PSITAC 14

Chapter 14

Ibrahim lowered his gaze slightly.

The cat he had seen before was rubbing its head against his leg, circling around him again and again.

“Meeooow!”

It licked its paw with a tiny pink tongue.

“Jelly…?”

Ibrahim whispered in a voice where a thousand years of fury seemed to melt away.

“Meow!”

The cat answered as if confirming it.

At that moment, Ibrahim made a decision.

This construction project would be completed perfectly, no matter what.

The place where Jelly lived had to be perfect.

And Rodgo was watching this entire scene with a deathly pale face, trembling violently.

“Your Grace!”

For a second, I thought the office itself was about to collapse.

Chaos erupted outside.

“You can’t do this! How dare you behave so rudely in front of Her Grace!”

“Butler! There’s a disaster happening outside, and you expect me to stay quiet?! Let go of me!”

“Rodgo! Didn’t you already come to a peaceful agreement with Her Grace before?”

“Head Maid! Madam Verita! Haven’t you crossed the line this time?! I—I simply can’t…!”

Crash!

At last, the tightly shut doors burst open.

Rodgo entered looking on the verge of tears, with servants hanging from his waist trying to restrain him.

“What is the matter?”

I asked with as much dignity as possible.

“I just came from outside after witnessing workers and a mage completely wrecking the garden.”

“Wrecking it? They are merely doing what they were assigned to do.”

“I…”

Rodgo stopped speaking for a moment, his throat tightening.

“Of course, I agreed not to complain about the garden anymore, but isn’t this going too far?!”

“It is all necessary work. I plan to divide the grounds using magic and create environments suited for each creature’s survival.”

“Your Grace!”

“Rodgo. I heard Luna hasn’t been eating.”

Rodgo immediately swallowed the rest of his protest.

Luna…

That was the name of the otter Rodgo had personally brought in. He had named her Luna because her fur shone silver like the moon.

But Luna wasn’t eating?

“It seems the environment doesn’t suit her. Otters are creatures that live in flowing streams. And since she’s a divine beast, she’s probably even more sensitive.”

“…”

“A living creature must be kept alive.”

Rodgo’s eyes wavered.

“She’s already emotionally unstable from the shock of being abandoned. Instead of arguing like this, shouldn’t you be paying more attention to Luna?”

Wow. Am I not incredibly good at talking?

I could practically see Rodgo being persuaded in real time.

All those years of social experience hadn’t gone to waste.

When persuading people, money mattered—but storytelling mattered too.

There’s even that saying: A good tongue can repay a thousand nyang of debt.

Ha. Praise me.

“The life I saved…”

“Yes. The life you saved.”

Rodgo squeezed his eyes shut.

His shoulders visibly drooped.

Rodgo quietly watched Luna rubbing herself against his legs.

Whenever he looked at the garden being completely overturned, it felt hard to breathe.

And now, not only had this precious divine beast been abandoned, she was even refusing to eat.

His heart ached.

“Phew… none of this is your fault.”

“Kyuuung…”

“Why won’t you eat? You need to eat to regain your strength.”

Rodgo bent down and held out his palm.

Luna rested her head on it.

The old ribbon tied around her neck bothered him. It must have been something left behind by her previous owner.

“Should I buy you a new ribbon?”

“Kyuoooo…”

“I’ll buy you a pretty blue ribbon.”

Luna scampered lightly up Rodgo’s arm.

He stroked the otter’s head as she settled on his shoulder. Luna leaned her tired face against his cheek.

After letting out a long sigh, Rodgo finally turned away from the garden.

Luna remained perched on his shoulder the entire time.

Oho.

After finishing my conversation with Rodgo, I quietly slipped outside.

Just how bad was it for him to call it a disaster area?

And then I kind of understood why Rodgo was mentally collapsing.

The workers were enthusiastically tearing up the ground.

And then there was the magic decorating the sky itself. The mage’s blond hair fluttered in the air as he chanted spells. Every time he recited an incantation, the earth rose and water flowed.

Back in the day, I used to dream of becoming a wizard too.

I really thought that when the time came, an acceptance letter from HogwartX would arrive for me.

Even the workers gradually stepped back and started applauding. It honestly looked like a circus show.

I had only come out to check whether my babies’ future home was being built properly, but instead I got to witness something amazing.

“Merry, this is so cool, right?”

“Kyah!”

Merry, who had been trotting after me, bounced up and down.

Mmhm. So you’re not interested in the magic at all.

What Merry was intensely staring at was the snack in my hand.

“You’re not getting any.”

