DGDITMIAE 22

Chapter 22

“Right! Come to think of it, you knew at a glance that he wasn’t a fox but didn’t tell me, did you? Anyway, Zeo said he was confident he could work as a gardener!”

At Terestia’s happily beaming face, Argo made an uncomfortable expression.

Had that fox beastkin really said such a thing?

It seemed more likely that Terestia was just deluding herself.

In any case, aside from the fox beastkin’s own will, there were other reasons to object.

“Hmm… Still, it won’t do.”

“What? Why?”

Terestia’s brow furrowed.

Argo gently pressed that spot as if to smooth out her furrowed brow, and opened his mouth.

“Do you know that fox beastkin’s identity? What kind of work he did, where he’s from. You can’t just let someone whose identity isn’t clearly known into the Grand Duke’s residence.”

To put it bluntly, what if that fox beastkin was an assassin targeting Terestia’s life?

There was also the Empress Dowager, who was targeting her.

But Terestia seemed accustomed to Argo’s overprotectiveness, wearing an expression that said, ‘I knew you’d say that.’

She soon let out a *hmph* and spoke.

“An assassin? No way, he’s too frail. He said he barely escaped from the slave market.”

“He could be pretending to be frail on purpose.”

“No, he’s genuinely weak.”

When Terestia said this with a serious face, Argo blinked silently.

With such a serious expression that Zeo might have been heartbroken if he had heard her words and seen her face, Argo eventually stepped back.

If he’s that weak, what can you do.

Argo was inwardly curious about what on earth the fox beastkin had done in front of Terestia to make her say that, but he held back and spoke calmly.

“Understood. Still, it would be good to verify his identity.”

“How?”

“If he escaped from the slave market, he must have come from the capital. Tracking down a fox beastkin’s identity there shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Then have him tracked.”

I don’t really get it, but it looks troublesome.

Terestia thought that to herself and tried to sneak away, but because Argo was holding her face with both hands, she didn’t get very far.

“But hiring him as a gardener is still out of the question.”

“What? Why not?”

“Didn’t you say at first that once the fox was fully healed, you’d send him back?”

Argo spoke with a slightly hurt-looking face and voice.

Terestia was shocked by Argo’s expression, which she was seeing for the first time.

Argo’s red eyes, cast down dejectedly, looked bewitching.

Good heavens. With that build, making such a pitiful face.

If this had been the old, dissolute Terestia, she would have really liked Argo acting like a concubine.

But the current, steel-hearted Terestia was not shaken.

Well, actually, she was shaken for a moment.

Anyway, she spoke firmly.

“Then will you take care of the garden?”

“……”

Argo inwardly clicked his tongue.

It seemed she quite liked this face, but at crucial moments, she never quite fell for it.

Still, he still didn’t like hiring that fox beastkin.

Suddenly picking up some stray and making him a gardener?

The reason he interfered in every little thing about Terestia was to make it so she didn’t need anyone else.

Terestia, who when fixated on one thing wouldn’t even look at anything else, was a bit frustrating at times like this.

But opposing her all the way would only provoke her.

In the end, Argo leaned his forehead against Terestia’s shoulder and bowed as if throwing a fit.

At the feeling of a large gray wolf rubbing against her, Terestia stood still and blinked.

She did suspect a little what trick he was pulling this time.

‘……His hair looks so soft, I keep staring at it.’

To Terestia, who was staring intently at Argo’s gray hair, he whispered in a low voice, not hiding his hurt feelings, as if sighing.

“……Hire him.”

“Really? You can’t change your mind!”

Terestia didn’t know why Argo had suddenly become sulky, but she was happy that he had listened to her anyway.

And then she gently stroked the hair of her aide, who was acting cute despite his large build.

‘Now I can touch it!’

The fluffy texture reminded her of the dark clouds floating in the sky.

After feeling Terestia’s stroking hand for a while, Argo let out a small sigh, then scooped Terestia up and headed toward the office.

By common sense, this shouldn’t be possible, but for her, this kind of thing was quite common, so she didn’t feel anything particularly strange.

Terestia, held obediently, asked.

“Is there a lot of work?”

Argo glanced down at Terestia, who was tilting her head in his arms, then set her down in her seat and brought over a document.

As soon as Terestia received the document, she read through it seriously.

“What’s this? It looks like a contract for hiring staff at the Grand Duke’s residence.”

“That’s right. Just refer to the format and write down the salary and duties to give to the gardener.”

At those words, Terestia looked up at Argo silently.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“……”

Wasn’t this basically saying he had already anticipated that she would hire him as a gardener and prepared it in advance?

And yet he had been throwing a fit.

Terestia tried to say something to Argo, but soon shook her head as if it was nothing.

It was the first time she had seen Argo throw a fit.

Considering Argo’s appearance—tall like a knight, always wearing a stoic expression—wasn’t it kind of cute?

Terestia inwardly chuckled at Argo’s tantrum and began writing on the contract he had prepared.

“……What is this?”

“Go ahead and check it.”

Zeo looked at the document handed to him for a moment, then looked up at Terestia.

At first, he was dumbfounded to meet Terestia’s nonchalant expression as if nothing had happened, but soon looking at her beaming face, he felt deflated.

Unable to even ask why she had struck the back of his head, Zeo resignedly took the document.

And his eyes widened at the letters he saw.

“This is… a formal contract to hire me as a gardener?”

“Yep!”

“But what about my consent?”

At those words, Terestia tilted her head.

Huh? Didn’t he say he would work as a gardener back then?

Recalling her memory, she remembered that right after he said she didn’t have a human smell, she had knocked him out.

‘Hmm hmm, that’s right. Actually, this works out well. I need to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t go around saying strange things. ‘She doesn’t have a human smell’… that was truly an unexpected variable!’

Terestia shrugged, indicating that regardless of Zeo’s will, her will was already decided.

In any case, I’m definitely hiring you as my gardener.

At that resolute and firm attitude, Zeo was at a loss for words and continued reading the contract.

‘First, room and board provided… holidays are 5 days per month.’

But the most important part was the salary.

And soon, Zeo’s eyes widened at the number he saw.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”

“The salary is absurd.”

“Really? Is it too little?”

Terestia tilted her head and asked.

And at her innocent face, Zeo quietly set aside all kinds of reasons for refusal.

For this amount of money, anything could be forgiven.

Even if I were sold as a slave, I probably couldn’t get this much…

Yes, the reason I fled to the North was to meet a master—no, a benefactor—who would generously offer me such figures.

Thinking that, he silently wrote his name on the contract.

The past grievances he had felt toward Terestia, the worries about whether he could really work as a gardener—they had all long since flown away.

Under this overwhelming financial therapy, Zeo felt like his head didn’t even hurt anymore.

When Zeo obediently signed his name and submitted the contract to Terestia, she was actually even happier.

Terestia grabbed Zeo’s hand again, eagerly.

Zeo found it absurd that he reflexively flushed whenever Terestia touched him so freely, but she didn’t seem to notice at all.

“Great, then let’s go to the garden.”

“Right now?”

Giving work instructions so immediately.

‘Isn’t this too fast, even for fast?’

At the too-rapid pace, Zeo blankly stared at Terestia for a moment.

“What’s wrong? Does your foot hurt?”

Without giving Zeo a chance to answer, Terestia scooped him up from where he sat on the bed.