Chapter 165
Clink, the potion in the glass bottle sloshed.
Hata uncorked the sealed bottle and carefully sniffed it.
After inhaling the scent for a while, he even dripped a single drop to taste it.
“Ew, ew.”
It seemed tasteless.
Hata, his face deeply furrowed, perked up his ears.
Lost in thought, his tail swayed slowly from side to side.
Since Cheshire was in a weakened state, Hata was also in his half-beastkin form.
Thanks to that, she’d been watching his ears and tail flit about busily ever since.
After meticulously checking the potion, Hata reached a conclusion.
“It’s definitely a beastkin potion. Of course, the potions Hata makes are way better!”
Cheshire nodded slowly.
They were examining the beastkin potion that the three brothers had drunk to transform into adult bodies.
Hata wore a deeply puzzled expression.
“But who made it? As far as Hata knows, there are no beastkins who make potions…”
“Yeah, right.”
Cheshire crossed her arms and recalled the answer the three brothers had given.
“I don’t really know.”
As expected, the twins had no idea.
It was Kierne’s doing, so they weren’t interested or curious about it.
Even Belzeon, whom she’d trusted, didn’t know much.
In the past, there had been several beastkins who made potions.
Among the half-humans, those with faint animal instincts and deft hands would create them.
But in recent years, potion-making beastkins had gradually disappeared.
Since the effects of beastkin potions could all be replicated with magic anyway, they naturally faded from people’s minds.
Cheshire herself had only vaguely recalled such things existed when Hata first said he could make potions.
She had a rough idea why the potion-making beastkins had vanished.
‘Kierne’s probably the culprit.’
As the master of the underworld, to monopolize the beastkin potions for himself.
He was more than capable of that.
But then, why had he left Hata alone?
Hata had been careful to hide his abilities, but Karha, as an executioner, had once discovered Hata’s lab.
He could have killed or brainwashed him—either seemed likely.
It was strange that he’d left Hata be.
‘Come to think of it, he was oddly kind back then too.’
When they’d met alone as the seductress Lichesia and the underworld master, Kierne had subtly shown leniency.
Perhaps because she resembled the late Countess.
‘Just how much does she resemble her?’
In the Serpent’s Castle, in the capital townhouse—there were no traces of the Countess left anywhere.
Kierne had erased them all.
As if she’d never existed…
While lost in thought, Hata lined up bottles of potion in front of Cheshire.
These were the new ‘potions to return to adult form’ he’d made for her.
[♥Potion for the Little Fairy Lady♥]
Seeing the label on the bottle, Cheshire let out a soft chuckle.
Knowing it would likely be futile, but appreciating the effort he’d put in, she drank them diligently.
As expected, the potions had no effect.
Cheshire remained in her child state.
“……”
Hata’s ears and tail drooped downward.
The puppy who had been so confident moments ago, claiming to be the best potion-making beastkin on the continent, had lost his self-esteem again.
Just in case, she tried the adult-transforming potion made by the other beastkin that the three brothers drank, but it was equally useless.
“Don’t worry about it too much. I’m still growing, aren’t I?”
Cheshire comforted Hata earnestly.
At her consolation, Hata’s mood brightened quickly.
“But are you really going to attend the birthday banquet?”
“I have to…”
Cheshire replied in a slightly uncertain tone.
The three brothers’ plan was for Cheshire and Kierne to reunite at the birthday banquet.
During Cheshire’s absence, Kierne had apparently driven his sons like slaves.
Belzeon, with a blank expression, had poured out venom toward Kierne, saying he’d acted like a madman and that just cleaning up after him had nearly killed them.
Pushed by the three brothers burning with revenge, she’d promised to cooperate for now, but whether it would go as planned was doubtful.
‘I wonder what he’s up to.’
Thinking of Kierne, Hata suddenly interjected.
“For the banquet outfit! Should Hata get it from Miya?”
There were clothes already made, so altering them should work, he suggested.
“What if Kierne finds out?”
“Hata will threaten Miya to keep it secret.”
Hata mimed clenching his fist and shaking it.
Anyway, she just needed to keep quiet for about a week, and Hata chattered on about wanting to dress Lady Lichesia in the prettiest clothes.
There were matters to settle with the Skaya kingdom too, so they were set to leave the underworld tomorrow.
There was plenty of time, so stopping by Miya’s boutique as Hata suggested seemed fine.
“Yeah, let’s pop in quickly.”
Cheshire set out with Hata.
Unaware that she’d run straight into Kierne at Miya’s boutique.
“Hmm.”
Kierne raised one eyebrow as he read the letter delivered by the messenger eagle.
The Skaya royal family was coming to attend the birthday banquet.
Information had come in that they had Cheshire, so Karha had gone to check personally, but it turned out to be just a child who looked similar.
Having made a big enemy of the Basilian County, their situation had been dire lately, so it seemed they’d desperately found a look-alike to try and resolve it somehow.
Thinking they could replace a fairy child with a human.
What a foolish and arrogant notion.
Still, their pathetic efforts were somewhat admirable, so he thought he might allow them to attend the banquet.
[…And we’ll return to the capital for the birthday banquet.]
The letter from Belzeon ended with the note that he’d return to the capital with the twins.
Having read the entire missive, Kierne smiled faintly.
“Suspicious, isn’t it, son.”
Kierne’s sharp intuition was alerting him.
He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, but something was off.
It seemed he needed to ask Jahan directly about the situation, not Belzeon.
It was also time to replenish the potions, so a trip to the underworld was in order.
Black shadows surged at Kierne’s feet.
Kierne, who had teleported straight to the underworld, didn’t arrive at the master’s residence.
He gazed up at the sign in front of him for a moment.
<Miya’s Boutique~>
Smiling faintly at the garish sign, he opened the shop door.
Ding, the bell chimed, and a cheerful voice rang out.
“Welcome-nya!”
Miya, wearing a cat-ear headband, froze mid-grin at the counter.
“Gasp, Count Basilian…”
Miya hurriedly removed the headband and stuffed it into the counter drawer.
“W-what brings you to the s-shop…? You could have just summoned me…”
If he’d called, she’d have rushed to the capital townhouse, she said, shrinking and eyeing him nervously.
Kierne smiled at the frightened Miya.
The deranged boutique owner of the underworld, mimicking a beastkin though she wasn’t one.
“It’s been a while, Miya.”
Greeting her warmly, Miya looked utterly flustered.
And for good reason—after their encounter at the previous banquet, Miya had been handling the Basilian County’s wardrobe ever since.
But she’d only communicated with Isuel; she hadn’t seen Kierne’s face once since then.
As the ’boutique owner,’ that is.
Kierne snapped his fingers lightly.
The moment the finger snap sounded.
Miya’s eyes lost focus, becoming hazy.
Miya smiled brightly and greeted him anew.
“You’re here!”
Real cat ears sprouted from her head, and a long tail emerged from her rear.
Miya spread out a bag of glass bottles on the counter.
“I’ve prepared all the potions, Master.”
It was a bag filled with beastkin potions.
