I SAT ALONE IN THE ROOM and thought over what the Duke had said. “I thought you understood what I was saying… Why did you react like that? Do you really hate your son that much?”
I let out a sigh. There is a huge difference in attitude between the Duchess and the Duke.
The Duchess basically felt sorry for Lucian. So I cheered her up and listened to her worries through our letter correspondences.
Then I also grew attached to the Duchess. She was actually a lonely, soft-hearted person.
She was stuck in her room as a type of self-defense, not because she was acting in a twisted way like the Duke.
“He really is twisted. He really is.” Judging from the reaction earlier, his relationship with Lucian is unlikely to change that easily.
“Was I too hasty?”
I should have looked at the situation more before I said anything. I pushed the topic because I was so furious when I heard that he had intercepted my letters, but I regretted it at the same time.
I let out another small sigh and stood up.
I was so worried about our relationship turning for the worst again because of me being away for seven years, but I was so relieved to see Lucian smiling brightly.
I really was glad that he seemed like a regular male lead, not the regretful male lead that I have always wanted to prevent. Even so, I felt frustrated because his relationship with the Duke was still broken.
“What the hell did Lucian do wrong? No matter how similar they are, they have to get rid of the bad relationship now.”
Of course, I didn’t think the pain he suffered would easily go away, but what did Lucian even do wrong?
It was too harsh for a child who hadn’t sinned once since he had been born.
“What a fool.”
It would have been too late later when he realized what he had done.
It wasn’t early, of course, but it wouldn’t be too late for them to mend fences now. Please, you have to.
[Note: Mending fences is fixing their relationship.]
I looked out of the window blankly as I thought about it, and I noticed Doggy and Damien walking together.
Looking at Doggy, who looked happy even from afar, I smiled quietly.
Oscar, the sub male lead I saw in the original novel, wasn’t that cheerful. He was a feisty and rebellious character.
“Yes, let’s try step by step. The sub male lead has changed, so the Duke could also change. Even the main character, Lucian, has changed?”
I told myself a bunch of hopeful words and left the room. There is nothing that cheers me up quite like teasing Doggy and petting his fluffy stomach.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───
“HEY, WE NEED TO GET OUR ACT TOGETHER.”
“I know.”
“Did you see his eyes?”
“But he is our master’s brother, so you’d better not speak recklessly.”
“What do I have to do? My teeth still chatter at the thought of getting kicked out by him!”
“Isn’t it too late to grind your teeth?”
“Argh! You need to be alert!”
Doggy and Damien were talking in the corner of the red rose garden. Doggy just looked at him with a calm look on his face that said didn’t like Damien.
This guy’s a little slow.
Damien, who was very calm compared to him, was actually quite insensitive.
Without knowing that, their master always scolded Doggy. How sad this makes him! The eyes of Doggy are wet and full of moisture.
“You’re thinking of Master again.”
He’s quick-witted only at times like this. Doggy glanced at the mean Damien and looked around.
“Nothing has changed here.”
“How long have you lived here then?”
“Hey, I remember everything in my life.”
“Really? I didn’t know.” Ignoring Damien’s answer, Doggy quickly headed to the corner of the red garden.
“I hid those here at the time…”
Doggy transformed from human to fox and then started to dig the soil with his paws. He dug quite deeply as he kicked up soil for a long time, then he raised his head and turned into his human form once again.
“I found it.”
“Hmm…”
Watching what he was doing, Damien looked at the beads in Doggy’s hands with curiosity.
“Is that the specialty that only foxes have?”
Each shapeshifter species had its own specialties. It is like the specialty creations of native tribes.
“Yeah! The first bead we make is invaluable to us foxes, so I had no choice but to hide it… I never thought I’d be kicked out.”
“…If you hadn’t brought a boar, I wouldn’t have been kicked out too.”
Damien’s always calm tone was filled with resentment, Doggy turned his head and stared at him.
“That’s–! I said I’m sorry…”
He felt sorry for Damien who was with him.
Especially since if it wasn’t for him, he might have wandered around without thinking of settling in the maze forest, and been taken by another slave merchant.
Then he wouldn’t have been able to see his master again. It was the most horrible outcome he could think of.
