The Regret Novel Female Lead with Unbreakable Mentality Chapter 37

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I-I’ve been caught! Ivanka was muttering as she repeatedly banged her head against the floor. “I-I-I’m sorry!”

 

“Hey…”

 

“I-Ivanka d-didn’t do a-anything bad! Really!”

 

“Is your name Ivanka?”

 

Giselle’s silver hair swayed gently. It looked like beautiful silver threads fluttering in the air, and Ivanka, who was hiccupping, found herself wanting to touch them as she gazed at Giselle.

 

“…T-T-That…”

 

Giselle’s hand moved close to Ivanka’s head.

 

She’s definitely going to hit me!

 

But it was different from what she had expected. Giselle firmly grasped Ivanka’s hands, who was trying to bang her head on the ground, preventing her from doing so. Even though her bangs were so thick they covered her eyes, making it hard to see… Somehow, she felt a warm gaze upon her.

 

“I-I’m not a bad person…”

 

“I know.”

 

“…What?”

 

“I know you didn’t do anything bad. Get up. Let’s get you washed up first.”

 

Ivanka, with soot smeared all over her cheeks, trembled as she muttered. “Y-You’re not going to scold me?”

 

“I’m not the nicest person, but I’m not so evil that I’d scold a child just for watching me.”

 

“Eek!”

 

“Honestly, I thought about using the watcher to my advantage, but it’s pointless. How could they exploit a child?”

 

Even as Giselle placed her in a small shower booth tucked away in the corner of the annex, Ivanka’s heart pounded.

 

She’s de-definitely lying, right? W-What to do? I’m going to die for sure!

 

“Come on, let’s scrub you clean.”

 

“I-I don’t know how to wash with t-this…”

 

“I’ll do it for you.”

 

Giselle washed her face with clean water. The dirt and grime washed away, leaving Ivanka feeling ashamed and embarrassed. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it.

 

“Blow your nose, like this. There you go.”

 

“Sniff!”

 

It was… so refreshing!

 

“Okay, close your eyes. Good girl.”

 

“Gasp.”

 

“Let’s get you nice and clean in the shower.”

 

After carefully drying her frail body with a towel, Giselle dressed Ivanka in pajamas from the powder room. Despite being the smallest size, they hung loosely on her small, thin frame.

 

Ivanka, her eyes wide with wonder, clapped her hands in delight. “I-Is this what the legendary bathhouse servants in the imperial palace do?”

 

“Yeah, I’ve worked as a bathhouse servant before. I was the best there too.”

 

Ivanka’s eyes widened at Giselle’s nonchalant statement. She must’ve done all kinds of jobs! There’s no way a noble would ever serve the maids like this…

 

As Ivanka put on the clothes Giselle handed her, she noticed they smelled wonderful. It was a completely different scent from the rotten stench she was used to. Ivanka sniffed hurriedly, then bowed her head.

 

“Child, at your age, you should be playing to your heart’s content. What have you been doing? You’re a maid, right? Why were you doing such things?”

 

Was it because she hadn’t felt the warmth of a shower in so long? Ivanka began to speak without realizing it. “Yes! Ivanka joined as a maid in the d-duke’s family. T-Then, Ivanka ended up making a p-private contract with Lady Caitlyn, the head maid.”

 

Giselle, with a knowing expression, gently stroked Ivanka’s head and asked, “If you were hired by Caitlyn… Ivanka, did Caitlyn ever give you a hard time?”

 

“No! I-Ivanka did it because I-Ivanka wanted to!”

 

Giselle’s brow furrowed even more.

 

Ivanka anxiously shuffled her small feet. “I-I was wro—”

 

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. Caitlyn’s the one who’s trash.”

 

Ivanka was so taken aback that her eyes darted around in confusion. Though some had pitied her and given her food, no one had ever directly defended her by saying Caitlyn was in the wrong. Her heart was filled with anxiety and apprehension.

 

“I’ll wash these clothes and give them back to you.” But just as Giselle was folding the dusty clothes, a note fell out of a pocket.

