Ann walked around the toilet with the paper in her hand.
Hello, I am the villainous noble daughter, Ann is currently caught in a dilemma. With this ‘hot potato’ of a secret letter in my hand, what do I do?
If she were to satisfy her curiosity and went in accordance to the letter…what if she were trapped in an ugly plan that could implicate her and hasten her death? No matter what, this letter was hella suspicious, dude!
Then…what if she were to use this letter as a means to prove her innocence to Allen? Maybe he could help her…avoid her death altogether? That seemed like a good idea…!
But hold on!
What if it were to be a double-edged sword instead? What if…after she gives it to him, he’d be ambushed and the perpetrators could say the lines of “HAHA, ARLEA DID WELL FOR LEADING YOU TO THE ENEMY’S TERRITORY!”
Oh duck, that would just implicate her all the more!
Then, the perfect answer would be…to ignore it altogether! That’s it! Then, she’d need to destroy the evidence!
Destroy the evidence…
Ann turned to look at the toilet and thought of drowning the paper in the water but…her insecurities acted up and told her ‘what if it were still found in the end…’
At this moment, Ann was so confused she didn’t even realize that the letter didn’t mention any name, so even if someone else were to find it, they won’t be able to think of her right away…But she was so focused on how to destroy this hot potato no matter what.
Suddenly, a light bulb popped in her mind.
That’s it! I have my magic with me!
Ann’s brain was commendable.
She immediately thought of a method. She then manipulated the temperature of the water magic she generated to make it below a freezing temperature—hence, freezing the water she generated along with the paper that was soaked in it.
Then, because that frozen water was her magic, she could manipulate it to do her bidding. She simply prompted the ice to break into very tiny pieces—leaving the ‘hot potato’ into nothing in an instant.
The tiny pieces of ice and paper were scattered in the toilet, while Ann was wiping her nonexistent sweat.
“Phew, that should settle it! Time to go, it’s not good to keep Faye waiting for too long!” She said with relief as she exited the toilet.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Faye was waiting for quite a while already outside…
Just what was taking her mistress so long in the toilet?
Peeing definitely shouldn’t take this long…right? What if something happened to her mistress inside?! Wait no, could she be…pooing?!
Faye’s face distorted into an ugly one. She couldn’t imagine her poor mistress having to relieve herself in a public place like this! It would definitely feel uncomfortable, yet her kind mistress would definitely endure alone…
Thus, when Ann went out of the toilet and came up to Faye, she was surprised to find Faye looking at her with a pitiful gaze. Ann tilted her head in wonder, was it just her imagination? …Yes, it must be! Faye didn’t have any reason to be looking at her with such a pitiful gaze, after all!
The two of them proceeded to browse for a restaurant so they could eat.
“Arlea-sama, what about this restaurant? It looks like a restaurant that nobles would visit! It must be good!” Faye said.
“Huh? This…”
Ann looked at a luxurious restaurant that seemed to be high-class. It seemed great indeed. Ann was contemplating seriously when a noble lady with outrageous dress (by modern world’s standard) walked up to the entrance and flipped her folding fan while she smiled haughtily. As she passed by her, the aroma of a strong perfume attacked her nose.
Ann immediately covered her nose as a reflex and turned away from the noble lady. As the noble lady entered the restaurant, Ann took a peek inside and found that it was indeed crowded by many nobles. Being crowded was surely a indicator of a good restaurant, but…
If one single noble lady could reek that strong of a perfume, what more of a few of them? Then, then…
“Arlea-sama, shall we get in?”
Just as Faye was about to open the door again, Ann immediately grasped Faye’s shoulders and led her away from the restaurant.
“…Arlea-sama, why…?”
After making sure that nobody was there to hear them, Ann immediately said.
“Faye, that restaurant seems to be fancy and good indeed. However…”
“What could be the problem?” Faye asked with her head tilted. She was 100% oblivious of what was the matter.
“…The perfumes that the noble ladies wore were so strong. Then imagine it mixed with the aroma of the food. I don’t think I will have any appetite after smelling that…”
“…Really?” Faye never experienced that before, and so she was wondering.
“Yes, so, let’s find another restaurant!” Ann said as she looked around.
…Oh well, if her mistress says so, then it must be the truth!
In the end, Ann picked a restaurant with an outdoor seat so she could sit there and enjoy the scenery. The air was fresh here, so she really believed that she made the right choice.
And so, Ann and Faye were enjoying their meal while looking at the streets when a peculiar small bird landed on their table, next to Ann.
Of course, though it was still a fantasy world, Ann never saw a bird as peculiar as the one next to her right now. Its feathers were bright pink—yes, it was the kind of pink you would see as a paint on a bird. But for some reason, it looked so natural…?
The bird was small and kind of chubby when it sat on the table. Its bright bead-like eyes were looking at Ann fixatedly. Its small yellow beak was closed tight. On its forehead, there seemed to be a pretty crystal red jewel embedded.
…This was, yep, this one here definitely wasn’t a normal bird! It’s got to be some kind of a monster!!
Realizing this, Ann was torn between chasing the bird away in case it turned out to be a harmful monster but…The moment Ann peered into its round eyes, her heart melted.
Meh, this cute li’l birdie couldn’t be any danger!
