I’m Telling You, I’m Not The Villain! – Chapter 4

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Lord Fourth
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Frankly,

“…!”

Witnessing that scene was a coincidence.

“I heard some kind of scream from the kitchen…”

It was a day like any other, as I continued to adapt to this world.

“Is something happening?”

It was a little early for dinner.

“….”

Walking through the mansion, I heard someone’s voice, a desperate scream, yet also filled with intense rage.

“I should probably go check it out.”

If it was a scream, someone might need help.

“….”

Just in case, I hurried towards the source of the sound.

“Caught red-handed…!”

The closer I got, the clearer the voice became.

“….”

It was definitely a voice filled with anger. And as I’d suspected, the voice was coming from the direction of the kitchen.

“Shall I take a look?”

Since I was already here, I wanted to see what was happening.

“What could be causing such a commotion…”

At first, it was just curiosity. And if the situation was serious, I intended to mediate.

“Are you out of your mind?!”

As I stepped into the kitchen, the sight that unfolded before me was…

“Even if you’re starving, do you even know whose food you dared to touch?!”

The chef, his eyes bloodshot, was yelling, and…

“Eek! I’m sorry! That, this is…!”

…Eily was bowing repeatedly, being scolded by the chef.

“Chef, what’s going on?”

The chef in our mansion was quite proud of his culinary philosophy.

He didn’t care much about criticisms of his food’s taste, but he was very sensitive to his recipes being messed with or his schedule being interrupted.

“Did something happen?”

“M-Master Arnold…?!”

The chef’s booming voice instantly softened upon my appearance.

“Well, it’s just that…”

He pointed at Eily, who was now on the verge of tears, and appealed to me.

“I came to the kitchen to prepare dinner, and I caught this maid stealing a baguette…”

“A freshly baked baguette meant for dinner, no less…!”

“If I hadn’t caught her, it would have disrupted the planned menu…”

His explanation helped me piece together the situation. In short, Eily had tried to steal bread and was caught by the chef.

“Stealing food is a serious offense, so I don’t think she should be forgiven…!”

And of all people, she had to get caught by the chef, who took immense pride in his cooking.

“Eily.”

“Y-Yes…!!”

“Is all of this true?”

To confirm the facts, I turned my gaze to Eily.

“W-Well…”

This time, I asked her in a cold tone, wanting to hear the truth.

“…Sniff… I-I’m sorry… Young Master…”

Confronted by my cold voice, Eily finally burst into tears. As if everything had been revealed and she was now pouring out her suppressed emotions.

“Yes… It’s true, just like the chef said… I stole the bread…”

Was it really true that Eily had stolen the food?

“…Is that so?”

If it was, I was honestly a little disappointed in her.

I’d thought she was innocent and kind, even if she was clumsy.

But today, Eily had broken that trust.

“You…”

I was about to scold her when…

“But, I was surprised to see the bread was still warm! I didn’t think it was going to be part of tonight’s menu!!”

Eily continued, sobbing.

“So… I was about to put it back when I was caught! I initially thought it was leftover bread!”

She gave a lengthy explanation, as if offering a final defense, but…

“….”

Frankly, it all sounded like excuses.

Even if it were true, stealing couldn’t be justified. Even if the baguette was truly leftover, she had no right to take it without permission.

“Still… I was wrong, I’m sorry! I’m truly sorry, Young Master! I made a big mistake trying to feed my hungry little sister!”

But…

“What? Little sister?”

Her next words changed my perspective completely.

“Master Arnold! I don’t think we need to hear any more…! This maid is a thief!”

Of course, even so, the fact remained that she had tried to steal the bread, and the chef wanted her punished for it.

“Wait, let’s hear her out.”

I was now interested in the story behind her actions.

“Master Arnold…? But this maid…”

Naturally, the chef questioned me with a hint of defiance in his voice.

“What did I just say?”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

“U-Understood…”

Perhaps this was a tactic only Arnold could employ. It felt unfair, but his infamous reputation for cruelty worked in his favor.

“….”

The chef, intimidated by my irritated expression, reluctantly bit his lip.

“Hmm… So?”

Honestly, I felt bad for the chef, who was in the right, but he was too agitated. This was the only way I could get him to listen to Eily.

I’m sorry, Chef…

“Eily, go on.”

In any case, I gave Eily, who seemed to have more to say, another chance to explain herself.

“W-Well… Actually, my family is in a very difficult situation…”

“My mother and I work here… but even so, it’s hard for our family to make ends meet.”

“Especially… my little sister, who’s sick at home, he’s starving…,”

“He’s already weak, and I couldn’t bear to watch him get thinner and thinner, so I did it…”

So that’s what happened.

“Hmm…”

After hearing her story, the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall into place.

“Of course…! That doesn’t make my actions right…!”

“But I really thought it was leftover bread from the previous meal, bread that was about to be thrown away!”

So, while Eily had done wrong, it wasn’t out of personal greed, but for her struggling family?

