Episode 146
“…….”
“…….”
A long silence flowed through the drawing room.
As if he hadn’t expected his proposal to be so coldly rejected, Reinhardt froze for a moment with one hand still held out.
Asil stared blankly at Reinhardt’s hand, then picked up a cookie from the refreshments on the table and placed it on top of his palm.
“……?”
Reinhardt looked at her with a gaze that asked what this was supposed to be.
Asil answered confidently.
“A cookie.”
“…….”
“You may eat it.”
That was it.
Asil had mistaken Reinhardt’s outstretched hand for a sign that he wanted to eat a cookie.
It’s not like he doesn’t have hands like Bam-bam; she didn’t know why he was just holding out his hand instead of picking one up himself if he wanted to eat.
But since I am a kind Black Dragon, I should help him.
Even so, she grumbled inwardly.
‘Even Bam-bam can eat cookies well on his own.’
Oops, what she meant to keep to herself accidentally slipped out.
She quickly covered her mouth, but the other party had already heard it.
Reinhardt, who had instantly become someone unable to eat a single cookie by himself, stared blankly at the cookie in his hand before crushing it all at once.
Then, brushing off his hands as if he had touched something filthy, he spoke to Asil, who was startled by the crushed cookie.
“I understand the Young Lady’s intent well. By the way, Bam-bam… it seems you have another pet besides the rabbit.”
Reinhardt’s eyes narrowed like a snake’s.
“Usually, people give up on pets even after raising them well because they find them troublesome… It seems animals follow the Young Lady quite well. By any chance, can you understand what animals say?”
“How could that be possible?”
Before Asil could even open her mouth, Edenber cut in.
“It is simply that she communes well with animals.”
“I did not ask the Duke.”
“I believe I can answer on her behalf to this extent.”
It was a sharp answer embedded with thorns.
The two men glared at each other as if they might devour one another at any moment. Asil, caught between them, simply swallowed hard.
After a long silence, Edenber was the first to speak.
“Since your business is finished, why don’t you head back now?”
“My conversation with Lady Erzébet is not over yet. Does the Monlepe ducal house treat guests this way?”
“We always treat guests properly.”
That meant he was not a guest.
Reinhardt, hiding his anger behind a smile, clenched his fist until the veins stood out.
If he could have used magic, he would have struck him down right now, but he couldn’t because his broken mana circuit was still recovering.
“I didn’t realize the Duke’s manners were so poor.”
“It would be best for you to return to the palace now. If you need a guide, I will call the knights.”
“There is no need for that. Since it seems you are quite uncomfortable with my presence, I shall leave.”
It was just as Reinhardt finished speaking and stood up from his seat.
Kwang!
With a roar that sounded like something breaking, the drawing room shook slightly.
The three people simultaneously looked up toward where the roar was heard.
Urgent shouts along with the sound of people running caught their ears.
“What’s going on?!”
“I don’t know! They say Lord Ikart is causing a riot?!”
Asil’s eyes widened.
Father— no, Duke! Between appearing at the temple back then and now this, just what kind of things are you doing!
On the other hand, Edenber’s face was different. He looked as if he wasn’t even surprised that Ikart was causing trouble.
Reinhardt, glancing sideways at Edenber, sneered.
“It seems the Duke needs to settle his household affairs before receiving guests.”
Edenber’s gaze, looking down at an angle, turned cold. However, he did not open his mouth to retort.
Due to the continuous appearance of uninvited guests, the party celebrating the return of the Skya twin siblings ended quickly.
Everyone returned to their respective homes with regretful hearts.
While returning in the carriage, Asil heard about what had happened outside through Snowa.
“A human with the same appearance as the Duke of Monlepe, just looking a bit older, was knocking down other humans.”
“It’s the Duke. But why did they start fighting?”
“Well. I couldn’t hear well since the voices were so low, but it seemed the other side was suggesting they do something together? Saying that if he just did that, he could push aside the current Duke of Monlepe and reclaim his original position.”
“Kyuu!”
At that moment, Todori, who was playing with Bam-bam as he dozed off from exhaustion, raised his front paw high, saying he had heard it.
Then, he explained the situation at the time while throwing front paw punches into the air like jabs.
“Kyu! Kyuu! Kyu-kyu-kyuu!”
“They said a family head who cannot handle a divine beast is not a family head, so the Duke, who is closer to the Rune, should become the family head again?”
“Kyuu!”
“They persuaded the Duke by saying that if they start exchanging with the Forest of Shifters using this incident with the Empress as an opportunity, the Imperial Family would also recognize him as the family head?”
“Kyu-uuuuu!”
“The Duke said he didn’t want to do that?”
“Kyu!”
Todori, having finished the explanation, nodded his head fervently.
In her surprise, Asil unknowingly opened her eyes wide.
It was surprising that there was a faction within the Monlepe ducal house trying to make Ikart the family head, but exchange with the Forest of Shifters.
Truly, it was news she hadn’t even thought of in her dreams.
Exchange between humans and shifters…….
Snowa, who also had a surprised expression, muttered.
“Come to think of it, Father did say that contacts from the human world kept coming. Was it because of this?”
The father mentioned here referred to Winter, the snow leopard shifter in the Forest of Shifters.
Snowa, pondering something deeply, looked back at Asil.
“Mother must know too, right?”
“Yes, Mom probably knows too.”
Since stories seemed to be circulating secretly already, there was no way her mother, who was the Queen of Shifters, wouldn’t know.
She probably didn’t tell her because it wasn’t a confirmed matter yet.
Asil imagined the Forest of Shifters connected to the human world for a brief moment.
As much as there would be much confusion between each other since there had been no exchange for a long time, the end of it seemed like it would be quite alright.
Just like the way she gets along well with Edenber.
Meanwhile, Snowa’s complexion darkened for a second as he thought of something.
“Now that I think about it, it seems humans said they were looking for a shifter named ‘Snowa’ who came as a messenger……”
Then he stared intently at Asil.
Asil remembered Snowa saying, ‘Just let me catch which shifter spread false rumors. I’ll pluck out every single hair on their body,’ and quickly grabbed her thick hair tightly.
She also shifted her buttocks back.
“Oppa, let’s change your name. How about Ssnoa?”
“Hmph.”
Forget it. Snowa, snorting, turned his head the other way.
Then he muttered in a very small voice.
“Well, still, I don’t think it would be bad to exchange with humans.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I said I’m going to pluck out all your hair while you sleep.”
“Hing……!”
That’s mean. Asil, who took Snowa’s joke seriously, let out a groaning sound with a crying face.
But it was true that she had used her brother’s name, so all her hair would probably be gone when she woke up…….
‘Now I’ll be bald even when I humanize.’
Asil, imagining herself without hair, became dejected.
That night, Asil dreamed of being bald with her hair all plucked out, envying Todori’s thick hair.
The next morning.
After confirming that her brother hadn’t
shaved her head yet, Asil breathed a sigh of relief and quickly slipped out of bed before Snowa woke up.
And she was about to rush to Brianna to ask if it was true about exchanging with humans—
But there was a guest who had come to see Asil from early morning.
“Ahem, I have come to see Lady Erzébet.”
“……! Grandfather!”
It was Elcai Monlepe, the grandfather of Edenber and the Duke of Monlepe.
Although seven years had passed, he still exuded an imposing aura, with only a few more white hairs added.
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