DGDITMIAE 17

Chapter 17

That would clearly mean she was going out late at night, no matter who saw it.

Terestia slowly crept backward and moved to the back gate that connected to the mountain behind the residence.

After subtly looking around and confirming no one was there, Terestia leaped right over the tall wall.

Apart from the two knights standing guard at the end of the back gate—whoever was on duty today—there was no one else.

Once she was sure, Terestia landed lightly.

Thanks to the grassy ground, she could move stealthily, and after glancing back once, she immediately broke into a run.

Light, fast, and quiet.

The only sound coming from the mountain was the rustling of grass as Terestia ran between the trees.

Recalling her memories, she knew there were red flowering trees that bloomed even in the cold North.

Terestia pulled out the human knowledge she had swallowed and tilted her head.

Hmm, was she talking about a flower called camellia?

“…I don’t see anything like that.”

Anyway, Terestia scoured the mountain like a cat hunting mice, running all over.

She resolved to find a flowering tree and make that arrogant Argo applaud her for managing to do it, glaring at the trees here and there.

Being a demon, the dark night was no hindrance to Terestia at all.

She shook trees that looked similar, and even sniffed around with her excellent nose.

“Huff… why isn’t there anything?”

But in the end, that was all.

After wandering around for a long while, there were only tall trees with green leaves everywhere.

There wasn’t a single thing that could be called a flower.

‘Is there nothing on this mountain?’

Maybe it was just this hill that had none?

Even with her eyes wide open, not a single thing that Terestia would like was in sight.

After strutting around the mountain for a long time, Terestia finally decided gloomily that she’d have to try a different mountain when morning came.

*Thump—.*

And as Terestia was trudging down the mountain, feeling dejected, something soft bumped against her toe.

It was too big to be a bug, so she bent down to look below.

Something reddish was wobbling…

She reached out her hand and felt a warm, fluffy texture.

She grabbed it and lifted it up, and only then did Terestia realize it was a tail.

But even when Terestia lifted it by the tail, the beast remained still.

Its heavy, panting breaths seemed to indicate it was in pain somewhere.

It was only after staring at it for a long while that Terestia realized the identity of the beast she was holding.

“…A fox?”

A fox!

There were no small, pretty flowers, but she’d found an even cuter ball of fur!

‘Warm, cozy, and fluffy.’

Either way, it was still a catch.

Though she herself would never admit it, Terestia had a weakness for cute things.

Especially for an animal this fluffy and adorable.

Hadn’t she lovingly taken care of even ‘Cookie,’ who barked so arrogantly?

“So cute.”

Terestia, who had been holding it up by the tail, adjusted her grip and cradled the fox preciously.

The whimpering sounds lessened, but the fox was still gasping for breath.

Her mind was filled with the thought of needing to check the condition of this delicate, frail, and cute fox right away.

At this point, ‘flowers’ no longer existed in Terestia’s mind.

She had even forgotten why she’d come up the mountain, hugging the fox tightly as she came back down.

As the Grand Ducal Residence came into view and dim lights began to seep through the windows, the fox’s appearance became a bit clearer than before.

The fox, now visible in the light, was still cute, but blood was flowing from its hind leg.

The unconscious fox only occasionally let out a pained moan.

Seeing that, Terestia concluded that besides the leg wound, there seemed to be something else wrong with it.

In that case, there was no need to delay—Terestia dashed into the mansion.

“Who’s there at this hour… Y-Your Highness?”

The knight standing guard at the mansion stared blankly at Terestia’s back as she rushed past like the wind.

She was definitely holding something…

*Thud, thud—!*

Terestia immediately ran to the end of the right corridor on the first floor and knocked on the door.

The door, battered without mercy, rattled loudly as if it were about to be torn off at any moment, and the person inside jumped out in fright.

“Wh-what is it!”

“…”

“Your Highness…?”

Without a word, Terestia held out the fox in her arms to the man before her.

The middle-aged man, who appeared to have been about to sleep, was in his pajamas, and it was clear he had rushed out in surprise at the sudden commotion.

The man was the Grand Duke of Inyument’s personal physician, residing in the Grand Ducal Residence.

Terestia had never been injured despite all her wandering around and monster hunting, so until now he had only treated the knights’ wounds.

So for Terestia to come knocking at his door in the dead of night was a huge shock for the physician.

“Can’t you see? The fox is injured.”

The physician stared blankly at Terestia, then looked at the fox whimpering in her arms.

He had almost firmly said, “I’m not a veterinarian, you know,” but fortunately he stopped himself.

The Grand Duke of Inyument, who had never once shown a wound, was practically a stranger to the physician.

He was someone who had never even had a chance to earn brownie points, so he couldn’t bring himself to refuse cold-heartedly.

In the end, he sighed inwardly and spoke to Terestia.

“…Please come in first, Your Highness. If you lay the fox on the examination table, I’ll take a look at it.”

At the physician’s words, Terestia carefully laid the fox on the examination table.

The examination room reeked of medicine.

While Terestia looked around the unfamiliar examination room, which she had never entered before, the physician examined the fox’s body here and there.

“Hmm… First, it looks like the right hind leg is broken. There’s bleeding too—I’ll need to stop it urgently.”

“Is there any other injury?”

Seeing it in the light, the fox was a cute creature with beautiful reddish-brown fur.

The fox, which must have been born and lived in the wild, had fluffy and very soft fur.

Terestia found herself stroking the fox’s belly.

As the rounded belly swelled and deflated with each inhale and exhale, Terestia smiled faintly.

It was slightly plump… and warm and soft—she liked it very much.

Being a demon, she had already decided inwardly that she would keep this fox too.

Who knows, if she raised it well, it might become her loyal and cute subordinate, just as good as any human!

In response to Terestia’s question, the physician examined the fox a bit more before speaking.

“It’s hard to tell just from looking at the outside… but it might have eaten something bad for it.”

“Then what should we do?”

“We’ll need to observe it a bit longer. It doesn’t seem like it ate anything seriously toxic.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Hmm, but there are a lot of small wounds on the fox’s body. It looks like it’s been through a lot.”

“I picked it up from the mountain…”

“The mountain…?”

The physician blinked at her words.

The mountain at this hour?

No, more than that, would a fox living in the mountains really have this many wounds?

He wondered if maybe it had been chased by hunters, but…

The mountain behind the Grand Ducal Residence was the Grand Duke’s property, so hunters couldn’t enter it freely.

Despite the physician’s puzzled expression, Terestia’s gaze remained fixed on the fox.

“Can you treat it? I’ll go get some water for the fox to drink when it wakes up.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

“Tell me if you need anything.”

“It doesn’t seem to be a very serious injury, so it’ll be fine. After I bandage the fox and treat it, I’ll move it to the sickroom on the right of my room. If you’re worried, you can go check on it there.”

“Alright, thank you.”

At Terestia’s gratitude, the physician looked embarrassed.

The Terestia he had only ever watched from afar without exchanging a single word was an arrogant and strong Grand Duke.

He had no idea why she had gone to the mountain at this hour, but to come rushing in all out of breath over just a fox…

Truly an unfathomable Grand Duke.

—

Anyway, Terestia felt much more at ease.

Since it wasn’t a serious injury… she hoped it would wake up soon and get healthy.

Thinking of the fox running around with Cookie made her chest tingle.

Imagining that cute sight, everyone would think it didn’t suit the dreaded demon Grand Duke of all those vicious rumors.

Just as Terestia, grinning, was about to go get some water for the fox—

In the corridor leading to the kitchen, a familiar figure stood leaning against the wall with their arms crossed.

And with a rather cynical expression on their face.