Last weekend.
I shared my thoughts about meeting Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung directly with the friends gathered in my room.
Since So-hee was my maid, she stayed in the same place even on the weekends.
However, we agreed that she wouldn’t work as a maid during the weekends.
When I told So-hee, who oddly insisted on wearing her maid uniform even on weekends, that I might not be able to keep her employed if I made a minor work on weekends, she quickly changed her attitude.
Now, instead of her maid uniform, she was wearing a large shirt and dolphin shorts, the kind of outfit she wore to sleep.
She might not think much of it, but I wasn’t used to that outfit.
I didn’t say anything because if I asked her to change clothes, she would probably put on her maid uniform again.
After all, if she wanted to wear comfortable clothes while resting, who was I to say otherwise?
…Incidentally, for some reason, her habit of sleeping beside me every morning hadn’t changed.
It was fortunate that she only slept beside me without causing any major inconvenience, but I still felt like telling her to be more careful.
Though, considering I was currently in a woman’s body, I wasn’t sure if saying anything would make a difference.
Waking up to find a girl sleeping next to me, wearing only a loose shirt, was still uncomfortable.
Speaking of mornings, Soo-ah was still staying with us at the mansion.
It had almost been a week, yet Soo-ah still hadn’t gone home.
When I asked if she had contacted her family, concerned that they might be worried, she replied,
“I’ve been texting my parents every day, so it’s fine.”
It didn’t seem fine to me.
That thought reached my throat, but I held it back because I had a feeling that even if I told her to go home, she would refuse with a firm “No”.
…I might need to meet Soo-ah’s parents personally later on to make sure they aren’t too worried.
And though she wasn’t living with us in the mansion, Ha-neul had also been coming over.
These days, Ha-neul didn’t sleep over, but she came by the mansion after school and stayed until fairly late.
It wasn’t quite late enough to be considered the middle of the night, but I was still worried about a girl walking around alone at night.
“It’s fine. I go with Hye-in unnie,” Ha-neul answered.
Although Hye-in wasn’t with her when I heard that, I later confirmed that it was true.
Well, if Ha-neul was calling her ‘unnie’, it meant they’d had time to get closer.
Either that, or Ha-neul, with her unique sociability, had started calling her that on her own…
But thinking about it, it would be strange if a high school girl called her ‘Ms. Yang Hye-in’ so formally.
It’s not like they were colleagues.
I hadn’t seen Soo-ah and Hye-in interact, so I couldn’t say for sure, but since So-hee casually called her ‘senior’, it seemed they’d all naturally settled on comfortable titles.
In any case, I was grateful to have someone escorting Ha-neul to and from our house every day.
Even if nothing had happened yet, based on my brief encounter with Choi Na-kyung, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was a dangerous person who might do something reckless.
Even if I considered what Nam Da-un had mentioned to me as just a ‘rumor’, I still believed Choi Na-kyung was dangerous.
Even though they were two girls, having an adult walk with them at night provided some safety.
And today, it seemed Ha-neul planned to sleep over for sure.
She arrived early in the morning, even before breakfast, carrying a bag filled with various things.
After three weeks of fluctuating routines, my daily pattern had finally settled into something stable.
I wanted to say that this was something unimaginable for my past self, but then again, the idea of entering the body of a villainess and living her life was already beyond imagination.
Or, since I had seen it in gaming streams, maybe I had imagined it before.
…Anyway.
Back to the topic: when I said I would contact Choi Na-kyung, my two friends immediately reacted with concern.
“…Are you really going to do it? Why?”
So-hee asked with a serious expression, as if she had realized from my serious face that I wasn’t joking.
She even leaned slightly toward me, sitting cross-legged on the bed, which made the three unbuttoned parts of her shirt a little too obvious, making me flustered.
“…..”
I glanced over at Ha-neul.
She wasn’t one of the two showing concern.
It was as if she had already expected me to say something like that and merely watched me quietly.
“…I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Soo-ah said cautiously after a moment of worry.
“That person isn’t normal. She’ll definitely cause trouble if you meet her again…”
Seeing Soo-ah’s anxious face, I felt my resolve waver for a moment, but I shook my head.
“No, this is something I must do, for the future.”
“Why?”
So-hee looked closely at my face and asked.
Her first impression might have been that of a tanned, blonde high school girl who knew everything, but the more you got to know her, the more she seemed innocent in certain ways.
She insisted on becoming my maid and paid back favors she hadn’t asked for…
Come to think of it, maybe she wasn’t innocent, just simple-minded.
