The villainess shall be mine

The party finally ended after a few hours of talking so I was escorted back to my new residence along with my family.

At the end of the party though, there were a few people who approached me with different intentions, and honestly, their attitude annoyed me a little.

I didn't even know how people in this world treated those monsters' victims and their families, but I guess this party was meant to cheer me up.

"Rest for now, we will talk tomorrow," my father said, then he left with my mother.

Looking at them, I knew that they were restraining themselves from asking too many questions or showing how much they had panicked.

I didn't want to waste their effort even though I was fine with them asking me everything they wanted to know. I guessed that seeing me alive was enough for them for the time being.

"Let me fetch some of my belongings and bring them here," I said to the maids that were tasked to take care of me.

Of course, I already told Lord Tylliard that I had a personal maid but I didn't tell him about the dragon girl. I only referred to her as another survivor that I accidentally found somewhere inside the ruined city and couldn't leave to die

I explained that due to the harsh environment, her body had slightly changed and she was not comfortable under other people's gaze so I left her with my maid.

The Lord Tylliard didn't even bring this topic up again during the whole conversation and I was grateful for that.

Thus, all of this time, I asked Blanca to hide somewhere inside of a small vessel that was inside of the main ship, which was called Grandcruiser or whatever its name was, with the little dragon girl.

When we arrived, this vessel left the main ship without anyone noticing, then I just explained that some of my belongings were inside of it.

Of course, I used my power to conceal it while the imperial soldiers were inspecting the ship. They could only see a dead end while they were exploring one of the ship's compartments, but I made sure that it didn't look too out of place.

After that, I asked Cristal to perform various tasks, mainly to gather as much information as possible. Still, I didn't want to take any risk, so I asked her to do only something that was not too dangerous.

I walked towards the ship, and somehow I felt like referring to the dragon girl as a dragon was a little bit weird. I should have given her name, or so I thought.

"Dragon girl… Little dragon girl… Lidrag? Okay, Linda, that will do," I said to myself.

After that, I entered the ship, and something wrapped around my head.

"Hahahaha, baba!" A child's voice echoed inside my ears.

"Oh, you are finally back?" Bianca said in a slightly displeased tone. "Handling this little brat was a pain."

I took Linda away from my head, but then she started to fly around me with a joyful face.

"Don't worry, things just got interesting," I said and smiled at Blanca.

"What is that? Hey! What did you do?" Blanca panicked when she saw my face and it looked like she was on her guard.

I didn't know why was she in such a state even though I just smiled at her.

"From now, you will take on Cristal's place and become my personal maid," I said.

"What? Why would I do that?" Blanca replied and looked at me with disdain. It seemed like she was familiar with the word maid.

"Do you have the choice?" I asked.

"Who do you think I am? I will do whatever I want," Blanca said, and it appeared like staying alone for a while made her reflect on various things, bringing her prideful attitude to the surface again.

She was really a really good woman if she just didn't talk like a fifteen years old girl sometimes.

"I see, so why are you here again? You could have chosen to not come with us too you know. And even if you want to go now, you can leave immediately. Your presence is not of any utility for me." I said, nonchalantly. "However, I will not help you with your mission, and our give and take relationship ends here. Look, the door is open, you can go now. Make sure to not be spotted by some weird individual during your journey alone in this world though."

"Kuh…" Hearing my words, Blanca had a complicated expression on her face.

"Here are your new clothes, put them on." I handed a set of maids out as I said those words.

"It's not fair…" Bianca mumbled under her breath but went to put on the maid outfit anyway.

"And you, your name will be Linda. Cristal, did manage to put together that thing?" I asked.

"Yes, master," then Cristal appeared next to me. She was always there all of this time, but she was just using one of her new abilities. It was always one of my first ideas when I saw Cristal, but I could only put it into use after she got an upgrade. Thus, Cristal now could turn invisible when she was in her initial form. However, there were some minor problems when she was in her humanoid and battle suit form.

I took the item in form of a beautiful collar from Cristal and put it on Linda's neck.

"Hahaha!" She looked happy about it, but her ability to speak was not fully developed yet.

"Don't cause any problem and listen to me, do you understand?" I said in a stern voice. I wasn't even sure if Linda could understand me but I needed to warn her.

The collar would kill her instantly if she went out of control because I couldn't put her family at any risk.

I planned to leave her in a serene environment where she could grow as a human. However, that didn't mean that she would lose her monster instinct or abilities, and she would be still dangerous.

Nonetheless, I didn't want to kill her needlessly because she was a rare specimen.

"Mmmm…" Linda let out a sad cry after hearing my voice.

"Okay, as long as you understand I won't scold you," I said, patting her head.

She was completely different from the rampaging monster that she used to be, and it made me once again wonder about the true nature of the monsters.

"So what now?" While I was dealing with Linda, Blanca came back and she was wearing the maid outfit.

Seeing her, I raised my thumb and smiled.

"What is that? You are a little bit scary when you smile like that," Blanca said.

Hearing what she said, I once again wondered about her weird reaction every time I smiled.

"It means that the outfit looks good on you," I answered.

"Is that sarcasm?" Bianca tilted her head and glared at me.

"Don't tell me that no one has ever told you that you are beautiful before," I said half-jokingly but Blanca looked somehow taken aback by what I said. "Really? Okay, make sure to not approach other men needlessly. With this naivety of yours, these beasts will take advantage of you."

"Shut up! I am not stupid," Blanca said and she looked like she was sulking. Well, I might have gone too far with that.

"Okay, let's go back now. You, come here, and stay quiet! Shhhhh!" I said, taking Linda in my arms and asking her to not make any noise like she constantly did.

Fortunately, she was obedient at times like this, so I patted her on the head. "Good!"

Every time she did a good thing, I patted her in the head to show her that what she did was good.

After that, the four of us headed towards our new residence, and I requested for Blanca to have a separate room.

"You will stay here. Make sure that you behave," I said, looking at Blanca who was in her maid outfit.

"Don't treat me like a kid," she answered and closed the door.

"She is rather a cute person, isn't she?" I mumbled as I led my way to my room.

I decided that Linda would be staying with me for the time being, because I needed to observe her for a bit longer before deciding what I would do with her when I go to the Holy Academy.

Still, as soon as Linda lay down on top of the soft bed, she instantly fell asleep. While sleeping, she wasn't different from a little girl, making me wonder about this whole monster's evolution deal.

"Cristal, let's hear what you've found," I said, then Cristal materialized in her humanoid form next to me. "I hope Joshua managed to decipher my message though."

"Yes, to begin with, I will talk about what happened on the day of the incident," Cristal said.