TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 4
[Olivia’s Favorability has increased by +50.]
‘What?’
While peacefully basking in the morning sunlight for photosynthesis, I suddenly noticed the soaring Favorability and ran to the Young Lady’s room.
Even Bitcoin has never skyrocketed like this.
Did she have Sweet Dreams or something?
Thinking about the ever-unpredictable Young Lady, I entered the room and saw the master burning with a high fever.
[Desmond Olivia Lv. 0.5]
[Occupation: Unemployed]
[Favorability: 50]
[Preferred Conversation Topic: Mikhail]
New!
[Disliked Conversation Topic: Mikhail]
Hmm.
A new addition to the Favorability gauge.
Something had happened while she was asleep.
But what kind of situation is it when the likes and dislikes overlap? It gave me a headache from the morning.
***
The wet towel quickly became warm.
Looking at the Young Lady groaning in pain, I thought.
‘She must have slept without a blanket.’
Despite my nagging that could stick to her ears like glue to always use a blanket, I was annoyed at Olivia, who caught a summer cold—a thing even dogs don’t catch in the summer.
“Cough, cough. Hooeeek! Cough, cough, cough!”
The Young Lady launched into an intense coughing fit.
It didn’t seem like it would end in just 1–2 days.
Should I take her to the hospital?
It wasn’t feasible to take the Young Lady, who hated going outside, to the hospital, nor was it affordable to call a Doctor to the estate.
“Cough. Cough… Water.”
“Yes.”
Compromising with reality, I stayed by the Young Lady’s side.
The Maid, who had come to work, was assigned to clean the estate. If the Maid also caught a cold, it would be a headache.
If the Maid took a leave of absence due to illness, both taking care of the Young Lady and cleaning would fall on me. I might manage for a day, but I had no confidence in handling it for two days.
Especially when it came to baths.
Hiring a new Maid was also impossible. Finding someone willing to work in the Villainess’s House, ostracized by High Society, was unimaginable.
Everyone avoided working at Our Mansion.
Even if we offered a higher salary than other estates, most people declined.
They said they didn’t want the experience of working at the Villainess’s House. But wouldn’t it actually be a good credential? If they could assist our difficult Young Lady, they’d surely earn recognition.
My frustrations kept piling up.
Gulp.
The Lady Villainess, having finished her water, placed the cup elegantly on the table.
She seemed to have something to say.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened her mouth.
“Ricardo.”
“Yes. Tonight’s dinner will be porridge.”
“I hate porridge….”
Olivia, reflexively whining against the inhumane dinner menu of porridge, quickly said “Oops” and got to the main point.
“You know, about that day when I was sick.”
“The day you were sick? Hmm….”
I touched my lips with my hand.
The day she was sick.
That day….
A woman being sick.
‘Ah!’
I recalled the Day of Magic for women.
“Isn’t it still a bit early?”
Olivia’s face instantly turned red.
“Cough…! What are you saying, pervert! And how do you even know that?”
I proudly replied.
“Isn’t it a Butler’s duty? This much is basic knowledge.”
“Shut up!”
Olivia’s face turned red.
Already flushed from the fever, she looked about to explode.
Olivia threw the wet towel, previously placed on her forehead, at my face.
“Eek!”
With a splat, the wet towel slid down my face. I naturally dipped it into a bucket of ice water and wrung it out again.
Olivia fumed.
“Creepy pervert. Is that all that’s in your mind?”
“This is normal for a 23-year-old Young Man. And what’s so inappropriate about it? It’s a perfectly natural physiological phenomenon!”
“Shut up!”
“Hing…”
She trembled.
As expected, a clear notification sound rang in my head.
[Olivia’s Favorability has decreased by 10.]
Indeed, just as the Rocket Rise was artistic.
The Plummeting Fall was also art.
From today on, your name is Doziria.
Olivia cleared her throat.
She seemed quite startled by the sudden joke. Though I was sincere, her “Stop joking,” delivered amidst her coughs, was a masterpiece.
If I could record it and show it to Academy students, I might restore Public Sentiment, but alas.
“About the day I used Dark Magic.”
“Ah. So that day wasn’t that day.”
“You son of a….”
“I’m sorry. It just felt so impactful.”
It was the first time Olivia brought up that day.
What suddenly prompted her?
Whenever I tried to mention it, she would turn her back on me or get very angry, but now she was bringing it up herself.
Was it the Nightmare she had?
I always thought it was another dream about being rejected by Mikhail, but this was a bit unexpected.
Olivia’s gaze was fixed on me.
Her heated breath conveyed a strong determination to hear my answer.
As the memories of that day briefly resurfaced, I rubbed the arm hidden under my sleeve.
The memory from a year ago was still vivid.
That was the last Affinity Quest.
[Main Quest ‘Two Lifelines’]
[◈ Olivia, unable to cope with unrequited love, is attempting Dark Magic.]
[1. Go to the 2nd floor and save Olivia.]
[Reward]
[1. Olivia’s Survival]
[2. Olivia’s Favorability +1]
[3. Trait 〈Dark Magic Resistance Lv.3〉]
[Penalty: 50% chance of death.]
2. Neglects.
[Reward]
[1. All characters’ Favorability +10]
[2. Magic Stat +30]
[3. Trait 〈White Magic Lv.3〉]
[Penalty: Olivia dies.]
That day, Olivia was screaming.
I naturally chose Olivia.
