I Became the Villainess in an Anticlimactic Novel - CH 2

‘First of all, I want to convert all these jewels into money.’

I left the Duchy with a few jewels that had belonged to Meliara.

It was unfortunate, but even if the world was doomed to end tomorrow, I was still hungry, and urgently needed some money to buy food.

‘Where would be a good place? If it’s a store on high street, then they might recognise my face.’

There was no point for me to stir up rumors for no reason, so I stepped into an alleyway in order to avoid people’s eyes, thinking that it’d be better for me to go to a jeweler that wasn’t located on the main street.

It was then.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

I heard a dog barking behind me.

I turned my head, since I, who even liked the occasional stray mutt that passed by, would like anything as long as it was an animal. Then, my eyes widened into saucers.

“Hic!”

The animal that had barked at me was indeed a dog.

It was just that it had three heads.

‘C-Cerberus?’

The first thing that came to my mind was the dog that guarded the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology. The color of his coat was black, and his eyes were also an eery blood-red.

‘Did this novel have a setting where this sort of thing existed?’

I tried to recall the original novel.

‘In hindsight, it did seem as if the main couple hunted a ‘monster’ that appeared in the capital, which created several cool scene… Then, is this that monster…?’

As I stiffened up since I didn’t know what to do, the ‘animal’ hurriedly approached me.

‘Although I knew how to fight off flashers, I didn’t know how to deal with monsters!’

Do I run away? No, wouldn’t it catch up to me?

Pretend to be dead? No, then I’d definitely get eaten up either way!

I should climb a tree… but where is the tree that’s supposed to be here?!

While my head was full of all these sorts of thoughts, the ‘animal’ had suddenly already arrived right in front of me.

Although it seemed as if a scream would come out of my mouth at any moment, I kept my lips shut for fear that a loud noise would provoke it.

But it was then.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

The three heads of the animal barked one after another, rubbing their faces against my abdomen. it was even wagging its tail softly!

The way it stuck out its tongues and made a panting sound was a bit cute, so I carefully petted the middle of the three heads.

Then the child let out a bark, as if pleased, and raised its front paws toward me.

“Uwah!”

My body tumbled backwards at the sudden weight. Then, the three heads rubbed against my face and the nape of my neck while licking my cheeks.

“Ah! Wait, wait! Ahahaha! My face will be a mess if you all do it at once!”

“Woof!”

Despite my protests, the child only barked cutely, acting cute.

‘It’s got three heads, but it’s still a puppy nevertheless, right?’

There was no mention of such an animal in the original novel, but the author couldn’t possibly explain every single dog that passed by!

After coming to the conclusion that this was one of the common animals in this setting, I showered my adoration on the child to my heart’s content.

It even lay flat on his back, perhaps because it just liked my touch that much.

“You want me to rub your belly? Haha, alright!”

I was scratching the child’s stomach with both hands at its cuteness, when I heard a man’s voice from not too far away.

“Kelber.”

At that resolute voice, the tail of the child who was being touched by my hand, which had been raised in the air, froze.

When I looked up, I saw a man who was walking toward us from the end of the alleyway

“You suddenly left the ranks. What are you doing?”

At that deep voice, the puppy jumped up and hid behind me with a whimper.

I instinctively hugged the child tightly at its pitiful whimpers.

The man who had stopped right in front of me looked down at the two of us without saying a word.

His golden eyes intertwined with mine.

At that moment, I suddenly felt my breath catch and stopped breathing, in a way that was completely different to when I did when I first encountered the three-headed puppy.

‘Are you sure you’re human…?’

His appearance was exquisite enough to naturally raise such suspicions.

His perfect features that created a deep impression, as well as that flawless copper-colored skin, devoid of even a single blemish.

Silver hair which was as elegant as the moon that shone ethereally in the deep night sky, and eyes that were sharp, yet were as bright as jewels.

He was so dazzling that there were no words that could possibly describe his appearance.

