When I told granny the words Iâd heard from Princess, she looked at me in wonder.
âOh dearâŠâ
âShe cheerfully headed for his office, so I thought I better leave with that.â
âAnd so you sought shelter here⊠I see. Obviously, it canât be helpedâ
âThatâŠâ
I recalled my exchange with Princess from before.
Princess summoned me and with a troubled face said.
Listening to my story, granny let out an amazed, stifled laughter.
âItâs just like that child. Well, sheâs happy, so isnât it fine?â
âWell, yeah. Princess is smiling, so I ainât complaining.â
âDonât you think your master was stolen?â
âMe? No way.â
I laughed off grannyâs question.
âThereâs no way I think that. If my master is happy, thatâs fine. We are shadows. Besides, Princess cares about me more than enough. I ainât one bit dissatisfied with our relationship.â
âI bet.â
âIf you understand, donât ask, granny.â
. As somebody called a which, granny had an expectedly bad nature.
I chugged down the unappetizing tea in one go and looked up at the sky.
âWell⊠And so. Can I stay here for a while? Theyâre being all over each other anyway.â
Surely around now the usual strong barrier is spread around the Crown Princeâs room.
The barrier so strong nobody can even approach it.
Whatâs going on inside⊠I donât even want to think about that.
While I was thinking itâs best not to approach until noon tomorrow, granny said.
âIn that case, it canât be helped. You can stay. However, the condition is that youâll help in exchange.â
âYeees.â
Recently when I ask to be given shelter, Iâm often made to help with odd jobs in exchange.
I nodded to grannyâs words and stood up.
At that time, if I hadnât met Princess â if I hadnât been saved, I couldnât have obtained a master, and I wouldnât be able to talk to somebody like this.
Surely, I wouldnât be able to spontaneously smile.
Itâs all thanks to my master, Princess, that I am here.
If it makes that Princess, my master, happy, Iâll show that I can do anything.
Even if it means increasing interactions with loathsome royalty from now on.
As long as Iâm alive, Iâll continue standing by Princess.
Thatâs the conclusion Iâve reached.
âAnd? What should I do today?â
I tried asking. Going to search for herbs, going shopping. What I help with changes each time. I wonder what Iâll do today.
Granny meaningfully smiled at my question.
âFirst of allâŠâ
âFirst of all? So it isnât one thing.â
âWho said anything about it being one thing?â
â⊠Greedy.â
âDonât you want to be given shelter here? Then it should be no problem.â
â⊠Shit. Got it.â
I hung my head, crestfallen. , granny nodded.
âThen, shall we start? Err, first this cursed dollâŠâ
âAh!â
Seeing the doll granny took out, my eyes widened in fear.
I never again wanted to see the doll with growing hair that Princess had left above the ceiling of her room, and yet of all things, granny held it.
âT, that! I saw it at Princessâs place! W, why is it here!â
âNn? Thereâs the same thing at that childâs place? Itâs quite rare. If sheâs not using it, I certainly want her to give it to me.â
Granny turned the blond-haired dollâs face here.
The large doll wearing a beautiful dress seemed to be smiling at me.
âD, donât turn it to meeeeee! O, our eyes meeeeeet!â
âYouâre a master assassin, donât be scared of a doll. ReallyâŠâ
She said good grief, but the sight of that dollâs hair steadily growing was by no means my imagination. The dollâs hair that had been shoulder-length when sheâd been taken out already reached her ankles.
âHair! The hair is moving!! Itâs growing!!â
When I pointed that out, granny frowned.
âIsnât it obvious? I said itâs a cursed doll, right? Here, hold this doll and stay still.â
Handed the doll, I was instinctively about to drop it. At that moment, the hair wrapped around my waist.
âNooooo! Eeeeeeek! Hair! Hair twined around my wriiiiiist!â
âYou sure are noisy. Youâre Red Shinigami, yet you canât even help a witch to her satisfaction.â
âAnything else is fine! Please! Spare me from this alone!!â
As if I care about pride.
When I desperately requested with teary eyes, granny exhaled like she was amazed.
âSelfish, arenât you. Then, this cursed straw dollâŠâ
âHii!â
When another eerie object appeared, I thought Iâd faint.
It was a large straw doll with a large nail piercing its stomach. I remember it more than enough too.
âI, I also saw that at Princessâs hooome!!â
âThis too? Thatâs amazing! I absolutely want to know how she obtained it.â
Although granny was impressed, I wasnât.
Scary, too scary.
I felt like I could hear an unsettling sound. The sight of it emitting something like black miasma was absolutely not my imagination.
âThat too, itâs emitting something like miasmaaaaaa!â
â⊠Youâve been doing nothing but screaming since a while ago. Are you even interested in helping?â
Despite desperately resisting, it was useless. I was handed another doll. I really thought my soul would come out.
I had a feeling that the faceless doll was looking at me.
It should be straw, yet the cold, corpse-like feel was indescribably scary.
Even though Iâm not one bit afraid of real corpses.
While trembling, I muttered.
â⊠I, Iâm deadâ
âEven though youâre a man, how pathetic.â
Only today there wasnât anything I could answer back when Granny spoke in a mocking tone.
Having somehow finished helping, I collapsed on the desk and continued deliriously muttering.
â⊠Dolls are scary⊠Dolls are scary.â
âReally, you might be called Shinigami, but you still are a brat. Temper yourself more.â
Granny, who told me that, is seriously too strong.
I feel like Iâm no match for her as I am⊠As expected of a witch.
â⊠Granny, youâre seriously incredible.â
âWho are you saying it to? Really, brats nowadaysâŠâ
ââŠâ
It was on a certain afternoon that I came to respect granny from the bottom of my heart.