It's Overwhelmingly Convenient That the Female Lead Has Darkened - Chapter 54

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

A corrupted heroine is overwhelmingly convenient.
#54
“Hehe.”
Daisy grinned, running her fingers over the heavy weight in her pocket.
Her entire body ached, but yesterday alone she’d earned a full six gold coins.
Just two more days like that, and she’d have enough to rent a carriage with money left over.
The only trouble was that it was Gale Vendermain’s money.
She’d wanted to refuse, vowing she wouldn’t take a damn paladin’s coin — but an hour for one gold was too much to turn down……
“Still, it’s not like I got it for free.”
Daisy nodded contentedly, remembering the mountain of weeds she’d pulled up yesterday.
So now what she needed was,
“A map… Ah, here it is.”
To rent a carriage, she’d need to get to the town near the Academy.
Since she knew nothing of the geography here, she had to study a book and familiarize herself with it beforehand.
Daisy spotted the map book lodged on the highest shelf of the library’s bookcase and reached for it.
She couldn’t reach it.
She tried rising up on her toes.
Hopeless.
Her pride stung a little.
‘Daisy, you couldn’t even grow taller — what’ve you been doing with yourself……’
Well, being abused by family and bullied by classmates kept her busy enough.
“What a dog’s life.”
Conveniently ignoring the fact that she and Gwon Do-yo were literally the same height, Daisy glanced around.
Not a soul in sight — not even an ant.
For a new semester, the Academy Library was eerily quiet.
“The end times, truly.”
Muttering something rather curmudgeonly, Daisy gauged the distance to the book.
It seemed within reach if she tried hard enough.
She clenched her small fist firmly and drew a deep breath.
Then she stretched her fist toward the book, snapping her index finger open.
“Go forth, Black Sparrow……!”
“Would you… like me to get that book for you……?”
Thump.
Damn, what a fright!
Her heart felt like it was about to leap straight out of her chest.
Actually, it was leaping out of her chest.
Daisy grabbed the black smoke that came shooting out of her heart and stuffed it back in.
‘Get back in there, Black Sparrow……!’
She could feel the Black Sparrow’s disappointment keenly, but there was nothing to be done.
Daisy’s gaze snapped toward the figure who had suddenly appeared behind her, speaking in a hushed voice.
Wait — was that actually a person?
Even if she was dull, she couldn’t have missed the sound of someone approaching in such a quiet library.
Daisy’s eyes narrowed with suspicion as she looked him over from head to toe.
“Well……”
Beautiful.
That was the somewhat abbreviated conclusion Daisy arrived at.
Genuinely, strikingly beautiful.
Pale golden hair falling to the shoulders.
A clear forehead.
Eyelashes hanging long like curtains.
Turquoise eyes glittering like jewels beneath those languid eyes.
Delicately arched eye corners.
Rosy cheeks.
Even in a romance novel world where appearances were universally enhanced, this was exceptional — standout beauty.
Beautiful enough to mistake for a woman at first glance.
The process of realizing that was a mistake turned out to be quite simple.
He said this while meeting Daisy’s eyes:
“I am…… male……”
“Ah, yes……”
Didn’t people usually just say “man”?
With that thought, Daisy began to look the man over again.
He wore a jacket of the sort a library clerk might don.
His trousers were an ordinary brown, and his shoes…….
“…….”
“…….”
Following Daisy’s gaze, the man lowered his head and looked down at his own feet.
“Oh, my…….”
Speaking in a tone that sounded nothing like contrition, the man murmured slowly—and he had no feet.
His legs, growing steadily more transparent, simply vanished somewhere around the middle of his calves.
In other words, the man was hovering half in the air.
That must have been why she’d felt no presence when he approached.
Daisy stared intently at the place where his feet ought to have been, then opened her mouth.
“……A ghost?”
She’d thought it a rather reasonable deduction, but the man’s face twisted at the word.
“That’s not it…….”
His speech remained slow, yet his voice grew somewhat sharp, as if offended by the misunderstanding.
“But,”
“I simply couldn’t be bothered…… so I left them incomplete…….”
His legs?
“Since I started with the head…… I got far too sleepy later on…….”
“I see.”
Daisy nodded as if she understood perfectly.
“If you start with the head, it’s quite possible you might not manage the legs.”
“Thank you…… for understanding…….”
Well, then. She’d understood quite enough.
This was a mad ghost.
Having reached her conclusion simply, Daisy turned her body back around.
“Could you take that down for me, then?”
She made the request as if fortune had smiled upon her, but then a doubt struck Daisy.