“Are you the owner of this child?”

I, who had a weakness for handsome men, almost blurted out, ‘Do you have a lover?’.

“I am.”

He frowned as he answered and alternated his gaze from me to the child called ‘Kelber’.

“That’s unusual. There’s never been a case where Kelber has been so friendly with a human he doesn’t know.”

“Ahaha. I’m normally the type of person to be loved by animals.”

It had been like that ever since I was a child. Animals had always like me, regardless of whether it had been the haggard stray cat, the dense pigeons, or the agile red squirrel.

Nevertheless, this wasn’t the first time I had heard a dog owner say, ‘He’s not normally like this,’ embarrassed by the way their dogs who had been on a walk had run up to me for a hug.

I smiled and stroked Kelber’s neck.

“What a cute child. Each of its three heads has a different personality, so it’ll never get boring. Hahaha.”

Each head’s disposition was slightly different. One who likes rubs, one who likes to lick, and one who just constantly shook its head.

“Three heads…?”

The man muttered in a strange voice despite the fact that I had complimented all three of them.

“Oh, was it perhaps a bit strange for me to say ‘three heads’ just because they have three heads?”

The furrow in his brow, which had already been there at my words, got even deeper,

I was wondering what was with him, and whether I had perhaps used a rude expression by accident, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“?”

Although he wasn’t rough, he pulled me firmly toward him and grabbed my chin with the other hand.

“!”

I took in a short breath in the distance between us that had suddenly narrowed.

His clear and refreshing scent tickled my nose. Even the light fragrance, which wasn’t too heavy, was according to my taste, so my heart started to beat faster.

I twisted my wrist, trying to get out, flustered at the fact that my racing pulse seemed to have been delivered right to his fingertips.

But rather, he clenched my wrist in an even tighter grip and scrutinised my face.

Although it would’ve been a rather normal reaction for me to push him away and ask him what he was doing, the look in his eyes while he was looking at me was so desperate that I couldn’t bring myself to push him away so heartlessly.

OMG I WANT BOTH OF THEM HGALKSDJFD IM GOING FERAL

“Are you perhaps…”

It was when he seemed to be trying to say something, but his luck seemed to have run out.

“Your Excellency!”

Another man’s voice sounded from behind him.

At the appearance of another man, the handsome man finally released me and hurriedly backed away.

“Have you found Kelber yet… Oh, so he was here.”

The man who appeared behind him was a middle-aged man with gray hair.

‘Judging by his clothes… is he this handsome man’s butler?’

He seemed to be a nobleman since his light clothes seemed to look very luxurious.

I got up from where I was, shook off the dust from my clothes and nodded in greeting. The butler smiled and greeted me in the same way.

“You found Kelber. Thank you.”

“No, I just came across him while passing by.”

“I’d still like to repay you somehow, so is there anything you’d like?”

“It’s alright. I haven’t done anything that great.”

He hesitated at my euphemistic refusal, then took out two gold coins and stuffed them in my hand.

“Even if that’s the case, I still can’t possibly not repay you for the favor, so please, at least accept this.”

“It’s alri…”

I was about to refuse, but then stopped and thought about it again.

‘No, even though this child approached me and acted cute, from their point of view, I must have been taking good care of the child, right?’

In addition, just from looking at the clothes that both he, and even the butler was wearing, it was clear that this person was someone with a lot of money. If we were talking about two gold coins, then it’s definitely nothing worth mentioning for that man.

In any case, the higher my budget was, the better it would be for my exile before the collapse of the empire.

Alright! It’s impolite to refuse money that’s given to you out of gratitude anyway!

“Then I’ll take it. Thank you.”

I changed my words and smiled. I quickly put the gold coins in my pocket in case he changed his mind.

Upon receiving my thanks, the two of them quickly disappeared from my sight.

Before leaving the alleyway, the handsome man stopped once more to look back at me.

‘The longer I look at him, the more his looks seem to fit my taste.’

