Chapter 1: Do You Admit Your Guilt? I Admit You’re a Fool!
The Hero’s sudden retirement announcement! The reason is…
News of Leopard’s retirement was plastered all over the front page of the newspaper a few days later.
It seemed like it took this long to decide whether to announce it because of internal meetings.
However, perhaps out of concern for the Hero’s lost honor, the reason stated was that the position was voluntarily resigned rather than a forcible dismissal.
It wasn’t exactly a shocking event.
The church made a living by selling the Hero’s honor.
Even if something went wrong, they had to neatly wrap up the process on the way out.
In reality, Leopard hadn’t caused any trouble.
Anyway, now being released from the Hero’s position, Leopard, whose return home was confirmed within the year, has been spending her days…
“Julia. Is there no next episode? So, is the protagonist dead or alive?”
“I don’t know. You should check the study well.”
“I searched, but there was nothing. Julia, you find it. Whenever you go, there’s always something.”
“Ha…”
Leopard was staying in Dragania’s villa, lazing around all day.
Honestly, she was living like a spoiled child.
She would spend all her time in the study reading novels and giggling, then eat the meals prepared for her at meal times, and at night, she would enjoy relaxing baths prepared by the maids before sleeping in her bedroom, repeating the same routine every day.
To be honest, it looked pretty pathetic, but considering she was someone who would soon leave this world, I felt a twinge of sympathy.
It was funny to see her, someone cursed to be trapped in this world forever, worrying about things.
Anyway, now that she had just barely escaped the role of Hero and became a civilian, I decided to play along with her little escapade.
Having seemingly thrown off the pressure to appear masculine, she now freely wore women’s clothes, and as a result, she actually looked cute.
“Get dressed. We’re going out.”
“What? Where?”
“I told you. I mentioned that I would go buy clothes for you.”
“Ugh. No way. I don’t want to go. It’s scorching hot outside.”
“They close the shops when the sun sets. Hurry up and get ready. You can’t keep borrowing my clothes forever.”
“Ugh…”
I grabbed Leopard by the shoulders as she lay sprawled on the sofa and lifted her up.
I carefully placed the book on the table.
Even though she showed clear signs of reluctance, Leopard obediently got up and started to prepare for going out.
What a cute little thing.
It felt like I had an older sister who was always disobedient.
It was hard to believe that she had lived for over fifty years in that body, as she seemed so ignorant of women’s bodies, which gave me the fun of teaching her everything.
“Hey. You need to put on your garter belt before wearing your panties. What will you do when you need to go to the bathroom later?”
Peeking over the partition with some concern, just as I expected, Leopard was slipping on her panties first.
Suddenly, she turned bright red and pushed my face away.
“Who’s peeping?!”
“Why are you so embarrassed? Didn’t you threaten me saying you’d tackle me or something?”
“I don’t know! And I’m not wearing a garter belt?!”
“Huh? Then your stockings are going to slip down.”
“I’m not wearing stockings either!”
“Really? I wanted to see you in them…”
“Ugh…”
Success.
Leopard was weak against my requests.
So with just a little push, she couldn’t refuse and agreed to everything.
“Wow…! It looks pretty!”
“Complimenting me with such empty words won’t get you any treat.”
“What’s with you being all twisted? Just accept that I’m saying it’s pretty for real.”
“…”
Even though she pretended to be uncomfortable with the compliments, I knew it all.
She was secretly feeling good, turning her head away and smiling to herself.
Looking closely, it was clear that Leopard was also enjoying it, but her pride made her act like she wasn’t.
If I stopped when she said to, she would definitely feel disappointed inside.
So I made a decision.
I vowed to make Leopard the prettiest she could be before she left.
In a year, her hair would grow long enough to style into a cute bob, and I began to look forward to that time.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Ugh. I don’t want to. What is this getup…”
Once again pretending to dislike it, I gently coaxed Leopard out of the house.
When I took her hand and interlocked our fingers, she started to follow more willingly.
With Tia soon scheduled to come home, we had to hurry up and go.
Just as we were about to leave through the main gate…
“Are you going out?”
“Ah…”
The carriage that stopped in front of the door opened its window, revealing the Duke.
The Duke adjusted his sunglasses and swept his gaze over Leopard’s entire figure. Suddenly, Leopard clung closer to me.
Was it her first time in high heels? It seemed she had trouble keeping her balance.
Ah, more importantly, I had to greet the Duke who had just arrived home.
“Are you returning now?”
“Yes, that’s correct. I was thinking of asking for some black tea. What should we do about that?”
“Ah.”
The Duke smiled as if feeling awkward.
Since the Duke also decided to stay at the villa, I returned to my position as his maid.
This meant I had to assist him while basically being at his side.
I thought he would be out all day, as he said he had things to do alone.
Now, with one remark from the Duke, our outing was about to be canceled.
“Hmmm…”
The Duke paused, locking eyes with Leopard for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.
Then, without a word, Leopard glared at the Duke, trembling slightly, and spoke.
