“But I like it here.”
Reniel said that, sensing that things might be different from the original story.
Perhaps Thanasis would escape like this, and the mansion wouldn’t be engulfed in flames.
If so, there couldn’t be a better workplace than this.
In both her previous life and this one, she had never seen a better workplace than here.
If she left here, she’d probably end up working on a farm or ranch. Being far from the capital, the work would undoubtedly be much harder.
She couldn’t work in other noble houses without a letter of recommendation either.
‘Hehe. I’m only telling you this, Reniel.’
‘What is it, Head Butler?’
‘The retired head butlers of the Le Pelique duchy have each received a mansion.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. And they received mansions in the capital. I plan to rent it out and live comfortably in my retirement.’
Reniel was recalling a conversation with the head butler who had retired due to old age before Mariben.
He was someone who had cherished Reniel like a grandchild when she first arrived.
Reniel hoped that if Thanasis didn’t blow up the mansion and she worked here until old age, she might expect a mansion to use as a retirement pension.
This place paid well, gave bonuses, and compensated thoroughly for overtime. There were also benefits to see doctors whenever sick.
And on top of that, a mansion in the capital when you get old.
Just renting it out would be enough to secure retirement.
For Reniel, there was no more perfect workplace. As such, if the danger was removed, there was no reason to give up this job.
Moreover, wasn’t she highly trusted now?
Above all, Felix treated her subtly better. Letting her eat better food, promoting her faster.
Reniel quickly organized her thoughts and continued speaking.
“No matter what Your Highness says, I want to stay.”
“Why? Do you like living as a slave?”
“I’m a commoner. I’m not in a grand position like royalty, nor do I have grand goals. I just want to earn decently and have a comfortable retirement.”
Then Thanasis looked at her as if dumbfounded and said,
“Is that all?”
“Of course. I don’t want anything special.”
Reniel unconsciously stepped back when Thanasis seemed to get angry and snorted. He then grabbed her arm and said,
“Is there no other reason? Do you perhaps have feelings for Felix Le Pelique?”
At that moment, Reniel suspected that Thanasis might have already started to develop feelings for Felix.
In the original story, they ended up loving each other after exchanging hatred.
Considering Ianathas’s torture, there must have been hatred, but she wondered if it had developed into love, even if very slightly, at some point for some unknown reason.
But for now, she was afraid that if she said she wouldn’t escape without a grand reason, he might try to kill her.
“Is it obvious?”
She evaded with a broad smile.
“Are you crazy? What’s good about such a monster? Are you in your right mind?”
Reniel didn’t know how to respond as Thanasis’s face twisted with bewilderment and then changed to dismay.
“Our master is better than you think. To me, at least.”
Reniel quickly added. Of course, to Thanasis, he was a bad guy.
“You’re not in your right mind.”
Thanasis thought he should take her by force if necessary.
She might be satisfied with her current life, but that was because she didn’t know she was a lost princess.
If she knew she was the only daughter in a family with five sons, the daughter that the Duke of Nirnberg was desperately searching for, she wouldn’t want this life.
She would want to return to her position as a princess, to a glorious and beloved place.
Moreover, the Duke of Nirnberg had been desperately searching for his daughter for over a decade.
It meant he missed her so desperately that his feelings hadn’t faded even after 10 years.
Thanasis finished his calculations and tried to use his ability.
“…Damn it.”
Although his mana had clearly been purified, it seemed his ability was still unstable.
No flames came out of his hands.
And at that moment.
Thwack!
“…Ugh! Reniel…!”
Reniel quickly struck Thanasis’s head with a silver tray she had brought. She tried to knock him out like she had done before with a flowerpot.
However, with her delicate wrists, she was much weaker than when she was a man.
“Oh, huh?”
Far from fainting, Thanasis just frowned as if annoyed.
At that moment.
“That’s enough.”
Ianathas approached and pointed his sword at Thanasis’s neck.
“You know what this is, don’t you?”
Thanasis glared at Ianathas and gripped the sword pointed at his neck. Blood was dripping from Thanasis’s palm due to the blade.
“Strange. I thought we had put on an ability control device, but how did you break free?”
Ianathas said that and looked at Reniel.
