I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 139

Chapter 70.1

In the original story, the chapter involving the slave traders marked the first encounter between the novel’s heroine and Dimitri, the head of Blois. The female protagonist, the princess who had lived largely unnoticed, discovered Count Bilbao’s fraudulent scheme and requested Cadis as a reward from the Emperor.

This incident sparked a romance in which the heroine, upon accidentally meeting Cadis, freed him from his painful training and earned his trust.

The Emperor not only punished Count Bilbao for his actions but also demanded significant damages from Blois, which was responsible for overseeing the Count’s slave trade and allowing it to continue.

It was a devastating blow to Dimitri, who had just inherited the dukedom and hadn’t yet had time to address such ‘trivial’ matters. As he recognized the existence of a female protagonist and the male slave, Cadis, Dimitri was naturally positioned as the villain, standing in opposition to the protagonists.

‘I’ve really changed the flow of the original story…’

Nonetheless, I wasn’t in a position to worry about the flow of the original story now. Because I, who should’ve become the mistress of the Emperor and abused the male protagonist, twisted the flow and came to Blois.

‘The heroine will try to save Cadis no matter what, so she will find another way.’

Since she was smart, she would be able to uncover another corruption.

Even though I felt sorry for her for stealing the hard-earned information and using it to help Dimitri, what could I do?

‘I have to take care of my own people first, regardless of means and methods.’

Once I entered the novel and started my new life, the heroine I didn’t even know was just a stranger.

‘I have two cats, no, four cats, Dimitri and Blue, that I want to protect.’

Dimitri seemed to be quite curious to know how I had learned of the Count of Bilbao’s corruption.

“When did you investigate something like that, and so quickly?”

I blurted it out, hoping to throw a bait to divert his attention in a different direction.

“Well… coincidence and luck and all that. Still, let’s start with the evidence because we’re not going to catch the Count of Bilbao with just this alone.”

“Is there any way to do that?”

I smiled confidently.

“There’s a ledger. It’s a secret ledger, where slave traders record the expenses spent on manipulating the pedigree..”

Dimitri let out a blank scoff in disbelief.

“How do you know that?”

“It’s not that important. I know that the original is being kept by Count Bilbao in an unknown place, but there’s one copy that even the Count doesn’t know about… That’s what I’m aiming for.”

“A copy that even the Count didn’t know about…”

He gave me a look that asked, “How the hell do you know that?” but didn’t probe further, probably sensing that I didn’t want to tell him the source of information.

Instead, he switched courses and asked me a question.

“Do you even know where that copy is?”

He seemed to think that it was better to cover up the source and let more information come out than to make me keep my mouth shut while trying to figure it out. It was a smart choice.

“The accountant, who had secretly made a copy of it, must have taken it with him when he left the slave trader.”

“Why did he make a copy?”

In the original, the heroine met the accountant while investigating the people who had left the slave trader.

The accountant revealed that he had a copy, and when the heroine asked him why he made it, he confessed that he was tormented by a guilty conscience after seeing the atrocities committed by the slave traders.

As he thought that the day might come when he needed a secret ledger, he secretly copied it and wrote everything down.

Recalling the contents, I shrugged my shoulders and said calmly.

“I don’t know. Maybe he was feeling remorse and thought about blowing the whistle*.”
[ T/N: It’s an idiom which means ‘If you blow the whistle on someone, you report them to the authorities about illegal or immoral things that they may have done.’ ]

Dimitri smirked as if he didn’t find that very credible.

“You’re naive, Madam. I’ll bet you fifty million pennies that the accountant was thinking of blackmailing Count Bilbao with that.”

“….!”

He just told me he owed me fifty million pennies… I wanted to write this down. My mouth itched and I felt like going crazy, but I managed to hold it in and smiled sadly.

“In the future, don’t ever joke around with such a large amount of money on the line.”

Fifty million pennies. In Korean money, that was twenty-five million won…

I felt like the twenty-five million won that I could have gotten for free flew away with wings. Meanwhile, unaware of my feelings, Dimitri was laughing, enjoying the situation. He already seemed to relish the thought of beating Count Bilbao.

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