The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 22
“…”
“…”
The two female servants froze, papers clutched in their trembling hands, as a thunderous voice filled the room.
“Did you hear that?”
“W-what sound, miss?”
Terror washed over them—the realization that someone occupied this room they’d believed empty.
I gazed down at the two figures as they hesitantly turned toward the source of the voice, my brow furrowed as I spoke.
“You’ve lost all sense of caution! Did you truly enter here without knowing whose domain this is?”
“…The portrait is… is speaking… what is this…?”
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Watching them collapse where they stood, their backsides hitting the floor in shock, I smiled with satisfaction.
I seem to have a talent for this.
“It’s smiling… a ghost, it’s a ghost!”
“Calm yourself! Such things cannot possibly—”
“Why do you believe they cannot?”
One of the female servants, who had quietly drawn a dagger hidden beneath her skirts, froze mid-step toward the portrait at my words.
“How foolish. To never consider that across these long ages of the world’s turning, there exist beings beyond your knowledge.”
A witch.
It was also an introduction to my existence—one these servants remained ignorant of.
“For daring to infiltrate the Leblanc Mansion and attempt to steal what belongs here, you must pay the price for your transgression.”
Those unable to tear their eyes from the moving portrait trembled visibly.
Then, suddenly, one of them cried out sharply.
“What? Steal?”
Anger blazed in the eyes of the female servant who had spoken in disbelief. When I remained silent at her sudden retort, she ground her teeth and continued.
“…It wasn’t we who stole—it was the Leblanc Duchy. Blake Leblanc, that monster seized the Border Trade Route commercial rights that should have been our family’s, and our house fell into ruin! Do you understand what you’re saying?”
Stole? Blake?
Though Blake could be somewhat difficult and fierce, I never thought her the type to steal anything.
“That murderer devastated our entire family!”
As the silence stretched, the female servant continued, her voice trembling with rage.
“Our father died in the Demonic Beast War, our brother fell as well, and our family crumbled. Yet in the midst of it all, Blake Leblanc seized even the commercial rights to the trade route that should have returned to our father. The Emperor and the Holy Maiden Ophelia believed all the victory belonged to her!”
“…Miss, please. That is enough.”
The one called Miss showed no sign of stopping. Her eyes were wide with fury as she continued her accusations.
“The Demonic Beast War—what of it! Our family alone suffered, struggling to protect our domain’s people. We should have followed the Holy Maiden Ophelia’s prophecy from the beginning. I should have been the sacrifice!”
“…Prophecy. A sacrifice?”
These were peculiar and strange words to hear.
Surely, these were the methods of charlatans who had flourished when I dwelt in the Human World long ago.
Nonsense about how sacrifices must be offered to cure illness—such absurdities were the common tongue of such fraudsters.
I studied the wailing woman carefully, my brow furrowed.
Now that I observed her more closely, though she wore a servant’s uniform, there was something noble in her bearing.
She must have been the daughter of a Fallen Noble Family.
“Blake Leblanc said he could defeat the Demonic Beasts without offering a sacrifice, didn’t he? My father and older brother believed those words as if they were gospel. But do you know what happened? In a single day, both of them came back as cold corpses. Can you even begin to imagine how I felt facing that…?”
“….”
“Blake Leblanc never cared who died in this war against the Demonic Beasts from the start. He doesn’t care who wins this war. He’s just a bloodthirsty murderer who wants to be drenched in blood one more time, a greedy man who wants to claim all the remaining credit for himself!”
A bitter, metallic smile had crept onto the woman’s lips.
“It’s no wonder you can’t sleep. In this household! The vengeful spirits of those who died being exploited by the Leblancs are cursing them for eternity.”
The woman spread both arms wide and cried out in anguish as if pronouncing a curse, glaring at me.
“So whether you kill me or let me live, do as you please. I won’t beg for my life from the Leblanc Family.”
Her chin was held high and rigid, yet her clenched fists trembled visibly—a stark contrast.
I gazed silently at the woman for a long moment before speaking.
“I won’t kill you.”
“….”
Kill her? What nonsense.
I had never intended to kill them in the first place.
I was not a witch who brought harm to humans.
I simply wanted to hear more of this story.
“Rather, this prophecy and sacrifice—that’s intriguing. I have many questions. What was the prophecy about? Did the sacrifice demand human lives?”
“Why… why are you curious about that? I won’t tell you. I have no intention of begging pathetically for my life—just kill me instead!”
“Was it a prophecy that your life had to become a sacrifice to win in that strange war against the Demonic Beasts?”
“….”
The “Demonic Beasts” that had appeared in the conversation between Blake Leblanc and that blonde knight before.
Creatures moved by magical power, devoid of reason.
I possessed basic knowledge of what Demonic Beasts were, but there was something that puzzled me.
Demonic Beasts were not ordinarily creatures one could encounter so frequently.
≪Remnants of tainted magical power,
ferocious monsters born within it.≫
A foreign race born from the magical power shed by wicked witches.
I was curious why they had appeared in the Casthonia Empire.
Truly, if Demonic Beasts existed in this land.
