I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 203

Chapter 102.1

As Sasha looked up at the woman in the illusion with wide, frightened eyes, Rowaine was gazing down at her with an unprecedented coldness.

She felt so distant that Sasha shuddered with anxiety.

“Rowaine…”

Rowaine, staring down at her with a contemptuous gaze, suddenly turned away.

“Rowaine! Look at me… You said you wouldn’t abandon me…”

Even though she rushed towards her, Rowaine stepped away quickly.

“I’ll become stronger, and I’m going to protect Rowaine. I’ll also protect Coco. I won’t fight with Coco, and I’ll call him ‘brother’ from now on, okay?”

Sasha, choking back tears, tried her best to somehow hold onto Rowaine. Still, no matter how close she got to her, her presence seemed to be getting further and further away.

“No, Rowaine! Rowaine!”

She started to chase Rowaine frantically. Despite the fact that she ran and ran, the distance between the two of them only grew.

A demon whispered in a soft and warm voice.

“Oh my, should I persuade her? I can change her mind. Do you want me to?”

Sasha pondered those words.

What was the use of becoming stronger if she was abandoned by Rowaine? Even at this very moment, Rowaine was growing more distant.

Then, without realizing it, the location had changed all of a sudden, and she was at the edge of a high cliff while Rowaine was looking up at her from below.

The demon whispered sweetly.

“There she is. Jump down from here and embrace her. Go on, quickly.”

It was a steep and high cliff.

As Sasha hesitated, the demon kept whispering as if urging her to jump.

“All you need to do is take one step, and you can catch her. Aren’t you brave enough? If you don’t jump now, she will disappear forever.”

The next moment, the perspective of the high cliff that had seemed towering in her view disappeared. Rowaine didn’t feel far away, but rather, she just seemed to have felt smaller.

High rise syndrome

Cats sometimes mistake high places for not being high and jump down due to a momentary illusion*. Sasha, having lost her sense of height, extended her foot downwards to catch the smaller Rowaine.
[ T/N: High rise syndrome refers to the common set of injuries that cats may sustain when they fall from high places! ]

But at that moment…

“Don’t die. Don’t fall for the demon’s illusion and commit suicide, and don’t let yourself be killed. Just make sure of one thing. Your desires must remain unshakable.”

Dimitri’s voice woke her up.

Sasha flinched and stepped away a little from the edge of the cliff.

“Desires…”

As her unfocused eyes regained their focus, she lunged fiercely at the demon by her side, sinking her teeth into its neck.

“Rowaine won’t abandon me! So, I don’t need to think about not wanting to be abandoned by Rowaine! I’m going to become stronger!”

She decided to become stronger, and she had made a contract with the demon with only that desire alone. She wasn’t making a deal with the demon for Rowaine.

…So, everything the demon was saying now was nothing but lies.

As Sasha realized this and regained her composure, all the illusions disappeared at once.

Simultaneously, a pain that felt like it was burning in the center of her chest surged before an emblem-like pattern had etched itself into her skin. On her chest, who had overcome all three trials of the demon, the sigil of Abaddon in the shape of a lion was engraved. The pattern shone brightly in red before it gradually seeped into her body.

No, it didn’t disappear… She could feel that it had penetrated into her heart.

She could feel it even without seeing it.

The next moment, Sasha woke up feeling her heart pounding strongly in her chest. As she blinked her eyes, she could see Rowaine, Dimitri, and Coco in front of her.

“I have defeated the demon!”

Sasha, who hadn’t been aware of lying down for a long time, leaped out of bed as if she had just woken up from a good night’s sleep and then hopped up and down on the bed with a cheer.

“Sasha!”

For some reason, Rowaine, whose face was stained with tears, hugged her tightly.

“I thought you wouldn’t wake up…”

“Why wouldn’t I wake up?”

Sasha, not understanding her words, tilted her head for a moment and endured the embrace for about three seconds. After that, she wriggled her way out from between Rowaine’s arms.

“I don’t like being hugged! I’m all grown up now!”

Just because she didn’t want to be abandoned by Rowaine didn’t mean she could resist the hug. In the first place, cats don’t naturally like hugs. While Sasha originally liked being hugged more than most cats, that was when she was younger. So now that she had even made a pact with a powerful demon, she felt much bigger.

‘I’m going to become a cool cat captain!’

Then, while making a fist and locking eyes with Dimitri, who was gazing at her intently, she quickly revised her thoughts.

‘I’m going to become a cool cat commander…!’

Oblivious to the pace of others, Sasha exclaimed excitedly.