Became the Imperial-Certified Mad Dog

The Girl Takes Petty Revenge

…

Peri, who ran away after hearing harsh words that felt like rejection even before confessing to Gul, continued crying well past her usual bedtime.

Her fluffy pillow that usually helped her fall into deep sleep became damp with her tears and snot, but Peri didn’t care and kept burying her face in it.

“*Sniff* I… I just wanted to become friends… I just wanted to thank him…”

When she was left alone after Serpe’s organization members who originally protected her were attacked, she was in indescribable fear and anxiety, so she had that much goodwill toward Gul who saved her.

When she was younger and couldn’t sleep, it felt like meeting a knight who saves a princess from monsters in the fairy tales her father used to read.

If Peri had been a bit older, she would have certainly defined these feelings she was experiencing as having a crush.

Although she was a child who didn’t know love, the affection that had already grown deep in her heart still stirred her.

That’s why despite being afraid to go out alone, she went to see Gul, only to be completely rejected.

It would have been better if Gul had openly shown his dislike. Gul’s attitude toward Peri showed absolutely no trace of personal emotion.

The sense of loss she felt was enough to make her subconsciously realize she had been rejected – it was more than a 10-year-old girl could bear.

“Waaahh!”

Remembering Gul’s expression, which was neither a smile nor irritation but like a mask when he told her to leave if she had no business, she began to wail again.

*Creeak*
“Peri…”

Karma watched his crying daughter sadly from the doorway, but he didn’t enter the room to comfort her.

…

Not only was his body heavily permeated with the alcohol and tobacco smell that Peri hated, but it was also because of the conversation he just had with Gul.

When he asked why Gul made his daughter cry, Gul answered with an obviously irritated face that it was to truly protect her, and Karma, understanding his true intentions, chose reality over his daughter’s innocent love.

‘I never wanted to see my daughter fall for another man, but seeing her get rejected like this is hard to watch in its own way…’

“*Sigh*”

Finally accepting there was nothing he could do, the father decided to leave so his daughter could grieve her first heartbreak without feeling self-conscious.

‘Tomorrow, I won’t force her to eat breakfast.’

*

“Ah, shit…”

Suddenly waking up and rubbing my bleary eyes, I looked out the window to see it was an ambiguous early hour – the moon wasn’t visible, but the sun hadn’t risen yet.

‘Can’t sleep properly.’

I thought about going back to sleep, but worried I might oversleep if I slept at such an odd hour, I decided to just get up.

Opening the window, the still chilly night air came in and cleared my foggy mind. After organizing the bedding I’d been sleeping in and washing up in the shared bathroom, the sun was rising in the sky.

Quietly listening, I could hear faint sounds of movement from other rooms – it seemed most servants got up around this time.

*Knock knock*

While checking and adjusting my bandages to make sure no wounds had opened, I heard a knock.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

“Good morning, Butler.”

“The size might not be exact, but this is all we have left for now, so wear it for a while.”

Perhaps because he was in charge of managing the servants, the butler who entered in his usual impeccable attire even at dawn handed me a black suit similar to what he wore.

I immediately put on the uniform the butler gave me, and though it was a bit big, it wasn’t a major problem for moving around.

“It suits you quite well.”

Making a comment I couldn’t tell was sincere or joking, the butler told me to follow him, and when I did, servants were already gathering one by one in the annex’s first-floor lobby.

“We have roll call like this every morning. Though you’ll probably miss many since you’re Lady Peri’s guard.”

“I’ll make sure to participate whenever I can.”

“Hmm.”

After finishing my conversation with the butler, I went down to where the servants were gathered and stood in an empty spot in the back row, and the other servants recognized me and greeted me.

“Hello? Are you Gul, who’s going to be in charge of the young lady’s security starting today? I couldn’t go to the welcome party yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well. My name is Dorothy, I’m the young lady’s personal maid, so I look forward to working with you.”

The one who approached most actively was an older girl named Dorothy whom I hadn’t seen yesterday.

“The pleasure is mine, Miss Dorothy. Please help me if I make mistakes that upset the young lady.”

It wasn’t just empty words – I’d probably need a lot of help for a while after yesterday’s incident, so I decided to be as polite and respectful as possible.

“What’s with the ‘Miss’? I’m only 15, you can call me sister.”

“…Yes, sister.”

Sister…

“Alright, enough chatting. Other than introducing the new member who officially starts today, there’s nothing special to announce. Since this is Gul’s first experience as a servant, help him if he has questions.”

“Yes!”

Perhaps because it was morning, the servants who had been chattering busily all stopped talking and focused with just one warning from the butler, and they all responded in perfect unison.

“Now get to cleaning!”

At the dismissal order, everyone scattered busily – servants in charge of cleaning the annex went to clean the annex, those managing the yard took brooms to the yard, and those cleaning the main building disappeared into the main building.

“Um, where should I clean?”

“Hmm, you… since you’re not familiar with the estate yet, go to the young lady first. She should still be sleeping, so don’t wake her.”

“Yes.”

Even with different types of work, skipping these communal tasks might make the seniors look at me unfavorably. I should try to join the evening cleaning if there is one.

Though I wanted to maintain good relationships since we’d be seeing each other often, Peri’s safety was ultimately the most important thing, so I headed to the main building where Peri would be without argument.

