I wanted to make you suffer enough to say you wanted to die.
“I hid the land document in the mansion!”
At that sound, Bella stopped her movement. Still, she had to solve the financial problem as soon as the novel was finished. On one hand, she could have saved lives with it, but she had already heard about the fun of buying Kiehl clothes.
She asked after cutting off the ghost’s neck.
“Where?”
“There—there’s a device in the kid’s room that leads down to the secret space.”
“Really? Guide me.”
Without hesitation, she carefully headed to the secret space the ghost had told her.
When she lit a candle, it was just an area with a lot of desks. They were also full of vials of medicines that appeared to be useless.
“Is this the land document?”
“No, these are love potions…”
Bella snorted. At first glance, they were empty bottles with no effect whatsoever.
“A drop of the blood of the monstrous might be more effective.”
Saying so, she glanced around and saw what looked like a safe on the desk.
“If you save me, I will give you the password.”
“What did you say?”
Bella grabbed the handle of the safe as if to relieve her stress and tore it off lightly. The neckless ghost gulped trying to sustain her life with the password.
There were several envelopes in the safe. She dusted it off and slowly checked the contents. Seeing that the seal was clearly engraved, it didn’t seem like a lie.
“Wi—Will you save me?”
“I never made such a promise.”
“…”
“Zanbar, throw her into the demon realm. Let’s watch the kids play ball.”
While Zanbar felt that Bella was needlessly affectionate, Jenkins felt she was rather vicious.
***
A commotion broke out, and many changes took place in the mansion.
Zanbar was no longer cocky towards Kiehl.
“From now on, I’m going to rip off your nails one by one every time you say dreadful words to Kiel.”
It wasn’t just Bella’s warning.
It was because of Kiehl’s naive question.
“How is Zanbar so strong?”
It’s been a long time since Zanbar heard a ‘praise.’ When he was in the Demon Realm, the generals kept each other in check, and even when they moved to the Human Realm, they were always scolded by Bella.
“Why, little one. You want to be strong, too, to say something like this?”
He was sarcastic in an effort not to make a pleasant impression.
“Yes. I want to be like Zanbar.”
“Ha!”
At first, he thought he was going to get tired, so he gave Kiehl some training. His physical strength couldn’t keep up that much, but Zanbar became more serious because of how hard he was working.
Then, once Bella said, ‘Good thing I brought Zanbar,’ he devoted himself to the training with a gathered passion he never had. Thanks to this, as spring passed and summer came, Kiehl’s face began to turn red.
Jenkins was also quite diligent about Kiehl’s education.
Based on the ‘basic common sense’ that Bella discovered in the novel, she even made her own curriculum.
“Oh my God, Kiehl already learned all this, didn’t he?”
“He’s smarter than I thought.”
“Aren’t you doing it roughly?”
“If you ask a question, he’ll answer everything.”
Bella gazed at Jenkins and held out a thick book from her library. It was a book about the tactics of winning a war.
“Then, with this…”
“Lady.”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you overdoing it? I’m not an all-rounder.”
Bella looked a little differently. In fact, she knows better than anyone that Jenkins has been struggling for the past few months.
“If it weren’t for Mister Zanbar…”
“Zanbar?”
“It’s not just that—I cook, clean, and teach the master, though it’s impossible because I have one body. The mansion is also incredibly spacious.”
She smiled brightly in front of the crying Jenkins.
“Don’t worry about that! I hired a new maid!”
“…What?”
“It seems like Jen is having a hard time, so I put a notification in the Demon Realm!”
Jenkins faltered slightly.
“Why do you call me Jen…”
“Now, read this in advance.”
The new maid was the biggest change.
“Come on, let me introduce you. Her name is Pur. She had worked hard for me in the Animal Kingdom.”
Pur, who came over through the summoning circle created in the human world, ran through the forest day and night without rest until she reached the mansion.
“Actually, I thought I was going to die on my way here, but I made rice cakes.”
Fortunately, she didn’t look like a terrifying bear, like when Pur was in the Demon Realm. Kiehl was curious to see how she looked like a walking teddy bear, so he touched Pur’s fur.
“But, who’s next to you? I was told only Pur was coming?”
Then, Pur pounded her own chest with confidence.
“She’s my friend! I brought her here because she knows the human world best!”
“Hello! I’m the Nightmare Iwer!”
Bella hurriedly covered Kiehl’s eyes as soon as she saw Iwer greeting him with the shabby robe off.
“…Put the robe back on.”
The blue-haired Iwer was wearing underwear that seemed as though she was naked.
“You, go back.”
“Oh, princess. Don’t you need a maid? I’m better than our bear’s paws.”
Iwer walked over to Jenkins opposite her, and with a very quick hand, stabbed Jenkins in the chest with her hand.