That’s all I could think of when I saw the man staring at me with a mysterious expression for a long time.

Although I smiled and waved at him, he walked off at the sound of his butler calling after him without even a single acknowledgement back.

‘What a shame.’

Although he had already disappeared from my sight, his faint scent on my wrist lingered with me for a long time.

***

pls do not share this anywhere or the transmigration gods will transport u into boku no pico !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:

“You there.”

After he left her, Lecht, who was immersed in his own thoughts, stopped walking and called out to a man who was just passing by.

“Pardon…? M-Me…?

The commoner approached Lecht, whose cold aura emanated uncontrollably, extremely tense.

“How many heads does this dog have?”

The man’s hands trembled at the bizarre question of the man who seemed as if he would cut off his head at any moment.

He was afraid that he’d be dragged away and made to do hard labor if his answer wasn’t to their satisfaction.

“O-One.”

“Are you sure there’s only one?”

At the question that was repeated, as if what he had answered was an incorrect answer, the man started to sweat and checked the dog that he was pointing to again.

The large black dog revealed its ferocious teeth, very clearly showing its hostility. Its red eyes made him erupt in goosebumps.

“I-Isn’t there only one head…?”

“Hmm.”

He had only answered according to what he had seen, but the man let out a nasally hum, as if he didn’t like that answer.

“Sorry…!”

In any case, it was always the fault of the commoner if they happened to offend the nobility, so the man bowed his head in obeisance. As he waited for the incoming mocking that was about to come, a slightly different, gentler voice sounded out.

“Your Excellency, what else are you doing again?”

“…”

“You may go.”

At the words of the person who seemed to be the butler, the commoner said a, ‘thank you!’ and ran away hastily.

Tanma, the butler and aide, looked back at his master with a serious expression on his face and asked.

“Why did you do that?”

“They saw three.”

“Pardon?”

“That woman could see that Kelber had three heads.”

It was only then that Tanma finally realised why Lecht had such a strange expression on his face earlier.

“To be able to see through your illusion spell…”

Kelber, who Lecht had summoned, originally had three heads.

However, it was normal for an ordinary human to see a dog with a single head instead, since there was an illusion spell.

But that woman had seen Kelber’s true form instead.

“Could she be a demon? Or a contractor?”

It was natural for Tanma to bear such doubts, as anyone who had made a contract with a demon, or who was a demon, would be able to see through the illusion spell.

At this question, Lecht recalled how it had felt to hold her wrist and the peculiar sense of unfamiliarity he had felt through her eyes.

“No. I didn’t feel that sort of feeling at all.”

If that had been the case, then Lecht would have noticed. No matter how well they hid or controlled their energy, no demon would be able to hide from the Demon King, Lecht.

“They were able to see Kelber’s true form, even though they were a human?”

“That’s why I’m being so serious about this.”

Silence flowed between the two of them.

Tanma looked at Lecht and asked carefully.

“Then would it be… that person…?”

Lecht’s fingertips twitched at the question that seemed to have read his thoughts.

As Tanma said, the question of ‘is it her?’ dominated Lecht’s mind.

However, there were a few reasons why that doubt hadn’t turned into a certainty.

“Her appearance definitely seems to be different than what Your Majesty said.”

One of them was her appearance.

The woman he remembered was someone with pitch-black hair and eyes which were as pretty as obsidian. It was extremely different to the appearance he had just seen.

In his memory, she was shorter than the woman he had just saw, and was on the petite side.

‘However…’

“However, she may not be able to have both the same appearance and soul at the same time either.”

Tanma clearly summarised Lecht’s thoughts.

“Should we investigate this?”

“As soon as possible.”

Lecht answered Tanma’s question as if he had just been waiting for it.

“I understand.”

Although he had more work to do, Tanma didn’t complain.

A human woman who could see the true form of Kelber through the illusion spell.

Perhaps she was the one the lord had been waiting for this whole time.