312 – You Know Me, Right? -2-

Olivia’s icy gaze was fixed on Mikhail.

Erasing the serene look he had felt on the ground, Olivia regarded Mikhail with a chilling stare and opened her lips with a heavy voice.

“A distinguished guest has arrived.”

“…”

“I don’t know what to do with someone so hard to see coming to this humble place…”

Mikhail swallowed hard. The expression on Olivia’s face was the coldest he had ever seen.

“Isn’t that right?”

With a look that seemed ready to tear him apart, Olivia maintained her gaze on Mikhail, who remained silent, and asked again with a small smile.

“I feel like I know you, but you seem to not know me.”

“You’ve mistaken the person.”

“Hehe…”

Olivia looked around and spoke.

“Speak comfortably. No one will come in.”

“…”

“Ricardo has gone to cook, and it’s just you and me in this room.”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something…”

Olivia interrupted Mikhail, muttering to herself.

“I have so many questions I want to ask, but where should I start?”

Olivia stabbed a fork into the apple placed on the small table and took a crisp bite.

“Then I guess I need to hear your introduction first.”

“…”

“I’ll ask you again.”

Olivia nodded her head slightly, the fork in her hand moving with a playful gesture, her eyes crinkling into a smile. Was it just her mood, or was there something sinister lurking behind that small smile? Mikhail swallowed hard, keeping his mouth shut in response to Olivia’s question.

He still couldn’t be sure.

He had no intention of revealing anything based on a mere assumption. If Olivia’s questions were based on mere suspicion, he needed to be even more cautious in his answers. He wanted to avoid a situation where ‘the thief’s foot is caught.’

But.

Olivia easily surpassed Mikhail’s expectations. As if she knew everything.

“You know me, right?”

It felt suffocating.

The intensity of Olivia’s cold gaze made it hard to breathe.

Olivia smiled, trying to reassure Mikhail. Why was he so scared?

“You don’t have to hide it.”

“…What?”

“Even if you don’t know, I do.”

“…”

“How long have I been following you… Do you really think I wouldn’t notice?”

Mikhail was certain.

He had been caught.

He could sense it in the way Olivia’s eyes questioned him with conviction. The woman before him seemed to see right through his identity.

An unfathomable mix of anger and disgust.

Olivia’s expression, filled with complex emotions, seemed to convey a threat: ‘If you think you can run away, go ahead, but know that you won’t be able to escape the consequences.’

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”

“…”

“Why? Did you think I wouldn’t catch on? There are so few silver-haired people in this world… And you can’t deceive my eyes.”

Olivia’s purple dress glimmered with a sinister light.

“Well… I’ll ask again.”

“…”

“What’s your name?”

Mikhail opened his trembling lips and spoke to Olivia.

“Mi…sa.”

“Mi-sa?”

– He nodded.

“Ha…”

Olivia shivered slightly, covering her mouth with her hand. Then she murmured, “How interesting,” as she slowly scanned Mikhail’s body.

With her fingertips tapping the fork, Olivia closed her eyes gently and said,

“Alright, let’s go with that for today.”

“…”

“If you want to use that name, then you can. Right?”

“Thank you.”

“Huh? Why are you thanking me?”

Olivia leaned forward, looking directly into Mikhail’s eyes as she spoke.

“Not yet.”

“Huh?”

“I said not yet. It just means I’m playing along with your role for now. It doesn’t mean I won’t ask you anything.”

“…”

“I have a mountain of questions I want to ask, so what’s there to be thankful for?”

At Olivia’s cold voice, Mikhail flinched, his shoulders trembling. It felt like he might be sucked into that gaze. Anger. It wasn’t a light emotion. There was a fear that felt like peering into an abyss.

Olivia spoke to Mikhail, who had introduced himself as Misa.

“Was it fun?”

“…”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Should I push you to the very end?”

“…”

“Go ahead. But if you keep running away, you might find it boring too, right?”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“There are many ways to hear it. It would be troublesome if it came from Ricardo, but I can find a way to get it out somehow.”

Olivia looked at Mikhail, who was staring at her with trembling eyes, and asked once more.

Like the villainess from a novel.

“Is it fun to toy with people’s hearts?”

“…No.”

As the answer she had hoped for came out, Olivia smiled faintly.

“Right.”

“…”

“I see. So it wasn’t intentional.”

– Nodding.

Olivia nodded slightly at Mikhail’s silent agreement and said while looking at him.

“So it was like that from the beginning?”

“…”

“Not that your gender changed by magic, but that you were a girl from the start.”

Mikhail nodded heavily.

Mikhail thought.

If he spoke strongly, claiming that Olivia had done something wrong, he could gain the upper hand in this relationship, but he knew he shouldn’t do that.

“Seriously… that’s messed up.”

Because he felt like if he said the wrong thing to Olivia now, he would be sucked into an abyss.