Then their existence could not be eliminated by something as trivial as a sacrifice.
Though this woman seemed unaware of that.
“If that was the prophecy, it’s absurdly ridiculous nonsense, isn’t it?”
“…N-nonsense?”
The woman murmured in surprise at the rather harsh curse that spilled from the lips of the charismatic figure in the portrait.
“Your father and older brother who participated in the Demonic Beast War were wise. They didn’t believe such nonsense about sacrifices and chose to keep you alive.”
“….”
“If Blake truly seized the trading rights of the Border Trade Route or something like that, then that would be a grave mistake.”
Blake Leblanc was certainly a person whose true intentions were difficult to discern.
However, if there was one thing I had come to believe with certainty from observing him thus far.
I couldn’t speak to his sense of justice, but at the very least, he was not the sort of person to commit indiscriminate cruelty and petty deeds as the rumors circulating among the masses suggested.
There was always a reason behind his actions. He was simply someone who accepted any outcome without explanation or justification.
Even if it meant becoming a villain himself.
Whether that indifference stemmed from laziness or a genuine belief in his own villainy that he refused to share, I couldn’t say.
“Still, I don’t believe Blake Leblanc actually did such things.”
“…What do you know to speak so confidently? What could a mere portrait possibly understand!”
Right. I couldn’t even explain to myself what I thought I knew.
Blake Leblanc was merely a character from a romance novel I’d read long ago.
Even if this young noblewoman harbored a grave misunderstanding of Blake Leblanc, it shouldn’t have caused me any real trouble.
But…
The image of Ronald shedding tears at the mention of finally being able to sleep, and those violet eyes trembling faintly as he witnessed it—neither would leave my mind.
His expression was clumsy, but there was undoubtedly more to this story.
Of course, had he heard my complete assessment of him, he would have said coldly, “No, I stand at the opposite end of everything you imagine me to be.”
“I believe in Blake Leblanc. But at the same time, I’m trying to understand your heart too. The emptiness of losing your family and standing alone—anyone would want to blame someone for that. But think about it.”
I continued, watching the tremor in the woman’s eyes.
“What parent would sacrifice their child? They would have wanted to protect you even at the cost of their own death, and if they followed Blake Leblanc, they would have known you and your people could be saved. Blake Leblanc doesn’t lie.”
When I asked for help finding the portal, he immediately thrust a contract at me—that alone said everything.
He either keeps his promises or he doesn’t make them. He doesn’t resort to lies.
“Above all, he must have made a promise to your father. To save you and protect your people. And in that war, Blake Leblanc risked his own life as well.”
“….”
The silenced woman fell quiet for a moment.
“No human being exists who doesn’t fear death. Through every battle he participated in, until he returned victorious from each one, he must have faced the possibility of death at every moment.”
I thought of Blake Leblanc as I’d seen him in the newspaper just before coming here—expressionless and composed.
Despite his victories, there was not a trace of joy in his demeanor.
“He’s human too, after all. Every time he returned from war, guilt must have accumulated within him. Because he never expressed it outwardly, everyone pretended not to notice.”
A truth I hadn’t seen while drowning in sorrow—or perhaps one I’d chosen not to see.
Now that I thought about it, the original story was the same.
Every time Blake Leblanc, possessed of monstrous power, returned alive from the battlefield, the bereaved sought him out as the target of their resentment.
Hurling curses worse than the curse he already bore so heavily.
Yes, just like now.
“Isn’t it strange? Even if the prophecy is followed, someone still dies. So why does all the blame fall on Blake Leblanc? The choice belonged to each person.”
No response came.
Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, I awkwardly cleared my throat.
“Ahem, I didn’t mean to lecture you. Was I being preachy?”
“…So, what you’re saying is Blake Leblanc bears no guilt at all?”
“Young noblewoman, let’s go now. Someone might come. Leave this haunted portrait….”
“Don’t touch it!”
Seeing she had no intention of leaving and stood firm, I had no choice but to give her the answer I truly believed.
“Well, if failing to save the comrades who went to war with him is a sin, then yes, it is one.”
It would become a stone too heavy to bear, crushing his heart for eternity, whether anyone punished him or not.
“You should go confront Blake Leblanc instead. Demand he surrender the trade rights.”
That should be answer enough, don’t you think? So leave this place at once.
Stop talking to me!
From the moment my words grew lengthy, I could feel my mana draining away in real time.
At this rate, the spell would unravel.
“Now then, let’s exit this room. If you have more to say, tell Blake directly when you meet her.”
“What? The more I listen… the stranger this becomes. Who exactly are you?”
“A portrait. Likely Blake’s grandfather or maternal grandfather.”
“…This won’t do. I need to confirm it with my own two eyes…!”
The one who stopped her as she reached for the portrait was an unexpected figure.
“I was curious to see how far you’d go, but there’s no end to it. You certainly talk a lot.”
A low, weighty voice from somewhere cut the conversation short.
At the abrupt silence, both the suspicious woman and I turned our heads simultaneously toward the sound.
And there stood Blake, regarding us both with violet eyes devoid of light, her gaze unwavering and cold.

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