Chapter 87

Chapter 87 – No Luck Jenkins

Who was ignoring whom?

“It’s very important, no one should read what’s inside so I left it to Zanbar.”

“That’s right! I can’t read!”

And when Zanbar proudly said it, Jenkins let out a sigh.

“That safe, doesn’t it have a password? He wouldn’t be able to open it anyway, so I will accompany him.”

“What if I solve the password?”

“You won’t solve it.”

“No, no.”

If nothing else, Bella was adamant and thorough when it came to the novel.

“Some passwords aren’t like 0000 or 1111.”

“Ah, of course not. It’s not, but—”

1111 or 1110.

Come to think of it, it was similar.

“It’s the Young Master’s birthday, isn’t it like this?”

“Who makes the safe password so easy to guess?”

‘This… the one in front of you.’

“Anyway, Zanbar will go and picks it up. If you radio, I’ll summon you right away. Do you remember how to radio?”

“….”

“Look, that’s why I’m sending him.”

Even though Jenkins had a regretful look, only Iwer and Pur felt it.

“Right, now I will give you one task to do. Iwer will be the handmaid from now on.”

Iwer replied with a careless expression wearing only her underwear, perhaps to what she was doing right before being summoned.

“The handmaid isn’t fun.”

“Who does it for fun?”

Soon, Iwer came closer to Bella and whispered softly into her ear.

“I’m confident if I serve at night.”

Without speaking much, Bella cut off Iwer’s tongue for the first time in a long time.

“And Jen…”

“Pur! Pur will be the maid…!”

Meanwhile, Pur cried and hurriedly clung to her legs. Bella found the right place for Pur, who was the most troublesome, after thinking about it with Kiehl.

“Pur is my pet bear from now on, understand?”

“What is the pet bear doing?”

“Yes. You just need to receive a lot of my love.”

Pur’s face brightened.

“Wow!”

“From now on, Pur has become my favorite bear in the Animal Kingdom, got it?”

“Yes!”

At the enthusiastic reply, Bella slightly lowered her body and stroked Pur’s head as she opened her mouth again.

“So, you can’t just act like you did when you were on Cruelle because Pur is Bella’s face.”

“I am the Princess’ face…!”

“I would be very sad if Pur was so rude and ruined my reputation.”

“I understand!”

Looking at that, Jenkins thought that Bella was like Kiehl.

‘I’m sure that’s what the Young Master said…’

As he expected, Bella did exactly what Kiehl had said though she pinched Purr’s cheek as she did.

“So, keep your mouth shut. All right?”

Jenkins nodded his head.

‘This is the Miss’ words…’

Although he had been watching silently, Bella suddenly put her hand on his shoulder. Startled, Jenkins thought that she had discovered what he was thinking.

“Jenkins continues to work like my assistant.”

He already knew she would tell him to serve as her assistant from the beginning.

Jenkins was a little uncomfortable. Could Zanbar really make it to the mansion without getting lost? He thought hard about it. If Zanbar didn’t know how to read, then, of course, he didn’t know the milestones either.

“I just follow Sir Zanbar…”

“Didn’t I say no?”

Feeling sad, Jenkins spat out the words unconsciously.

“…I don’t know what the Miss is doing here and what I’m supposed to assist you with.”

Hearing that, the usually ignorant demons sneakily looked at Jenkins, then noticed Bella.

‘He spoke too much…’

‘Jenkins. You don’t have to say that.’

‘Jen is more stupid than me!’

However, Bella clapped her hands at Jenkins’ sarcasm.

“Right. You say it so badly that I want to kill you.”

“…Is that a compliment?”

* * *

Serena Deutch knew what had happened the night before, because she was the mastermind.

Some of the ladies were stealthily looking for Bella, looking forward to seeing how despondent she would be. However, when they saw Bella, she was drinking tea with a very laid-back look. And that, too, with a red-haired pretty young bachelor beside her.

“Looks like she is out of her mind.”

Bella asked Jenkins, pointing her eyes at the gossiping herd.

“What about them?”

“They’re a bunch, too. The brown-haired woman in the middle is called Serena Deutch. She was from a family that was just given a title.”

“Uhmm. Did Kiehl organize all of that?”

“…Yes.”

“But, she can figure out her place.”

“Isn’t that the same for the Miss?”

At those words, Bella looked at Jenkins with disdain.

“I know enough.”

While he didn’t know anything else, Bella had organized all the major families while organizing the novel. So, if she didn’t know the Deutsh family, that meant they were unheard of in the first place.

“They seem to be hanging around me all the time.”

“Did you notice that?”

If it hadn’t been for Kiehl’s words, she would have cut Jenkins’ throat right away.

“What do you think? Do they look down on me the same way you do?”

“When did I disapprove of you?”

He was even doing so now.

“Are you complaining because I sent Zanbar alone?”