That was all.
There was no need for Olivia to know the details. It was enough that only I knew about that day’s incident.
“Why suddenly bring up that day?”
“I was just curious.”
Olivia turned her head toward the window.
Since long ago, whenever she lied or felt uncomfortable speaking, she would turn her head.
I could be certain.
The nightmare Olivia had was a memory of that day.
“What could our Young Lady be curious about to bring up this topic?”
It was quite an awkward question to answer.
For me, who was speaking.
And for Olivia, who was asking.
Because that was why we were here like this now.
Olivia had lost her leg.
And I had lost my sponsor.
Even so, Olivia seemed curious enough to ask me.
“How did you save me?”
Olivia’s eyes, fixed on me, were sharp. Perhaps she had a suspicion, or maybe she was still angry because I interfered with the Dark Magic back then.
Since Olivia often resented me over that day’s incident, I was cautious in my words.
“I just went in.”
“It was 4 a.m. That should’ve been your sleeping time, right?”
“Do you know when I sleep?”
“If you’re human, you’d sleep at 4 a.m.”
“I might not be human.”
“Don’t joke around.”
I removed the wet towel from her forehead.
Olivia struggled to sit up, looking directly at me, and spoke each word clearly.
“I thought about it carefully. I definitely cast Silence Magic perfectly outside.”
“Could it not have been a mistake?”
“No. I don’t make mistakes in basic magic.”
There was no way to know Olivia’s true feelings.
Whether she was scolding me.
Or genuinely curious.
Regardless, the fact that Olivia was asking me meant something, but I had no intention of telling her.
What was the point of bringing up unpleasant memories?
Wouldn’t it be better to leave things as they are?
I firmly pressed against Olivia’s forehead.
Our Lady Villainess, who collapsed weakly onto the bed. It seemed she was pushing herself too hard despite her fever.
“Telepathy.”
“No, tell me properly.”
“Haven’t I served you for 13 years? Friendship, love, salary! When all these align beautifully, wouldn’t I have exhibited superhuman strength?”
“No…!”
Smack.
I covered Olivia’s entire face with the towel.
I decided to keep my mouth shut. It’s taboo to agitate a patient.
“Uwaaahhh!”
The Young Lady flailed and screamed.
I cast the ‘Not My Problem’ spell and rose from the bed.
“Later. I’ll tell you later.”
***
At that time, at Olivia’s estate.
Whether the Garden Caretaker had gone on strike, the front gate was overgrown with thick Nemesis.
A man and a woman in neat school uniforms stood before it.
“Is this the house of the Divine Healer?”
“Quiet, Senior.”
Faced with a landscape that couldn’t be called a residence, the woman couldn’t deny the man’s words.
The man standing beside her spoke nonchalantly.
“Shouldn’t we call an Adventurer instead of us? No matter how you look at it, this looks like a Dungeon. And isn’t the Master of the House basically a Monster?”
His carefree demeanor was no different from that of a delinquent. Who would think he belonged to the Student Council looking at him?
The woman thought the man was pathetic.
“I told you to be quiet.”
With his hands shoved into his pockets, the man with green hair, mocking the estate, was Ruin, a student at the Imperial Academy and Disciple of the Master of the Tower.
“Pardon me, Senior Ruin.”
The woman responded stiffly.
Like him, she was also a student at the Imperial Academy.
The top ranker of the 1st Year Swordsmanship Department.
And serving as the Student Council Secretary, she was Hanna.
The two students had come to the residence of an expelled student for a simple reason.
The Student Council President had sent them.
To confirm the Intent to Return to School of a student named Ricardo who had submitted a Leave of Absence request, the two Student Council Executives had made the rare visit.
Hanna, standing at the front gate, glanced at the estate’s wall.
[Banish the Wicked Villainess to the Monastery.]
A disconcerting phrase.
As the rumors said, this was indeed the house of the Villainess.
She had heard it often from her seniors.
There had been a Villainess who was the worst of the worst at the Academy.
She slapped everyone she saw.
She discriminated against and ignored Commoners and Nobles alike in vicious ways.
Especially Senior Mikhail, whom she harassed and stalked relentlessly…. For Hanna, who held unrequited feelings for Mikhail, this was particularly unsettling.
To be honest, she didn’t want to come here either.
Her beloved senior.
The Senior Mikhail, revered as a Saint, had called this woman ‘The Worst.’ Who knew what she might do to Hanna?
She might outright curse her.
Or order her Servants to douse her with a bucket full of filth, making her steps heavy with dread.
Still, what choice did she have?
As the youngest member of the Student Council and a mere 1st Year.
A 1st Year with no standing had no choice but to obey.
‘Haah…. I really don’t want to go.’
Hanna clenched the letter in her hand tightly.
‘Originally, I wanted to come here with Senior Mikhail and show him how I’d put this woman in her place.’
But Senior Mikhail had outright refused to come.
Instead, her companion was Senior Ruin, who stood beside her.
With a Peculiar Personality, he wasn’t well-regarded within the Student Council, but as the Top Ranker of the Magic Department, his skills were undeniable.
The President had paired him with her just in case,
“Hehe, let’s go in quickly. I can’t wait to mess with her.”
but he wasn’t very trustworthy.
Hanna made up her mind.
To leave this Estate as soon as possible, and to deliver a word or two to that Villainess before doing so.
With tense hands, she knocked on the Estate’s door.