Villainess Reform Project

Tease

Ophelia looked like she had never been so wronged in her face. She could only sulk as I took out a salad and prepared her a small bowl to eat. She poked at the vegetables for awhile before peering up at me pitifully. When she realized that wasn't going to get her any cookies she swallowed her pride and began to munch on the salad.

She actually liked salad. Ophelia just liked my cookies more. It went against protocol for a maid to eat with or before her master, so I only watched her eat.

Ophelia finished her salad and set the bowl aside. "Ava, I finished."

"Good. Now you can eat the main course."

Ophelia whined while I went through the picnic basket. "Stop that. Now, do you want an vegetable sandwich or an egg sandwich?"

"I want cookies."

"Not an option yet."

"But-"

"If you ask again before it's time I'll feed your precious cookies to Merlin."

Ophelia gasped and turned her head to glare at Merlin as if he had betrayed her and left her for dead in the middle of nowhere. The poor boy shivered and avoided any eye contact with her.

Was Ophie really that intimidating? Maybe I was just desensitized.

"Now then, what sandwich do you want?"

"... Egg."

"I thought so."

Ophelia suffered through two more foods before finally getting what she wanted. Forgetting any and all manners she had learned, she scarfed down the cookies like a man who had been starved for a week. I could only sigh and shake my head.

I had really nurtured this sweet tooth of hers, hadn't I?

The picnic ended peacefully and Ophelia returned to her classes with pep in her step. Unlike me, who could go around and do chores, Merlin had to follow Ophelia around and wait outside her classrooms while she learned. It sounded quite boring.

Which actually brought us to our current situation. I stood before Merlin, simply looking at him as he avoided any and all eye contact with me. He had grown taller than me, which I found a bit annoying. His face seemed to be gaining color the longer I looked at him.

"Merlin?"

"Yes?"

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No-"

I interrupted him by shoving a vegetable sandwich into his mouth and taking a step back as he tried to process the situation.

"You should eat more. While you've grown a lot, you're still as thin as the little boy I met all those years ago. Put some meat on those poor bones of yours." I could only sigh as I placed the leftovers of the picnic in his arms and shook my head. Before he could reply I had already walked away.

No matter what, it seemed I could only treat people the same age as me or younger than me like children. Especially if they wouldn't feed themselves.

--------

"Ava, you're from the Dubannes house right?"

I was washing laundry when this question was posed by Petra, one of my roommates. She along with Tiffany were also doing laundry. The room was a lot less lively with Rachael and I could only hope that nothing severe was happening to her at the Millstone estate. However, I knew that was probably only wishful thinking.