CH 10

Translated by EunEun

Edited by Slowday

‘What’s with this lame trap.’

She wasn’t a child. Did she look like she would fall for that little trick?

While she was having that thought—

Tuk.

She glanced at the boy’s hands that were carefully laid down in front of her.

‘… Since he’s sincere and I can’t ignore people’s sincerity, I’ll let this one pass.’

After hesitating for a while, Beatty eventually climbed up to his palm.

“!”

The boy’s eyes were wide open at the touch he felt on his palm.

‘… This, you’re telling me she’s walking right now?’

She was so light that he couldn’t believe she was currently stepping on his palm.

While the boy was gripped by the shock, Beatty crossed his palm and arrived in front of her target.

Hup!

The little squirrel immediately put the almond inside her cheek pouch then looked around.

‘Hm. Right there would be nice.’

She ran towards a finger that stretched out like a thick piece of wood.

Just as she covered herself with a leaf, Beatty grabbed the boy’s finger and turned around, then leaned on her fluffy tail that acted as a cushion.

“…!”

A thump and an incomprehensible shock struck the boy’s chest as she leaned onto his fingers. She was seemingly looking for some warmth.

At the surprise, the stunned boy’s mouth agape.

‘Great. This is just right.’

Using the boy’s finger as her backrest, Beatty took out the almonds that she had stored inside her cheeks to nibble on.

‘Seeds are never not delicious.’

Contrary to her easygoing mind, her brother’s heart was turbulent.

‘What’s this…?’

It was a dull shock he had never experienced before.

What was this feeling he felt in his heart just now? The boy suddenly groped around his throbbing heart and wondered.

Unfortunately, before his curiosity could be answered—

Click.

The silence inside the room was shattered.

“Young Miss Beatty.”

The one who opened the door was Johanna, who previously went out to notify the acting proxy. Johanna’s expression while delivering the words was somewhat gloomy.

“The Master is calling for you.”

‘The Master… Oh my, she is talking about Father!’

She was so surprised that she didn’t notice she had called him ‘Father’ inwardly.

‘Didn’t she say that Father wasn’t in the castle? Yet he’s calling me? No way… don’t tell me he’s gonna kick me out right now?’

Confused, Beatty hurriedly opened her mouth.

“Chuu chuut?”

‘Why me?’

“Oh my.”

Johanna looked slightly surprised when she saw a small squirrel saying ‘chu chu’ and busily moving its mouth on top of the boy’s hand.

“Hoho. Both of you seem to be on friendly terms. I’m sorry to interrupt the siblings’ good time, but…”

Johanna smiled warmly and approached Beatty who was in her squirrel form.

“Now, we have to go meet the Master. Young Miss, if you want to talk to your father, you have to change into your human form, right?”

Johanna smiled again then reached out her hand.

Tak.

Beatty moved to the other hands without much resistance.

***

Afterward, Johanna took Beatty out to change into a dress instead of being clothed in squirrel fur.

“….”

The boy felt an unfamiliar sense of loss, looking down at his empty palm.

“Tsk.”

Behind the boy, the tactless knight made a fuss by clicking his tongue out of frustration.  He then started chattering.

“Isn’t Young Miss Squirrel so cute? I was touched too when she previously stepped on my palms—”

“What?”

The eyes of the boy who exuded evil energy turned to the knight.

“Why would she get onto your palms?”

“Um… it’s, it’s because I can’t make the fragile Young Miss walk such a long distance?”

“Give it to me.”

“Pardon?”

“Your hands. I’ll cut it off for you.”

“Huuh? What kind of bloody joke is that? Since it was the Young Master who said it, I can’t even laugh it off!”

“It’s not a joke though.”

The knight whined, “How could you do this to me?”

The young boy snorted at the remark that went in one ear and out the other.

Tuk.

He opened his mouth after throwing away the almond on his palm that had lost its owner.

“Usually weak creatures would run away when they saw me.”

Most living things were weaker than him. 

Particularly, the animals that were sensitive to energy. They were extremely fearful of the young lion shapeshifter.

Even a trained warhorse was often frightened off, and his current steed was barely tamed.

To be precise, it was instilled in his mind that the running away prey was more frightening.

‘It’s usually like that, but…’

The squirrel that walked to him by itself was different.

From the beginning, the child looked at him with deep curiosity—though it seemed more to be a vigilance—with those luminous ebony eyes.

Recalling his first encounter with Beatty, the boy grinned and said.

“That kid isn’t afraid of me.”

When the knight saw the Young Master’s face with the corners of his mouth rising in a good mood, he scratched his cheeks, thinking it was a rare sight.

“About that… Well, could it be the reason? The Young Miss is—”

“Right. That tiny thing—”

Both of them blurted out the rest of the words at the same time.

“—also a shapeshifter, so she must be less affected.”

“—must’ve already recognized me as her older brother.”

“….”

“….”

For a moment, silence fell.

Unable to overcome his Young Master’s glaring eyes, the knight rearranged his words.

“Yes, well, it’s because she recognized you as her older brother. That’s possible.”

“It’s not ‘that’s possible’, it is obvious.”

The knight quietly piped down at his Young Master’s assertive attitude.

‘If that makes the Young Master happy….’

The silence in the room did not break until Beatty, who had changed into a dress, returned.

***

“This is the office where the Master works.”

At Johanna’s words, Beatty looked up to the office room’s door that was so high and huge to the extent she had to bend her head.

The lion’s head, which looked like it could roar at any moment, was embossed in the middle of the door.

Gulp.

Beatty gulped her saliva without realizing it.

“In here, the Lord…’

Before the girl’s nervous eyes, the door slowly opened.

“Ah, you finally came.”

Beatty’s head tilted sideways.

‘Who…?’

