Became the Villainess’s Guardian

For Freugne, Edan was a window into the state of the world around her.
Privately, he was a teacher imparting lessons, a strolling companion with whom she walked hand-in-hand around the orphanage.

In short, a beneficial connection to maintain after entering society.
It couldn’t hurt to be acquainted with someone of decent reputation and influence.

Edan had even offered to send her to school not long ago. So in the future, within reasonable bounds, he would likely grant most requests.
Freugne knew how to take advantage of such kindness… but for now, she decided to let it be.

Nothing more, nothing less – just that kind of relationship.

‘Really, though?’

As the dim glow of street lamps cast long shadows in the setting sun, Freugne paused on her way to the textile factory and asked herself.

…To be honest, she knew this was mere rationalization.

She was afraid.
The threat of death itself was not particularly shocking after glimpsing it in futures multiple times.
But the idea of being utterly betrayed by someone she wanted to trust – that was terrifying.

And yet, this had been her way of life thus far.

For instance, if she foresaw a crate falling on her head at the factory the next day, leading to her demise,

‘You’re not coming to work tomorrow? Why is that? You’ve never been late before.’

‘I’m so sorry, I’m just not feeling well…’

‘Well, I understand, but I can’t pay you your full wage then, since I’ll need to account for hiring someone to fill your spot this week.’

‘Yes, thank you for understanding.’

She would fabricate illnesses and make all sorts of excuses to desperately avoid it.
If that didn’t work, she would accept being fired and verbally abused in order to survive.

There was no choice. She lacked the power to demand improved working conditions or insist on taking the day off.

To reiterate, the future she witnessed was ultimately the future that would occur if she did not see that particular future.
So she acted in the opposite manner – absent from the factory she would have attended, avoiding the paths she would have walked, rejecting the support she would have gladly accepted from Edan.

It was a simple thought process.

And so this time, she avoided Edan.
Even dumb animals understand kindness and gratitude. Thanks to that, her heart stung a little, but survival took priority regardless.

“…I should get going.”

-Shake

Shaking her head to dispel her reverie, Freugne quickened her pace once more.

On my first day at Ceres Palace, after completing the contract paperwork, I was assigned a research lab.
Perhaps due to our shared history of working under Professor Magni, the provided facilities were familiar.

“There was some opposition, but… I’m putting my trust in you, junior.”

“Yes, I will do my utmost to prove worthy of that trust.”

“I’m counting on you. The shareholder meeting is barely two months away, after all…!”

Granting full discretion over research budgets to a single person was an immense privilege.

Especially considering how commonplace it was for others to simply embezzle funds midway without going to such lengths.

While I did have experience as Professor Magni’s assistant, in the palace industry I was essentially a newcomer.
Strictly speaking, I was a parachute hire, but at least nobody openly objected.

Even then, I had drawn quite a bit of aggro working under the professor.
The patents registered under my name were not just one or two, and as a business entity, Ceres Palace had no reason to refuse.

“Allow me to briefly explain.”

“Go on.”

“The existing power supply method suffered significant losses due to material composition issues, but this battery developed by the professor and myself a few years ago can address that problem. Also, referring to the magic engineering design in this paper-”

“I see…”

Freyja had indeed served as Professor Magni’s assistant as well.
If the palace kept stepping on landmines by following shareholder demands, at least her occasional scraps hadn’t gone to waste.

With the advancement of magic and engineering, various innovative products had emerged, but the concept of home appliances was still unfamiliar in this era.

Washing machines utilized hand-cranked millstone-like devices. Refrigerators and fans were not household items found in every home.
While some street lamps had been converted to electric bulbs, the outskirts of cities still employed lamplighters who manually lit the flames at dawn.

The reason was simple.
The infrastructure to supply electricity to individual households had yet to be established.
But this also presented an untrodden opportunity.

“For home use, you say? Won’t it go bankrupt?”

“Which is why we need to make it affordable. Considering not every home has electricity yet, we can have it run on magic stone batteries.”

