Pitiful Young Master in a Reversed World

Chapter 16

"Louis."

I felt someone tapping my shoulder and opened my eyes.

Ah damn, who is it.

I was finally drifting into a pleasant sleep.

Who the hell dared to disturb this sweet nap.

My blurry eyes rolled around and stopped on a red-haired woman.

"......Beya?"

My now-clear eyes focused on Beya.

"I have something to say."

"...Something to say."

At Beya's words, I let out a small sigh.

What on earth is she trying to say?

Did she perhaps find something in my room?

There was so much stuff in my room that I couldn't even guess what she might have found.

Maybe she found the hidden porn novel?

That would be kind of embarrassing.

Just imagining Beya seeing something I'd be ashamed to get caught with by family made me feel humiliated already.

I braced myself and put on a solemn expression.

I was prepared to hear any kind of shocking news.

Even if everyone in the mansion had died and I was the only survivor, I was perfectly ready to accept it without resistance.

Beya, looking at my face, pointed to the floor with her finger.

"First, take a look at that."

I lifted myself up from the bed to see what Beya was pointing at.

Since I couldn't see the floor while lying down.

And once I sat up, I saw it.

A blonde woman whose mouth was covered in red liquid, anxiously glancing between me and Beya.

*

Seriously, what the hell is this situation.

After sitting still for a moment to grasp things, I approached the blonde woman lying on the floor.

"Who are you?"

"Banoo! Eugurolubab!"

Because of the liquid around her mouth, her words were all muffled.

-Snap!

When Beya flicked her fingers, the liquid instantly vanished.

"Alright. I'll ask again, who are you?"

At my rather harsh tone, the woman hurriedly opened her mouth.

"I, I'm......"

When I squatted down and met her eyes, her face crumpled with sorrow and tears welled up.

"Th-that, I'm called Oatmeal......"

"Hold on."

I pinched the corner of my eye and cut her off.

"Y-Yes?"

The woman looked at me with teary eyes.

"Oatmeal? Your name is Oatmeal?"

"Yes......."

'Isn't oatmeal something you eat?'

Well, a person could be named Oatmeal.

It's like naming a dog Choco or Peanut.

She looked just like a toy or one of Father's test subjects, so I could see why she'd be named that.

I had seen Father calling test subjects weird names before, too.

Maybe noticing my crumpled expression, the woman lowered her gaze.

I looked over at Beya.

At my gaze, Beya quickly answered.

"She came here to threaten me, so I subdued her. She said Hamila Cartio sent her."

"I see. Thanks for telling me."

I smiled and thanked Beya.

Turning back to the blonde woman, I placed my hand on the back of her head.

So this woman is Hamila's toy?

So she's gone as far as laying hands on women of the same gender......

From my past life's perspective, it was like placing a hand on the back of a man who had rolled around in bed with my brother.

In other words, a really disgusting situation.

Thankfully, in this world where gender roles are reversed, it wasn't quite as revolting as in my past life.

"Did Hamila name you?"

"Huh? W-what......"

Why is she so slow on the uptake?

I looked at the crying woman with a disappointed expression.

"Your name, I mean. Your name is Oatmeal?"

"M-my name? Y-yes......"

"Then what was your original name?"

"Original name.....o-original name......? N-name, name......?"

The woman's face turned pale as she trembled and muttered.

She looked as if she were suffering from hypothermia.

Even though the temperature in this room wasn't that low.

'Ah damn. Here we go again.'

What the hell has Hamila done that all her toys end up like this.

I let out a small sigh and touched the woman's shoulder.

"It's okay, just stay still and don't say anything."

I gently stroked her shoulder like that.

Maybe Hamila put some kind of suggestion on her, since she couldn't seem to regain her senses.

Hamila's suggestions were pretty obvious.

Probably something to prevent her from recalling her past.

When she cast the suggestion, I bet she made a big fuss with black magic, struggling to pull it off.

Using the black magic Father had taught her, of course.

It's not like I've only seen her a day or two.

There must have been hundreds who died at her hands in the name of black magic practice.

Come to think of it, she really had no talent for black magic.