*

“Um… good morning, young lady…”

“…”

When I arrived at the main building first and learned Peri’s room location from the cleaning servants, contrary to the butler’s words, I could hear someone moving inside Peri’s room.

So just in case, I knocked quietly enough that she wouldn’t notice if she wasn’t awake, and after a few minutes, the door opened.

The face of Peri I met in that doorway was very different from yesterday.

Her eyes were so swollen it was hard to guess how much she’d cried, and the dark circles under her eyes were so dark they looked like they’d been deliberately smeared with soot.

‘Seems she not only couldn’t sleep but cried all day…’

It was amazing how much water could come from such a small body – the pillow visible through the doorway was as wet as if it had been rained on.

But what stood out most was her gaze – unlike yesterday, she was glaring at me as if I were her mortal enemy.

“…It wasn’t good.”

“Pardon?”

“I said it wasn’t a good morning, I cried all day… be-because of you.”

Peri shot back without hiding her disappointed and upset feelings at all – the sight made me feel pity rather than annoyance.

‘I didn’t expect her to be this shocked…’

When Karma came charging in yesterday, I thought he was just being an overprotective father, but now I could see why.

‘Should I apologize for being too harsh yesterday…’

Seeing her trying to hide her sadness with anger made me soften for a moment, but then I remembered my parents’ faces and stopped myself.

Right, the relationship can be improved gradually later. If I set clear boundaries at first, Peri won’t cross the line either.

“Why are you just standing there?”

“What?”

“You’re my guard, right? Hurry up and do something.”

“What…”

“You’re my guard! Why are you asking me?”

‘Improvement… is that possible?’

*

*Ting* The fork that fell from the table made a clear metallic sound.

In the dining room with its fairly spacious room and table, only the owner Karma and his daughter Peri were seated at the table.

Of the two, it was Peri who dropped the fork.

“Bring me a new one.”

“Yes, young lady.”

“No, not you – you! You’re my guard so you bring it!”

“…”

“…”

At the obviously intentional command, not only Dorothy who was watching but even her father Karma looked back and forth between me and Peri with expressions that showed they didn’t know how to handle this.

I silently picked up the fallen fork, took out a new fork from the utensil cabinet in the corner of the room, and set aside the dropped fork to clean up all at once later.

For reference, there were already 5 fallen utensils piled up next to the cabinet, all dropped by Peri.

“Here you are, young lady.”

When I placed the new fork on the table

*Thud* Peri deliberately dropped it on the floor.

“Again.”

“Peri, if you torment your guard too much, you won’t be able to use him.”

Karma, who couldn’t watch anymore, said something, but Peri, apparently not ready to forgive with just this much, glared at her father, and Karma, knowing what I had done, couldn’t push harder and just sighed.

In the gaze of the kid quietly glancing at me, I could feel complex emotions that couldn’t be reduced to a single word – sympathy, karma, and more.

“*Sigh*”

Can’t be helped – it’s a disaster I brought upon myself, so I just have to endure it.

And so throughout breakfast, I replaced utensils over 30 times, and only after I had replaced all the spare utensils in the cabinet did Peri stop taking out her frustration.

Annoyingly, once she stopped tormenting me, her dining manners were so impeccable that not a single sound of utensils clinking could be heard.

*

“Peri, what’s your schedule for today?”

“Nothing special, Dad… I don’t really want to go out.”

Peri’s expression darkened slightly, probably remembering yesterday’s events.

“Right, just rest well at home for a while instead of going out needlessly. When the streets become safe, Dad will let you know. Read whatever books you want to read, and if there’s anything you want, Dad will get it for you.”

Just hearing the words might make him sound like an overprotective father restricting his daughter, but since she had nearly been kidnapped just yesterday, it was a reasonable measure.

“Then daughter, since you’ll be resting at home today, Dad will borrow your gua… no, your guard for a bit.”

“…Why my guard?”

Her eyes, which had been clouded, sharpened – showing how deep her resentment toward me was.

“It’s nothing major, just need to get some daily necessities since he has nothing, and look into some things needed for guard duty.”

Come to think of it, yesterday when asked what I wanted, I had requested a whetstone for maintaining my knife and some free time – seems he’s going to give those right away today.

“Hmm…”

At Karma’s words, Peri watched me carefully, and when our eyes met, she frowned and turned away sharply

“No.”

“Huh?”

“He’s my guard, he needs to protect me. What if those bad people come to kill me here?”

“No matter how bold they are, they wouldn’t come here…”

“I’m still scared. If you really need to take him, I’ll come too.”

“…”

“…”

Her earlier fear of going out was nowhere to be seen – all that remained was a small, childish spirit of revenge determined to follow and torment me to the ends of hell.

‘Hey, what should we do?’

‘What do you mean what should we do? She’s your daughter, you handle it.’

‘How am I supposed to stop her?’

‘Then should I stop her?’

Faced with Peri’s unexpected stubbornness, Karma and I communicated through glances but couldn’t come up with a good solution.

“Then… I guess we’ll have to postpone…”

Finally, since we couldn’t take Peri out, I tried to postpone the outing, but this little demon seems to have spent her sleepless night thinking only of ways to torment me.

“…I changed my mind, I want to go out today, Dad. We can take care of his business too while we’re at it. He needs to be prepared to protect me, right?”

“…”

“…”

Faced with her irrefutable threat, neither Karma nor I could put up any real resistance and had no choice but to surrender.