DGDITMIAE 18

Chapter 18

“…Did you want to raise a new pet?”

Where on earth did this guy pop up from?

Unable to hide her flustered face, Terestia stared blankly at Argo.

“…”

“I suppose Cookie wasn’t enough for you.”

“I… thought you went to sleep?”

At those words, Argo smiled brightly.

Gently brushing back Terestia’s hair—which had turned into a tangled mess from her energetic running around on the mountain—he spoke softly.

“You said you were going to look for flowers. Was what you actually wanted a fox?”

“…”

Terestia was about to say that there weren’t any flowers, but there was a fox instead, but she closed her mouth again.

Come to think of it, how on earth did this guy know about her plan? How did he know she had gone to look for flowers?

Seeing Terestia looking pouting and sulky, Argo shook his head gently.

“Whatever it may be, Your Highness, do not care so deeply about such things. They will become your weakness.”

“And who’s going to attack my weakness?”

Argo merely shrugged his shoulders. He seemed thoroughly displeased with anything becoming Terestia’s weakness.

Terestia glanced at Argo, then crumpled her face and began grumbling out an excuse.

“Either way, my goal is all to break free from these rumors that I’m a demon.”

“So you are saying it has absolutely nothing to do with your personal desire?”

“O-Of course.”

Argo, who had seemed in a rather foul mood, stared at Terestia for a long moment with an unreadable smile at her feigned ignorance.

Then, as if changing his mind, he gently took Terestia’s hand and led her to the kitchen.

“…Well, if you like it that much, you may keep that fox, Your Highness.”

“Right? A fox doesn’t suit rumors of being a demon either!”

“I wouldn’t know about that, but with you looking at me like that, how could I possibly object?”

What was wrong with my face?

As Terestia wore a grumpy expression, Argo brought out the bowl used to give water to Cookie and said:

“However, Your Highness, unlike dogs, foxes are difficult beasts to tame.”

“If it’s hard to tame, well, I’ll just have to send it back to where it belongs.”

“Is that so?”

Of course, it was a lie.

Argo smiled again, finding Terestia adorable.

Terestia felt like a young child whenever she stood in front of Argo, so she grumbled as she took the water bowl from him.

“So stop treating me like a child.”

“Well, aren’t you a child, Your Highness?”

“What? I’m twenty-six years old! How is this age a child?”

“Hmm…”

Argo said no more and simply looked down into Terestia’s eyes intently.

At that, Terestia subtly avoided his gaze.

Of course, Argo could never possibly know her true identity! But it was uncomfortable because he talked as if he somehow knew she was actually only one year old.

Though there’s no way that’s true.

Feeling guilty for no reason, Terestia feigned ignorance.

Presently, Argo let out a light chuckle and spoke as he poured water into the bowl Terestia was holding with both hands.

“Your Highness.”

“What.”

“Give the fox its water and go straight to sleep. You won’t grow taller at this rate.”

“…”

Terestia trembled with fury, grinding her teeth.

“Argo! As my aide, show some respect to the Grand Duke! And this is me fully grown!”

“My goodness, I thought Your Highness would grow as tall as me.”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

You’re taller than most knights! Make some sense!

Even seeing Terestia so furious, Argo casually brought up another topic.

“And as you saw today, there are no flowering trees on the mountain. If I had known you would wander around the mountain because you wanted flowers that badly, hiring a gardener would have been much faster.”

“Were you watching me from the very beginning?”

But I didn’t feel a single trace of presence!

Had he watched her from such a far distance that even a splendid demon like Terestia couldn’t notice?

However, as if he had no intention of explaining, Argo merely shook his head and said:

“I am always much closer to you than Your Highness thinks. If you really want to grow flowers, I will check if there are seeds for flowers that bloom in the North and look for a gardener as well.”

In the end, Terestia let out a sigh and nodded her head.

At any rate, it was a relief that only Argo had caught her. As long as word of her wandering around the mountain in the dead of night didn’t reach Mrs. Kiraldu, everything was fine.

Argo slowly bent down and asked in a low voice right against Terestia’s ear, as if whispering a secret.

“Your Highness… by the way, that fox… are you sure it’s a fox?”

“What?”

When Terestia snapped her head up, as if she had experienced an auditory hallucination, she was standing blankly alone in the empty kitchen holding the bowl.

Argo had vanished without a trace, as if he had never been there from the start.

Terestia, after glancing around for a moment, crumpled her face.

Even though it wasn’t the first or second time he had disappeared in an instant like the mage he was, it was still unpleasant. When he vanished like this, it usually meant Argo was in a rather terrible mood.

“How dare he be so arrogant to the Grand Duke,” Terestia muttered under her breath as she stepped out of the kitchen.

She swore that if it weren’t for his good looks, Argo might have been punched by Terestia long ago. No, he might have been put at the top of her purge list from the very beginning!

Though she was annoyed on the inside, she moved carefully so as not to spill the water gently sloshing around with every step, and before long, she arrived at the sickroom where the fox was.

However, when she reached the sickroom door, she heard a strange sound.

“…Ugh.”

Does a fox groan in pain with a adult man’s voice like that?

Terestia’s eyebrows raised.

Did one of her knights get hurt in the meantime? Is that why they’re urgently using the sickroom instead of the fox?

She hurriedly kicked open the door and entered, but inside the sickroom, there was neither a fox nor a knight.

A completely unfamiliar man was lying on the bed in place of the fox, groaning in pain.

Terestia carefully set down the bowl of water and looked around. The fox was nowhere to be seen.

What? Where did the fox go?!

With a face full of anger, Terestia stomped over to the man.

The man was barely opening his eyes, seemingly regaining consciousness faintly. Seeing Terestia striding toward him, he stammered out through dry lips.

“W-Who…”

However, Terestia showed no consideration for the unfamiliar man’s plight.

Ignoring his bewildered expression, the man, who was dripping with cold sweat, was suddenly grabbed by the collar and lifted up by Terestia.

Terestia shook him by the collar with blazing eyes.

“Where did the fox go?! Did you eat it?!”

The man was utterly dumbfounded by Terestia’s words and couldn’t even speak.

To suddenly appear out of nowhere, grab him by the collar, and ask if he ate a fox…

His head was already spinning, and being shaken by the collar made him even dizzier. He opened his mouth to say something, but finding himself unable to speak, he closed it again, until Terestia finally let go of his collar.

Plop. As his head hit the bed as if falling back down, it throbbed with a severe headache.

“…Ugh.”

“Speak honestly! Who are you?! Where did the fox go?!”

“What on earth are you talking about…”

“Where is our Coco, who has a chubby belly and fluffy fur?! I haven’t even had the chance to call him Coco yet!”

The man was appalled by Terestia’s words.

And only then did the man realize the true identity of the ‘fox’ Terestia was talking about.

His head was already dizzy with fever, but feeling even hotter now, the man barely managed to stammer out:

“M-My name isn’t something like Coco.”

At those words, Terestia scanned the man with a cold gaze.

“What are you talking about? That name isn’t for you, it’s the name of the fox I rescued.”

“That fox… isn’t it talking about me? I’m a fox beastkin…”

Only at the man’s words did Terestia relax her eyes and carefully inspect his appearance.

Reddish-brown hair and narrowly opened green eyes.

The man had an appearance that suited the word ‘refreshing’ quite well. His broad, clear eyes were large and beautiful enough even when half-opened weakly.

There were many small wounds scattered across the man’s body, and he was gasping for breath as if he were in great pain somewhere.

And attached to the man’s head were animal ears.

Ears that looked just like a fox’s were attached to his head, twitching slightly.