A moment later.
Having barely managed to calm myself down, I tried my absolute best to avoid meeting my sister’s eyes.
‘Ugh, I’m such an idiot!’
No matter how intensely that vision of her burning alive had triggered me, how could I completely lose my grip and cling to her like that? It was practically shouting for her to suspect something was wrong!
Sure enough, my sister rested her chin on her hand and kept staring right at me.
“I never knew our May was so afraid of fire,” she murmured quietly to herself, looking deeply skeptical. “That’s strange. I’m quite certain you didn’t mind it at all before.”
Naturally, it seemed odd to her. Before my regression, I hadn’t had any fear of fire whatsoever. But since I couldn’t possibly explain that, I pretended not to hear her and kept my gaze fixed firmly on my water bowl.
“Anyway, this is a bit of a disaster. I’ve used up all the remaining flour…” My sister sighed softly. “At this rate, I won’t even be able to make anything nice for my May.”
Her red eyes drifted toward the kitchen, where wisps of dark smoke were still lingering in the air.
‘Huh?’
At that exact moment, a buried memory suddenly resurfaced. It happened right around this point in time. Back then, I had been living on nothing but my sister’s special herbal kibble day after day—the exact same bitter concoction I had choked down earlier. After weeks of eating only that, my mouth constantly tasted so bitter it felt like I was exhaling medicine.
“I don’t want to eat this anymore! I’m sick of it!”
I had pounded my front paws against the bowl, pouting and turning my head away in a huff. My sister had looked completely distressed.
“But you still need to eat, hmm?”
She spent a long time trying to soothe my petulant self, but I had been impossibly bratty back then.
“I have to eat kibble every single day! Sister, do you think I’m a rabbit?!”
“May.”
“I want jerky! I want sausages, chicken drumsticks, and—!”
I threw a massive, ungrateful tantrum. My sister simply listened in silence for a long time before quietly leaving the house without another word.
“Wow, what is all this?!”
That very evening, my eyes had gone wide as saucers when I saw the dining table piled high with all the sausages and chicken drumsticks I had demanded. As I bounced around in excitement, my sister had watched me with a tender, warm smile.
“Eat up, my May.”
For a split second, I thought her smile looked a bit lonely, but I brushed it aside instantly. Blinded by the luxury of a real feast after so long, I completely lost my mind.
Was that why? My immature past self had completely ignored the heavy words she had muttered under her breath that day:
“If I was going to part with them anyway, I should have just sold them sooner.”
…Why on earth was I only realizing the true meaning of those words now?
I froze solid. After that night, our standard of living had gradually improved—delicious food regularly graced our table, and once I gained human form, I always had lovely clothes to wear.
What price had my sister paid to provide all of that? Among her personal belongings, the only things worth a substantial amount of money were…
‘Her magic-related possessions.’
Her rare research tools and priceless, irreplaceable ancient grimoires—treasures left behind by our parents. One by one, those precious keepsakes had started quietly vanishing.
‘No way.’
I sprang up from the floor and bolted straight toward her laboratory, leaving a startled Sabina calling out behind me.
“May, what’s wrong all of a sudden?!”
Ignoring her, I frantically searched the room. And then—
‘Phew.’
I pressed a paw to my chest in immense relief. The ancient texts she treasured and the polished research instruments were all still sitting safely in their proper places.
“Why on earth are you acting like this?” my sister asked, hurrying in with a bewildered expression.
A heavy knot formed in my stomach as I stared up at her.
‘I’ve practically been a parasite, leeching off my sister this whole time.’
The realization hit me like a physical blow, crushing my heart with guilt.
“Myaaa…”
I’m so sorry, Sister. Because I was such a fool… I knew nothing.
Overwhelmed with remorse, I pressed my head gently against her leg. Not understanding the sudden shift in my mood, she simply offered a soft smile and stroked my back.
“How strange. Why is May being such a baby today?”
As I leaned into her touch with a heavy heart, my instincts suddenly flared.
‘Wait. Something doesn’t add up.’
Adrian had explicitly promised to provide full financial support and provisions in exchange for our move to the capital. We were supposed to live comfortably without any shortages.
Yet, judging by my sister’s previous financial struggles and the sale of our parents’ keepsakes, it was obvious we hadn’t been receiving that promised support at all.
‘Adrian isn’t the kind of man to break his word like that.’
Could something else be going on behind the scenes? Why weren’t the supplies reaching us?
Right as I sank deeper into my thoughts—
Ding-dong, ding-ding-dong—
A sharp bell chimed through the air. It was the boundary magic my sister had set around the estate, alerting us to an unannounced visitor. The only people cleared to bypass the alarm were myself, my sister, and Adrian.
“…Who could that be?”
The gentle expression vanished from my sister’s face in an instant, replaced by a cold, razor-sharp gaze as she turned toward the entrance.
The source of the disturbance turned out to be a supply wagon sent from the Ducal House of Valencia. Showing up unannounced without even a courtesy notice—what kind of dreadful manners were those?
“May, can you wait here for just a moment?”
With a reassuring smile, my sister left me indoors and walked out to meet them. I watched her closely through the window. The moment she crossed the gates, her expression hardened into a mask of pure ice.
‘This definitely needs investigating.’
I leaped lightly onto the windowsill, pushed it open a crack with my paw, and slipped outside. Keeping my body low to the ground, I stealthily trailed behind her under the cover of the bushes.
‘There they are.’
With my eyes narrowed, I peered out from the grass at the supply carriage.
‘So a wagon actually was sent, meaning the Valencia household is technically fulfilling their end of the bargain, but…’
Then why on earth had my sister been forced to sell our family heirlooms to survive?
That question was answered almost immediately as my sister began inspecting the cargo, her face rigid with frost.
“The provisions are severely lacking again today,” she said, her voice sharp. “The food is one thing, but the specific herbs and reagents I requested last shipment are entirely missing.”
My eyes widened in shock.
‘How could they possibly omit the herbs and reagents?’
The entire reason my sister had agreed to come to the capital was to research a solution for the alarming surge in monster populations—a critical task Adrian had personally begged her to undertake. He had promised to look after every single convenience she needed for her work. So why were her supplies being sabotaged?
Before I could process it further, a harsh voice cut through the air from the carriage driver:
“Good grief, for someone living entirely off the charity of the Ducal House, you certainly have a lot of complaints.”