CH 9

“Is it bothering you that it likes me? Don’t be harsh on me though. Animals recognize good people, don’t they?”

Patrick, who had fallen into the absurd mistake of being envied, showed off his superiority and made a fuss, but it didn’t even go into Heinricion’s ears.

‘What are you thinking about, doing that here?’

He was simply staring at Eristella’s behavior in a flabbergasted way and asking her with his eyes. But she didn’t care and continued playing in Patrick’s arms.

It was when ferocious energy was about to start flowing from Heinricion as he still gazed at Eristella. The moment he felt like he was about to get up and pull Eristella away, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

‘You…….?’

Upon observing carefully, he could see that the fox wasn’t merely acting friendly with Patrick. She pretended to be mischievous and had buried something in his body.

As he continued to watch closely, his eyes met Eristella’s for a moment.

‘Trust me.’

She seemed to be saying that.

Well, he didn’t know about anything else, but it was natural for her to poke holes in the opponent and lead them into a mess.

For now, he should probably let it go.

‘Please be quiet and watch, because this is all good for you. Heh.’

As a fox, Eristella jumped, pretending to be playful, and clipped something behind Patrick’s neck.

It was easier than she thought to deal with Patrick, who didn’t even like foxes but was happy with the sense of superiority.

‘If you don’t do anything, nothing will happen. Of course, if you do something you shouldn’t……. There will be an immediate reaction.’

But she was sure Patrick would take his anger out on Leighton when he got home.

Without further ado, the magic would take effect at that moment.

That would be enough. No matter how much the Marquisate of Haveling was a knight family and did not know much about magic, it was not to the point that they could not recognize the clear evidence in front of them.

The actual decision maker of the present Marquisate of Haveling was Sophia Haveling; she was like the matriarch.

She was known for being prim and stingy with her affections, and had little interest in her only grandson, Leighton.

Which was why Patrick was so arrogant.

‘Still, she’s not the type of person to sit still when she finds out he’s been bullying Leighton.’

Sophia Haveling would surely be very angry.

The fox was held by Patrick for a while, moving around and playing, then suddenly turned around and jumping off.

“Where are you going all of a sudden?”

Patrick called, but Eristella, who had finished her business, did not even look back and went straight into Heinricion’s arms.

“Looks like the fox still acts as it pleases.”

Patrick couldn’t help but express his displeasure as if he had been teased by a fox, but Eristella sneered instead.

‘Hmph!’

She struggled to hold back the desire to bite, her teeth were itching. It was time for her to grind her adorable fangs.

A finger popped in.

“Open your mouth.”

For now, she calmly opened her mouth because she had to match Heinricion.

Then something entered her mouth.

Crunch.

It was a crispy cookie. Was he telling her to chew this instead?

Then, without hesitation, Eristella eagerly chewed the cookie hard.

“Don’t spill.”

Heinricion raised the corners of his lips, wiping the crumbs off the fox’s snout.

Of course, he didn’t forget to put another cookie in her mouth again.

“Ha! We’ll be on our way now. Leighton, get up, let’s go!”

Patrick, who was shaking at the carefree appearance of Heinricion and the fox, jumped up and showed his indignation.

In the end, nothing was solved. However, Heinricion decided to try to trust Eristella’s plan for now.

“Sure. Take care.”

As Heinricion bid him farewell without any hesitation, Patrick’s face mercilessly distorted. Patrick couldn’t bear to just leave like this, so he issued a warning about Leighton’s situation for the last time.

“I hope the Grand Duke will no longer exercise his authority. If something like this happens again, the place I will be visiting next time will be the Imperial Palace, not the Grand Duke’s residence.”

“…….”

Heinricion didn’t answer.

But that alone was proof that he had stabbed Heinricion. Patrick regained his sense of superiority and turned around.

And then, in a hurry, he went out.

“…….I’ll get going. Goodbye.”

Leighton looked at Heinricion, bowed his head slightly as he said goodbye, and was about to follow Patrick.

