CH 50

“Ahh! It’s a ghost!”

Starting with the librarian with bad eyesight running out, saying that the pages of the book turn over by themselves,

“I will do my work quietly, my god, Princess!”

After her tea time, she was almost cleaned up along with the plate that the maids were doing.

“Cough!”

“Ahhh, I am sorry!”

When something like a duster hit her right while looking out the window in her room, Psychke seriously thought about putting a bell on her dress.

“Is it something that can be solved by putting a bell on me?”

“Of course!”

Can it really be?

She was so small that everyone almost couldn’t hear her voice, and there was no way that putting a bell on her would solve her problem. However, some cases would not have happened if employees would have be very careful.

“If you don’t like bells, there’s also a shiny and beeping headband. If you put this on, everyone know the princess’s location anywhere!”

“That is unusual, but I’ll remember that.”

In the end, Psychke, who was not even a cat, ended up putting a bell around her neck. It was a magic bell specially designed so that the person wearing it will not hear the sound of the bell in consideration of ear health. The jingles of the bell on her neck have a good success. Now every employees shunned her. Psychke was depressed because their eyes looking at her were always smiling.

And her depression reached its peak because of Verndia, who made her heart stagger, stumbled and disappeared. But this wasn’t the end of her ordeal.

“A portrait? Why?”

“It’s rare, so we should commemorate it.”

Yes, she was unusual.

She wonders if anyone else can go through something like this besides her body had to become smaller with the power of God.

However,

“I don’t think there is any need to celebrate.”

“When your body comes back, I’ll pass on additional swordsmanship.”.”

“….”

There was no benefit to outsiders knowing that her body had become smaller, so the person with the most dexterity among the employees was selected. As she grew smaller, her image with her bells on remained forever on a small canvas. And the completed portrait ended up on the desk in Verndia’s office.

(TN: My gawd, Verndia is so whipped for her AHAHA.)

“Wh, why is it there!”

“To see and laugh when I’m depressed.”

He may be able to laugh, but Psychke has become more depressed. As the weekend came to an end, her disgraceful days continued,

“Do you have a minute?”

Stella came to visit her.

***

It was Lestir’s living room.

Stella, placing the teacup on her pedestal, opened her mouth.

“Thanks to you, the children are all well.”

“That’s fortunate.”

She was sitting on top of a high pile of books, but her eyes were not aligned because she was shorter than Stella, who was sitting on the sofa. Psychke nodded her head out of sight, then shrank her head, waiting for her bell to jingle. Thankfully, Stella only glanced at the bell, but her expression did not change. After exchanging simple greetings, they talked about a few more things about the Doll Kingdom incident. Just when it seemed like everything was sorted out, Psychke changed the subject.

“Miss Stella, I have a favor to ask of you.”

Psychke squeezed the warmed peppermint teacup with both of her hands.

“I heard that Miss Stealla, as ‘Mercenary Delas’, dealt with Asum, a mage-type monster.”

“Oh my, how did you?”

Stella’s eyes narrowed. She seemed to be smiling just by looking at her eyes, but she didn’t feel like she was laughing at all.

“I changed my appearance.”

Thinking that there was no need to sell Aiden’s name, Psychke didn’t answer. Stella didn’t expect an answer either, so she continued.

“She just accidentally disposed of it in passing.”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there is Asum in the Northern Lestir Territory.”

“Yes. Some said the same to me.”

“Can you help me?”

Asum was only able to catch women, as the nickname pervert demon. Most of Lestir’s soldiers are men, and most of his hired mercenaries are men. A few women refused because they felt pressured to risk their lives to break through higher-level magic. So, Stella was the only qualified person. As long as her feet touch the ground, she will not be hurt. Psychke would be fine.

“Of course, I don’t mean just asking for help. If there is anything you want, I will listen to it, the duke asked me to deliver it to you. Same for me too.”

“That is what am I to you?”

With a pretty smile, Stella tilted her face slightly to the side. Can she dare blurt that out?

“How dare you say something like that.”

“Pardon?”

No matter how much she looked back, she couldn’t understand what she was trying to say.

Psychke stared at the woman, dressed in a Western nomadic style, with her hair wrapped up and only her face exposed. Stella put it simply.