No wonder a simple suggestion messed someone up this badly.

"S-sorry, I'm sorry... My head suddenly hurts......"

The now somewhat recovered woman clutched her head and spoke.

"Never mind that, just explain why you came here."

"Ah, th-that......"

"Yes."

Lady Hamila told me to just deliver a message and come back......

"Yeah yeah."

"Th-that's it."

I suppressed a sigh that was about to escape.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but she seemed dumber after her strange episode.

"Who exactly were you supposed to deliver a message to?"

"To, um, someone named Beya, who's the new toy of Lord Louis......"

"Yeah yeah, so what was the message you were supposed to deliver?"

It seemed that the black magic Hamila had cast was some kind that stimulated the brain, as her speech was slurred.

It looked like her cognitive abilities had slightly declined.

"It's laughable how arrogant you've become just because Louis showed a little interest in you.

Do you think Louis will keep tossing you feed forever? In the end, you're destined to be thrown away.

If you want to talk, come down to the basement at 2 a.m. tonight."

I stared at the woman who had suddenly blurted out those words with surprised eyes.

"Th-that's all......."

"Yes yes, then you may leave now."

I released my hand from her shoulder and helped her stand up.

"Yes......."

The woman staggered out of the room.

"Why did that woman suddenly become so weird just now?"

As soon as the woman left, Beya asked.

"It must be Hamila's doing."

"......Black magic, huh."

Though Beya's voice sounded serious as she said that, there was a hint of intrigue in it.

Come to think of it, didn't Beya say she was chasing after Black Robe?

"We can't be completely certain of that. Making someone's mind strange, causing memory loss, or lowering cognition is easier than eating for them.

You can easily create that state with other magic as well. Of course, black magic is the quickest and easiest way to produce it,

and since it has many functions, I also think it's highly likely to be black magic."

"How do you know so much about that?"

"It's just what I heard from my father."

I'm just a pitiful young master who knows nothing.

After throwing her a look like that once, I fell into thought.

I mulled over the words Hamila supposedly told her to deliver.

'It's laughable how arrogant you've become just because I showed a little interest in Beya......?'

I felt a strong doubt.

How would Hamila know if Beya had become arrogant?

Beya had only arrived at the mansion recently,

and during that time, Hamila shouldn't have had any chance to meet her.

I turned my head and looked at Beya.

"...?"

Beya's cheeks reddened as our eyes met.

"What's wrong?"

"Miss Beya, have you by any chance met Hamila before?"

"No."

Beya answered quickly.

"Really?"

"I swear on the full moon."

"Alright. I believe you, Miss Beya."

Then that means Hamila was spying on Beya and me.

Thinking that gave me sudden chills.

Come to think of it, Hamila had suddenly appeared in the library earlier today.

Even though there was no one else on the fourth floor except Beya and me.

What did Hamila say back then?

'I came to meet someone named Beya, whom my mother said she had gifted.'

Right, that's definitely what she said.

How did she know whether Beya was in her room or in the library and come straight to the library?

And it's not like she knocked on Beya's door first and then came, so how do I explain her coming straight to the library?

Logically, the odds of Beya being in her room were higher than in the library, weren't they?

Well, maybe that part can be overlooked.

Since Beya belongs to me, if she wanted to meet Beya after notifying me, that would make sense.

But the problem was what she said afterwards.

The way she spoke, as if she already knew Beya was in the library......

Suddenly, an intense sense of incongruity washed over me.

Like I was newly realizing something I hadn't known before.

Like I'd only just discovered something that had always been there.

My instincts were warning me.

There was something I was missing.

I stood up.

"Louis?"

Ignoring Beya, who called out to me, I searched every corner of the room.

I levitated the bed with magic and checked thoroughly underneath,

lifted up the desk, and pulled out all the books from the bookshelf.

"Louis? Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

Beya's flustered voice reached me as I suddenly went into overdrive.

"Just a moment."

I moved my body and mana with the intention of removing every piece of furniture from the room.

After several hours of that.

"This crazy......."

I finally found it.

The hidden camera installed in my room.