Tap, tap.

Eristella touched Leighton’s leg with her front paw.

‘Little boy. Look here.’

Leighton stopped walking and looked back at the sensation of something touching his leg. The white fox was staring at him with a smile.

“…….Me?”

When Leighton asked, bewildered, Eristella nodded her head.

‘Yes, you. You should bow your head.’

Leighton had a strange feeling of being commanded by the fox.

Leighton’s eyes widened, and he bent his knees to bring himself to the fox’s eye level. Eristella reached her front paw out and grabbed Leighton’s hand. And looking into his eyes, she said,

‘I promise in the name of Princess Eristella Rene Leonard. I will grant your request in some way later.’

Leighton, unable to understand the fox’s low cry, tilted her head and pondered.

Eristella quickly used that same paw to tap something behind Leighton’s shoe. And she stretched the corners of her lips as if nothing had happened.

It didn’t matter at all that Leighton didn’t understand anyway. It was like Eristella’s own promise to him.

It was an apology and a compensation from Eristella, for forgetting and not helping him for the past six months, although there were circumstances.

‘You’ve been through a lot, but things will only get better from now on.’

At that moment, Leighton had a strange experience.

He felt as if all problems surrounding him had been resolved just by looking into the fox’s gold eyes. There appeared to be a power that brought relief for no apparent reason.

From the moment he entered the mansion, Leighton’s eyes, which had never smiled once, curved for the first time.

*******

After the people of the Marquis of Haveling returned, Eristella’s eyes wandered through the distant air as if they were running away.

Heinricion was glaring at her half-heartedly as only the two of them were left, as if he had never brought and fed her cookies just a little while ago.

‘Stop looking at me. At this rate, there’s going to be a hole.’

Eristella turned, dodging his blazing gaze. There were still plenty of things to be picked on, so she couldn’t be relieved until she had a justification not to get kicked out.

At the moment when she was about to run away…

‘Huh…….?!’

She was immediately caught by Heinricion by the nape of her neck.

“Where are you trying to make off?”

Eristella, hanging Heinricion’s hand, struggled, but could not escape from him.

‘Why is a fox’s body so powerless!’

“Aww—!”

The sad cry of a fox, whose heart was as much as a wolf, resounded like the last rebellion.

Then, Heinricion pressed Eristella’s cheeks with one hand and suppressed her at once.

‘Hey, let me go.’

“I’ll give you a chance to be honest about what you did to Patrick Haveling a while ago.”

‘Yes, yes. Okay…….’

“When I saw it earlier, I knew it. Did you bring it from that room?”

At first, he couldn’t figure out what it was, but as he kept watching, something came to mind.

It was something Heinricion made together with Eristella when they were young.

Heinricion’s interrogation continued, and at that instance, Eristella’s eyes were pointed.

Then she suddenly struggled with her four limbs and pounded Heinricion’s chest.

‘I came forward because you didn’t know.’

Eristella hit Heinricion with all her might, and expressed it with her gestures.

“Ow! Woo woo woo!!!”

Heinricion’s eyes thinned; though he could not understand the fox’s words, he knew the purpose of the object.

“Maybe Patrick Haveling……. Leighton…….”

Heinricion’s eyes sank coldly.

It was when Heinricion, who had grasped the situation, turned with the momentum to attack the marquisate at once.

‘Wait a minute!’

This time, Eristella grabbed Heinricion’s hair, pulling tightly.

‘Hold on. For now, wait!’

Heinricion’s ferocious gaze touched her.

‘You saw it all earlier, right? What did I put on here and here?’

Eristella hurriedly reached out with her front paw and tapped the back of Heinricion’s neck and shoes.

‘Anyway, he can’t touch Leighton’s finger anymore.’

“…….”

‘So you send a letter to the Marquisate of Haveling!’

Eristella stretched out her front paws and wrote what Heinricion had to do right away on his chest.