“Che. What’s so great about that that everyone’s making such a fuss? How dare something like that ignore me, a prince!”
If you went straight in from the main house of the estate toward the right, the Heirs’ Residence could be found beyond a small path.
Most of the heirs lived with their parents until they were eight, then moved here sometime between the ages of nine and ten. After undergoing a simple test, those who showed particular talent in swordsmanship were sometimes sent on to military academies.
As for Gerd, his swordsmanship was decent compared to others his age, but he wasn’t going to become a knight anyway, so he hadn’t gone to military academy.
There was only one thing he wanted.
This family.
And that was what he wanted to give to his parents back in the homeland.
“Arrogant bastards.”
Crack.
Gerd ground his teeth and slammed his fist onto the table.
His plan to catch the head of the family’s eye had been proceeding smoothly, step by step. But suddenly, some lowborn nobody whose origins he couldn’t even figure out had appeared out of nowhere and completely ruined his image.
After that, even the other heirs had started subtly mocking him.
“I’m a prince! There’s no one of higher status than me! And yet, how dare they!”
Raging furiously, he had a man standing before him dressed in the traditional clothing of Lichenbium.
The man looked down at the young prince and gave him a sinister smile.
“Then…… shall we proceed with the plan?”
“Yes. We will. You prepared everything in secret, didn’t you?”
“Of course. There won’t be a single piece of evidence that the prince was behind it.”
The man was an agent secretly sent by the Queen of Lichenbium. The moment she received a letter from her son saying that he had been humiliated, she had immediately taken action.
Because of its long war with the Holy Empire, Lichenbium had also been forced to manufacture various weapon components for many years. The man had received specialized training in that field.
‘We’ll set off a bomb. What banquet? We need to make it look like all of this happened because that albino had entered the family.’
Gerd had the ingredients secretly brought separately from his homeland combined here to create a bomb.
“If we destroy this unsightly Heirs’ Residence, the prince will also become someone who almost became a victim. That will clear you of suspicion.”
“Good.”
“But this is a timed bomb, so you absolutely must leave beforehand. On a day like today, when there’s a banquet, it would be best to say that you went to the training grounds. Many people need to see the prince.”
“Stop worrying. Just make sure it goes off at the right time.”
Gerd nodded lazily, putting on airs.
“Then I’ll be leaving now, so set it off on time.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“For Lichenbium.”
“For Lichenbium.”
Fortunately, that terrifying young head was away, so as long as they were careful, there was no chance of being caught. Besides, the head of the family didn’t even pay attention to the Heirs’ Residence.
‘I’ll make you regret treating me like this.’
Gerd walked away with a triumphant stride.
***
“Ahhh, you’re sooo cute!”
“Please wear this sunflower cape just once! Then this daisy cape next!”
“Kyaaah, I’m dying!”
At that moment, I was extremely busy preparing for my welcome banquet. Nina and Linda kept putting one thing around my neck, then another, and they were having so much fun.
We were already on the hundredth one.
“The sunflower really is better, right?”
“The ribbon is more…….”
“It’s hard to choose. If it’s a ribbon, there’s a red one and a pink polka-dot one too!”
“No, let’s go with the rose after all!”
In the end, Linda couldn’t hold back anymore. She put a cone hat on me, tied a ribbon around my neck, and draped a cape over me.
I shivered because it was so cumbersome, but I endured it like a good girl anyway.
If it made Linda happy, that was enough.
“You’re seriously the cutest and most adorable thing in the whole world……. Sob.”
Linda even tied a ribbon around my tail, then buried her face in both hands as if she was about to lose her mind.
At this rate, we weren’t going to finish even by the time the banquet started……
“As she’s the star of the banquet, the cone hat is a must. Choose everything around that.”
In the end, the nanny came and organized everything, and that finally settled it.
A glittering golden cone hat, with a red ribbon tied at the back of my neck like a butterfly!
Once they were done, I became as limp as a cookie soaked in milk.
“My head is spinny…….”
“Would you like to take a walk with Sir John for a while?”
“Mm-hm, I wanna.”
I looked at the capes and ribbons scattered everywhere with exhausted eyes, then scampered toward John.
John, who had been watching me with a pleased expression, willingly offered me his shoulder.
“Did you know it’s incredibly warm when the Little lady leans against my shoulder?”
“Really?”
“Yes. Even your eye attacks are warm.”
I don’t think that’s right, John……
John carried me on his shoulder and set off grandly. The guards stationed throughout the corridors all looked at us with unmistakable envy.
The guards were technically my juniors, so perhaps that much was understandable, but the knights of the same rank were different.
