transmigrator who had actually read the novel, things might have been a little better.
If I had known about Theodore’s past, I could have offered him more convincing words of comfort.
Perhaps I might even have helped this unfortunate young master using knowledge that no one else knew, knowledge that only I had read.
But I knew nothing.
Except for the ending my younger sister had casually mentioned.
Even at that moment, I could feel his white fingers trembling pitifully.
I gently pulled my hand from Theodore’s grasp.
“Young Master. Today is not the day you die.”
The blue eyes that had been filled with anticipation instantly darkened.
Anger settled over his beautiful face.
Theodore clenched his fists tightly.
“Then why did you come? Why……! Why did you appear before my eyes?”
“Because I came to put you to sleep. You wanted to see me so badly in your heart that I came to you.”
“Who said I wanted to see someone like you?”
“Sure, sure. Then I guess I was the one who wanted to see you.”
They say no one can spit in the face of someone who is smiling.
To get out of the situation, I curled up the corners of my mouth and gave him a mischievous smile.
Theodore stared blankly at my smiling face before abruptly turning his head away.
“It’s useless.”
His hollow cheeks had puffed out slightly, so he seemed sulky.
See? He’s totally just a kid. A kid.
Perhaps he had grown tired, because Theodore leaned his back diagonally against the headboard.
“I’ve never once slept deeply. It would be faster to just kill me.”
“Do you have insomnia or something?”
I hadn’t noticed because I had been captivated by his dazzling jewel-like eyes, but when I slowly examined his beautiful face, I finally saw it.
Theodore’s lower eyelids were a deep purplish color, as though he hadn’t been sleeping well at night.
“My body hurts when night comes. I can endure the itching in my teeth, but my back and forehead feel like they’re going to split apart.”
“Isn’t that serious?”
At the words “feel like they’re going to split apart,” I examined his forehead.
Wouldn’t he need a doctor at this point?
Perhaps reading my thoughts, Theodore slowly shook his head.
“Medicine makes it bearable, at least. But more than that……”
“More than that?”
