"Basically, because of the headmistress and Merai, I died of hunger unjustly. Twenty years later, when Merai was up to something evil again, I inhabited an empty body to stop her." Melek finished his story with a quiet sigh.
Evangeline's nose stung with unexpected emotion. _So you're a good ghost! That's why you protected the children and took the blade instead!_ Her fear subsided, replaced by something warmer.
But at the same time, her heart grew heavy.
She'd thought she'd found a kindred spirit—someone else who understood what it meant to inhabit a borrowed body. Instead, she'd only given away her secret. Daisy, Kanna, Pudding, Gabriel, and now Melek all knew the truth. It wasn't a secret anymore. At this rate, the entire household staff would know by next week.
"I'm sorry I'm like this..." Melek's mood visibly sank, reading her despondency.
"It's fine. I told you—we're in a similar situation." Evangeline forced brightness into her voice. "After all, we're in the same boat. I've managed without knowing the plot so far. Besides, I have a massive database of romance novel knowledge!"
"Is that all you wanted to tell me?" she asked.
Melek nodded.
"Then your wounds need treatment." Evangeline reached for the bottle of holy water, then stopped abruptly. "Wait—Melek, you're a ghost, right? Can you even use this? Will you... disappear?"
"Ah... that's why you asked first..." Melek murmured, understanding dawning in his voice.
Evangeline set the bottle back down carefully. "Then we'll have to call a doctor. It won't be as effective as holy water, but you're a werewolf—maybe the wounds will heal quickly on their own."
_Is he wearing a blindfold because of an injury?_ she wondered. _Or what if... what if his eye color changed because he was possessed by a spirit?_
The thought seemed entirely plausible. Trying not to dwell on what lay beneath the bandage, she moved toward the door.
"Can I come in?" Jelly's voice drifted from outside. He'd been curled up near the door with Pudding. The moment she opened it, they scrambled to their places—Pudding leaping onto the bed, Jelly sprawling across the sofa. Pudding immediately began kneading the blankets with his paws.
_How adorable._
"Did you give him a name?" Jelly asked, stretching lazily. "What was it?"
"Beze."
"Pfft—ha-ha-ha! _Beze?_ Beze?! This Melek's name is _Beze_ now?!" Jelly rolled across the cushions, howling with laughter, his tail whipping against the armrest.
Pudding was cute. Beze was endearing in his own way. But Jelly? Not cute at all.
It seemed he and the original Melek shared more than just a passing acquaintance—their history was clearly unpleasant. Jelly, who despised his own ridiculous name, was absolutely delighted that Melek had received an even more absurd nickname.
Evangeline's irritation flared.
"I will call him Melek," she announced.
"What?" Melek looked as though his favorite toy had been snatched away. _How does he convey emotion so clearly with his eyes covered?_
"I am Evangeline Rohanson, and you are Melek."
"I see..." Melek agreed obediently.
Now it was Jelly's turn to protest. He thrashed his tail against the floor, radiating displeasure. But Evangeline wasn't about to change her mind.
"Then what should he eat?" Jelly asked, seeing her resolve was immovable. "Have you figured that out yet?"
"Oh, right. He said he was hungry..." Evangeline paused, thinking. _He probably doesn't know what ghosts eat, since he's not the real Melek. You can't feed a lion carrots. The original Melek was a demon in werewolf form..._
"Can't he eat the same things you eat?" she asked.
Jelly and Pudding ate not only what was served at the estate but also foraged for themselves. Sometimes they returned splattered with blood, earning a sharp scolding from Kanna. Apparently, like true werewolves, they preferred to hunt and consume raw meat.
Jelly shook his head.
"He has different tastes."
_Different tastes?_ Did that mean he was a herbivore?
"And what kind of beast is he? You're a wolf, Pudding is a cat..."
"Oh, Melek is a bull."
_A bull?!_
Then he really was a herbivore. Feeding them together would be inconvenient—he certainly wouldn't join the hunts. He might become the prey himself.
_So under the blindfold, he has bull's eyes?_ Evangeline almost asked him to remove it. But she immediately dismissed the idea, imagining the nightmares bovine eyes might give her.
"So he's a bull..." she muttered. "What should I feed him? Hay? Or will any plant food work?"
Vegetables were rarely served at the estate. She doubted he'd get enough nutrition from table scraps alone.
_I'll need to order more grass tomorrow. Or we could give him a patch of garden space._
But before tomorrow, he needed to eat *something*...
"Maybe there's something edible in the garden..." Evangeline glanced around, and her gaze fell upon the cherry tree outside the window. Its branches were heavy with pale pink blossoms. "Maybe he could eat the petals? Bulls eat a lot, and there are plenty of petals out there."
"Can he eat this?" she asked, pointing toward the tree.
"Is that... a tree?" Melek's voice rose with surprise. Of course he was shocked by the suggestion of eating flowers. But there were pancakes with edible flowers, and she herself had drunk cherry blossom tea. It probably wasn't dangerous.