“That’s an undeserved offer.”

“Then-”

“But I don’t think I can help.”

A stubbornness flickered in her brown eyes. Psychke noticed that no matter what she said, the other person’s mind wouldn’t change, but she didn’t back down either.

“I am not asking for help right now. After rescuing the children-”

“There was a kid who loved dolls.”

There was deep longing in Stella’s expression and tone.

“I thought you would come to the venue, but you didn’t. So, I went to visit you in person.”

“…”

“I want him to go back to the desert with me, but he’s stubborn and greedy, so I think it’ll take some time to persuade that kid.”

Psychke shut her mouth at the feeling of longing that grew thicker the more Stella spoke.

“That’s why I can’t do your request. I’m sorry.”

It came out like that, but she couldn’t say anything more, so she lowered her eyes. After that, she couldn’t remember what they were talking about. She knows it was not polite, but she lost focus on the other person because she thinks she might have to use ‘That Way’ to deal with Asum. At that time, when she was lost in the sea of her wanderings, her familiar sentence brought her back to her reality.

“Then, Pailas Astania.”

Psyche raised her head. Her jingle, the sound of bells that she couldn’t hear, was cheerful.

“Miss Stella, can I ask you one more question?”

“As much as you like.”

“What does ‘Pailas Astania’ mean? Maybe ‘May your breath dwell in the stars in the night sky’?”

Stella made a surprised face.

“To be literal, yes, that’s right. How did you know that? It was an archaic word that very few people in the West know!”

Psychke was also surprised by that statement. Why is the gore of the West being used as the code for an illegal auction house? Westerners hated auctions. It was for the reason that it would encourage competition for nothing, rather than simply setting a price. But why is the old language of such a place being used as a code for an illegal auction house? Psychke looked straight up into Stella’s eyes.

“I went to an illegal auction house for work, and the password there was ‘Pailas Astania’.”

“Oh my.”

Stella’s brown eyes widened.

What was she thinking? Stella looked down at Psychke in surprise, but she was silent. A small silence fell in the living room. The one who broke the silence was Verndia, who opened the door and entered.

“What is it? It’s lunchtime, and you haven’t gone yet?”

The serious atmosphere disappeared in an instant. Seeing him, Stella smiled, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

“It’s been a while, Lestir.”

“Yes. Long time no see.”

He replied casually, and carefully lifted Psychke with both hands, saying that they should go to eat now. Stella, who had been watching them quietly, began to rhyme with a strange tone.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you take care of someone like that.”

“It’s natural, since we’re engaged, isn’t it?”

“Is that so? That’s not a good phenomenon.”

Stella muttered to herself meaningfully. Then, with an apologetic expression, she left an incomprehensible message to the man who turned away, to be exact, to Psyche who was in the palm of Verndia.

(TN: Ugh, my heart!! Psychke is so cute if she was sitting on Verndia’s palm! So cuutte!)

“I’ve heard a good story, so I guess I have to pay the price. Evergreen likes perfume. I hope this helps.”

In an instant, Psychke clearly saw Verndia’s face hardened. Verndia remained silent for a long time after that, and it was only when she reached the entrance of the dining room that she murmured curtly.

“I like perfume too.”

“Pardon?”

He said nothing more.

They had just finished lunch and was about to eat dessert. Verndia, who had been contemplating something with a melancholy expression throughout his meal, took her luck away.

“Princess.”

He cut the cake to the size of a fingernail and placed it on Psychke’s doll’s plate at the table.

“Widnix is a madman.”

Psychke blinked slowly. It was surprising that a man with the nickname of a mad dog describes someone as a madman, even though the target was the Duke of Widnix Evergreen, the owner of ‘The Wind That Doesn’t Blow’. When she didn’t respond, the man, who assumed she didn’t believe him, insisted again.

“Everyone is fooled by the fact that he has a pretty face, but his actual personality is very dirty.”

Her eyelids blinked a little faster at the sudden self-introduction of someone.

Even though he himself thought it was something he didn’t want to say, Verndia crumpled his brow.

He shifted the subject,

“I won’t forget what I promised.”

“Promise?”

“I mean not having another woman during our engagement.”