“You’ve really made it big, huh?”
“Little lady, has this dull fellow done something wrong? If so, please get rid of him and let me—!”
“No, me!”
“Please entrust your protection to me!”
A group of knights were heading toward the training grounds when they spotted us and stopped.
Some poked John repeatedly in the side, while others came over to me and fussed over me, adjusting my scarf or putting my little fur hat back on.
“Little lady, your nose is red!”
“You idiot, martens naturally have red noses!”
“Oh, really?”
“It means she looks cute, like a tree berry. Wahaha!”
It was a little hectic, but all the members of the Black Wheel Knights were kind, so I liked them.
After being doted on to my heart’s content, I sprawled across John’s shoulder and let out an “Hweeegh,” making a sound like some middle-aged man.
“Hey, John.”
“Yes, Little lady.”
“Am I that cute?”
Objectively speaking, I was cute.
‘But am I cute objectively, too?’
I stretched out my own cheek once.
It was true that it was hard for a young furry animal not to be adorable, but……
“I can’t take human form. But it’s amazing that you really think I’m cute. You don’t treat me like I’m defective or anything.”
“No, what do you mean? Of course you’re cute.”
“Reawy? Even if I can’t take human form?”
“Of course. You seem rather concerned about being in animal form, though……”
“Mm-hm.”
“There’s no reason for beastkin not to find an animal-form baby cute. If we abandoned our human forms right now, wouldn’t we turn into animals as well?”
Oh.
So what John meant was—
Beastkin finding animals cute was exactly the same as humans finding human babies cute!
‘Th-That makes sense?’
Thinking about it…… it really did, didn’t it?
“Besides, babies normally can’t take human form very well, so they spend more time in animal form. Being able to perfectly control humanization at a young age is…… actually, that’s only possible for the monsters of the Driblyane family.”
John lowered his voice and whispered.
“Other families’ babies don’t know how to humanize well? Like me?”
“Yes. Usually. There aren’t many families packed with monsters who are even born as dominant Alphas.”
“Thank you, John. I’m okay now.”
So I was a little late, but I wasn’t that strange after all.
Well, I was still young. I didn’t even know how old I was.
‘Maybe that’s why everyone is being extra nice to me. Maybe I really am just a very, very young baby.’
Feeling inexplicably happy, I perked up my round ears.
I continued my walk like that when……
Was that refreshing sound of something being struck coming from somewhere just an illusion created by the winter wind?
“John?”
“Shall we go see?”
“Do you know what’s happening?”
“Mm…… yes.”
We walked softly through the rather uninteresting garden, and soon came upon a small path.
The sound was coming from the thorny woods on the left side of the path.
Even now, it was still going.
“Aaaagh!”
“Monster! That’s a mon—monster!”
That was when a group of boys came running out from the dark woods, blood streaming from their noses.
‘W-What?’
Startled, I froze where I stood.
Perhaps they hadn’t expected us to be here either, because the beaten-up boys flinched in surprise and quickly avoided my gaze.
“……Young masters, have you been fighting again?”
“Ugh……!”
“You do know there’s a banquet to welcome the Little lady tonight…… You should hurry and go get ready.”
Huh.
John’s voice was incredibly cold, unlike usual.
‘It sounds kind of…… like he really thinks they’re pathetic.’
He seemed to know what was going on, but instead of asking, I decided I’d rather see it for myself.
“Oh, Little lady!”
I slid down from John’s shoulder and skillfully made my way inside, avoiding the branches of the thorn bushes.
Following my curiosity, I ran deeper inside and soon found several other children sprawled across the frozen ground.
I carefully looked over them to see if Gerd was among them, but unfortunately, he wasn’t.
After checking the victims, I lifted my gaze.
“Wow.”
Pretty.
The exclamation slipped out before I could stop it.
It wasn’t because I was trying to figure out some scheme or calculate anything. It simply came out.
Skin as pale as milk, long reddish-brown eyelashes, and delicate features neatly set into a slender face.
His red hair suited his pretty face perfectly, while his golden eyes, devoid of any emotion, were lofty like the moon high in the sky.
‘He’s not just pretty in a way people say to flatter someone. He’s really handsome and pretty at the same time. Is this what they call pretty-boy handsome?’
He looked about twelve years old, but if his beauty was already this complete at that age, I couldn’t even imagine what he would look like when he grew up.
‘There’s something strangely exotic about him, too.’
I thought.
If that boy, casually sitting atop one of the boys who had been beaten into a bloody mess while wiping the blood splattered across his cheek, was a monster……
Then he must have been the most beautiful monster in the world.
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