Reniel, flustered at being discovered as a woman, quickly put on her ring. Ianathas looked at her as if she were pathetic and said in a low voice.
“Reniel.”
“Yes? Yes!”
“Bring the restraints from upstairs again.”
Reniel slowly headed outside at those words. The door closed instantly.
Then a loud noise was heard.
Bang! Crash! Thud!
Startled and sitting down, Reniel unconsciously covered her ears and curled up.
There was no such part in the original story she had read.
She had only seen Thanasis gradually starting to sympathize with Felix and falling for him.
She had never heard of such a brawl.
Reniel curled up, unable to control her trembling body.
****
Reniel came to her senses when the door to the secret room opened again.
“Where are the restraints?”
Ianathas swept back his disheveled bangs, pretending to be calm with his messed-up face.
“Ah…”
“My, you must have been surprised.”
Ianathas said that and then picked up Reniel, thinking he should deal with her now.
“Ah…!”
“Stay still. I’m not in a good mood right now.”
“Yes! Of course…!”
Reniel felt like her heart would burst out of fear, but she obediently answered and nodded at his words.
Ianathas smiled unknowingly, and with her on his shoulder, he went up and said to the knights standing nearby.
“Put the restraints on the big one downstairs.”
“Yes.”
After giving that order, he took Reniel and silently headed to the fifth floor.
****
Reniel’s heart was pounding as Ianathas silently took her towards the night duty room.
She wondered if he might just finish her off like this.
Her chest was pounding with fear. She felt like a prisoner being moved to the execution ground.
She was just now realizing that this fearful workplace wasn’t the flower garden she had thought it was.
And she felt wronged. If she had been born a man and served as a manservant, it would have been much better.
She was barely holding back the fear and sorrow that was about to rise. She mustn’t sob. That would annoy him more.
She held her breath as tears threatened to fall from fear.
With those merciless steps, they headed to the night duty room on the fifth floor. Soon, with a creaking sound, the door opened and Ianathas put her down on the bed.
“Explain.”
Seeing Ianathas’s messed-up appearance, Reniel thought he wouldn’t leave her alone no matter what she said.
“I, I just… really like my current position… I didn’t intend to deceive with bad intentions… So…”
She felt so pathetic for sobbing with every word.
But her heart was pounding so hard because Ianathas was acting as if she should leave her last words.
“I mean, it’s not like I chose to be born a woman…”
“Pardon?”
“I, I wanted to work as a manservant. I like it here so much… I just wanted to keep working…!”
Ianathas sighed, contemplating how to handle this situation, and looked at her.
Thanasis and Reniel seemed to have no connection.
Separately, she did seem to be the lost princess that the Duke of Nirnberg was desperately searching for.
Her hair color, eye color, and that exquisite beauty when she was a woman clearly resembled the beauty of the Duchess of Nirnberg.
Moreover.
Whenever he was near her, even his faint magical power would strangely find stability.
He had thought it was because of the stabilizers he was faithfully taking.
“Am I… going to die?”
Seeing the tears welling up in Reniel’s eyes, he felt sorry for her. She was quite cute even when he thought she was a man.
Now knowing she was a woman, he felt something different. Her bright way of working, and how she still managed to say what needed to be said.
“Take off the ring.”
At his words, Reniel, not realizing her cheeks were wet with tears, took off the ring. Instantly, because of her lengthened hair and curved body.
Ianathas unconsciously swallowed.
“Does the master know about this?”
He asked, seeming confused.
Reniel answered honestly.
“He knows when he’s asleep.”
“I know that’s a lie.”
Ianathas looked at Reniel coldly again.
“It’s, it’s true…”
For his lord to sleep properly, he had to kill the Nirnberg princess.
Only then would her purification ability be absorbed into the body of the person who killed her. Absorbing magic stones brings a curse.
And the only way to break that curse was to kill a stabilizer with the ability to stabilize magic and absorb that ability.
Only then would the side effects of the curse from the magic stone disappear.
So Ianathas thought there was no way his lord would have left her alone if he had seen her like this.
Especially in the dawn when he becomes violent.
“If I prove it’s true, will you let me live?”
“…Yes.”
On the other hand, Reniel found Ianathas’s affirmative response very hopeful.
After all, no one was easier for her to handle than Felix under sleeping pills.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
