I Failed to Oust the Villain!
Chapter 8

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“What are you looking for, master?” asked Reinhart.

“Oh... I need to get into my workroom,” Valeta said as she searched the room. “But I don’t know where Father put the key.”

“Your workroom?”

“Yeah.”

Once Count Delight had discovered that Valeta was prone to using alchemy for pointless things, he took away her workroom altogether, moving it to the basement and locking it up. Now, Valeta wasn’t allowed to use it without his express permission. She was often locked in there for hours, honing her skills, but she wasn’t allowed to take anything outside of it. The maids even went as far as to check her undergarments every time she left.

“What do you need the workroom for?” Reinhart asked. “An injured rabbit? A fallen bird? Or perhaps, did you find an ant with a broken leg this time?”

Valeta ignored his sarcastic teasing. She couldn’t care less about people, but her heart went out to animals, little creatures that she could take into her arms and release again at any moment. She had no wish to call people by their names, but animals didn’t need names at all. And while she didn’t want to depend on anyone, always being on her own was quite lonely. That was why she longed for some kind of warmth, even if it came from a little, furry beast.

Instead of responding to Reinhart, Valeta turned away in silence. She couldn’t find the key anywhere, which could only mean that it was in her father’s office. She needed that key. Valeta started to head toward the office, but Reinhart strode after her. He reached out, catching her by the waist.

“I don’t know why you even care about those things. Why show them affection? I just don’t get it.”

“You don’t have to,” Valeta replied.

He frowned at her words, his smile vanishing into a thin line. “There are people over in that direction.”

Valeta froze when she heard this. He slowly released the hands that were around her waist. When she turned around, she saw that Reinhart was looking down at her with a strange look on his face. He turned, his steps light, and headed straight to her workroom.

He doesn’t even have the key. What is he trying to do? Soon, Valeta realized that he didn’t even need the key. With a single flick of a wrist, the lock to her workroom snapped open.

She pushed past Reinhart and entered. She didn’t even glance at him as he closed the door behind them and leaned against it. Valeta hurried around the room, cramming herbs into a vial and scribbling a formula on a piece of paper.

“Extract,” she said finally.

Reinhart never took his eyes off Valeta’s moving body. An ancient magic circle flashed in her eyes, filling the room with violet light. It was always so incredible the way simple herbs could become a potion. A strange light flickered in Reinhart’s ruby-red eyes.

There was inexplicable hunger in his stomach. He rubbed his neck before turning to glance at the girl. Valeta relocked her workshop and headed out into the backyard with the newly made potion tucked under her arm.

“You always refuse my help, but you accepted this time just for a mere cat?” Reinhart said, disgruntled. Valeta was unfazed when it came to seeing people getting hurt or dying—it was something she had been expecting all along. But for some reason, she couldn’t stand seeing injured animals. To her, animals were human, and humans were the animals.

“Valeta. What are you doing out here?” a voice called out.

She flinched. Her shoulders started shaking, but she remained still, still crouched down on the ground in case Count Delight saw the cat.

The count glowered at her. “Valeta Delight!”

“Yes, Father?”

She gave a sigh before standing up. The cat, already healed, was rolling around in the grass at her feet, purring as though it were thanking its benefactor.

“You used alchemy again!”

Valeta raised her head, indifferently spitting out the words that now had become a habit. “I’m sorry.” Count Delight wasn’t alone. Behind him were two people, an attendant and a maid. Valeta turned her cold eyes on them. The maid, meeting her gaze, looked away.

I should’ve known, she thought. Someone must have seen her, but instead of stopping her, they had ratted her out instead. She glanced to the side at Reinhart. He had a smile on his face, though it was one that didn’t reach his eyes.

This is how you bring yourself one step closer to death. How she envied their ignorance. Ignorance was bliss, as they say.

“You’re sorry? You’re always sorry!” Count Delight roared.

Slap!

Valeta’s head jerked to the side. Her eyes widened, but she wasn’t surprised. The count had always been a man of short temper. This was bound to have happened sooner or later.

“Take her to the punishment room! Don’t give her anything but water for a week!”

The count was so predictable. The attendant and the maid grabbed Valeta’s arms as if they had been waiting for this. She saw Reinhart’s eyes widen in shock.

