CH 45

It was those dogs.

Guard dogs that chased Beatty fiercely from behind whenever she tried to escape after she was locked up at the annex.

She still remembered the ferocious feeling of being shook and bit at the back of her neck.

“You guys. Go to Niece.”

‘I have to let them smell her in advance. So that if she runs away like before, I can catch her with this smell.’

If she finishes her work safely and takes Niece to the Capital, she’ll never see Beatty running away in a healthy state like before again.

Firina urged the dogs as she was determined.

“…!”

Beatty’s eyes were inevitably strained. 

Although she could barely breathe, she couldn’t turn her head away.

Since it felt like if she averted her eyes, the fierce dogs would pounce on her and bite her throat to strips right away.

“Hoo.”

When Firina saw the frozen Beatty,  her eyes lit up.

“Are you shaking? Poor thing.”

Unlike her words, Firina smiled small in a manner that made it seem like she was having fun.

“Don’t worry. These children are well educated, so they don’t bite without my orders.”

Firina emphasized the ‘my orders’ which was attached, as if she was strangely having fun having them at her beck and call.

Grrr.

The dogs which growled lowered their bodies as they came near her.

Flinch.

‘It was an attack stance.’

Right before they pounced on her, they lowered their heads just like that.

Beatty’s face turned white, recalling her previous memory of being bitten painfully.

GRRRR—!

The dogs which had their mouths open kicked the ground with their front feet. Beatty closed her eyes tight without realizing it herself.

“Are you scared of dogs?”

She heard the voice of a boy say.

Hiiiinghiing Hiing!

Soon after, the sound of very frightened dogs rang.

“?”

When she opened her eyes, all she saw was a large back blocking her. She was puzzled by what was happening.

The sunset, which had just begun to set, was worn like a red crown on top of the boy’s head.

“You are…! From that time…!”

The unidentified boy whom she had suddenly met at a mountain range.

Recognizing the boy’s face, Beatty pointed at him.

Grin.

As if he received the unspoken greeting well, the boy smiled.

“Hi, Lady.”

“Ah! H-hi.”

After greeting him out of surprise, she came to her senses and asked back.

“How come you’re here?”

“Huh?”

“Ah, by any chance. The guest—”

An expression which said ‘I understand’ popped up on Beatty’s face, who found the answer as she talked, but this time, Carl’s voice came from behind.

“I told you to stay inside, but why are you annoyingly wandering around?”

“Carl.”

‘Does he know Older Brother?’

Seeing the boy turning his head intimately, Beatty thought.

‘Older Brother’s friend?’

This was what she guessed, but as if it was a denial, Carl’s expression distorted.

“Stay away.”

“Huh?”

At once, Carl squeezed in between Beatty and the boy and pushed the boy.

‘…Or are they not friends?’

For a friend-like soft relationship, Carl growled with a very fierce look.

“Don’t go near her.”

“Hm?”

Tuk. Tuk.

Pushing back the boy with a sheath, Carl drew a straight line on the ground as he spoke.

“Take 20 more steps back from here.”

“…Then you won’t even be able to hear my voice.”

“Yeah.”

That distance is perfect for you.

As he snorted, hmph, Carl pressured him to move back further.

“No, I mean, what did I do?”

With the voice of a man being wrongly convicted of a crime, the boy shrugged his shoulders.

‘So, who is he?’

Carl sent Beatty behind him and growled, he showed no sign at all of introducing who the boy was.

However, she was blinking out of curiosity.

“Oh?”

“….”

The Duke, whom she didn’t know when he came out and approached her side, stealthily blocked her front as he opened his mouth.

“I told them to guide the guest to the drawing room, though.”

“Yes, I was guided well.”

“Then, why are you out here?”

It was a pretty displeased voice.

From the guy who was conditionally his ‘friend’, to Duke Aslan, whom he thought he had a good relationship with. 

The boy shook his head at the two, whom he had never seen express their feelings, blocking the front and even sent pressuring energy determined to not show a strand of the girl’s hair.

“At this rate, I feel like I’ve become a bully.”

“….”

It was the two who didn’t exactly deny the word ‘bully’.

“What am I? I mean, I’m not even a thief who came to ask for your daughter.”

“Ask for what?”

Criing.

At the words he threw as a joke to relieve the atmosphere, a violent reaction came back.

“Wowo, are you really going to fight?”

“If not, why would you say that?”

“It was surely a light joke.”

Saying that Carl was a stiff friend who couldn’t understand jokes, the boy jokingly shook his head. 

Next to Carl who didn’t even pretend to listen, the Duke took a step forward and spoke.

“It’ll be better for the Prince to watch his mouth.”

‘Prince?’

Beatty blinked at the boy’s identity which was revealed from Father’s words.

“Aren’t you too cold? For comrades who fought together.”

“….”

The Duke indifferently ignored the Prince’s words, who was too talkative.

