She really was too kind. And strong-willed!
With this realization, everything clicked into place. Evangeline's extensive experience reading romance novels told her exactly how things would unfold from here.
So: there was the villain Evangeline, her treacherous servant Donau, and the true protagonist Kanna—younger sister of the maid who served the villain's household.
Evangeline must have constantly bullied the servants, especially Hena. She'd probably gone too far when she ordered Donau to kidnap Kanna, Hena's beloved only sister. And *then*, right on cue, the dashing protagonist would appear to rescue the damsel in distress! A classic encounter scene!
_Perhaps Donau kidnapped Kanna due to plot inertia, even though I'm the one currently inhabiting Evangeline's body?_
That would explain why Donau had been spouting such nonsense earlier. He'd mumbled something about simply following orders—about doing exactly as he was told. *That's the terrifying power of a predetermined plot!*
_So... did I steal the main character's entrance scene? Maybe I shouldn't have interfered?_
But how could she have stayed out of it, even if they were all just characters in a book? She couldn't stand by while someone was being hurt.
"Do you have any further questions? The lady is tired, so we'll be taking our leave."
Kanna, having finished her explanation to the knight commander, ended the conversation with startling abruptness. She'd been almost *cold* toward the protagonist.
_Is this also because I saved Kanna instead of him? The main character has become attached to the villain! A typical villain-transformation plotline! This world really is straight out of a romance novel!_
"If you encounter any difficulties," Evangeline told the protagonist, inwardly admiring the absurdity of the scene, "please contact Count Rohanson's estate."
The kidnapper, the victim, and the would-be rescuer—all connected to the Rohanson household. How convenient for bureaucratic purposes.
"If you have trouble writing your report, we can provide whatever information you need."
_Excellent. Plus one point for kindness. Plus one point for helpfulness._
Hena offered to escort them to the carriage. Evangeline followed her, but suddenly felt the weight of someone's gaze pressing against her back. She turned.
The protagonist was staring at her with undisguised hostility.
_I didn't do anything wrong! Why is he looking at me like that?_
His blue eyes were cold as winter ice, and there was something sharp and assessing in them—something that made her skin prickle.
_Maybe he's jealous that Kanna took my side?_
Evangeline's stomach twisted with sudden panic.
_It seems that instead of avoiding the villain's fate, I've somehow become his romantic rival..._
---
## — The Knight Commander —
"Commander, the fire has been extinguished."
"Good work, Rafaella."
Gabriel's gaze remained fixed on the alley where the girl in white had just disappeared—that narrow passage between decrepit buildings that had swallowed her like a throat swallowing prey. Only at the sound of his subordinate's voice did he finally come back to himself.
He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed the fire being put out. The house that had blazed so furiously was now nothing but a pile of smoking rubble.
_She claimed she escaped the fire, but there wasn't a speck of soot on her. Unlike her, we were all thoroughly filthy from clearing the debris._
"I must apologize," Gabriel said. "I was occupied questioning the lady and couldn't assist you."
"It's fine, Commander." Rafaella scratched the back of her head, her expression troubled. "This fire... it went out on its own."
"What?"
"It's true." She gestured at the wreckage. "One moment it was blazing like the mouth of hell itself, and the next—nothing. Just smoke. And it was strange from the beginning that only this one house burned. The flames never spread to the neighboring buildings, even though they're packed together like kindling."
Gabriel regarded the wreckage with barely concealed disgust.
He himself, when he'd first seen her, had thought he'd fallen under some demon's spell. In cramped slums like these, fire usually devoured everything—leaping from roof to roof, consuming whole streets in minutes. That was precisely why he'd rushed here with his knights, prepared to evacuate panicked civilians.
He'd expected a scene of chaos and terror.
Instead, he'd arrived to find the residents not fleeing but *watching*—calm as spectators at a theater—as a single house burned within what appeared to be an invisible wall.
However, it wasn't this anomaly that had captured Gabriel's attention.
It was the girl standing before the burning building.
At first, he'd mistaken her for a statue. Such elegant marble craftsmanship couldn't possibly exist in a slum like this—surely someone had placed a sculpture here as some bizarre joke.
He didn't perceive her as human because there wasn't a drop of *life* in her. The broken tree branch lying in the gutter seemed more alive than she did.
That was why he'd nearly lost his composure when her bright red eyes turned to meet his gaze, when her scarlet lips parted to form human words. It seemed impossible. She should have been dead.
Gabriel had maintained his calm and spoken to her. As he'd suspected, she was far from human.
When she spoke of her servant's death, her voice held no grief. When she looked at Gabriel himself, there wasn't a drop of warmth in her gaze. She regarded him as one might regard an ant—as if he were nothing, less than nothing, a brief inconvenience to be stepped over and forgotten.
The only being she showed any interest in was the servant named Kanna. Perhaps because of this connection, Kanna also seemed... *different*. Not corpse-like, certainly, but there was something unsettling about her nonetheless—something fanatical in her blind and ardent devotion.
"Commander! We've found the body!"
The shout cut through his thoughts. Gabriel made his way through the rubble and examined the remains.
Donau, was it? The charred body with its twisted limbs resembled a mannequin more than anything that had once been human.
"This..."
"Strange, isn't it?" Rafaella's voice was hushed. "Perhaps a coincidence?"
