CH 71

After the eventful events in the Weil territory, the killer whales and I returned to the center.

Primo, who came to meet us, welcomed Bella as if he hadn’t seen her for 10 years.

“…Bella!”

He hugged Bella tightly, rubbing his face against the back of her neck like a cat.

“I miss you. If it’s just a day later, I would have gone to the castle.”

“Oh? If I had known in advance, I would have stayed one more day. It would have been fun to cross paths.”

“Bella, how could you say that…!”

“You know it’s a joke, right? I missed you too, Primo.”

As if purposefully showing off their affection, the couple kissed each other on the cheeks.

Suradel and I stood at a distance like borrowed barley sacks, looking at the happy couple.

“Su.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t seem to care, but you should be nice to Lord Primo.”

To that soft whisper, Suradel responded brazenly.

“My father should be good. This is no other son like me.”

“You’re a son that’s hard to find in many ways…”

As I answered with dazed eyes, Suradel grinned like he was about to tell me something interesting.

“Look, Lia. That atmosphere won’t last long either.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

I shifted my gaze to the Weil couple.

Bella, who was affectionately sharing skinship with Primo, spoke with a smile on her face as if it had suddenly occurred to her.

“By the way, you.”

“Yes, Bella.”

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“Huh? To say…?”

“Ah, then you don’t even know what you did wrong.”

Swak—

In an instant, the sweet atmosphere of the couple cooled down like they were sprinkled with ice water.

Primo desperately tried to remember what he had done, but it was likely he failed, for his eyes widened and trembled.

Although he was a family head whose face was always full of composure and ease…

There was a stillness that was brutally quiet. To the extent that the sound of his adam’s apple rising and falling could be clearly heard.

Gulp.

A painted smile appeared on Bella’s face.

“Lia’s true identity. It’s said you knew?”

Only then did Primo realize the reason for Bella’s anger. He was taken aback.

“Uh, how…”

“Suradel told me? You seem to have known it almost from the beginning.”

Primo kept his head still, only moving his gaze to look at Suradel.

His eyes were full of betrayal, pretty much asking ‘How could you do that to me?’

“Why are you looking there? You’re talking to me, Primo.”

With Bella’s sharp tone, Primo’s gaze fixed on her faster than a lightning bolt.

“Why did you hide it from me?”

“I didn’t try to hide it, but knowing the truth later rather than immediately, to you, Bella…”

“That’s not all. You dared to come to see me, leaving behind the backlog in the castle? Thanks to that, Suradel and I did a lot of work when we went to our estate. Do you know?”

“B-Bella, I didn’t leave it to you.”

“So you’re saying you left it Suradel?”

“That, that…”

Before Primo could even utter another word, Bella turned around and declared.

“There are a lot of people watching, so let’s talk separately. Follow me.”

I poke Suradel’s side while watching Primo run after Bella like a puppy in the rain.

“Did you purposely tell Madam Bella that Lord Primo knew my identity?”

Suradel let out his signature laugh.

“I’m a little angry that I didn’t have a proper date with Lia at the Weil family estate because of work.”

I thought so.

I shrugged and cheered for Primo’s safe survival.

“Well, it’s true that he did something wrong, so it doesn’t feel unjust.”

‘I’m a little sorry that he is being scolded for not revealing my identity, but…’

It was a little irritating that Primo seemed to enjoy being in trouble.

“I hope Madam Bella will scold him more.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

After returning to the center, all the employees were busy unpacking and tidying up.

As for me, I ventured out as soon as possible.

That would be the case, because I had very urgent and important things left to do— Going to the Wulf family and finding out if Theodore really imprinted me incompletely.

It was said Theodore could pass tomorrow, so I thought it would be better to check it out as soon as possible, so I asked Jack in advance.

“Are you ready, Lady Lia?”

Jack asked.

“You have a striking appearance for a maid, but it’s okay because it’s only for a short time.”

The white parts of my hair were temporarily dyed black with a magic potion.

The plan was to enter the Wulf mansion with Jack’s help, and return after checking on Theodore through the window.