Jenkins was momentarily speechless as Bella glared at him and stabbed him to the core.

“Wha-what…. I’m just, the Miss—”

“What am I?”

“…I’m afraid Miss will be ignored somewhere.”

Bella smiled, pointing her finger at Jenkins.

“You… Remember that. Don’t stay still while someone is swearing at me.”

Bella was clearly smiling though her eyes were so fierce.

At the same time, Serena, who was glancing at Bella in silence, snorted at her. Clearly, that redhead was someone she hadn’t seen in days. However, he suddenly appeared and claimed to be her attendant.

“Where does that person come from?”

She threw out just one word, and the young ladies’ imaginations got the stimulation.

“She was not here yesterday… so today…”

Everyone didn’t say anything, but they thought to themselves, ‘Something must have happened last night.’ Soon, their thoughts began to circulate as new rumors among the ladies. If they happened to see Bella passing by, they would start whispering about her affair with the redhead.

They even misunderstood a little bit like that.

“They look incredibly friendly, don’t they?”

“I’ve never listened closely to their conversation, but they talk almost non-stop.”

The two wouldn’t know that the ladies were constantly being sarcastic the whole time.

* * *

Unfounded rumors wandered among them.

Now, some of the ladies were starting to get angry.

“Of course, we don’t dare dream of becoming the crown princess. Even so, we don’t come to this competition to seduce men, right?”

“I know. This is an insult to the Imperial Family. She said she came from another world, so she doesn’t even have this concept.”

One would say, ‘His Highness came up to the Imperial Palace with her.’ However, few of them had seen Bella sparring with Shuria. They knew that she had come up with the Crown Prince’s carriage procession.

‘I think it’s too much of a leap in the story.’

Even though they thought so, they had no choice but to keep their mouth shut as false public opinion had already taken over.

Most of the ladies who entered the Imperial Palace first before the contest did not have much power. Each of them had been pushed by their parents dissuade, so they didn’t want to be out of sight. Even if the rumors were false, it was unclear how much power Bella would have.

On the contrary, if the rumors were true, they might get their throat blown off for useless defense.

“I need to go and say something.”

A little ignorant but brave young lady who wanted to attract others’ envious stares tried to move on to real action. It seemed that she wanted to become a hero by revealing Bella’s immorality.

Serena didn’t like to see that, so she stepped out herself…

“We might be misunderstanding her, so why don’t we talk about it?”

…While she pretended to be a plausible advocate on the outside.

A few ladies who had gathered slowly approached Bella, who was reading a book while drinking tea. And the ‘talk almost non-stop’ ladies were doing was very far from their misunderstanding.

“Miss, they seem to be bullying you for some reason.”

“Who? Me…?”

“You always go alone.”

Bella rather shrugged her shoulders.

“Everyone is looking at me. This might be the envy Shuria said.”

“It could be resentment.”

“Why are you so crooked these days?”

Jenkins was honestly a little mad at Bella.

There were also small complaints piled up one by one. Just the relationship between Jenkins and Zanbar, for example. So, Bella needed to find out for herself as she always turned her attention off between strange situations, as if she didn’t notice.

“I was just a little angry that the Miss seemed so ignorant of other people’s feelings.”

As he answered subtly, Jenkins vented his small accumulated complaints.

“Why can’t I open the safe? If I am so unreliable, what kind of assistant am I going to be?”

“There’s no reason why you should go with Zanbar.”

“Because the Miss seems to need the safe. I was just trying to make sure!”

Hearing his words, Bella gazed at him sternly. Still, even then, he didn’t really sound like that.

“If Sir Zanbar gets lost, you will receive the safe late.”

“Even if it’s late, the contents inside must never go out into the world.”

“All I hear is that you don’t believe me.”

Bella crossed her arms and glared at him slowly.

“Do you know why I put you next to me?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Because you are a half-demon, I think that you know the demons and humans best, so I keep you by my side.”

At that, Jenkins softened his sarcastic attitude a little. He had felt it before, but it was always strange that Bella didn’t reject him, who was half a demon, even though she was the Demon King. He never thought he would be moved until he expressed his regret.

And while Jenkins was full of emotion…

In order for Serena to become a hero, she brought several ladies with her.

Bella and Jenkins were a little surprised by their light greeting. It was because they had just been watching from far away. After talking about the weather and continuing the normal conversation, Bella wondered if it was because they wanted to look good for her.

“Anyway, the relationship between the two of you is really nice.”

Did this look good? That tone sounded sarcastic in Bella’s ear.

“There have been some bad rumors going around these days, so you should be careful.”

“A bad rumor…?”

“Yes. Rumors are circulating that Lady, who is about to compete for the Crown Princess, is having romances in the Imperial Palace.”

Bella asked back, not knowing what misunderstanding her words might lead to.

“What is wrong with that?”