Behind the disfigured corpse, the soot on the ground had formed something resembling *wings*—great sweeping arcs of ash spreading outward from the shoulders. And behind the head, like a halo, a circle of unmarked ground gleamed pale against the blackened floor.
The effect was unmistakable. It resembled the saints in holy paintings.
"With marks like these, he almost looks like an angel."
Gabriel wasn't the only one who thought so—he could see it in the faces of his knights, the way they shifted uneasily.
The commander's frown deepened.
_An angel..._
Wings of ash would crumble before they could even flap, sending their bearer plummeting into the abyss. And that halo... Gabriel could have sworn he saw it *shimmer* for just a moment, catching light that wasn't there.
---
## — The Offer —
"Perhaps we could provide you with a room at the estate?"
Lady Evangeline posed the question casually as the carriage rattled along the cobblestones toward home. Hena could scarcely believe her ears—but she didn't dare ask the lady to repeat herself.
"You must be frightened to return home after what happened. I'll see to your comfort."
She *had* heard correctly. Hena wanted to refuse, to insist that everything was fine, but then she noticed that Lady Evangeline's gaze wasn't directed at her at all.
She was looking at Kanna.
Hena squeezed her sister's hand tightly beneath the folds of her skirt, willing her to refuse. But what if her interference angered the lady?
She still remembered the horrific manner of Donau's death—he who had dared to cross Evangeline. Even more disturbing was how *pleased* Kanna had seemed watching that gruesome end.
The lady didn't rush them for an answer. She simply waited, patient as a cat watching a mouse hole.
This unexpected concern made Hena shudder. It was terrifying to witness this creature in human form pretending to be kind.
Lady Evangeline had always been relatively lenient with Hena—never striking her, rarely raising her voice—but she was being especially gentle with Kanna. Though there was something about her attention that felt less like kindness and more like a hunter examining a particularly interesting specimen.
"Can my sister stay with me?"
"Certainly."
"I want to choose the room myself."
"Choose any one you like."
And Kanna played along, chirping with the lady like a fearless little bird. Hena's breath caught in her throat.
Kanna had always been bold, but Hena hadn't expected her to act so freely in front of a noblewoman—especially *this* noblewoman. Watching her sister's satisfied smile, Hena saw echoes of their past.
When their father had still been alive, little Kanna would sometimes deliberately spill her food or throw tantrums—testing him, reassuring herself of his love. But after Father's death, she had matured overnight. She'd stopped such behavior entirely.
_Maybe she's opened up to the lady because she saved her?_
Hena had lied when she'd said Lady Evangeline had given them the holy elixir. Perhaps Kanna believed the lady had saved her *twice* now. And that wasn't far from the truth. If not for the lady's strange cat, Kanna would still be bedridden. If the lady hadn't come tonight, the wound on Kanna's neck wouldn't have been the only one.
"Then may I have the room directly below yours, my lady?"
Lady Evangeline had permitted her to choose any room except those on the fourth floor, where she herself resided. Kanna had selected a chamber on the third floor—positioned precisely beneath the lady's own quarters.
Kanna had never worked at the estate, so she'd probably chosen at random. But the third floor had belonged to the late Countess Rohanson. And that particular room...
_Isn't that the Countess's own bedchamber?_
Of course, Lady Evangeline hardly cared about the fate of some deceased relative of the body she now occupied.
"My lady, this room belonged to the Countess."
Hena tried to explain the significance as delicately as possible, but the lady merely waved her hand dismissively.
"She's dead, so the room is empty. What difference does it make? Besides, it's already furnished—you'll be comfortable there."
She even promised to inform Count Rohanson and the butler personally.
Hena nodded in silence, not daring to object to the idea of the late Countess's chamber being given to a maid's sister. But then a cold realization stopped her short.
The butler *knew* her sister had been gravely ill. He would be shocked to see Kanna suddenly recovered and moving about freely. He might remember the holy elixir—might connect the missing bottle to Kanna's miraculous healing—might *guess*.
_We can't let that happen._
"My lady, I will speak to the butler myself."
"Very well. Then I'll inform the Count."
_We must do everything possible to prevent the butler from discovering the truth._
Hena recalled the butler's habits. He resided on the second floor and rarely ventured higher—too many stairs for his aging knees. Besides, he actively avoided Lady Evangeline whenever possible. If Kanna stayed close to the lady, he would be unlikely to encounter her at all.
_We just need to be patient for a little while._
Count Rohanson would never permit a servant's sister to occupy the late Countess's room. They would be evicted soon enough.
_We just need to wait it out._
Having agreed upon the arrangement, they traveled to Hena's modest home to gather their belongings. Neither sister possessed much; even after packing nearly all their clothes, they finished quickly.
They loaded their meager possessions into the carriage and set off for the Rohanson estate.
Usually, a maid would be first to exit the carriage, holding the door for her mistress. But Lady Evangeline stepped down without hesitation, not waiting for assistance.
"Pudding! You came to meet me!"
She'd spotted the cat lounging atop the iron gate bars and immediately burst into a radiant smile—the first genuinely warm expression Hena had ever seen on her face.
Lady Evangeline was extraordinarily fond of that strange creature. It never ceased to unsettle Hena, watching the monster transform into an ordinary affectionate pet owner whenever the cat appeared.
The cat—all three of its golden eyes glittering—surveyed Hena and Kanna with apparent disinterest before lazily closing them.
Kanna leaned close to her sister and whispered softly:
"Are those eyes *gone*?"
---