Actually, even if Theodore had incompletely imprinted on me, there was nothing I could do.

Knowing he would obviously be obsessive, I couldn’t willingly allow him to imprint on me.

Even so, dying would be…

Anyway, in this situation, the reason I wanted to check was to make sure who was responsible.

If Theodore imprinted on someone other than me and failed, then I wouldn’t have to feel guilty even if something went wrong.

Iprus’ brows furrowed, anxious to send me away with Jack.

“Lady Lia…”

I raised my thumb with a bright smile.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll just check quickly and come back.”

…That’s what I shouted at Iprus.

When I neared the Wulf mansion, I clenched my fists in nervousness.

Sweat welled up in the palms of my hands.

‘I don’t know if I’ll become a penguin.’

Jack easily led me into Wulf mansion through a secret passageway connected to the outside.

He took me to a tree on the side of the garden.

“If you climb this tree, you will get a glimpse of Sir Theodore’s room. Right now is the time to open the windows for ventilation, so hurry up.”

The tree had grooves that made it easy to climb, as if Jack had done so beforehand.

Certainly, seeing things like this made me believe he was the head of an information guild.

‘When did you prepare all of this when you were in Weil Castle with me?’

‘Indeed, the penguin has the best ties…!’

(TL/N: I think, strongly emphasizing on the word ‘think’… this is a play/pun on ‘What kind of connection is the best?’ Like is it family ties, school ties, or work ties. To Lia, the best is penguin ties~)

Jack left, saying that he would try to prevent servants from coming over.

Now all that remained was for me to check on Theodore.

Climbing up the tree in an uncomfortable maid outfit, I peered into the room Jack had told me about.

As if it was true that he could go either today or tomorrow, Theodore’s complexion was not good as he lay in bed.

With his eyes closed, his figure was deadly still.

Since it was said that the pain would get better just by being near the imprinted person, if Theodore had imprinted on me, his complexion would be a little better.

‘…As of right now, there doesn’t seem to be any response.’

‘Is it because it’s too far away?’

I chewed my lips carefully, wondering if I should go back or investigate more clearly.

I gazed at the ground and mentally went through my escape route, then moved my gaze back to Theodore’s room.

Hah.

I sighed for a moment.

It was because Theodore, who had his eyes closed as if he had died, was looking at me.

Our eyes met, and I hurriedly jumped from the tree.

Under the tree there was soft soil that Jack had laid beforehand, so I got to the ground safely.

However, there was no time to be relieved. I had no choice but to rely on my feet.

The once unconscious Theodore was standing by the window, clearly staring at me.

In an instant, a thought flashed through my mind.

But the feet in motion could not be stopped. Rather than thinking about how to act, my feet moved first.

Was it because I ran too fast?

At some point, the steps twisted and my body leaned.

However, being able to balance and not fall was a feature that was not built into me as a penguin.

Thud.

“Ah!”

It was a big mistake to roll up my skirt in order to run fast.

As I fell, my bare skin touched the ground.

The rough ground scratched my delicate skin.

In particular, the pain was severe as if a thorn was stuck in the hand that touched the floor.

I hurriedly got up, but my injured knee hurt, so I couldn’t run properly and was limping.

I didn’t really notice even though it was obvious that blood was leaking out.

My head knew I had to run away, but my body wouldn’t follow.

When I hurriedly looked back for no reason…

Theodore was chasing me from behind at breakneck speed. Maybe he had jumped out of the window.

It looked like a reaper charging forth to kill the enemy of the era.

Was he really the one who was lying like a corpse earlier?

Instinctively, I thought that I should live first.

I closed my eyes, grabbed the platinum ring around my neck, and shouted.

It was the starter that I really, really, really didn’t want to say.

“Darling, come here!!!”

Ame: I’ll go through the ‘poor Theodore’ stuff later on. For now… PANDEMONIUM! Let’s gooooo! (have I been influenced by Lia’s happy-go-lucky or self-centred personality? hahahaha)