Serena looked at Nyx’s back with a very troubled expression.

‘Is this all an act?’

She was tired of being betrayed by people she thought she could trust.

Scratch scratch–

The sound of a pencil brushing against paper was heard.

Nyx wriggled inside the blanket, wrote something, and thr*st out the notebook.

[Serena’s bad! Mean! Naughty child!]

“Hmm……”

[Of course! I still like you though! But, who else would like you if not me, Serena. I’m the only rabbit who knows all these sides of you and still likes you!]

Serena quietly reached out her hand and patted the fluffy rabbit’s bottom.

She remembered hearing something like this when she took a psychology class before.

The story of isolating a person to the extreme, making them rely only on oneself, and then while saying it’s for their own good, subtly mixing in words like ‘you can’t do without me’ to break them down.

Then the person gradually depends on their only understanding companion and eventually does anything to avoid being abandoned.

To the now enlightened Serena, Nyx’s method was exactly this.

What Nyx overlooked was that she was a graduate student from South Korea who knew more than expected.

Of course, she knew that the insidious aspect of psychology is that one can fall into it despite knowing…

‘Still, I don’t understand.’

Why Nyx was doing this to her.

“Nyx, do you have any dreams or wishes?”

At Serena’s question, Nyx rolled its eyes inside the blanket.

Then it took the notebook inside, wrote something, and stretched it out behind again.

[I do.]

Nyx answered briefly.

Although it was just two letters, the period at the end seemed firm, seemingly written without hesitation.

“Can I ask what it is?”

[Why so suddenly?]

Serena pondered that question for a moment.

“Just, I’ve been too busy living to have any particular dreams or wishes, so I wondered what it’s like for others.”

At Serena’s words, Nyx pulled its face out of the blanket, turned its head, and looked up at her.

Its bright red eyes were filled with curiosity.

Nyx tilted its head, pondered for a while, then scribbled something in the notebook again and held it out.

[My wish is being fulfilled by you, Serena. My wish and the World Tree’s wish is for all evil in this world to disappear.]

At Nyx’s words, Serena suddenly recalled the myth she had seen before, which was even worse than a third-rate novel.

‘Good’ was born from light, and ‘Evil’ was born from darkness.

If evil was stopped here, it would appear there.

Eventually, evil cut off the branches of the World Tree for its own greed, coveted its fruits, peeled off its bark, and craved its roots.

Darkness became angry.

Darkness thought.

‘We must eradicate all evil.’

Because if evil didn’t exist in the world, peace would surely come.

‘Evil’ even corrupted ‘Good’.

Instances of justice becoming injustice occurred.

“I will eliminate all evil in the world.”

Darkness vowed.

To eradicate all evil in the world.

To eliminate the root of evil.

Serena blinked at these suddenly recalled passages.

‘…Come to think of it, the root of evil was mentioned there too.’

What exactly is this root of evil?

Nyx called the anger of the people she had seen so far the ‘root of evil’.

But to Serena, this seemed too natural.

It’s natural to get angry when there’s something to be angry about. It’s natural to get mad when there’s something maddening.

Of course, some people might become twisted because of it, but in the end, many people would overcome their wounds and move on with their lives.

‘……’

Serena’s eyes narrowed.

She nodded quietly after exhaling a short breath.

“Do you hate evil?”

[I hate it. Evil is bad and mean! So I really, really hate it!]

Nyx said, holding up the notebook.

Serena blinked as she watched Nyx stomping its hind legs in protest.

‘…Could this be Darkness?’

Or something contracted with Darkness, or something derived from Darkness.

Anyway, could it be that it contains the will of the existence called Darkness?

This is assuming that myth is… real.

Of course, the credibility is almost rock bottom.

Assuming it’s a myth based on some truth, what darkness hates is evil.

If it’s darkness that wants to eradicate evil from the world, why did it assume Serena Lavernia to be a villainess?

Why did it expel Serena who was trying not to become a villainess, and deliberately bring someone else to forcibly make them a villainess?

‘Wow, I have no idea.’

Serena sprawled on the bed, clutching her heating head.

[If evil disappears from the world, everyone will be happy and it will be peaceful.]

Nyx wrote something and showed it once more as it watched Serena collapse silently.

“Is a world without evil really a normal world? Nyx. A world without night just seems… like every day would be too dazzling.”

[If there’s no evil, everyone will be happy.]

As if refuting Serena’s words, Nyx wrote firmly once again and showed it.

Serena stared at it for a long time, then buried her face in the pillow again.

‘…Then what about me?’

The words she couldn’t bring herself to ask lingered in her mouth.

If, as Nyx claims, all ‘evil’ in the world should disappear, what happens to Serena Lavernia, who has been assigned the role of the only ‘villainess’ in this world?

‘…It’s like telling me to die too.’

Her heart ached.

Serena slowly closed her eyes while hugging the pillow.

* * *

“Listen, Magnus.”

“Hmm, yes.”

“Actually, I think my business is doing too well, and that’s a problem.”

Magnus rolled his eyes as he looked at Serena, who was lying on his stomach as always, mumbling and spitting out complaints.

“……”

Because he couldn’t understand which part of what she was saying was problematic.

‘Isn’t it good if the business is doing well?’

Magnus pondered for a moment.

Certainly, the things she made were selling like hotcakes.

Magnus felt a bit odd seeing the hair loss treatment that was achieving higher sales than expected.

‘I didn’t know there were so many people with hair loss……’

He thought while lightly touching his own hair, which fortunately was still maintaining its fullness without further loss.

“Hmm, I see. That must be very upsetting.”

Magnus uttered words he didn’t really mean.

He still couldn’t understand at all which part was problematic, but if Serena said so, he figured it must be.

“Right? Actually, I want to just quit everything now.”

Hearing the curt reply, Magnus nodded.

He felt that his response had been correct. He nodded with a rather satisfied feeling.

“Then do so.”

“Huh?”

“Now that it’s on track to some extent, you don’t need to keep holding onto it.”

Magnus said, thinking of Serena who hadn’t been returning to the room much lately.

“You can find a proxy and entrust it to them.”

Magnus said, full of self-interest.

He had been getting stressed lately with Serena eating alone, leaving early for work, and always being away on business trips whenever he wanted to do something together.

Despite this, he had been holding back because he didn’t want to interfere with her work.

But if Serena says she doesn’t want to do it, that’s a different story.

“It would be fine to ask Pamel to look for someone.”

Magnus was a seasoned hunter who wouldn’t miss an opportunity that walked in on its own.

“…Hmm, but… that seems like pushing too much work onto others…”

“Isn’t that what we pay them for?”

“Well, that’s true, but……”

“Serena.”

Magnus embraced her and spoke seriously.

“Yes.”

“You said you wanted to live life easily, right?”

“Oh, y-yes. That’s right.”

Serena nodded awkwardly at Magnus’s very serious expression.

He kissed her lips and said.

“I’ll tell you how. Everything from A to Z.”

Magnus had recently come to understand deeply why his father always held his mother in his arms and wouldn’t let go.

Come to think of it, Magnus’s mother, the previous Duchess, also had a personality that couldn’t stay still.

Her personality of needing to do something to feel satisfied, had worsened after the previous Duke returned from wandering with Magnus.

‘So that’s why.’

Magnus understood for the first time his father’s excessive concern about his mother doing things.

In his eyes, Serena was a severe workaholic. A broken workaholic who seemed to not know how to rest.

Magnus decided to make her stop, even forcibly if necessary.

“First, let’s dump all the work on your current apprentice.”