CH 79

“Penguin…?”

I gazed up at Theodore, my pupils shaking.

Why, why, why… at this very moment?

He narrowed his eyes as he stared at my round form. Then he muttered, confusion clear on his face.

“Are you, Lord Reynos…?”

“Whe, weeng. (Oh, I’m not.)”

I was crying and denying it, but certainty had already appeared on Theodore’s face.

Pressing a finger to his forehead, Theodore stood up.

“First, I’ll go out for a while, so could you change into a human and get dressed?”

“…Weng? (Why?)”

“As for the fact that you’re a penguin, not a killer whale, we’ll talk after you turn into a human.”

It couldn’t be done.

‘If he closes the door and goes out, I, who have no hands, will be trapped here.’

“Yueeng weeng! (I can’t humanize!)”

I shook my head quickly in hopes he would understand, and he paused and stared at me.

“…Ah. I heard you’re a demibeast who had just undergone humanization. So you’re bad at humanizing and animalizing.”

“Wheeng! (Yes!)”

It seemed that he had been diligently studying about me when I was pretending to be a killer whale.

Theodore slowly tilted his head.

“…Should I hide that you are a penguin?”

‘Finally, we can talk a little bit!’

I quickly nodded vigorously, just in case he understood it as no.

“Wheeng (Yes!)!”

“I get it. Trust me.”

It was then.

Theodore suddenly hugged me.

‘What, what. Why are you lifting me all of a sudden?’

Regardless of whether I looked embarrassed or not, he unwrapped his cloak and began wrapping it around me.

“Whehe! (What are you doing!)”

“Shh.”

When I struggled with a loud cry, he sighed and blocked my beak from opening.

‘Hey, let me go!’

I tried to resist as much as I could, but I couldn’t even move freely because my wings and beak were locked.

Leaving only the part where my nose was so that I could breathe, he held me tight after turning me into a chrysalis.

I looked out through that hole.

Theodore put down a gold coin on the table and took care of my clothes that had peeled off like skin…

After which, he opened the window and jumped out of the store on the second floor.

Uh-huh?

A lot of question marks popped up in my head when I really became a flying penguin.

(TL/N: there’s an episode where Lia brought , I can’t remember which though x_x)

I couldn’t figure out what the hell was happening to me now.

Then, a hypothesis flashed through my head.

‘No way. I… Am I getting kidnapped right now?’

The moment I reached that conclusion, Theodore landed on the ground with a thump.

He paused for a second to make sure I was safe and then started running like a man being pursued.

I was sure.

‘I’m being kidnapped right now.’

Kidnap.

Kidnapping… ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

‘Iprus! Hanu! Suradel!’

Perhaps he could feel me struggling violently in his arms, he muttered quietly.

In a very believable tone.

“Don’t worry. I will take responsibility and hide your identity.”

…Yes?

I thought in the cocoon of Theodore’s cloak.

Theodore, this idiot.

Did he think it was the people of the Weil family who I wanted to hide my identity from, not the owner of the Magic Tower, Lord Reynos?

Otherwise, there was no reason to escape through the window without notifying Iprus and Hanu, who were still waiting outside the individual room.

I let out a scream that Theodore couldn’t hear.

That’s not it, crazy bastard!

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Meanwhile.

When Lia didn’t come out of the private room even after a long while, Hanu’s concern for her creeped up.

“Iprus. Don’t you think it’s a little too long?”

Iprus waved her hand like it was a bother.

“Don’t overthink. They must have a lot to talk about.”

What a single man and a woman could do when they were in one room… It’s limitless.

Of course, Iprus had recently decided to support Suradel.

Suradel faction.

Although she even shortened it to ‘Su-fa’, she thought that the lady should have enough conversation with Theodore so that she wouldn’t have regrets.

‘The lady’s seemed to be directed towards Suradel, but…’

Iprus had a mind more open than anyone else.

‘It’s a feeling that even the lady herself has not noticed yet, so it can change at any time.’

Unlike Iprus, who was worried about Lia’s dating issues, the escort, Hanu, was very worried about Lia’s safety.

“But, Iprus. By now, it’s time for Lady Lia to cause an accident.”

“That…”

“Don’t you think it’s strange? It’s too quiet.”

Only then did Iprus’ eyes narrow with suspicion.

That’s right. The lady couldn’t be quiet for such a long time.

“Shall I go in with the excuse of bringing dessert?”

“…Sure.”

Hanu nodded, and Iprus immediately ordered a dessert that Lia would like.

Then Iprus stood in front of the private room that contained Lia and Theodore.