 

R-Right, I have to deliver this secret message to Lady Caitlyn! Ivanka had forgotten about it while carrying out the order to keep an eye on Giselle. Recalling that Caitlyn had secretly sent her to Count Ronus’s family not long ago, Ivanka began trembling. And just when panic overtook her from fear—

 

N-No!

 

A fluffy tuft of fur suddenly appeared on Ivanka’s backside.

 

“Gasp!”

 

In less than a second, she had transformed into a hamster!

 

The secret I’ve been hiding from Lady Caitlyn has been exposed! Now I’m going to die, being called a filthy rat!

 

The tiny hamster, with a frightened expression, hung its head low and frantically dug into the ground. It was a gesture she made when she was extremely anxious.

 

At that moment, Ivanka the hamster, with a head no bigger than a thumb, found herself under Giselle’s shadow.

 

“Ivanka, are you a hamster shapeshifter?”

 

The eerie voice made Ivanka’s fur stand on end.

 

“Squeak squeak. (I’m sorry! I’m sorry for hiding that I’m a filthy hamster! Sorry for being a hamster that is so good at hiding!)”

 

When shapeshifters fall into a panic, they lose the power to maintain their human form.

 

Giselle raised her hand, observing Ivanka’s clean, well-washed fur standing on end and trembling.

 

S-She’s definitely going to hit me!

 

Just as Ivanka squeezed her black bean-like eyes shut, Giselle’s warm hand lifted her.

 

“You’re ju~st too cute!”

 

As Giselle whispered and hugged the hamster close to her chest, Ivanka’s little black eyes widened. She doesn’t hate me for being dirty? Why? Ivanka’s trembling fur perked up as she curled into a ball.

 

“Hmm, you can’t freely turn back into a human, huh?”

 

“Squeak squeak. (I-I’ll do it soon! Once I ca-calm down from this panic, I can turn back into a human again!)”

 

“There, there, my little baby hamster. Stay here, okay? I’ll wash your clothes for you.” Giselle lifted the dark clothes without any hint of disgust, then paused. It was by chance that she read the note carelessly left open.

 

[Auntie, Marquis Berto will be arriving soon. Don’t forget our promise for prosperity. Count Ronus.]

 

But it was something she couldn’t possibly overlook.

 

“Wow, these two damned families… They’ve been in cahoots all along.” Giselle pondered deeply, then stopped. Found it, the evidence.

 

Marquis Berto, the scoundrel, was the one she used to relieve her headaches. His business partner all this time was Count Ronus.

 

In the original, I always wondered if Duke Kalinos’s business information leaked so easily. Here’s the hole. Giselle had her suspicions, but she never expected such concrete evidence to fall into her lap.

 

Before the first regretful male lead, Marquis Berto, makes his appearance, she should deal with his business partner first. The moment Giselle made that decision, Ivanka, freed from her overwhelming fear, transformed back into a human with a pop.

 

“I-Ivanka is…”

 

“Sweetie, can you give me this letter? I promise nothing bad will happen to you. Just sleep for exactly one night.”

 

“…Ivanka is…”

 

“After that, I’ll help you with everything.”

 

Ivanka’s heart thudded heavily. Ivanka didn’t get scolded at all! Instead of being scolded, she was patted on the head. Even her hand was held.

 

An angel. Come to think of it, there was an angel in the ceiling painting that resembled Giselle. She even called me a baby hamster! Not a filthy rat, but a baby hamster…

 

Ivanka’s eyes sparkled with a small glimmer of trust. “…I-Ivanka will definitely sleep for one night.”

 

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Only after leaving the annex did my face contort freely. The image of Ivanka I had just seen wouldn’t leave my mind… Such a small girl, so thin, covered in wounds.

 

The time for the madwoman’s sword dance has finally come.

 

I knew from my past life that Caitlyn was harassing the maids from behind the scenes. But tormenting a child was crossing the line by a long shot. The important thing is figuring out how to get rid of the favored head maid…

 

Just then, a good idea struck me. It was a scenario where I became a complete troublemaker, and Caitlyn lost everything.