“Ah…”

“If we can keep selling batteries conforming to specific standards, that’s revenue too. Steady income.”

“But can you really do all that in two months?”

It was a project I had long anticipated.
I had even considered raiding Professor Magni’s research budget at one point.

The theoretical foundations I had scribbled down alone were nearly complete. I had roughly conceived the internal structure as well.
All that remained was to physically build and improve it through trial-and-error headbutting, unassisted by prior data from other magicians’ attempts. It couldn’t be helped.

There was little time left to catch the golden window of summer.
Moreover, with the shareholder meeting looming, there was no choice.

“The palace doesn’t have set closing hours, right?”

“We stop receiving outside visitors after 5 PM, but employees can stay and work if they wish without issue.”

For a while, I would have to pull all-nighters.

In the dead of night, well past midnight.
The streets were utterly deserted, a time when most menial laborers would have retired to bed in preparation for the next day.

And yet, dim lights still flickered at several factories in the East End.

“Here’s today’s quota. You can finish it by morning, right?”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

“Alright then. I’ll be going to sleep.”

From the perspective that time equals money, it was only natural.
While night shift workers received higher wages than day shifts, children were only paid one-tenth to at most one-fifth of an adult’s salary, so it wasn’t too burdensome.

The factory where Freugne worked was no exception.
The supervisor pointed to a pile of cotton stacked in one corner and instructed her to fetch it, then let out a wide yawn, making no attempt to hide his fatigue.

Freugne sighed softly and cautiously pulled the lever.

-Creak

-Rumble!

“Good, it’s still functioning properly.”

“Yes, it seems ready to operate.”

“Alright, alright. Call me if anything happens.”

The factory supervisor had mysteriously vanished, employing some enigmatic footwork.

Simultaneously, the rickety spinning machinery began chugging out acrid smoke and steam as its massive wheels started turning.
Technically, only trained technicians should have handled it, but if such rules were strictly followed, Freugne wouldn’t be working there in the first place.

Even so, this level fell within the bounds of ‘safety.’

Her former self had inserted her hands under presses to stamp out molds.
Friends who had left the orphanage dug coal in mines, and there were frequent incidents of four-year-olds suffocating or falling to their deaths while cleaning chimneys.

“Right, hang in there. Just a little more of this and it’ll be over.”

While Edan’s donations didn’t allow every child thick cuts of meat three times a day, it at least ensured they could keep the money they earned instead of having it confiscated by the director.

Not mere coins begged from wealthy slum tourists, but truly their own hard-earned money.
It might seem insignificant to others, but it was a significant change for the children of the East End orphanage.

With that money saved up, they could attend school of their own accord or leverage their abilities to become stock mavens.
For now, Freugne was merely a factory laborer, but she was confident she would succeed. Wasn’t it stranger if she couldn’t, being able to glimpse the future?

Just a little while longer.
She only had to live like this for a few more years.

“Freugne, feed the materials now!”

“Got it!”

At the bellow signaling the start of work, Freugne took her position in front of the fiber strands emerging from the machine.

The beginning of a long, tedious night.

From the start, this was night labor to earn extra money.
So the luxury of brightly illuminating the entire factory with electric lights was non-existent.

“Ah, it’s tangled up here.”

“Got it, wait. I’ll go down to the basement storage.”

“Take this and light it when I’m gone.”

Lamps or flashlights were not provided since they would frequently break when dropped, so in the end, candles became the most commonly used light source when navigating the factory’s dark areas.

Thus, a young boy carrying a small candlestick ventured into the basement in search of a cutting knife to separate the cotton fibers.

“…Found it!”

After wandering about, the boy soon located the knife and could return aboveground.
No matter that this was his workplace, he was still not even ten years old – the darkness scared him, so he hurried his footsteps.

Since he only had a tiny candlestick in hand, squinting his eyes was not enough to see properly ahead, so it was inevitable that he bumped into a pillar along the way.

And then, patter.
A few cotton strands drifted down near the small flame.