The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 279 - Springtime for the Beastkin Maid (3)

“What’s wrong? Young Master, why are you looking at Eir like that?”

She tilted her head, wolf ears twitching, her expression a perfect mask of innocence.

Will put down his glasses. He slowly turned, his hand trembling slightly as it gripped the handle of the teacup. The teacup itself was rather old, the pretty daisy pattern on it faded and blurred. He wasn’t even sure why he was doing this; perhaps it was an unconscious attempt to act ‘normal’ in front of Eir, to prevent her from seeing the suspicion that had flickered in his eyes when he heard her voice.

`Something’s weird.` Will was certain he wasn’t as ‘oblivious’ as he used to be—not to mention the witch’s blood had heightened his sensitivity to magical auras. After waking from the dreamscape, the strange power in his left eye also made him acutely aware of changes in his surroundings. Moreover... after being imprisoned by two yandere girls... his body was more sensitive now, more terrified of such situations.

But... he widened his eyes, looking at Eir.

“Is... is Eir appearing beside Young Master... such a surprising thing?”

Eir maintained her head tilt, but a smile spread across her face.

`He really hadn’t sensed Eir enter the room!` That unnerving smile, combined with the strange mist his left eye perceived clinging to her, made Will instinctively avoid Eir’s gaze.

`Calm down, calm down.` When he’d questioned Eir earlier, she hadn’t lied, nor had she done anything to harm him. So... so it must have just been that he hadn’t noticed her. `Right.` Eir had been his maid for so many years. Maybe... maybe his own ‘senses’ already considered her one of his own, part of his pack.

“No, it’s... it’s nothing. I... I was just...” Will fumbled for words, trying to come up with an excuse. He ran a hand through the hair on the left side of his head, using his palm to discreetly cover his left eye, preventing Eir from seeing it.

But... Eir moved closer. Her strength was considerable; she grabbed Will’s left wrist directly. Her beastkin body, though soft, pressed against him, pushing him back against the desk.

Will leaned back onto the desk. He looked up, his eyes meeting Eir’s grey irises. And those grey eyes... stared directly into his left eye, completely unobstructed.

`Crap.` His awkward attempt to cover his eye might have made Eir suspicious.

“Young Master’s left eye... what’s wrong with it?”

“Is it injured?”

“Does it hurt?”

“Was it Treya’s doing?”

...

Eir didn’t give Will a chance to answer, firing off a barrage of questions. Her breathing was rapid, each gasp following a question, and at this close proximity, Will could feel the warm puffs of her breath on his face.

“Does it need...”

Will felt an unnatural chill radiating from her. It was like the aura she emitted when he first taught her how to use the Rimefrost Phalanx. An icy frost seemed to creep from her fingertips, up his wrist where she held him, making Will feel as if his very blood vessels were about to freeze solid.

Her left hand’s fingers traced his cheek. Cold as a block of ice, yet with a touch as smooth as jade, her fingertips moved from his chin, to the corner of his mouth, then lightly brushed his nostril, finally resting just below his lower eyelid. Like a snake, slowly slithering its belly across half his face.

Will held his breath, so tense it felt like if he exhaled, the air itself would freeze.

“Eir can help Young Master...” Her voice was devoid of emotion, even taking on a raspy, cold edge. “...dig it out?” Her perfectly manicured middle fingernail moved slightly forward. Hearing Eir’s words, Will instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.

`THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP—`

Will felt not only his heart pounding wildly, but his wrists and thighs also began to tremble reflexively. He felt his upper eyelashes brush against Eir’s fingertip. In that instant, even his eyeball felt intensely cold.

“I-It’s... a bit cold,” he managed to say, because it was genuinely chilly. But... he knew very well. He was scared. His body was instinctively terrified by Eir’s words, which sounded like she was about to act on them in the very next second.

“S-Sorry...!” Eir flinched back as if she were the one threatened, recoiling several meters like a startled animal, standing to the side.

“Young Master, Eir... Eir seems to have gone too far...”

“Eir won’t do it again.”

“I’m sorry, Young Master.”

“Please don’t hate Eir, Young Master.”

She apologized profusely, tightly clutching her own left hand, as if unaware of why she was even doing so. But her eyes... they weren’t ‘confused’. They held a clear, unwavering ‘obsession’. Yet, her body trembled uncontrollably.

The Eir from before... Was she like this? Absolutely—absolutely not! How... how could Eir possibly say something like “Do you need me to help you dig out your eye?” to him?! Will was certain now: the Eir before him was definitely tainted with ‘yandere’ impurities. `Come to think of it... if she defeated that Treya, single-handedly rescued him, and escaped unscathed...` `How... how could she possibly be completely ‘pure white’?`

And... `More accurately...` `Under his influence, his teachings, and given that he had already successfully cultivated two ‘yanderes’ who even he couldn’t best...` `How could Eir, the maid who had been with him the longest, raised by him since she was small, be completely untouched?`

`So, the ‘color’ his eye perceived... did it indicate the ‘yandere level’ of the person before him?`

“Eir, it’s okay. Calm down,” he said, taking a deep breath, clutching his own heart. After the previous two experiences, Will was genuinely afraid of such girls now. When facing Treya, he’d been so sure he could control her; now, he had his doubts.

But... Will looked at the neatly dressed Eir before him—brown hair, grey eyes, her tail looking fluffy and feeling just as soft. From when she was just a scrawny, skin-and-bones beastgirl who looked like she wouldn’t survive the winter... No, even from when he first read the original story and recognized this hardworking yet clumsy, kind yet timid little maid... he already knew her well. A maid who fought to save him from such a powerful Empress. A maid who would care for him personally, even bringing him back to his former home. A maid who would only obey his commands, fulfilling his every request. Even if... even if she had now become ‘unfamiliar’ and ‘uncontrollable’, she was still Eir.

He crouched down, placing his hands on Eir’s trembling shoulders. He tried to soothe his own racing heart.

`—It’s okay, Will. Even though ‘fate’ has completely deviated from the original story.`

`—But, she is the Eir who has always been with you.`

`—Not three years, not four years, but at least twelve years, Eir has always been by your side.`

`—You have to believe that you are the one who understands her best.`

`—The living, breathing her, right in front of you.`

“You... why would you say those things? Tell me, okay?”