…Anyway, maybe it was her straightforwardness, but when So-hee asked me something, it seemed she genuinely wanted to know.
That kind of innocent expression couldn’t be faked.
“…”
I looked at Ha-neul once again.
Ha-neul gave me a small nod.
Letting out a small breath, I finally said,
“It’s about the memories.”
“Memories?”
Both So-hee and Soo-ah echoed.
*
I knew from Ha-neul that the three of them had read the will Ye Sara had written, so I could skip the additional explanations and go straight into talking about the memories.
They knew that ‘Ye Sara’ had attempted suicide, but not exactly when or how.
It seemed that at the point when she attempted suicide, memories from further back had disappeared.
However, seeing Choi Na-kyung’s face had triggered some of those past emotions.
That’s why I seriously believed that meeting Choi Na-kyung again might be a way to recover my memories.
Of course, I replaced all of Ye Sara’s actions with ‘mine’ when explaining.
The reactions from the two after hearing my story were quite different.
“…Hmm.”
So-hee folded her arms and thought for a while before responding,
“Well, if that’s what you think, there’s no choice then.”
Then she added, “I’m your maid. Wherever my master decides to go, I have to follow, right?”
She said such cringeworthy things.
For someone who looked like the kind of friend you’d expect to bully a class otaku, it was a little funny hearing her say something that could have come straight out of a manga.
When I chuckled, she got flustered and asked, “What? Why?” which was kind of cute.
“…I…”
After some hesitation, Soo-ah tightly grasped my hand and said,
“Yes, I agree. Whatever memories or thoughts you have, you’re still Sara.”
“…Yeah.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed by Soo-ah’s words and her holding my hands with such tender eyes, I averted my gaze and replied.
Lastly, I looked at Ha-neul again.
Even until that moment, she was quietly watching me, but then she smiled brightly and nodded.
It was the same radiant smile she had shown me that day.
*
What went wrong?
Where had it gone wrong?
That thought had been consuming her from then until now.
There was so much she had to do, but nothing seemed to go right.
Instead of focusing on the business matters in front of her, her thoughts kept drifting toward Sara.
…It wasn’t even that far away.
The distance was less than an hour by car.
She could rush over at any time, and if she wanted, she could hold Sara in her arms.
She had made sure of it.
…Or, had she really ‘made sure’?
“Hoo…”
Letting out a long sigh, she set down the pen she had been holding.
There weren’t that many documents in front of her.
There were never too many by the time they reached her, as everything unnecessary had been filtered out and reduced as much as possible.
The company was large, and she had competent subordinates, so despite her lack of formal education in economics, she could manage to keep things running.
Though there had been a lot of noise in the beginning.
‘That incident’ was still a significant weakness for her.
It had only been overlooked because people were too intimidated to challenge her after the initial scandal damaged her reputation.
Still, she had managed to push away one pest that had been buzzing around Sara.
…But eventually, the suspicions circling Sara would need to be properly resolved.
Once that was done, the cracks in the shell surrounding Sara would start to show.
No, the cracks were already forming.
Slowly but surely.
“…”
Sara had resembled her mother.
A pitiful woman trapped in a cage, staring longingly out the window.
…Looking at her made you want to reach out and save her.
But the hand Sara held wasn’t Choi Na-kyung’s.
Before Choi Na-kyung could even extend her hand, someone else had already taken Sara’s hand.
Holding her hand, kissing her,
and then—
“….”
Choi Na-kyung ran a hand over her face.
She missed her.
No matter how much time passed, she couldn’t forget her.
That’s why she had wanted at least the girl who resembled her to love only her.
“…What should I do about this?”
Choi Na-kyung muttered.
Her heart told her to inflict the same rumors and humiliation on those obstacles as they had done to her.
But she knew that was unrealistic.
Just the fact that she had gained her position through remarriage had spread enough rumors as if they were facts.
If she were to act on any of those rumors, even once, she would lose all the power she currently held.
And she might even lose Sara.
Bzzzz—
As she was lost in thought, her smartphone buzzed on the desk.
“…”
She reached for the phone.
The name displayed on the screen was ‘Mansion’.
Was something wrong?
While her personal maid was away, she had instructed the other servants to keep a close watch on Sara.
There hadn’t been any reports so far.
Could it be that the obstacles were finally making their move?
She answered the call.
And the voice she heard on the other end—
[Chairwoman, have you been well?]
It was the last voice she had wanted to hear.