With a small voice, Olivia spat out a harsh word and brushed her hair back as she asked.

“So, what about Ricardo…?”

“Ricardo…?”

“Did he know you were a girl?”

“No. He probably found out recently.”

“That’s a relief.”

Olivia nodded heavily and then closed her eyes.

“Honestly, I’m completely lost right now.”

“…”

“That guy I liked showed up as a girl… and thinking about what I did makes my head feel like it’s going to explode…”

“I’m sorry…”

“Shut up. You have no idea how embarrassed I am right now. Don’t say anything.”

After a long silence, Olivia finally found some calm and let out a deep sigh.

“You know, at first, I was going to apologize when you showed up again. Because I did something wrong.”

“…”

“But as time passed, I realized how much of a terrible person I was. I started to understand why Ricardo tried to stop me; with time, my mind cleared up.”

“…”

“Still, I was angry. I wanted to ask why you ignored me like that. Didn’t you think you could have treated me differently?”

“…”

“Honestly, I just couldn’t understand you. I thought it was absurd that you rejected me.”

“…”

“Admit it. I have a bit of a weird personality. But still, to be rejected… it really made me stubborn. Ugh, but… damn.”

*Crunch* Olivia put another piece of apple in her mouth and sighed again.

“Now I get it.”

“I understand why you did that.”

“You must have been really baffled. How awful would it be if some crazy girl was obsessing over you? Right?”

Olivia’s hand slowly reached toward Mikhail’s neck as he lay there.

“Ugh…”

As she tried to grab his neck but ended up clutching his collar instead, Olivia looked at Mikhail with trembling hands and said,

“Was it fun?”

“…”

“Was it so much fun that it drove you crazy?”

“…Let go.”

“Why?”

Olivia’s trembling eyes were fixed on Mikhail’s, glaring as if she could kill him with her gaze.

“If you had told me earlier, none of this would have happened.”

“…”

“If it weren’t for you, Ricardo wouldn’t have had to go through that.”

As the name ‘Ricardo’ echoed in the air, Mikhail’s eyes trembled violently. He hadn’t realized that someone else was involved in what he thought was just a problem between him and her.

“Ricardo, what are you talking about?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Shut up. I don’t want to tell some masked girl. Just shut up and listen to me.”

“…Tell me.”

“Hey…”

Olivia flashed a bitter smile.

“I’m holding back a lot right now.”

“…”

“I feel like tearing you apart.”

“…”

“Backstory? What’s that even? I don’t care about stuff like that.”

“Tell me.”

“Shut up. Honestly, if it weren’t for Ricardo, I would have killed someone like you by now.”

“…”

With anger simmering, Olivia spoke.

“I’m holding it in.”

“…”

“Because Ricardo doesn’t like it.”

“…”

“If it were the old me, I wouldn’t even say this, so just nod along for now.”

Mikhail squeezed his eyes shut at Olivia’s words. He was completely caught up in it.

Olivia gritted her teeth as she watched Mikhail silently nod. She knew that any further conversation would only lead to more hurtful words coming from her.

She needed to stay calm.

Her anger was boiling, but she had done something, so to settle the debt they owed each other more clearly, she still needed to begin.

So.

Holding back her rising anger, Olivia said,

“If you’re going to apologize, do it properly and come find me.”

“…”

“Come to me as the person I used to know… and talk to me straight with that proud name of yours.”

“Don’t. That name is now gone….”

“Who says so?”

Olivia, gripping Mikhail’s collar tightly, looked straight into his eyes.

“Who says you can just throw that name away?”

“…”

“I won’t accept you running away.”

Just as Mikhail’s cold lips were about to utter a denial.

– Knock. Knock. Knock.

– Miss. It’s the most handsome butler in the world. May I come in?

With the sound of knocking, Ricardo’s voice echoed.

Olivia roughly released her grip on Mikhail’s collar and spoke into the air.

“You can turn it off now.”

– Nodding.

Unbeknownst to Ricardo, Hans, who had been hired, lifted the silence spell at Olivia’s command.

Feeling the magic dissipate, Olivia turned to Mikhail and said,

“Come back properly.”

“…”

“When you do, I’ll apologize properly too.”

Whispering softly into Mikhail’s ear, Olivia squeezed her eyes shut and spoke calmly toward the door.

“Come in.”

– Creak!

“Um…”

As Ricardo entered the room, he held a tray filled with snacks and wore an awkward expression.

“Did you fight?”

“No.”

“Then why does it feel so tense? If you’re going to fight, you should let me join in. I’m hurt.”

“If Ricardo gets involved, you’ll die.”

“…That’s scary. Then I’ll strategically retreat.”

Ricardo was afraid of Olivia.

Mikhail thought.

She had to apologize for her mistakes.

That was the only way.

“Haah…”

She thought she could take her first steps.