When I told granny the words I’d heard from Princess, she looked at me in wonder.
“Oh dear…”
“She cheerfully headed for his office, so I thought I better leave with that.”
“And so you sought shelter here… I see. Obviously, it can’t be helped”
“That…”
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.
“It’s just like that child. Well, she’s happy, so isn’t it fine?”
“Well, yeah. Princess is smiling, so I ain’t complaining.”
“Don’t you think your master was stolen?”
“Me? No way.”
I laughed off granny’s question.
“There’s no way I think that. If my master is happy, that’s fine. We are shadows. Besides, Princess cares about me more than enough. I ain’t one bit dissatisfied with our relationship.”
“I bet.”
“If you understand, don’t ask, granny.”
. 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.
“Well… And so. Can I stay here for a while? They’re being all over each other anyway.”
Surely around now the usual strong barrier is spread around the Crown Prince’s room.
The barrier so strong nobody can even approach it.
What’s going on inside… I don’t even want to think about that.
While I was thinking it’s best not to approach until noon tomorrow, granny said.
“In that case, it can’t be helped. You can stay. However, the condition is that you’ll help in exchange.”
“Yeees.”
Recently when I ask to be given shelter, I’m often made to help with odd jobs in exchange.
I nodded to granny’s words and stood up.
At that time, if I hadn’t met Princess – if I hadn’t been saved, I couldn’t have obtained a master, and I wouldn’t be able to talk to somebody like this.
Surely, I wouldn’t be able to spontaneously smile.
It’s all thanks to my master, Princess, that I am here.
If it makes that Princess, my master, happy, I’ll show that I can do anything.
Even if it means increasing interactions with loathsome royalty from now on.
As long as I’m alive, I’ll continue standing by Princess.
That’s the conclusion I’ve reached.
“And? What should I do today?”
I tried asking. Going to search for herbs, going shopping. What I help with changes each time. I wonder what I’ll do today.
Granny meaningfully smiled at my question.
“First of all…”
“First of all? So it isn’t one thing.”
“Who said anything about it being one thing?”
“… Greedy.”
“Don’t you want to be given shelter here? Then it should be no problem.”
“… Shit. Got it.”
I hung my head, crestfallen. , granny nodded.
“Then, shall we start? Err, first this cursed doll…”
“Ah!”
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.
“T, that! I saw it at Princess’s place! W, why is it here!”
“Nn? There’s the same thing at that child’s place? It’s quite rare. If she’s not using it, I certainly want her to give it to me.”
Granny turned the blond-haired doll’s face here.
The large doll wearing a beautiful dress seemed to be smiling at me.
“D, don’t turn it to meeeeee! O, our eyes meeeeeet!”
“You’re a master assassin, don’t be scared of a doll. Really…”
She said good grief, but the sight of that doll’s hair steadily growing was by no means my imagination. The doll’s hair that had been shoulder-length when she’d been taken out already reached her ankles.
“Hair! The hair is moving!! It’s growing!!”
When I pointed that out, granny frowned.
“Isn’t it obvious? I said it’s a cursed doll, right? Here, hold this doll and stay still.”
Handed the doll, I was instinctively about to drop it. At that moment, the hair wrapped around my waist.
“Nooooo! Eeeeeeek! Hair! Hair twined around my wriiiiiist!”
“You sure are noisy. You’re Red Shinigami, yet you can’t even help a witch to her satisfaction.”
“Anything else is fine! Please! Spare me from this alone!!”
As if I care about pride.
When I desperately requested with teary eyes, granny exhaled like she was amazed.
“Selfish, aren’t you. Then, this cursed straw doll…”
“Hii!”
When another eerie object appeared, I thought I’d faint.
It was a large straw doll with a large nail piercing its stomach. I remember it more than enough too.
“I, I also saw that at Princess’s hooome!!”
“This too? That’s amazing! I absolutely want to know how she obtained it.”
Although granny was impressed, I wasn’t.
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.
“That too, it’s emitting something like miasmaaaaaa!”
“… You’ve been doing nothing but screaming since a while ago. Are you even interested in helping?”
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 I’m not one bit afraid of real corpses.
While trembling, I muttered.
“… I, I’m dead”
“Even though you’re a man, how pathetic.”
Only today there wasn’t 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.
“… Dolls are scary… Dolls are scary.”
“Really, you might be called Shinigami, but you still are a brat. Temper yourself more.”
Granny, who told me that, is seriously too strong.
I feel like I’m no match for her as I am… As expected of a witch.
“… Granny, you’re seriously incredible.”
“Who are you saying it to? Really, brats nowadays…”
“…”
It was on a certain afternoon that I came to respect granny from the bottom of my heart.