“Come here birdie, birdie, are you hungry? Do you want to eat? Ah, wait, let me get you some food,” Ann said as she took a piece of the bread she was eating and intended to feed the bird with her hand.
The birdie looked at her with tilted head—why did it look kinda like Faye when it was like this, honestly?
“What’s wrong, the bread is tasty~,” Ann said as she extended her hand with the bread to the birdie. The birdie noticed it and turned to look at the bread on the tip of Ann’s index finger. It approached her finger and then—
“Yes, eat it—OUCH!”
Ann was exasperated when she realized that the birdie opened its beak and bit on her index finger! Yes, in the small beak it kept closed, it had some sharp little teeth!! Dang, this was definitely a monster—and it was aggressive?! To think that it would attack her!
Ann could feel a stinging sensation on her index finger. Perhaps…it was bleeding? Yes, this sensation was undoubtedly—blood!
The bird had bitten her ‘til she was bleeding, and then…it seemed to be drinking her blood?! What was it, a vampire bird hybrid or what?!
Ann immediately took her finger away from the bird and she stood in her surprise when she felt dizzy all of a sudden. An odd sensation ran all over her body, starting from her index finger. This sensation was like when she used her magic…but it felt like a foreign magic ran over her whole body—for she felt…really weird!
Due to her dizziness, Ann immediately sat back again.
“Arlea-sama, what’s the matter?! That bird, could she be…!”
“…She? Faye, it’s a girl?” Ann was dizzy, and she had her priorities wrong…
“Arlea-sama, that’s not the matter. But she attacked you, didn’t she! I, I will chase her away!” Faye declared as she flung her hand, but the bird dodged and went back to the table again.
“Gah…What do you want with me?! Why did you attack me when I wanted to give you food? Could you be after my blood…or my flesh?!” Ann looked at the bird with a betrayed look on her face.
“Chirp? Chirp!” The bird responded by flying right to Ann’s face!
Ann believed that the bird wanted to attack her, so she immediately closed her eyes and was about to use her hands to protect her face when she felt…a warm sensation…on her cheek?!
When she opened her eyes, she found that the little rascal was actually rubbing her cheek with hers! In a very affectionate way too! The bird was even chirping happily!!
“F-Faye, can you tell me what it wants to do to me…?” Ann was at a loss of words.
“I-I don’t know, but it seems to…like you?” Faye was also surprised at how the birdie turned from hostile to very friendly.
“Eh? EH??” Ann didn’t know what was happening.
The bird rubbed her cheek against Ann’s for some time before it landed on her shoulder.
“Uhm…Do you want…food?” Ann’s smile stiffened as she tried to use her fork to bring some bread to the birdie. The birdie obediently pecked the bread and ate it.
“What? You eat breads? Then why did you attack and drink my blood? The heck?” Ann forgot about her manners and raised her voice in disbelief.
“Chirp chirp!” The bird squinted her round eyes happily as she looked at Ann.
“…Fine, fine, eat then, do what you want, as long as you don’t do anything else to me!” Ann was tired to create a problem with the small pink bird, so she decided to let her stand on her shoulder as she ate with Ann’s assistance.
Looking at how her mistress was feeding a small bird, Faye’s look at that time was as if it could shoot daggers at the oblivious bird…or more like, the bird ignored Faye’s existence completely…!
Faye was angry, but she decided to endure this. After they were done eating, they would be going back, and the bird would get lost forever! Her mistress would only have her as the beloved birdie~!!
But…
Unfortunately, contrary to Faye’s expectations and completely out of Ann’s imagination, the bird continued to stick to Ann without moving an inch!
When Ann waved her hand to her, she would fly for a while before landing back on her. Or she would just fly while following her…
“Uhh, small birdie, you’re already full, aren’t you? Isn’t it about time you go home? I’m about to go home, you know?” Ann asked awkwardly.
“Chirp, chirp~!”
“…Faye, translate it, please…”
“Mistress, I can’t really do that, but she…clearly shows her fondness of you…,” Faye said unwillingly.
“Huh…Uh, but what about your family, little birdie? Go and be with them. Or your friends. I’ll go back home, you see…,” Ann continued to talk to the little birdie although she wasn’t sure if the birdie would understand her or not.
“Chirp, chirp!” The pink birdie responded by rubbing her cheek against Ann’s.
“You…want to follow me?” Ann asked, unsure…
“Chirp!” The bird seemed to be answering in affirmative as she squinted her eyes happily.
“Uh…Okay, I guess?” Ann couldn’t make it go away, so she might as well bring the bird back home…?
Hearing that, Faye felt like everything in this world was unreal. All her belief was broken to pieces. Another birdie was going to steal her mistress! She would be competing for her mistress’ affection from now on…?! This couldn’t be real, right?!
Faye tried to intimidate the little bird to go away by staring daggers at her. The little pink birdie turned to see Faye for a second before she ignored Faye completely to chirp affectionately at Ann!!
Faye wanted to crumble on the spot.
Thus, on their way back home in the carriage, Ann was looking at the small energetic birdie who flew around her happily. Meanwhile, Faye, who was sitting on the opposite side of them, was burning with jealousy over this ‘display of affection’ between her mistress and a stranger that got attached to her mistress and followed them home!
