Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

“Although I can’t communicate with ‘her’, I can sense somewhat… cough, cough cough…“

Before finishing her sentence, Lena coughed several times in succession,

The Madam’s body had always been very weak, and now she became short of breath just from speaking too much at once,

“…Water is here!”

Disregarding the matter of the black shadow, Elsa hurriedly handed Lena a cup of water.

There were no other attendants by the Madam’s side now, which gave little Elsa a greater sense of responsibility.

To meet with her, Madam Lena had specifically dismissed other servants, leaving only a call bell by the bedside, with the physician on standby in the adjacent room, ready to respond immediately if anything happened during the night.

Although what she could do was quite limited, she still needed to take good care of the Madam,

“Thank you…”

When taking the cup, Lena noticed it was warm, adding more surprise to her expression.

“This… Could it be that little Elsa heated it with magic?”

“Yes.”

She nodded honestly.

Lena was secretly amazed.

She hadn’t expected her to reach this level after just attending a few magic lessons with little Yvonne…

In fact, before this, Lena had been very curious about this child named Elsa,

Recently, when visiting her, Yvonne would often mention this child she had picked up, intentionally or not, in front of Lena,

More precisely, when chatting with her, her daughter could hardly go three sentences without mentioning this child.

If her daughter were a bit older, Lena would have suspected she was in love.

That sparkling look when talking about little Elsa was exactly like a girl fallen in love.

It was clear she really liked this child.

Now Lena could finally understand why her daughter was so fascinated with her.

She really is a good child…

“Let’s talk about ‘her’ again,”

The warm water moistened her throat, alleviating some symptoms, and Lena was finally able to continue,

“Although I don’t know when this child came to my side… I can feel that she has no intention of harming me.”

“How is that possible…”

Although the Madam spoke with certainty, little Elsa was unwilling to believe.

The deep chill brought by the black mist she saw that day even surpassed her fear when near death.

To say such a dangerous creature wouldn’t harm humans, Elsa was unwilling to believe.

In terms of common knowledge in this world, ‘Nightmares’ were aggregates of magical beasts, demon race, or even resentment transformed from deceased humans.

These residual consciousnesses of inert magical power would possess people, absorbing the host’s life force.

If not exorcised in time, in severe cases, it could even lead to the possessed person’s death from life force depletion.

“Now that we know the reason, I think we should perform an ‘exorcism’ ritual as soon as possible! If we delay any longer, your body won’t be able to withstand it!!”

“—Hey hey! Little one—are you trying to kill Lena?!”

As if finally unable to endure, a sharp voice came from very close by.

“…Eh eh?”

The scene before her eyes had completely exceeded little Elsa’s range of understanding.

She watched as a black shadow slowly seeped out from Lena’s body, finally gathering slowly in the air, transforming into a clear girlish figure.

“Th-This is…”

A faint white light surrounded the transparent body,

Not a chaotic ‘Nightmare’, but a ‘Spirit’ with clear wil.

A transparent, red fox-form girl, hovering in the air, looking quite lively, glaring at her with transparent hands on her hips.

“It’s truly enviable… Judging by your appearance, you must have seen that child, right?”

Speaking with a bitter smile, she coughed several times again, and seeing this, the red fox girl was also extremely worried, floating back and forth, circling around Lena.

“I know you have no ill intentions… but my body has already—mmph!”

“Lena…”

Judging by her expression, the little fox was about to cry with anxiety.

But as she was a bodiless ‘Spirit’, crying was not possible.

“…You should lie down and rest for a while first.”

Her frail body really couldn’t withstand such exertion in the cold winter night,

Lena nodded, accepting this proposal, and Elsa helped her lie down, tucking her in.

“Little one, although I don’t know how much you can understand… I’ll tell you about Lena’s situation for now.”

After Lena fell asleep, the red fox used her spirit-form tail as a floating cushion, sitting cross-legged in the air, beginning her explanation time.

Although ordinary people couldn’t see her, manifesting like this also required magical power, so she couldn’t waste it.

“…Mm.”

Elsa nodded seriously in response, her body also tensing up to sit straight.

“According to your human etiquette, I should first introduce myself. I am Ryuka.”

The red fox girl patted her small chest with her spirit-transformed fox paw,

In terms of appearance, she didn’t look much different in age from herself.

“Hmph… If you underestimate me because of my appearance, you’d be making a big mistake.”

As if seeing through her impolite thoughts, Ryuka swished her tail in displeasure.

“I haven’t seen many humans… so this appearance is just to facilitate communication with you humans, transformed based on Lena’s daughter’s appearance… My true form is a pure-blooded red-faced jade fox!”

However, when speaking of her background, the red fox girl showed a complex expression,

When fleeing after losing the fight for leadership and being hunted by her own kind, the severely injured Ryuka was saved by Madam Lena,

The dying little fox lay helplessly in the forest, about to be crushed by human carriage wheels when Madam Lena, sitting in the carriage, stopped the coachman and saved her.

‘What a pitiful little fox…’

Saying this, she compassionately held her in her arms.

To think a human’s embrace could be so warm.

She was brought back to the mansion like this and carefully nursed for a period of time.

However, the good times didn’t last long. Because her physical body was severely injured, it was difficult to heal a magical beast with just human methods, so in the end, Ryuka still died.

But because her body was intact when she died and some magical power remained, she was able to preserve her spirit form,

To repay the kindness, she attached her residual magical power-condensed spirit form to Miss Lena’s body.

If not for Lena, she would have died miserably on that dark and cold rainy night,

She gave her love and warmth she had never felt in her final fox life, allowing her to spend a short but happy time.

For a simple-minded beast, Lena was her benefactor.

Since there was kindness, it must be repaid.

“So that’s how it is…”

After understanding the reason, the young girl before her showed a complex expression of comprehension.

It seems this little one is smarter than I imagined.

Sitting cross-legged in mid-air, Ryuka looked back at Lena lying on the bed, her three tails behind her also swaying gently with unease.

“By the way… little one, you weren’t mistaken, there is indeed a ‘Nightmare’ attached to Lena.”

“…What?”

Not expecting this situation, Elsa was very surprised at first, but then further confirmed her guess:

The ominous black shadow she saw on the Madam last time was not Miss Ryuka, but a real ‘Nightmare’—

“I attached myself to Lena’s body to try to drive it out. But until now… my last remaining magical power is almost exhausted, and I still haven’t been able to do it.”

Speaking thus, Ryuka showed a sorrowful look,

Watching her benefactor being consumed step by step by the ‘Nightmare’ must be an extremely desperate thing.

All along, she had been using her magical power to counteract the ‘Nightmare’s’ influence.

In the worst case, she had even planned to stake everything on her last magical power.

But if she did that, if she failed, her soul would dissipate, and if she lost, there would be no one left to protect Lena.

Before, relying on that elven secret medicine that could restore magical power, she could barely maintain,

But now, for some reason, the speed at which the ‘Nightmare’ devoured life force had accelerated. Because her remaining magical power was no longer sufficient to maintain, Lena’s condition had also taken a sharp turn for the worse.

“But… it’s good that we met you—little one.”

Changing her tone, her slender fox eyes fixed on her.