I Became The Villain's Master

Swoosh!

At the hair-raising sound of hissing, bugs the size of an adult’s palm crawled out from underneath the door simultaneously. 

“Ahh!” 

“Ahh!”

Some servants screamed, stumbled, and fell, and the hallway was instantly in disarray. 

Anne, who has a professional work ethic, quickly carried me through the confusion. 

Insects of the many-legged variety, even a scorpion, crawled out. A frightened servant hurriedly tugged on the rope at the end of the hallway. 

The rope, in particular, was meant for emergencies. 

Then worms bigger than my fists wriggled and squirmed their way into the halls, down the stairs, or even up the walls. 

“Rory!”

When I looked into the room, Rory was standing on a window frame, hugging the curtains for dear life as he trembled. 

I hurriedly called out to the child. 

After a moment, a servant ran up the stairs, entering the room with Rory in his arms. 

It was Sir Peanut who escorted us.

Another knight was supposed to stand guard, but he was nowhere in sight, perhaps dawdling somewhere. 

“Anne! Get the lady over here!”

Sie Peanut held Rory in his right arm and stretched out his left hand to me. 

He immediately snatched me up. 

Sir Peanut ran like the wind, taking us to Count Hauser’s office. Anned followed behind us. 

 “Merchen? What are you doing here at this hour?”

The count greeted me with a surprised look and wasted no time in asking Sir Peanut what had happened.   

Exterminating the bugs led to a commotion that spread to every corner of the mansion. 

Sir Peanut stood by as Anne prepared warm milk and cookies. 

“Lady, you were thunderstruck, weren’t you?” asked Anne softly. She looks calmer than I am. 

I shook my head and held Rory’s trembling hand tightly. 

“No, Rory was most surprised.”

“I- I’m alright.”

Rory stopped crying, but he was still shaking. The novel didn’t give details about how Rory was bullied.

There was only a brief description of how severe bullying led to his trauma. The trauma, in turn, twisted his personality more and more. 

I can’t predict how things will turn out. Even when I told the others I’d starve myself to death if they laid a finger on Rory. 

And like a psycho, I warned them not to touch him while talking nonsense about dolls. 

Didn’t those goons love Merchen with all their hearts?

Or did they belittle me by thinking I would only skip a meal or two?

Maybe they knew I was lying about treating Rory like a doll. 

“……”

I bit my lips. 

First things first, I need to know what happened while I was asleep. 

“Rory, why were you alone in youw room? I told you not to be alone and stay in my room.” 

“….I’m sorry.”

Sweat-soaked silver hair hung down. 

“No! I’m not bwaming you! I just want to hear the whole stowy.” 

“Yes, but… what does the whole story mean?” Rory asked cautiously. 

His face turned red, slightly embarrassed that he didn’t understand the words. 

It’s only natural that he doesn’t know.

How many five-year-old children knew a lot about vocabulary?

“I want to know what happened.” 

I asked him nicely and made eye contact with his warm eyes. Then he brought up the story again as he tried to calm down.

A little while ago, Rory had gone down with Anne, eaten, and come up.

Anne said that Rory was bored while Merchen was taking a nap, so he brushed his teeth and rested in the room. Then he headed quietly to the next room.

He wanted to see the room that was decorated for him with his own eyes. Instead, terrible bugs welcomed Rory when he opened the door. 

Plus, someone pushed him into the room and locked the door in the same instant. 

The bugs rushed at him. He screamed, trying to run away, and climbed up the window frame.

In the meantime, he shouted at me to not come in because he was worried that I would be frightened. 

Rory shuddered and curled up. 

‘I want to hug him.’ 

While sitting on the train, I kept thinking about the novel.

There’s someone who’s rooting for you. 

Someone who sympathizes with you and hurts seeing you lonely. 

It would be nice if I could give him a warm hug and whisper just once…

If someone could read my thoughts, they might have said, ‘Don’t get so immersed in a character inside a novel.’

But Rory Valiette was within arm’s reach. 

I slightly raised myself up and hugged him. 

“I’m sorry.”

“No, It’s not because of you, it’s because I didn’t pay attention…it’s my fault, my fault…”

“What nonsense are you talking about? I’m upswet.” 

“……” 

Rory hesitated for a moment and then faced me. The child’s breath on my shoulder trembled hard. 

The situation was cleared, and Count Hauser dragged Suga and Prim up. 

The count was infuriated about the situation. 

I was the first to get mad after I had already warned those two, but the count ordered Anne and Sir Peanut to take us away. 

“Wait, wait! Father! I have something to say to them!”  

I cried out loud to no avail; only Anne heard me. 

As soon as we got out and closed the door, I heard something shatter.

“What the hell were you thinking!”