“I’ve heard enough.”

“Master…! I was wrong!”

Judging strictly by the facts, Eily was clearly guilty.

“Master Arnold…! This maid is a thief!”

So, normally, this shouldn’t be overlooked.

“Is that what happened, Eily?”

However—

“So, you’re saying you were misunderstood while running an errand for me?”

A mischievous thought crossed my mind.

“Yes…?”

“What?!”

Both Eily and the chef widened their eyes at my unexpected response.

“Young Master… What do you…”

“Master Arnold? An errand…?”

Naturally, both of them looked at me dumbfounded, as if they’d never heard of such a thing.

“No wonder you were a little late, Eily. Didn’t I ask you earlier to ‘bring any leftover bread from the kitchen because I was hungry’?”

I continued, maintaining a calm and natural demeanor, despite my blatant lie.

“Y-Yes…?”

Eily was still confused, clearly not grasping the situation.

“Think carefully. I definitely gave you an order, Eily. I told you to go to the kitchen and bring me some leftover bread.”

“I said it was still early for dinner and I wanted something to satisfy my hunger.“

I continued speaking calmly, trying my best to maintain composure.

“So why couldn’t you even do that properly and make me come all the way here?”

Frankly… I was trying to bluff my way out of this.

“Master Arnold… What are you talking about…?”

“It’s just as you heard. I gave Eily an errand, and it seems there was a misunderstanding.”

It was nothing more than me throwing my weight around, relying on the implicit power I held.

But…

“So, Chef? Hurry up and fill a basket with any leftover bread. And some leftover butter and jam, too, if you have any.”

“What…? Ugh… Y-Yes… Understood…”

Did my bluff work?

“H-Here you are. It was meant to be discarded, so it’s best if you eat it by today…”

The chef still looked displeased, but he ultimately couldn’t defy my authority and obeyed.

“Good, I’ll enjoy this.”

“…Yes.”

I maintained my poker face as I received the bread basket from the chef and left the kitchen.

“Let’s go, Eily.”

Honestly, inside I was feeling a bit nervous…

“Oh… Yes…”

What if it hadn’t worked?

“….”

Despite my calm demeanor, my heart was pounding in my chest.

“Phew…”

I was glad I managed to pull it off…

“….”

With a deep sigh, I brushed away the anxiety that had built up in my chest.

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“Eily.”

And so,

“Yes…?”

After barely managing to leave the kitchen with Eily, I handed her the basket I’d received.

“Here, you said your sister was hungry? Give him plenty to eat today.”

I offered a few words of comfort and was about to leave quietly when…

“Young Master, this is…!”

Had Eily finally understood the situation?

Thud!

“Hm?”

I turned around at the sound of something collapsing,

“Young Master!!”

…and saw Eily bowing deeply before me.

“Thank you… Thank you so much…!!”

“I don’t know how to thank you enough for this…!!”

“Thank you so much for covering for a maid like me!!”

Her voice cracked with emotion as she cried out to me.

“I’m honestly curious! Why do you always… look after a lowly maid like me?”

She then asked me in a solemn, resolute tone.

“I’m… a pathetic maid! I’m always causing trouble and I even tried to steal food meant for your meal!”

“But why… do you always treat me with such kindness…?”

Why did I help someone like her?

“Well… That’s…”

To be honest, my motives weren’t exactly pure.

Who would believe me if I said, “If you don’t start being good from now on, I’ll die later!”

Besides, she’d only tried to steal some food for her family. While it wasn’t right, I didn’t intend to scold her for it.

“Eily?”

So, I stroked her hair as usual.

“Yes…”

“I can forgive small things. And besides… I hate seeing a cute child like you struggle.”

I tried to smooth things over with some plausible excuse.

“What?! C-C-C-Cute?! M-M-M-Me?!”

As soon as I finished speaking, Eily’s face turned as red as an apple.

“Huh? Yes…”

Was it that surprising? It wasn’t a big deal for an adult to call a child cute.

Oh… but… come to think of it, I was an adult inside, but a boy on the outside.

“That, that can’t be!! A maid like me couldn’t possibly be cute…”

But I’d already said it, so there was no going back.

“No, you’re plenty lovely in my eyes. You should have a little more confidence in yourself.”

There was no point in taking it back, so I just doubled down.

“L-Lovely… Uhh…”

Eily’s face turned even redder with every word I added.

“Um… Well…”

Her eyes started to spin, her entire face flushed, and I could almost see steam rising from her head.

“Shall we head back? And by the way, today’s incident is a secret, okay?”

Her reaction was a bit strange, but… I was glad things had worked out.

“Y-Yes…!!”

However, the aftereffect(?) was that…

“He… He called me… cute…”

Eily seemed particularly out of sorts that day.

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Hi Lord Fourth here!
I’m new to translating so if you find some mistakes or inconsistencies let me know about it on the dedicated channel on discord.