The person inside the office wasn’t the ‘Duke of Aslan’ she saw in the newspaper.

The brown-haired man with a gentle impression bowed his head lightly to the young boy who caught up to Beatty, acting like he was close to him.

“Young Lord, it’s been a while since I saw you.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you come all the way here from the battlefield because of the supply this time?”

“Other than that, is there anything else?”

“Indeed, it’s like that.”

The man nodded moderately, then turned to Beatty.

“Young Lady too… This is our first time greeting each other.”

Scrape—

The man rose from his chair and bowed politely, putting one hand on his chest.

“I’m Count Zealot, working as the acting proxy of His Excellency the Duke. It’s an honor to meet the Young Lady of the Great Aslan.”

It was a standard manner that seemed unusual for the child.

What kind of situation is this?

Beatty, holding the urge to roll her eyes, spoke.

“I heard that I was called by the Lord.”

“The Lord? Ah, yes. His Excellency the Duke did tell me to immediately connect to him as soon as you arrived.”

“Connect?”

“Yes. It’s a communication connection. This communication device allows you to talk to His Excellency who is out on the battlefield.”

Count Zealot explained by pointing to a round area on the desk of the office.

Gulp.

Beatty swallowed her saliva, then clasped the skirt with both hands as she unconsciously clung onto it.

She didn’t know that she would be directly talking to her father so soon.

Beatty couldn’t imagine how her father’s voice would sound, as she had never once heard it.

“If it’s a conversation, what kind of talk…?”

At the child’s slightly hesitant question, Count Zealot pulled up his thin lips and gave a sad look.

“About that… isn’t it just one thing?”

“One thing?”

“Yes. Of course, it is a reasonable thing for the Young Lady to want to see her family.”

Flinch.

For a moment, the Count’s gaze reminded her of a snake, making Beatty’s shoulder numb.

“The North currently stands out.”

The Count continued in a slow tone as if he was teaching an inexperienced child.

“Young Lady, I know you want to be spoiled by your father just like any other child.”

“Spoiled…?”

Before Beatty could refute by saying, “I have never thought about it,” the Count spoke again.

“Ah, of course, it’s not a bad thing for the Young Lady to think like that.”

“….”

“It’s feasible to say, but the situation here in the North isn’t relatively peaceful. If you know why His Excellency sent Young Lady to the capital, you will realize the consequences of your reckless action.”

“I—”

“Sigh.”

At the sound of the adult’s heavy sigh, Beatty reflexively flinched, unknowingly recalling the image of her aunt who always frowned at her.

“Please wait for a moment, Young Lady.”

The words were kind, but he sounded like he was coaxing a clingy child.

“When the war is over, surely His Excellency will make up for the time you two have missed.”

Listening to the Count’s words, Beatty’s face flushed as he, in some way, depicted her as a terribly immature child.

‘It’s not that!’

She didn’t come here to pester and beg people to take care of her, especially during the war.

‘I’m just trying to tell the Lord about the way to end this war!’

As she could only pour out her frustration inwardly, her young body was suffocated with anger.

‘It’s frustrating!’

Beatty’s face flushed as she let out the infuriating feeling through a hot whiff. Her breath was heavy.

“Hm..”

As if something was bothering him, the young boy raised one eyebrow and walked out to block Beatty’s view.

“Count Zealot.”

With a predator facing him, the Count’s shoulder naturally flinched.

“I think there’s still a lot of nonsense that I haven’t discovered?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

The boy’s disapproving eyes were cast over the Count, who immediately apologized as he didn’t want to suffer from unnecessary things.

The Count looked at Beatty and apologized.

“Young Lady. I guess my worries were out of line. Please forgive me.”

With his head hung, the Count’s brown hair flowed down.

“H-huh?”

Beatty blinked her eyes. She was flustered since it was her first time seeing an adult apologizing to her.

That time.

The communication device on the desk blinked intermittently and flashed.

“Ah, the signal came just in time.”

The delighted Count put his hand on the device and opened his mouth as he started to talk.

“Yes, Your Excellency. …Yes. …Yes, she just came up. ….I understand.”

Raising his head again, he looked at Beatty and said,

“Young Lady. It’s His Excellency.”

“?”

“Ah, it seems like you haven’t learned how to use the communication device.”

A servant in the room set a foothold in front of the desk for Beatty. As she went up, she could see the device within her reach.

“It’s simple. You can just put your hand here.”

Beatty put her hand on the crystal ball as she was told. Before she could recover from her dazed condition—

Buzz.

“?!”

An unknown vibration flowed through her arm.

And then, at the next moment.

A voice rang inside her head.

–  Why?

It was her first time hearing the voice, but Beatty could tell right away.

–  You ran away from the capital, didn’t you?

A voice that rebuked her.

It was her father.

Beatty went blank for a moment.

Objectively, his voice was low and it had the power to captivate people’s attention.

‘So, it was this kind of voice.’

Her father’s voice that she heard for the first time somehow left her at a loss for words.

“….”

–  Are you listening?

Unknowingly staying quiet for a long time, she heard the words urging her to answer.

‘I guess he’s irritated because I respond to him late.’

Although she had no other feelings about the angry tone, Beatty grew up watching her aunt. Her aunt didn’t raise her voice but she conveyed her displeasure on her face.

It occurred to her that she should explain things first before he got angrier like her aunt.

“Um, that—”

‘What was the question again?’

–  … Did anything happen in the Capital?

His question sounded like he was worried, though it was obscured by a daunting tone.

Beatty was too busy thinking about the answer that she didn’t notice the sign.

“In the Capital?”

Beatty tried to remember for a while, then she realized.

‘Heuk—! Come to think about it again, I ran away after punching Ritter’s cheeks!’