As soon as I thought about having to meet Noah, my palms got a little sweaty.

I took a deep breath.

‘Is this really something to be this nervous about?’

I’ve always been awkward around children.

Kids don’t follow the same social rules as adults, so I never knew how to deal with them.

Maybe sensing that I kept my distance, children didn’t particularly like me either.

Hmm, come to think of it, it was the same with dogs and cats. Even though I wanted to pet them, I would always pass by coldly.

‘But this time, I can’t do that.’

Smile, just smile.

I practiced showing a gentle smile for Noah.

Knock knock.

Just then, following the knock, the head maid opened the door and appeared.

“My lady. The Young Viscount… Eek!”

The head maid took a startled step back when she saw me.

When I unconsciously looked in the mirror, I saw myself grinning like someone about to feed someone a poisoned apple.

I quickly composed my face as if nothing had happened.

“What is it?”

“Ah, th-that… Ahem!”

The head maid, finally collecting herself, spoke stiffly.

“I’m here to deliver Young Viscount Caiman’s message. He says that since you assaulted Baron Abnormal yesterday and caused a disturbance at the banquet, disgracing the family name, you cannot avoid punishment.”

“…And he sent you, not even his assistant, to deliver this message?”

“Yes. Everyone else is busy.”

Oh. I suddenly realized.

‘So this is how different Calliphe’s position has become?’

Calliphe was House Offensa’s only direct descendant. Moreover, despite her tendency to use her fists before words when agitated, most people feared her even while finding her disagreeable.

But two weeks ago, around when I possessed her, things changed.

The Archmage, head of the family, and Calliphe’s maternal grandfather, Duke Offensa, suddenly collapsed and fell into a coma.

They said he had an accident while trying to breakthrough to the 8th level.

It was not uncommon for high-level mages to face danger when failing to break through their limits.

‘Because of that, Caiman, Duke Offensa’s disciple, started acting as the family head while calling himself Young Viscount.’

He was a fallen noble who had been taken in by Duke Offensa before, and was the only disciple who helped with both family and magic tower affairs.

But for some reason, at some point he became more involved with family matters than the magic tower.

‘Though Caiman never said it directly, there was already an atmosphere of accepting him as Young Viscount back then.’

However, the Duke hadn’t officially announced anyone as his successor yet.

Moreover, House Offensa was a family that placed great importance on succession through direct lineage.

If Young Viscount Caiman wanted the family, it was natural for him to try to completely push out Calliphe, the direct descendant.

He would want to show this externally too.

Now that the Duke had collapsed, he was removing his mask of humility and showing his true colors.

If my prediction was correct, his chosen method would be…

“How ridiculous. What kind of punishment do you dare impose on me?”

When I deliberately acted arrogant, the head maid’s eyes lit up with base pleasure as she replied.

“The order is to leave the main building and move your quarters to the west annex.”

“What?! You’re telling me to go to that wretched place?”

I pretended to be shocked and covered my mouth with my hand.

It was to hide my twitching lips that wanted to smile.

‘I knew this would happen!’

Though I hadn’t been able to move freely until now, my ears weren’t closed.

So I had remembered well that direct descendants pushed out of the main building would also be pushed out of the succession struggle.

It was obvious this would become my situation.

‘The west annex is known to be the most run-down among all the annexes.’

In other words, it’s the perfect place to make everyone clearly recognize Calliphe’s defeat.

After figuring this out, I decided to move up the date since it was going to happen anyway, to use it to my advantage.

Even causing a disturbance at the banquet was to give the Young Viscount an excuse to drive me out.

‘Of course, I could have left the main building first from my side without such tricks.’

But then the Young Viscount would have been wary of me showing behavior different from usual.

There was no need to take unnecessary risks. It could unnecessarily affect Noah too.

And so, my efforts finally bore fruit.

“Of all places! The west annex!”

This is so great.

‘Because that’s the closest to the servants’ quarters where Noah is!’

While I was trembling with joy, the head maid held out a box she was carrying.

“Concerned about your distress, the Young Viscount thoughtfully sent a small gift as well.”

It was a brooch with blue gems.

‘A sudden gift?’

The original Calliphe would probably have been happy. Caiman was the only person who had been kind to Calliphe.

Until the Duke collapsed, that is.

‘It can’t be a gift with good intentions. Is he giving it to mock me while pretending to care?’

But the jewel itself isn’t at fault.

“Hmph. As if something like this would appease me…”

Just as I picked up the brooch while speaking sharply.

“Ugh.”