I stuffed a piece of dried chicken jerky into my mouth and chewed.

“Kkiing…”

Looking like the tragic heroine of a melodrama, Merry lost all energy.

I scooped him up into my arms.

Ahem. Since they were putting on such a mystical magic show for my babies, shouldn’t I at least greet them properly?

Ahem.

“Hello.”

Did he not hear me?

“Excuse me! Hello!”

The plain-looking man standing beside the blond mage jabbed him hard in the side.

“What.”

A sharp reply came back as the man turned his head.

Mother of—

It felt like I could hear angels singing.

How could a human being look like that?

“Ahem! I’m Agatha of Stadiun. It’s nice to meet you.”

The man glared at me.

Pretty face, but definitely the prickly-cat type, huh? Well, if you’re that handsome, I guess you’re allowed to be difficult.

Meanwhile, the ordinary-looking man beside him sighed deeply.

Sir, your life must be exhausting.

“…Ibrahim.”

The man answered shortly.

Wait.

Ibrahim?

That Ibrahim?

Why is big bro here?!

Ibrahim was the novel’s second male lead.

The one who constantly hovered around the heroine, casually throwing flirtatious remarks at her.

No wonder he looked extraordinary from the start. I seriously thought I was ascending to heaven with my eyes open.

Come to think of it…

Did Ibrahim originally have any connection with Agatha in the novel?

Since this was still before the original story began, I couldn’t know for sure.

Still, things had definitely changed.

After all, I had possessed Agatha’s body and derailed fate entirely.

I was supposed to obsess over the Crown Prince and bully the heroine—but instead, I found my own business opportunities.

Business…?

Ah.

That’s the problem.

Ibrahim was a mage.

And not just any mage—he was the troublemaker constantly causing incidents at the Magic Tower.

The other mages found Ibrahim troublesome, so whenever outside assignments came up, they dumped everything onto him.

In the original story, Ibrahim became involved with the heroine because the temple had requested work from the Magic Tower.

After the heroine awakened her overwhelming divine power, the temple received a budget increase for expansion projects. To finish construction quickly, they requested help from the Magic Tower.

And every single time, Ibrahim was the one sent to the temple.

Meanwhile, I had also been continuously submitting requests.

Install soundproofing magic.

Create a forest and a river.

Damn it.

So the reason you’re here is because of me.

Once the heroine appeared, he would naturally end up going to her anyway, right?

Then maybe all I had to do was avoid him while construction lasted?

Run away, Agatha.

“Hahaha. I just remembered there was something I needed to do.”

“Huh? Your Grace, did you have another appointment I didn’t know about?”

Emma asked cluelessly, blinking in confusion.

“Uh… I think I do.”

All I had to do was naturally turn around and leave—

But this time, Ibrahim stopped me instead.

“Wait.”

Thud.

My heart dropped.

A thousand thoughts stormed through my head.

Sometimes when someone gets reincarnated into a novel, the villainess becomes the protagonist instead, right?

It was love at first sight.
You’re the first woman to ignore me.

Was it that kind of development?

“W-What is it?”

Well… Ibrahim wouldn’t be bad.

He’s an incredible mage, after all…

But the male lead is obviously Nael, right?

Surely the heroine could spare me one Ibrahim—

Get a grip, Agatha!

Looking at Ibrahim’s face made me feel like I was being enchanted.

Nothing good ever came from getting tangled up with protagonists!

And under absolutely no circumstances should you touch something belonging to the heroine.

If you stole the wrong thing, disaster would follow. Exactly!

No matter how starving you are, you don’t eat what belongs to someone else.

Even if Ibrahim was literally my perfect type.

Shattering all my expectations, Ibrahim asked me with an unusually serious face:

“D-Duchess… ahem. Your Grace? Will Jelly be living here?”

“…Jelly?”

Jelly was an adorable cat.

Someone had abandoned her too, and now she served as my personal morning alarm. Every morning, she jumped directly onto my stomach.

She especially loved churu treats and spent most of her time loafing in sunny spots.

Sometimes she climbed onto the walls and nearly gave her caretakers heart attacks, but perhaps because she understood the outside world was dangerous, she never wandered farther than that.

And if you waved a feather toy around, she would dramatically flop over and expose her belly like the attention-seeking little sweetheart she was.

Honestly, after getting a massage from her pink paw pads, it felt like heaven.

But why was he asking about Jelly?

“…Jelly lives freely throughout the estate.”

“Ahem. Then… will she be drinking this water? Here?”

What’s with that weird way of speaking?