"Do you want to try?"
_Well, whatever happens, happens._ She'd never heard of bulls being allergic to flowers.
Evangeline picked up a glass jar from the table. Once, while walking in the garden, she'd mentioned that catching a falling petal made wishes come true. So Kanna had collected an entire jar of petals for her.
_What a kind soul._
She took a handful of petals and held them out to Melek. "Try them."
Melek hesitated for a moment—then buried his face in her palm.
_Hey! I gave you these to take, not to eat from my hand!_
Melek began chewing the petals. It looked rather strange... _Doesn't he like them?_
"...Delicious!" Melek exclaimed.
"Hooray!" Evangeline's heart lifted. "He loves them!"
"Delicious?" Jelly looked incredulous. He plucked a petal from the jar and popped it into his mouth. His eyes widened. "It really is delicious! How is that possible?"
Even Jelly, the carnivore, appreciated the petals' flavor. Could they truly be that good?
Curious, Evangeline tried one herself—but tasted only a strange, grassy bitterness, like unripe persimmon.
_Kanna must have treated them somehow when she washed them._ Maybe the petals were only delicious to werewolves? Of course, Evangeline was a tolerant person who respected other creatures' tastes, so she kept her opinion to herself.
"Eat these for now," she told Melek.
The important thing was that he liked them. She couldn't give him all the petals Kanna had collected—those were meant for wishes—so she'd have to ask someone to gather more fallen blossoms.
"Then let's go. I'll show you to your room."
"What?" Melek's voice rose with alarm. "I won't live with you?"
Evangeline nearly scowled. _How do you even imagine that? An unmarried man sharing a room with an unmarried noblewoman?!_
Of course, Jelly and Pudding were technically male too, but... Pudding was a kitten, and Jelly spent most of his time in wolf form. She didn't perceive them as *men*.
_But Melek transforms into a bull... Living in the same room as a bull... Isn't that just discrimination?_
"I don't have any space in my room. If you don't want to sleep on the floor, I'll give you a room with an actual bed."
Jelly had claimed the sofa. She and Pudding shared the bed. That left only the rug.
Melek apparently had no desire to sleep on the floor either, because he nodded obediently and followed her.
"Oh, I completely forgot!" Evangeline stopped mid-step. "Before choosing a room, you need to speak with the butler. Ask him to call a doctor, inform him about our new guest, and tell him about Daisy's return."
_And I still need to warn him about Gabriel's arrival..._
The thought made her stomach clench.
_How I don't want to meet him! I wish tomorrow would never come._
---
## — The Sisters —
The day had been so long that the children, exhausted by their ordeal in the basement and finally freed, fell asleep peacefully. The Countess's bed was enormous—large enough to accommodate two adults easily, let alone three small children.
Daisy gently stroked Mary's hair. The fearless little girl had followed them to the Rohanson estate without a moment's hesitation.
"Thank you for taking care of the children," Daisy said softly.
Hena remained silent, staring blankly into the distance. Her exhausted expression—like someone who had lost all meaning in life—squeezed Daisy's heart.
_In life, the lady had looked exactly the same._ As though nothing in this world remained worth living for. As though she simply... existed.
So Daisy hadn't been surprised when Evangeline took her own life.
"Hena..." Daisy began, but the door swung open before she could continue.
In this house, only a few could afford such impudence.
"Sister! Ah, Daisy—you're here too!" Kanna, the flower nurtured by a monster, smiled timidly from the doorway.
"You're late," Hena said flatly. Unlike Daisy, who had gone straight to the children upon arriving, Kanna had first helped Evangeline before coming to find her sister.
"I'm sorry I made you worry." Kanna crossed the room and knelt beside her. "Next time, I'll definitely warn you. But you have to promise not to hide from me either, okay?"
"Okay. I promise."
Kanna pulled Hena into an embrace, not trying to justify herself further. She understood that Hena's excessive anxiety was a consequence of the past—of being kidnapped, of nearly losing everything.
"I'll be right back," Kanna said, pulling away.
"Where are you going?"
"The lady said she needed some cherry blossom petals. I happen to have some—I'll take them to her."
They had three jars of petals: one had already been given to Evangeline, and the remaining two were divided between the sisters. Kanna retrieved her jar from the dresser. Her wish had already come true. She didn't need the petals anymore.
Having explained herself, Kanna slipped out of the room.
The silence deepened with her departure.
Hena gazed at the door through which her sister had disappeared. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper—so quiet it seemed meant for no one but herself.
"My sister spent her whole life in bed. She was dying... but holy water miraculously healed her. She only learned to walk, to run, to laugh... recently."
Daisy realized these words weren't truly addressed to her. They were a confession Hena was making to herself.
"I decided to love Kanna," Hena continued, "whoever she might be."