CH 42

A corner of Suradel’s mouth was crookedly raised.

“Lia will go to the Weil family estate on my back.”

Hey.

I was a fool for believing in that killer whale even for a moment.

As I tried to peck him on the shin to tell him to stop playing around, he continued.

“I’ll tell Mother that Lia didn’t wake up, probably because she was tired from yesterday’s banquet, and go out carrying her on my back. If I put a blanket over her, even Mother won’t know.”

…What. Really?

My ears, thin like a sheet of paper, began to flutter.

Of course, birds only have ear holes, no ears.

However, having thought of an issue, Hanu immediately refuted.

“But isn’t a penguin far smaller than a human?”

“Do you think I can’t bring that much to life with magic?”

When Suradel replied with a smirk, Iprus raised her hand like a student with outstanding academic zeal.

“I have a question!”

“What?”

“If it’s possible to solve it with magic, wouldn’t it be better to put someone else on your back and use fantasy magic to change the face? To create an illusion without carrying anything at all…”

“Haha, why would I? I don’t want to carry anyone other than Lia. The idea of creating just the face is good. But if I do that, I won’t be able to carry Lia on my back.”

It was a reason that wasn’t very poetic, but Iprus nodded in understanding.

“Well, even if I die, I don’t want to be carried on Suradel’s back. If so, the only one left who knows that the lady is a penguin…”

The heads of Iprus and Suradel quietly turned to Hanu.

Receiving two blatant glances in an instant, Hanu shuddered in fright.

“N-No! Sir Suradel, it would be a shame for a knight to be carried on the back of his superior, and with my size, I’d be caught soon…!”

Iprus then scanned Hanu’s body up and down. Her eyes were full of lingering regret.

“Well, how do you hide that…”

With a drawn smile, Suradel once again emphasized that he didn’t want it unless it was me.

“Sir Hanu, I’m not sorry, I don’t like it unless it’s Lia.”

Startled, Hanu lowered his head, as if realizing that he had shuddered excessively.

“I’m sorry.”

Well, for now, being carried on the back of Suradel seemed like the best option.

Even if I persuaded Suradel to create an illusion of me, there would be no place for me to hide as a penguin.

Although the Adélie penguin was a small species of penguin, reaching no more than the knees of an adult, it was not so large that it could be easily hidden.

As I was listening to their conversation, I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.

…Actually, didn’t Suradel say there were two presents he was trying to give me yesterday?

One must be Iprus, then what about the other?

I stared at him to signal that he should quickly hand out the rest of the presents.

‘Hey sir, you should give me what you promised?’

When I puffed my chest out, looking like a thug who came to get the stolen money, Suradel crouched down in front of me as if he was eager to give it at any moment.

“As expected, Lia also wanted to be carried on my comfortable back, right?”

…I thought he understood it, but I guess he didn’t.

“That’s not it, it seems that she wants something from Sir Suradel.”

Once Iprus interpreted my gaze, Suradel rolled his eyes.

“Ah. Is that what you mean? Gift?”

“Wheeng! (Yes, that!)”

“Mmm. It won’t be easy to carry around now. I’ll give it to you when you return to your human form, Lia.”

‘Is it difficult to carry?’

Curious, I tilted my head slightly, and as if I looked cute, Suradel’s facial muscles twitched and he slightly bit his lower lip.

But it seemed that he had no intention of telling me what the gift was. He straightened his back, which had been bent down to meet my gaze.

“Well, it seems like Lia doesn’t object, and I have to go down soon, so shall we start preparing now?”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

“Suradel, what is that on your back? Where is Lia?”

Flinch.

Unlike me, who was nervous about Bella’s question, Suradel responded calmly.

“Lia didn’t wake up, probably because she was tired from yesterday’s banquet.”

“Really?”

“Rather than forcibly waking her, I thought this would be better… Or should I wake her up now?”

“No, no. She must have been tired from the grueling schedule. But…”

I strained my body again as the end of Bella’s sentence blurred as though something was troubling her.

“Why don’t you put the blanket away? It looks like Lia is having trouble breathing.”

It was a sweet concern that overshadowed the tension.

“The sunlight made her frown, she was complaining about it in her sleep.”

“It must have been very cute.”

“Yes.”

What was cute? He had never seen me talk in my sleep.

“I understand that you did it for Lia. But Suradel…”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Everything you do to Lia now is misleading.”