“…What are you doing?”
“You stole my heart…”
Jenkins looked a bit surprised, too.
“I’m going to die if I’m not by your side now.”
Bella was so surprised that laughter leaked out.
“Are you giving a threat in front of me now?”
“It’s not a threat. I’m asking you to give me a chance. After all, this heart will come back after five years, right? Before that, if you don’t like me, I’ll go.”
The magic that Iwer performed was the opposite of the devil’s promise. Usually, the devil has a human heart, and the devil follows humans in order not to die.
‘How clever of her to use it like that.’
She plays quite smartly as a demon and puts humans on her palms and rolls them.
“There’s nothing here that you might like, so why do you want to be here? I think I’d rather have you go back now.”
At that, Iwer smiled and buried her face in Jenkins’ chest. She replied enthusiastically, “Oh my, princess. This is what the demons are crazy about.”
Bella thought, hugging Kiehl tighter.
The most helpful person in this space right now was Jenkins, the half-demon tribe.
‘Yes. My purpose is to follow the original book to the end.’
Without Jenkins, she wouldn’t have the confidence to raise Kiehl well with a bear and a leopard in this space.
Bella received the oath of obedience from all of them: ‘Never tell Kiehl that you are a demon.’ Fortunately, Iwer and Pur naturally adapted as if they had been there from the beginning.
In particular, Kiehl seemed to get along well with Pur, who was like a teddy bear. Although she got along well with him, that didn’t mean she was good at her job.
“Pur. What are you doing?”
Pur was rolling around with water on the floor.
“I bought you a mop?”
“Isn’t this the same thing!”
…Who cleans like that?
“Hey! Don’t hug Kiehl with that dirty thing!”
“Hyaang…”
Iwer took over as the dining staff from Jenkins and presented today’s dish proudly.
“Tada! Today’s menu is kebab!”
“Oh my God—Jenkins, watch and learn.”
Bella had no complaints about Jenkins’ food. Because it was at a level good enough to be eaten by humans compared to what she was offered to eat in the Demon World. However, Iwer’s cuisine was just as good as the restaurant itself. She can’t deny that she was rather good at her job.
“Of course, men are more delicious.”
Though sometimes, she would do things that are not suitable for a house with two children…
“Once you have tanned copper-colored skin, your body is really…”
“Hey. Stop it.”
Outwardly, the new maids were the biggest change, but on the inside, the biggest change was in Kiehl. He thoroughly enjoyed a comfort he had never experienced in his life.
The ghosts are gone, so there are no nightmares. He could now learn the things he really wanted to learn.
Best of all, from that day on, Bella would occasionally knock on Kiehl’s room and tell fairy tales. Watching Bella performing while changing her voice, Kiehl’s lips rose involuntarily.
“Ugh. I ate an apple and fell down.”
With a face that looks like she ate an apple that was really poisoned.
“If you give me a piece of bread, I won’t eat you!”
When he was frighteningly mimicking a tiger, she came close and tickled Kiehl as if to eat him and said, “Not giving it to me? Then I’ll have to eat you, huh!”
Kiehl also liked Bella playing around like this.
“So, what happened later?”
“Um… that.”
Bella raised her eyes slightly, hesitant to answer for a moment.
“The tiger who ate too much bread… became hoppang—*”
Even the poor ending seemed interesting to Kiehl.
“Tell me something else!”
“Ah… Then, do you want me to tell you about the princess who saved the frog prince from the curse?”
Kiehl nodded his head quickly. To be honest, he pretended to like it, but he didn’t really like the Princess and Prince series. He always hated that the princess had to go through all the ordeal and the prince appeared at the end and only raised a breath.
Besides, he didn’t like the fact that marrying the prince would make the princess happy.
‘It’s too unrealistic.’
Usually, heirs to the throne are arranged for marriage from an early age. Even if that is not the case, they will carefully select the person who will become the future queen.
…It was impossible for him to be a prince.
“Is Bella’s place different?”
Bella shaped a frog with her fingers and clenched her lips so that she made a ‘puff’ out into the air.
“The princess kissed the frog. Then, came the smoke!”
“…”
“The curse was lifted and the princess lived happily with the frog prince for a long time.”
Kiehl particularly disliked these passages. No matter what, it’s a marriage that was followed by just one kiss.
‘Wait a minute. If so…’
With the sudden thought in mind, his eyes widened and he grabbed Bella’s hem. If the marriage continues with just one kiss—
‘I am a child now.’
When Bella’s eyes met, she responded with a bright smile.
“Why?”
“I have a question.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“What is a ppo-ppo?”
Hearing his question, her pupils shook.
“Uh…?”
“And, how do you do it?”
———
Note:
* Hoppang: steamed round bread filled with red bean paste.