Chapter 14
“Ppya.”
Being the family’s divine beast, that’s incredibly great! Asil covered her mouth and let out an exclamation.
‘Then humans won’t be able to underestimate Asil so easily.’
“Ppya!” (Got it!)
Her eyes sparkling brightly, she nodded her head. It meant she was willingly becoming the divine beast of the Monrephe ducal family.
At the straightforward positive response, Edenber’s expression, which had been rigid with tension, slightly relaxed.
“Thank you. From now on, I’ll grant you anything you want. I swear it on my name.”
“Ppyaa ppi?” (Then if you don’t grant what Asil wants, Asil gets your name?)
“……You seem to desire marriage with me quite a bit.”
There was only one case where a human gave their name to another.
Marriage.
She had called him husband from their first meeting; he should have realized it then. She had even shouted at Lord Elcai to take her as a daughter-in-law.
And now, she was openly demanding his name.
‘How long has it been since we met, and she likes me this much.’
He didn’t know what was so appealing about a mere nominal duke that she wanted to marry him, but the one holding the sword hilt was on that side.
“Alright. If you want my name, I’ll give it to you.”
Having made his decision, Edenber lowered his eyes.
“I don’t know why you like me this much…… but alright. Let’s get married. If that’s what you want.”
“Ppyap pi ppya?” (Asil doesn’t like husband?)
“……What?”
Startled by the unexpected response, Edenbert quickly raised his gaze.
“Then why say such things?”
“Ppyaa ppi ppi ppya.” (Mom said the boy who summoned Asil is Asil’s husband.)
“Ah. So you’re someone who has to do a contract marriage too.”
A faint look of disappointment crossed Edenber’s face. He had thought only the third princess required a political marriage, but that wasn’t the case.
Just as he had naturally felt close to her, he had thought Asil purely liked him too, but it wasn’t so.
Then, he quickly returned to an expressionless face.
‘Well, who would like someone like me anyway.’
Having lost his mother right after birth, he always carried a sense of debt in his heart.
If only his kind mother had lived, his father might not have lost the divine beast.
Then the family might not have declined.
So the family’s ruin was all because of him.
Because he was born and killed his mother.
He concluded with a cold tone that drew a line.
“Yeah, I get it. A political marriage is still a marriage. Let’s get married.”
Then he lowered his head a little.
Seeing him looking hurt no matter who saw it, Asil blinked her marble-sized eyes and mumbled with her small mouth.
“Ppyap pi ppya.” (Asil doesn’t not like husband.)
It was true.
She had been startled by the words about giving his heart and said she didn’t like it, but she did have favorable feelings toward him.
‘Though he tried to bury Asil in the ground.’
Husband was the human who gave delicious strawberries and a warm room. He was the only one here who looked like a peer, so she felt attached.
Asil drew a large circle with her front paws.
“Ppiiya- ppi.” (Among the humans Asil knows, husband is the most- favorite.)
“How many humans do you even know?”
“Ppi, ppya, ppi……”
Asil, counting on her fingers, spread both front paws wide. She didn’t know exactly, but it meant about ten.
At that, Edenber ended up laughing.
“What, that’s so few.”
However, contrary to his gruff words, his mood had improved considerably.
Either way, wasn’t he number one out of ten?
‘I thought no one liked someone like me.’
This little one was liking him as number one, no less.
Asil placed both front paws firmly on her waist.
“Ppiiya ppi ppyat.” (And Asil doesn’t do things like marriage. Asil will live with mom forever.)
“Didn’t your mother tell you to call me husband? Doesn’t that mean she wants us to marry?”
“Ppi……”
At the logical words, Asil was at a loss for words.
That couldn’t be. My mom wouldn’t do that.
She still didn’t know why mom told her to call a human husband.
But mom’s words had never been wrong, so there must be a reason.
Moreover, ‘marriage’ in the beastman world didn’t really mean much. There, if beastmen who got along lived together, that was marriage.
If there were multiple beastmen who got along, they would form a family together.
In fact, Asil’s dad had five.
“Saaat…… ppyhaaaam.”
Asil, continuing her thoughts, let out a big yawn.
While talking with Edenber, the tension from today’s events had eased, and sleepiness came rushing in.
“It’s already this late……”
Looking at the clock, Edenber was startled. He thought it was just a short talk, but it was already this late.
Talking with Asil, he didn’t notice time passing. He quickly prepared to leave.
“I’ll head out now. Good night.”
Even so, unable to believe he had a divine beast, he greeted once more as if seeking confirmation.
“Good night, divine beast of Monrephe.”
“Ppiiya.” (Good night, husband.)
Asil, waving one front paw cutely in greeting, covered herself with the blanket and closed her eyes.
As Edenber turned off the light and left, he absentmindedly touched his mouth with a sudden thought.
When Asil had spread out ten fingers just moments ago and said she liked him.
How long had it been since he smiled……?
He couldn’t remember well.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time.
Viante, who had rushed over spending a fortune only to get harshly scolded and even placed under house arrest, was grinding his teeth.
“What the hell, how sloppily did you handle things that father found out!”
As soon as he arrived at the ducal castle, he was summoned by Elcai.
What the hell were you thinking ordering the vassal to open the bear enclosure, and was the previous incident not a mistake but intentional, he was interrogated.
They were things he had done to crush his nephew’s spirit, but Viante denied it to the end.
But it didn’t work on Elcai.
“You have no qualification to manage the sacred beasts. I’ll give you exactly three days. Within that, hand over all the sacred beasts to Edenbert!”
At the utterly absurd conclusion, Viante couldn’t find words.
Just as the power of the divine beast was the power of the ducal family, the sacred beasts also represented each family’s authority.
And to hand all of that over to that thorn-in-the-side nephew.
For just opening the bear enclosure and playing a prank, wasn’t the punishment excessively harsh?
Especially since no one was even hurt!
To the indignant Viante, Elkai said just one thing.
“Is there a need for two suns in one family?”
The moment he heard that, Viante realized.
That his father had found out about his ambition to crush Edenber and become the new Munlepe duke.
‘How carefully I avoided father’s ears all this time, and yet over something like this!’
His teeth ground together involuntarily.
That rotten vassal, was it really that hard to open one bear enclosure without people’s eyes on him?
Not knowing that Asil could talk to animals, Viante thought the vassal had handled things sloppily, leading to this mess.
Moreover, his anger wasn’t just this.
“What? Not only did he not kill the mutant lizard, but he collapsed himself? Does that make any sense?”
Just in case the nephew attached a guard knight, he had even fed him a drug that made him more violent.
Yet the mutant lizard, not even a guard knight, took down a bear several times stronger. And with bare hands, at that.
He couldn’t believe it at all.
In the end, he even thought this.
‘To avoid backlash from making a weak one a divine beast, maybe he lied?’
In truth, it was that guard knight who took down the sacred beast.
“Please help, Lord Viante. My husband only followed orders.”
Currently, in front of him stood the wife of the vassal accused as the culprit of this incident.
She was pleading to spare her husband just once.
Viante, lost in thought and not even pretending to hear the plea, asked his adjutant.
“Is that guy named Dylan really that strong?”
“Yes? D-Dylan?”
“The one said to be the lizard’s guard knight.”
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By Anna 💓