“Never mind. I didn’t watch you properly either because I was focused on winning the game.”
Damien recalled the first time he met his master after coming here. His master had told him this.
[ Your name is Damien, it’s your job to keep an eye on the fox shapeshifter. Of course, don’t just keep an eye on him, take care of him. ]
With his beak and claws, Damien took Doggy into the maze’s forest.
He thought this place was where demi-humans could grow up safely without being caught. He was able to think of settling in the maze forest because of his species’ specialty.
Hawk shapeshifters could see what humans couldn’t see.
For example, the flow of mana. They could also see the color of mana that is unique to each individual.
Damien thought to himself as he looked at Doggy, who was smiling while he looked at the bright red beads in his hand.
‘You don’t know, do you? Our master’s mana color is so vibrant.’
Especially since the people in this Duchy had very murky mana. Theirs had a dark and deep color, and they had a strong murky energy.
When mixed among the people with ominous murky mana, their master’s mana shone even more.
Mana changes sensitively depending on the person’s feelings and condition.
That’s why Damien could understand Raphael’s feelings without talking to him about them. A bad day feels dangerous, almost as if his mana is fading away.
‘I think that Master’s mana is weaker than others. It’s as if it would disappear in a blink of an eye…’
Maybe that’s why he had no choice but to do hiis a favor when he saw him for the first time apart from being his owner.
It’s no wonder he chose Raphael, he was a man of magic who felt sorry just by looking at Raphael.
Of course that isn’t the only reason.
Doggy who was twitching his nose tapped Damien on the shoulder and said.
“Hey, I think Master’s is out there.”
Damien’s dark pupils surrounded by wooden-colored irises searched so much that the round pupils became narrowed like dots.
Emerald, jewel-like hair fluttered in the sun and he quickly turned into a hawk.
“Hey, take me too!”
He was about to fly away when Doggy turned into a fox. But Damien opened his beak, sighed, and snatched up the white fox.
It took only a few flaps and then they quickly reached Raphael.
“Master!” Jumping out of the air, Doggy called Raphael gleefully. Since then, Damien had also landed lightly and turned into his human form.
“W-where have you been? I thought you both were in your room, so I went to see you.”
Raphael greeted them in satisfaction.
“Did you come looking for me?”
Doggy felt delighted due to his words. Damien gazed at the two and recalled his instructions.
[ Is it weird to say you should watch him like he’s your younger brother? No, that doesn’t sound right… Surveillance is surveillance after all. Then let’s do this. Damien, your job is to keep an eye on the white fox… ]
Damien stared at the white neck of Doggy.
Two years ago, Raphael commissioned a wizard to release Doggy from his harness. The reason why Doggy had been wearing Anti Magic restraints for such a long time was because it was difficult to find a wizard.
The necklace-type restraint harness that the Duke had been looking hard for was made by a highly regarded wizard.
Unless there was a wizard that could exceed the creator’s ability then it could not be destroyed easily.
Damien thought, looking at the neck of Doggy that is now bare and clean.
‘The moment you revealed your teeth to my master, I will dig out your eyes.’
Unlike ordinary servants or companions, one of the characteristics of buying a shapeshifter is that once they recognize someone as their master, that person is their eternal master.
But fox shapeshifters are not like that. So Damien wouldn’t take his eyes off Doggy even if Raphael asked him to stop watching Doggy.
‘If he tries to escape with someone without listening to me, you have to stop them. All right? Block them by all means. Grab him with your beak, okay?’
Those are the words he remembers very clearly that were said by his master and they had been imprinted in his head.
Damien just looked at Raphael, who was grinning intensively at Doggy. Then he looked at Damien as if he had noticed his gaze. Suddenly, he looked at his eyes like the sky of his favorite time of the day.
Raphael’s deep blue eyes pointed down, as dark a color as the dawn sky while the sun had begun to rise.
“Damien, shall we take a walk together?”
Damien answered Raphael’s question in a low voice.
“Of course that would be great.”
There is no shapeshifter who could ever refuse his owner’s order when Raphael named him. It would have still been the same, even if he were of a rare species with only a few of them left.
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