I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 245

Chapter 123.1

“Dimitri!”

I was so surprised to see him suddenly collapse that I rushed to him in a panic.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“The curse….”

He clenched his chest in great agony.

Dimitri’s curse was the kind of thing that made him suffer without any obvious cause. Since I was able to alleviate his pain with my own power, I continued to treat him every few days to ease the pain of the curse because that was one of the conditions of this marriage contract.

‘That’s strange. It’s not yet time for him to be in this much pain.’

Since I had alleviated the pain by suppressing the curse with my power just recently, I thought he would be able to endure it for the next day or so. But suddenly, he was in such torment.

“Dimitri, come to your senses. I’ll quickly…”

However, even while he was suffering, Dimitri seemed to be very concerned about Esca.

“Let’s go to the mansion, Rowaine.”

“If you care about Esca, I’ll send him away.”

“No, please. To the mansion.”

Esca was Dimitri’s person, and so far, there hasn’t been anyone as tight-lipped and trustworthy as him. Because of that, I was surprised that he didn’t want to show him my abilities, even to him.

‘But keeping this power a secret and keeping it in Dimitri’s hands was also part of the contract…’

So, if he didn’t want it, there was nothing I could do about it.

‘Or does Esca not know about Dimitri’s curse? Is he trying to hide it?’

That could be the case. Anyway, since he seemed concerned about Esca, instead of asking him to support Dimitri, I asked him to do something else.

“Esca, could you prepare the carriage for me?”

However, Esca’s attitude was somewhat strange.

“You’ve planned to meet with some new people who want to join today, though is it okay if you leave like this?”

Instead of worrying about Dimitri, he was concerned about my schedule. The look in his eyes as he looked at Dimitri in agony was warm but at the same time indifferent. Esca even glanced at him with a strange expression before he shook his head subtly.

‘…What’s wrong with these people?’

Just a moment ago, he seemed like an older brother who looked after Dimitri endlessly and cared for him, but now he appeared so cold and unconcerned, not worrying about him at all.

As I was speechless for a moment out of curiosity, I heard Dimitri groan from beside me.

“Ugh, Rowaine…”

I became impatient again and spoke to Esca.

“It would be best to postpone my schedule a bit. Please prepare the carriage. Quickly!”

Then, I whispered to Dimitri,

“Hold on a little longer. I’ll treat you in the carriage.”

Dimitri nodded weakly, gasping for breath. He leaned in with his arm around my shoulders, clinging to me tighter, perhaps because of the pain.

It was the first time I had seen him like this, despite having treated him preemptively before he suffered like this. Even though I knew curses could be immensely draining, seeing him in such distress in person left me feeling bewildered.

‘…What if the curse has grown stronger? Or perhaps something has gone terribly wrong?’

Various thoughts raced through my mind.

After somehow getting Dimitri into the carriage, I instructed the coachman to take us to the mansion as quickly as possible. Then, as I went to sit opposite Dimitri, he gasped and looked at me pleadingly.

“Please stay next to me, Rowaine.”

I felt so bad seeing him like this.

“Okay, Dimitri. I’ll be right here beside you.”

When I sat down next to him, he leaned his head wearily against my shoulder as if he were struggling.

I gently patted his knee.

“Now that no one else is here, I’ll take care of it.”

In the beginning, he was uncomfortable holding my hand, so I always held his arm while treating him. But today, he reached out and grasped my hand first.

‘Hand… Is he really okay about it now?’

With that thought in mind, I used my power. I could see a faint yellow light emanating from my hand seeping into him. As I concentrated my mind and infused my power into his body, I suddenly noticed something peculiar.

‘He usually complains of headaches, but why is it his chest this time?’

But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

‘Why does he seem perfectly fine…?’

My power usually depleted rapidly when I had to heal severe wounds or pain. However, at this moment, I didn’t feel exhausted at all.

It was a moment when I began to wonder if something was really wrong.

“People think that humans domesticated cats, but that’s not true — it was actually the other way around. Cats have been training humans since ancient times.”

The narration from a documentary I watched long ago vividly came to mind.