“What… What misunderstanding?”

“Of course it’s your relationship. If you’re doing it with a light heart, stop it.”

It was unexpected.

I naturally thought Suradel would reply with something worthless.

“Did it seem like I was joking around?”

But unlike usual, his voice was somewhat subdued.

I couldn’t see it, but there must have been a painted smile on his face.

“…You’ve treated Lia like that since the first day she came to Weil, so I can’t help but doubt your sincerity. I don’t know what you are thinking.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, it’s okay, Mother. I have always been sincere with Lia.”

Silence passed between the mother and son. It was a rare awkward air.

I felt awkward as well, so I killed my presence, channeling the spirit of a dead rat.

Oh my, the penguin’s back was hurt in the whale fight.

(TL/N: a play on the Korean proverb ‘In a whale fight, a shrimp’s back would burst’, meaning ‘When there is a fierce fight, the weak ones caught in the middle are the ones that get hurt.’)

It was Suradel who broke the long silence.

“Then let’s go.”

At Suradel’s urging, Bella began to move.

It seemed that she was walking in front of us. But Suradel slowly dropped further behind as we headed down the hallway.

I peeked my head out from between the blankets, curiously gazing at them.

Then Suradel, fixing his eyes on the front, muttered to me as though he was talking to himself.

“Lia, you may be curious, but please stay still until we reach the estate. It won’t take long because we’re going by magic.”

I grumbled, but obediently hid myself under the blanket.

I knew it wouldn’t take long, but my mouth kept itching.

It was because the conversation that Suradel had with Bella from earlier kept bothering me.

At that time, Bella suddenly looked back.

“…Lia, are you awake?”

Suradel replied swiftly.

“No. Lia is still sleeping soundly.”

“How weird. I think I just heard your voice.”

“I’ve gotten into the habit of talking to myself lately.”

“…Is that so?”

There was a hint of suspicion in her voice, but not outrightly so.

After two such crises, we barely arrived at the exercise hall in the Weil mansion.

Since it was a large-scale movement, I naturally thought we would head to the transfer gate, but the place we arrived at was the exercise hall.

At the hall, the employees and luggage were waiting for us to head to the Weil territory.

The amount of luggage was considerable, but the number of servants was not large considering that the hostess and successor of the great family were moving.

‘Are you going to check the personnel and leave?’

What was a bit questionable was that there was a large circle drawn in the center of the hall, and all of the people and items were gathered inside it.

In the meantime, as if the inspection had been completed, Suradel glanced at the crowd and raised his chin.

“Now, is anyone missing anything? Shall we start right away?”

‘What are you starting?’

As soon as I thought of that, Suradel lightly flicked his hand.

Tak.

Brrrr-!

As the ground vibrated, a geometric magic circle emerged along the markings on the floor.

In an instant, the view was reversed.

It was when I closed my eyes for a second from the sickening motion sickness.

“We’ve arrived!”

???

Question marks flooded my mind.

When I opened my eyes and checked, I realized the person who said that was not kidding.

The Weil castle, which had a blue point on the white wall, filled my vision.

Movement magic was not a magic that could be easily executed.

Even if one tried to move with the help of the movement gate, it would take several hours to prepare the magic circle.

But how could long-distance movement magic be performed so quickly without a movement gate of a large scale?

Having lived as a family member of the master of the Magic Tower, I knew how great this simple-looking magic could be.

No, even to a person unfamiliar with magic, this was ridiculous.

Other demibeasts would have thought Suradel was just a genius, but it was difficult for me to feel at ease knowing that this place was a novel.

Again, suspicions arise as to his identity.

Would such a being have been given no role at all? I highly doubt so.

However, like they were accustomed to it, the servants began to move the luggage calmly.

Did Suradel even notice that I was dumbfounded? He asked in a small, laughing voice.

“Are you surprised, Lia?”

‘Who wouldn’t be surprised when you’re using so many cheat keys?’

“If you marry me, I can make sure you won’t have to walk more than 100 steps out of bed for the rest of your life, Lia.”

“Weyeng.”

I replied in a low voice.

It was an unappealing proposal to me, who likes to walk from place to place.

“Then I’ll make sure you’ll get a lot of water for the rest of your life. I can make a comfortable mountain of stones just for you.”

…Maybe a material marriage with Suradel wouldn’t be bad.