“P-Please. I would be very grateful if you could let Julia go with me for just two hours…”
Surprisingly, Leopard bowed her head and politely requested the Duke to let me accompany her.
I was taken aback.
No matter how much Leopard enjoyed dressing femininely, I didn’t think she would be humble enough to ask for me like this.
What on earth was going on?
The Duke, surprised by Leopard, who stood with her hands together and her head bowed, soon smiled and said,
“Well, that’s fine. It’s not like it’s a bother, and since you went to all the effort of dressing up, it would be unfair if you couldn’t go out.”
“Thank you…”
I had never anticipated that the Duke would grant permission.
If it were the Duke, with his bad temperament, even if I’d gone through a lot of trouble preparing, I thought he would make me return to the villa and order me to brew tea.
I could never have imagined he would let us go so easily.
The Duke’s carriage entered through the main gate, and we managed to leave the villa safely.
It felt strange.
It was as if the atmosphere between Leopard and the Duke had shifted.
There seemed to be a strange chemistry flowing between the two.
‘Huh? No way?!’
Could it be that the Duke liked Leopard?
That thought crossed my mind.
No matter how much Leopard had suddenly become pretty lately, it was hard to believe that a long-time friend like the Duke would suddenly develop feelings…
‘But he sure has the type, doesn’t he?’
If it were the Duke, I could easily conclude that was the case.
I suddenly felt annoyed.
Just a few days ago, he had confessed his feelings to me.
He said he wanted to marry me.
Was all of that just a part of his management game?
Or could it be that he had already marked Leopard as a potential mistress?
Fretful thoughts filled my mind.
“What’s wrong? Are you worried about something?”
“Ah, no. Let’s go.”
Leopard, who had been dragging her feet just moments ago, was filled with excitement as she took my hand and led me.
I decided to set aside my worries for now and enjoy shopping with Leopard.
The day she had to leave would be here sooner than I thought.
If I didn’t want to regret it, I needed to create lots of memories before then.
*
“Are you ready?”
“Mm hmm!”
In response to Leopard’s question, Tia answered confidently and vigorously.
She had a gaze that resembled a young man ready to go to war.
While staring at those eyes, Leopard smiled satisfactorily and tied her hair back.
“Good. Then I will teach you some martial arts.”
“Mehe! Will Tia become as strong as Sister Leo?”
“If you focus and learn hard, yes.”
“I’m not good at focusing! But I’ll do my best!”
It was well past sunset by this time.
Leopard, dressed in sportswear, looked around to confirm that no one was in the dimly lit park except for us.
Then she hung a birdcage on a tree branch and gave it a gentle tap.
“Hey, great spirit. Light up.”
“Hurgh…!”
At that, Lara strained her brow and burst forth with bright yellow light from her entire body.
The light quickly spread until the surroundings were clearly visible.
Only then did Leopard face Tia and begin stretching to loosen her body.
Tia was very busy glancing at Leopard and mirroring her movements.
‘Julia would definitely not want me to teach her how to fight, but she should at least know how to handle her body.’
I could understand Julia’s feelings about hating fights.
With Tia’s great strength, she could easily snap the bones of anyone she fought.
However, in Leopard’s view, the worst-case scenario would be if Tia faced an enemy unprepared.
If Tia approached a fight untrained, she might lose control of her own power and ruin something she was supposed to protect through her own mistake.
To avoid that kind of regret, Leopard thought that at minimum, she should know how to handle her strength.
“Alright. Now that we’ve loosened up, let’s start. The first thing to learn is a jab.”
“A jab…!”
“Watch closely. Position yourself like this. Then with this strength, you punch straight out.”
“Hmm? Huh?”
Bang.
As Leopard threw her punch, a popping noise echoed as the air tore apart.
The airshot created by her punch flew off to collide with a tree far away, causing some leaves to fall.
Of course, despite that power, Leopard’s explanation was a total mess, leaving Tia only able to tilt her head in confusion.
Yet, Tia carefully observed Leopard’s jabbing stance in a 360-degree view and quickly managed to replicate it perfectly.
“Like this… like this…!”
“That’s right. Good. Since the explanation was good, you caught on quickly.”
“The next is, bam!”
Swish.
Just after throwing her punch, Tia almost lost her balance and stumbled.
There was no popping sound accompanying the disturbance of air.
Her tiny fist merely split the air silently.
“Meh! It’s tough to follow Sister Leo!”
“…”
Tia scratched the back of her head and awkwardly smiled.
But Leopard wasn’t looking at Tia, but at a tree far in the distance.
A tree far away that was reliant on the force Leopard created to shake was now falling down with its trunk snapped in half.
“I need to practice more! I will practice every day until I’m as strong as Sister Leo!”
“Y-Yeah…”
The power had been transmitted cleanly without a sound.
It wasn’t just the strength; this was not the ability of a girl who had learned how to jab for the first time.
It was almost as if it were a natural talent.
There were no other explanations possible.
Leopard couldn’t shake the thought that Tia resembled a genius in combat as she patted Tia’s head with a broad smile, feeling the cold sweat trickling down her back.