Why is he looking at me like that? It was as though he was seeing this happen for the first time. It wasn’t until Valeta turned the corner that she realized that this was the first time she had seen him show any true emotion on his face.

Needless to say, the week she spent confined in the punishment room was boring. Perhaps it was because she had often been locked up in that room ever since she was small, but Valeta was unimpressed with how dark the room was and how she had to grope around to find the bowl of water.

She was used to starving for days and no longer felt the need to claw at the door like she had when she was a child, begging for mercy.

But still, a week is too much. She tried to convince herself that she was on a new diet, but it wasn’t working. There was nothing she could do other than meditate, lie there as still as possible, or just sleep.

A week later, the door opened with Count Delight himself stepping through the door. “This is your last chance. If you use alchemy without my permission again, you will be nothing to me, child,” he whispered as he stroked her cheek.

After he left, Valeta staggered to her feet. What happened to Reinhart? He usually came to visit her at least once, but she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him since she’d entered the room.

I hope he’s gone, she thought. But first things first—she needed to eat. After requesting some soup from the attendant, Valeta headed straight to her room. Nothing had changed in her absence. Just as she was about to rest on her bed, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

“I can see my bones.” She gazed indifferently at her body before tearing herself away from the mirror. There was no sign of Reinhart even after Valeta finished her dinner and was getting ready for bed. His absence could only mean that he had left the mansion or was dead. Either was fine, but Valeta wished that he was out there, living a better life than he had been here.

“Hello, master.”

Valeta knew it was too good to be true. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, she heard a soft voice coming from behind her door. It was the same voice as always. She sat up in her bed. He usually just enters... What’s going on? It wasn’t like anybody was watching over her room at night, either.

Reinhart’s voice came floating from behind the door. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Valeta replied.

“I see. That’s good, then.” A pause. “Do you want to know something, master?”

She remained silent. Would he cut her throat if she said she didn’t want to know?

Reinhart continued as if he wasn’t even expecting her to answer. “The two servants who couldn’t hold their tongue and dared to put their hands on you that day have died.”

“What…?”

“It was an unfortunate accident. They fell out of a window.”

Valeta stayed quiet. Whether it really was an accident or not, only Reinhart knew. She stifled the lump in her throat. Would he be satisfied with killing a few people? Then again, he probably hadn’t even needed to use high-ranking magic for that. At such a height, a stiff breeze could have blown the servants over. Either way, Valeta was once again reminded of how dangerous Reinhart truly was.

I told them not to bother him, but did they listen to me?

The servants had continued to harass him despite her warnings. Valeta rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache, then slowly swept her hand down her face.

“Can I come in, master?”

Something was definitely wrong. He never asked for permission to enter her room, at least not this late at night. Valeta narrowed her eyes.

“When have you ever asked for my permission?”

“Master, I want to take care of you.”

Something had definitely happened. Valeta knew that those words were a tell. She ruffled her bangs a few times and responded lightly, “Fine.”

The doorknob turned. Reinhart must have been barefoot, for she couldn’t hear his footsteps. Valeta looked up as he closed the door behind him.

“Why are you…?” she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. His whole body was covered in bruises and scratches. Anyone could tell that he had been terribly beaten.

His red eyes were even duller than usual that, if Valeta hadn’t known better, she would’ve assumed that they belonged to the dead.

“Master…” Reinhart collapsed in her arms, crumpling into a heap. He hugged her tightly as she just sat there in her bed. He clung to her like a child, desperately trying to hold back his emotions. Valeta didn’t return his embrace, but she didn’t push him away either.

“My knees… You may touch my knees.”

Reinhart didn’t speak for a long time. At last, his embrace slipped down to her knees, his head resting on her thighs. Then, he closed his eyes and remained like that for a long time.

What am I doing? Valeta thought.

She didn’t force Reinhart away from her, although she knew it was stupid not to, and she didn’t ask how he’d come to be in such a state. The reason was clear enough. He was no less pitiful than herself. For now.

Tomorrow morning, the two would begin their day with Valeta kneeling before the count, apologizing for her disobedience, and Reinhart with a bruised and battered body.

Neither soul spoke as the moonlight shone down on them. Reinhart didn’t complain to Valeta, and she didn’t comfort him. The only thing that filled the room was silence.