Could ghosts even touch things?
“Of course…….”
The mad ghost lowered the book she’d indicated, speaking as he did.
Ah, so in this world’s logic, ghosts could touch objects.
Daisy accepted this just as readily.
Daisy did not know.
Had the people of this world heard such a thing, they would have asked what sort of madness that was.
A modern person who believes in fantasy is truly a dangerous thing.
“The Imperial Geography……are you taking a geography lesson……?”
“Yes, well.”
“If you go west from the Academy…… there’s a very high mountain range, isn’t there……?”
“Oh, is there?”
“If you go south along the mountain range…… you’ll come to a small city-state…….”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Since it has a harbor…… you can travel to any country…….”
“Oh, well…… is that so?!”
Daisy, who had been responding like a celebrity at a meet-and-greet with glazed eyes, suddenly brightened.
A harbor, no less.
Perfect for escaping after graduation—fleeing from the Count.
“Then…… do you happen to know how much passage would cost to the farthest country from here?”
At Daisy’s urgent question, the mad ghost rested his chin in his hand as if thinking it over.
“Hmm…… I think it was about ten gold coins.”
“Wow!”
Daisy’s face brightened in an instant.
That much she could easily manage through part-time work at the Academy.
“Thank you!”
Having come to look at maps and stumbled upon such unexpectedly useful information, Daisy tapped the mad ghost lightly on the shoulder (ghosts could be touched in this world, after all).
Then she took the book he’d handed her and swept out of the library as if on wings.
And so she never heard what the man said slowly behind her.
“Six hundred years ago…….”
* * *
Thunk, scrape, thunk, scrape.
Daisy turned over another stretch of earth with steady, practiced efficiency.
Spring had arrived, but the sunless soil of the Back Garden remained stubbornly hard.
Not that it mattered to Daisy one bit.
The thought of six gold coins dropping into her pocket today was pure joy.
Money was everything, after all.
With the mercenary calculations of a born penny-pincher, she straightened her back and let out an involuntary groan.
“Huuuh…….”
At that sound, the boy crouching some distance away jerked his head up instantly.
Finding childish worry etched across a face far too solemn for his years, Daisy nearly burst out laughing.
“Honestly.”
She couldn’t believe Gale Vendermain was actually this timid.
The same man who’d seemed cold as stone not long ago.
It was basically a character derailment, though not an unpleasant one.
Hands down, this idiot who paid her a gold coin per hour to flip over the weed-choked Back Garden and fretted every time she groaned was a thousand times better than the holy knight who’d locked her away until her execution date.
“Ugh, I’m working so hard—I really wish someone would throw in a bonus.”
“Bonus… what’s a bonus?”
Gale asked with perfect seriousness.
“Think of it as extra money added to your wage as thanks for your effort.”
“Why add it? Why not just give it directly?”
So that was what he was confused about…….
Hearing the word “give,” Daisy’s mood improved considerably, and she returned to digging.
After a moment, curiosity got the better of her and she asked.
“But seriously—I need money, that’s why I’m here. So why are you cleaning this place up? If you wanted to pray, you could just go to the Academy Attached Temple.”
“…….”
At those words, Gale’s face darkened in an instant.
Daisy felt a wave of disappointment in herself.
She’d just upset her employer—the one offering the bonus, no less. So much for being a functional member of society, Gwon Do-yo.
“Hey, you don’t have to answer. I was just curious.”
“The temple…….”
In that moment, from Gale’s still-crouched form came a quiet murmur.
“……I don’t want to go.”
“What?”
Daisy’s ears had to be deceiving her.
Did Gale Vendermain just say he didn’t want to go to the temple?
That made no sense whatsoever.
Though Daisy and Gale weren’t deeply entangled in the original story, his devout faith was explained in detail throughout.
“…….”
But the boy who’d just dropped that bombshell made no clarification, offered no further explanation.
He simply kept his mouth shut and pulled weeds.
Daisy stared at him for a moment, bewilderment written across her features, then turned back to her work and resumed digging.
Thunk, scrape, thunk, scrape.
‘Not my problem, I suppose.’
An employee’s virtue lay in minding their own business and working diligently at the task assigned.
Yet curiosity still gnawed at her.
So when exactly had Gale Vendermain become a fanatic?
* * *
The day before Spring Break began.
“Hey! Mine came!”
A loud voice echoed down the corridor, and Daisy, who’d been packing, snapped her head up.
The day had finally arrived.
The day that any Korean who’d survived the entrance exam gauntlet would inevitably react to.
“Grade reports!”
The day the Grade Reports were handed out.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————