Tok tok.

“Lady Lia, I heard that there is a famous dessert here, so I ordered it. Would you like to try it?”

…….

Silence.

Iprus knocked again.

Tok tok.

“…Lady Lia?”

At this point, there would at least be an acknowledgement.

It was strange.

Iprus calmly pressed her ear to the door and checked for signs.

She knew it was rude, but she didn’t care about it.

She listened intently, but couldn’t hear even the slightest whisper from inside.

As if no one was there.

As soon as she realized that, she straightened up and put her hand on the doorknob.

“Excuse me, Lady Lia.”

Tachak.

When she opened the door and entered, there was really no one in the room.

Looking at the wide open window and the lady’s ring necklace lying on the floor, one could only guess what happened.

Iprus simply stared, she did not move for a long time. Hanu, who was standing far away, approached her from behind, perhaps feeling her doubt.

Checking the empty room, Hanu was flustered. He turned around wildly.

“What is this…!”

“I think Sir Theodore took the lady who somehow turned into a penguin. Move, we must inform Sir Suradel.”

Iprus’ eyes were filled with excitement as she said that.

It was true that she was worried about the missing lady.

However, the probability that Theodore, who was bound by the imprint, would harm her was extremely low.

Safety was guaranteed to some degree.

If so, now this situation…

A chance to see a fun love triangle!

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Theodore managed to wrap me up and bring me to the Wulf mansion.

Would Wulf know that Theodore wrapped up an innocent penguin and brought it home?

As soon as he put me on the floor, I flapped my wings menacingly in an angry fit.

“Whehe!!!”

‘You stupid idiot! Bringing me here on your own?!’

‘You don’t even know the penguin language, which is essential to learn in this global era!’

Theodore bent his knees and looked down at the angry bird.

“…That’s cute I can see why Suradel fell for you, a penguin.”

However, his bean pods seemed to be worn as tightly as Suradel’s due to the imprint.

(TL/N: ‘bean pods covering the eyes’ is an idiom for being so madly in love to the point of not seeing or choosing to ignore all of the flaws as if something—in this case a bean pod—is covering the eyes.)

I hit pause on my anger and quietly stared at him.

‘Penguins can’t fly. They use their flat, stiff wings for only two purposes.’

‘First is swimming.’

‘Second is hitting.’

After spreading my wings discreetly, I mercilessly struck Theodore.

“Whehe!!!”

“Ugh! I don’t know why you’re doing this, but calm down.”

As I huffed and retreated, he put his hand on his cheek, which had been harshly beaten.

“…It hurts more than I thought.”

“Weyeng weeng. (I have to get out of here.)”

I glanced at Theodore before skipping away.

And promptly tripped over my own feet, falling down with a thud. 

“Lia!”

Theodore came running in surprise.

But I just stood up casually and looked at him with rather dumbfounded eyes.

‘Tsk. Is it your first time seeing a penguin fall? Why are you making such a fuss?’

‘…You must have really never seen it before.’

If the penguin veteran Iprus saw it, she would have just thought ‘Oh, she fell.’

Because it was just a daily routine for me.

I had a lot of fat on my body, so I would be fine even if I fell from a high place.

I was about to go out laughing, but I came to a stop. It wasn’t by choice.

Come to think of it, a penguin leaving the Wulf mansion would draw people’s attention…

It would only be a matter of time before it was discovered that I was a penguin of the Magic Tower.

‘How do I get out of here?’

I let out a futile cry while contemplating.

“We, weeng…”

Theodore looked at my sad state and asked.

“…Do you want to go out?”

“Yueeng! (Of course!)”

Theodore’s forehead wrinkled.

“Come to think of it, Suradel was unconcerned when Lord Reynos’ penguin disappeared.”

Unlike his fondness.

“…Does Suradel know your identity?”

He eventually reached the correct answer on his own.

나는 속에서 답답하게 쌓여 있던 고구마가 내려가는 느낌을 받으며 고개를 끄덕였다.

“Wheen!”

‘Yes, you misunderstood on your own!’

However, the words that came out of his mouth exceeded expectations.

“It’s okay.”

‘What? What is okay?’

“Even if Suradel knows your identity, it seems that the rest of the Weil family doesn’t…”

Totally wrong.

My identity was known not only to the Weil family, but also to a shark. 

“After decades of searching for killer whales of the same kind, they will hold you accountable for impersonating a killer whale.”

He continued with an even more serious face.

“I will protect you, Lia.”

‘Hey, I don’t think there’s my opinion.’

‘There’s a human inside this penguin!’