Suddenly my head started spinning and I felt severely nauseated.

As I hunched over feeling like I might throw up, I heard the head maid’s voice trying to hide her laughter.

“My lady. You should endure at least this much. This is an artifact, after all.”

“…An artifact?”

“Are you pretending not to know? Artifacts are high-grade magical tools imbued with magic. Anyone with basic magical power can use them, but you’re the only one who can’t.”

As I heard her words, one of Calliphe’s memories unlocked like a click of a lock.

House Offensa.

A prestigious magic family that had produced many high-level mages for generations.

And in that house, Calliphe Offensa was…

‘The first magic-intolerant direct descendant.’

It refers to those who are extremely sensitive to magical power and show adverse reactions even to slight contact with magic.

Moreover, Calliphe’s own magical power is negligible. So much that she couldn’t even dream of becoming a mage.

‘So this was the real reason she lost the Young Viscount position despite being the direct descendant.’

Her nasty personality played a part too, but this must have been the real reason.

Because someone who can’t use magic cannot become the head of a prestigious mage family.

‘In my memories, young Calliphe was called a magical prodigy.’

Now she’s magic-intolerant.

These are all facts that weren’t revealed in the game. Well, who would care about the circumstances of a minor villainess?

‘But now it’s my story.’

And I wasn’t the type to let mockery slide with a smile. In this aspect, I matched well with Calliphe.

I quickly picked up the artifact brooch I had dropped. I suppressed the rising nausea by tensing my facial muscles hard. When I glared at her in that state, the head maid flinched.

“Yes, you’re right. An artifact suits the only direct descendant of Offensa better than other jewels.”

“Y-yes, of course.”

“But this would suit you better than me. I’ll give it to you.”

“What? Really?”

Hope spread across the head maid’s face.

Artifacts were expensive even among nobles, after all.

“Of course. Really.”

Holding the brooch’s pin, I stepped closer to her with a smile.

“Let’s see. Right. It would look really pretty pinned on that loose mouth of yours. Come here.”

“Wh-what are you doing!”

The maid who tried to resist turned pale when I grabbed her forearm and pulled her closer.

“I-I’m sorry! I apologize, my lady!”

“That’s better. Words once spoken can’t be taken back. Be careful.”

I was about to withdraw the threat at that point.

[Performing the role of ‘Calliphe’.]

Huh?

My retreating hand twitched once as if startled in sleep and pricked the head maid’s lip.

“Kyaaah!”

The head maid who screamed shrilly collapsed weakly, her legs giving out.

A small drop of blood formed on her lip. Fortunately, it was minor enough to heal with some saliva.

Though the head maid, not knowing this, was trembling with quite some misunderstandings.

I tapped my chin with the brooch while enduring the churning in my stomach from the magic intolerance.

“No need to hold back. Just let me know if you see anything else that would suit you.”

“…!”

The head maid looked at me like I was a monster.

…Well. One step closer to the death ending.

* * *

The neglected old annex was undergoing a thorough cleaning.

Since even the furniture needed to be replaced, it would take a few days before I could move in.

Even after being pushed out, it’s still this luxurious.

‘Indeed, even falling from a noble family means you still get some crumbs.’

Reflecting on this truth, I strolled into the annex.

I wanted to look around the rooms that hadn’t been cleaned yet.

“This must be the bedroom.”

The bedroom was relatively cleaner compared to other rooms.

Of course, thick dust had accumulated on all the furniture, and the floor was full of trash that shouldn’t be there, but.

Everything looked over ten years old…

“Hm? What’s this?”

Just then, I found a clean paper that was definitely recent.

“It’s a drawing.”

It was a strange picture drawn with yellow paint.

“Hmm… yellow… moth? Fly?”

The insect’s long legs were oddly human-like, which was strange. Whoever it was, they really had no talent for drawing.

“But they sure put in effort… Oh? There’s more?”

Pictures were scattered in the corridor corners and other places too. They seemed to have been dropped while running in a hurry.

Following them like squirrel acorns, the trail ended at one spot.

It was a dog hole behind the annex.

“So they came and went through here.”

The hole was quite small. Even with Calliphe’s slim body, it would be difficult to pass through. Unless someone even smaller…

The Duke’s household had quite a number of young servants.

Had this place become the hideout of some unknown young servant?

“Still, this won’t do from now on.”

I didn’t want unknown people coming and going in the house I would live in.

“Fill this dog hole first. We need to make sure there are no gaps anywhere else.”

“Yes, my lady.”

I gave strict orders to the servants.