“What are you trying to say even though you came late?”

“Carl, you surely have to be on my side. Are you really going to be like this to your close friend?

“What do you mean ‘close friend’.”

Seeing him bickering with Older Brother, maybe their relationship is not so bad like…? Beatty wondered.

“I told you to keep your distance, right?”

Seeing Older Brother growling even though the Prince only tried to take one step closer, it seemed like it was not the case too.

‘Although I don’t know whether he’s on good terms or on bad terms with Older Brother…’

Beatty tilted her head because she was confused.

Glance.

Beatty thought while looking at the Prince who was still grinning.

‘…I like him, though.’

A height that was as tall as Carl, and a handsome face that can’t be covered even by an eye patch.

Apart from his family, Beatty had some curiosity that was mixed with a favorable impression towards him.

‘Since Ritter hates him.’

Isn’t the enemy’s enemy a potential comrade?

The only two princes in the Kingdom. Since the Second Prince is Ritter, the boy before her eyes who was called ‘Prince’ would be the First Prince.

‘Ritter. He was definitely very conscious of the First Prince, right?’

The voice, which usually spoke anything with a relaxed meditating tone, became rough only when talking about the First Prince, who was his Half Older Brother.

‘To think that the First Prince can make that bastard angry even by just being there.’

She wanted to cheer for him.

If it was a mutual hostile relationship, and not a one-sided hostile relationship, she would do anything that can help him, with her heart that wanted to stab that Ritter bastard’s weakness.

If he could definitely be a bomb to Ritter, she even thought of using her regression knowledge to push him.

‘By any chance, does he have any thoughts of screwing that bastard? Then, I really want to help him…’

While Beatty was looking at the Prince with sparkling eyes which were mixed with expectations like that.

“This—”

The Duke, who stared at Firina and the guard dogs with cold eyes, coldly ordered.

“Take this away immediately.”

Whether it was intentional or a mistake, the Duke had no intention of leaving the things that made his daughter feel threatened just like that at the Castle.

The Duke’s employees, who perfectly understood what the Duke referred ‘this’ to, grabbed Firina’s arms.

“Huh…? W-what– Let go of this!”

Fully looking at the tailed dogs nervously, Firina shouted in surprise.

“Duke! Why are you doing this to me all of a sudden?”

“That, too.”

“D-Duke!”

Easily ignoring Firina’s clinging words, the Duke beckoned that the dogs, which were pressed by the overwhelming predator shapeshifter’s energy, should also be removed out of his eyes.

“Ah! You must have misunderstood because Niece was surprised, but I didn’t know. I didn’t know she hated dogs….”

Despite Firina’s belated excuse, the Duke only calmly instructed his subordinates.

“Send them to the annex.”

“Duke!”

Firina, who had heard that the annex was a building on the street outside the castle altogether, raised her voice in protest.

“You can’t treat me like this! Aren’t you worried about what my dead Older Sister would think if she sees this?”

At Firina’s behavior of dragging and using her dead Older Sister whenever she was at a disadvantage, the Duke’s forehead wrinkled deeper.

“It’s noisy.”

At his gesture, the employees surrounded her.

“Eeek! Let go! I’m going to walk with my feet!”

Firina had no choice but to go out as she grinded her teeth.

Thanks to the fast-moving Duke Family’s people, Firina’s luggage, which was in the guest room, was also taken out in an instant.

Firina was forcibly kicked out of the Castle, and put in a carriage together with her luggage.

***

The Duke’s Castle Dinner Hall.

At the news that dinner was ready, Carl, who moved seats, glared at the Prince with a grumpy face.

“So.”

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

At a time when the battle was already over, the untimely Royal Family’s visit meant nothing.

“To Duke Aslan, who has made remarkable achievements, I would like to deliver the Royal Family’s deep gratitude and appreciation….”

“Ha!”

Carl fake laughed as if it were absurd.

“The war had been going on for years, and during that time, not even their nose could be seen, but now?”

“Carl.”

“From the fishy smell of snakes, I didn’t like it already.”

Even at the Duke’s restraint, who told him off moderately, Carl wrinkled his nose, not reading anyone’s mood other than Tail Fur.

“Anyway, I can’t trust the Royal Family bastards.”

“Leave me out of those Royal Family bastards.”

The Prince slyly received and gave back the criticism.

“Hmph. With a few dozens cuts at most.”

“Eyy, even so, I ran with my body, didn’t I?”

Staring at the two who were bickering like usual, the Duke spoke.

“Gratitude and appreciation.”

In the midst of the fierce battle which was enough to be named the Great War, it was the Royal Family who had their hands clasped behind their back without even sending a single support troop.

To think that with that position, when it was concluded a victory by the Aslan Family, they belatedly only sent one Royal Family member to send their ‘appreciation’.

“The First Prince Ather.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“I guess you must’ve quite gotten on the wrong side of the King.”