“Ian, not lonelies.”
I slipped my little forepaw into his limp hand as I quietly went and stood beside Ian.
His hand was so cold that I didn’t think my tiny ball of fluff could warm it up…… but this was something I could do, at least.
“Ian, my future husband candidate.”
Ahem.
I cleared my throat and held the etiquette teacher’s attention on me.
But the moment I said the word ‘husband,’ Ian also turned his gaze toward me.
There was a hint of bewilderment, a handful of indifference, and a very faint…… thread of an emotion I couldn’t quite define. It seemed as though I could see its very end.
‘If he’s Lady Ariadne’s son, isn’t that enough? What does it matter if his father was an enemy mercenary or knight?’
Besides, Ian was strong enough to knock down everyone who came at him. If he had fought and defeated several heirs who were supposedly quite talented, didn’t that mean he had plenty of potential?
“Ian is not a troublemaker.”
I declared it firmly once again, speaking clearly to the etiquette teacher, who looked completely dumbfounded.
Whether his name was Weez or just ‘Silly,’ I’d keep an eye on him.
“Come to the banquet, meet me. I’m inviting you. You don’t need to get punished. I’m gonna tell the head of the family.”
After I went this far, Weez seemed to realize there was nothing more he could do, so he pursed his lips in dissatisfaction.
I drove the final nail into the coffin.
“Ian is gonna become an Alpha.”
As though I were predicting the future.
At those words, golden ripples appeared in the pupils of the boy who had remained expressionless the entire time.
Weez, on the other hand, felt his pride wounded.
How much had he struggled to obtain this position, where he could officially control the heirs?
Honor brought money with it.
With that one thought in mind, he had slipped bribes into the right hands and rubbed his palms until they were sweaty to win this position.
One of the parents of several heirs had recommended him, and from his very first day in office, Weez had figured out which children he needed to ‘give high marks for their attitude’ and which ones he didn’t.
At first, Ian, Lady Ariadne’s biological son, had been someone he needed to be careful with.
But as time passed, he discovered that Ian was easy to deal with.
No matter how much Weez poked at him or pushed him around, Ian simply stayed still.
Although he had received half his precious blood from Lady Ariadne, the other half was commoner blood, so surely he knew his place, didn’t he?
As time went on, Weez became increasingly arrogant.
After all, neither the flawless Lady Ariadne nor the head of the family, nor anyone else, interfered with the Heirs’ Residence at all.
That was because the Driblyane’s raised their young by throwing them off a cliff and only nurturing those who managed to crawl back up.
No matter what happened in the Heirs’ Residence, no matter what sort of fights broke out between the children, the adults of the family were never to intervene.
The reasoning was that if they couldn’t survive and gain the upper hand even in this little society, then they would be useless anywhere—on a battlefield, in politics, or in diplomacy.
Therefore, to Weez, who normally enjoyed crushing those weaker than him, Ian was the perfect toy.
He was someone who would never make it into the main house and would eventually die at the bottom of the cliff.
‘It pisses me off, but…… Sir John Grizzly is protecting that marten. He’s not someone I can do anything to.’
He had to back down here.
Having made that judgment, Weez grinned and bowed.
“Yes, yes. It would be wonderful if he became an Alpha. Then I shall take my leave.”
After Weez stroked his beard and disappeared,
I immediately looked at Ian.
Ian, who seemed to have been lost in thought, eventually answered me in a hoarse voice.
“You didn’t need to help.”
“I know.”
“Don’t take my side either. I don’t need it.”
“Okay. But I was right about my prediction. Ian’s gonna become an Alpha.”
I didn’t bother arguing against Ian’s cold words.
Ian probably just had puberty hitting him early…… so I should simply let him be.
Instead, I wanted to tell Ian that I had already chosen him.
“John! Ian has talent, right?”
Even if he didn’t, just say he did.
When I turned toward him with blazing eyes, John gave an awkward little laugh.
But when he answered, his expression was serious.
“Yes. He definitely has a talent for physical ability. That is not empty praise.”
I became smug and gave Ian a look that said, See? What did I tell you?
Ian seemed slightly shaken by John’s declaration, but after hesitating, he clenched his teeth coldly once again.
“Then why couldn’t I go to the military academy?”
The moment Ian said those words, he immediately seemed to regret them.
‘Ah, military academy…… He really wanted to go.’
Wasn’t his younger half-brother Dante attending one now?
So perhaps Ian had wanted to receive a recommendation and go to a military academy too.
“……Forget it.”
As if he regretted saying anything at all, Ian tried to crawl back into his hard shell again.
Blocking his ears so he couldn’t hear anything, wrapping his entire body in a shell so he couldn’t feel anything.
That was probably how Ian had survived.
Lady Ariadne must have often been away from home, and whenever she returned, she probably had another younger sibling in her arms.
Perhaps young Ian had gradually been pushed farther and farther toward the edge.
The truth was, I knew absolutely nothing about Ian.
But maybe because I knew so little, I could actually close the distance between us quickly.
Because I wasn’t on the list of people who had bullied Ian!
“Umm…… for now…… let’s be friends!”
“Friends?”
There was bewilderment in his low murmur.
He looked so unfamiliar with the word that it was as though he had heard ‘friend’ for the very first time in his life.
The boy didn’t even know what it meant, so he couldn’t tell whether it was something good or bad. In the end, he frowned.
But I knew better than anyone that it wasn’t because he disliked it.
‘I’ve been pushed around from one side to another too…… I lived like that, too.’
I cleared my throat and opened both arms toward Ian.
“Hug me.”
“Why would I, ugh, why?”
“Because we’re friends!”
Perhaps he truly hadn’t expected that, because for the first time, a crack appeared in Ian’s ice-cold expression.
Covering his face with his arms, Ian actually took several steps backward before running straight into the building, as though he simply couldn’t endure the soft, warm, fuzzy feeling the word ‘friend’ brought with it.
“Hey, John. If he does that, can I not follow him?”
“That is not the case. Of course, you are allowed to enter the Heirs’ Residence.”
“Hmm. Then I’ll look around.”
There was nothing for me to do if I went back right now.
If I could take human form, maybe it would be different, but right now, all I had was a soft pink belly and string-like little forelegs and hind legs.
We had already finished choosing everything for me to wear, and there were no lessons today because of the banquet, so I figured it would be better to look around the Heirs’ Residence.
“This building was originally made of wood. It has been repaired in various places over time, and stone pillars have been added, but there are still parts that retain its original appearance.”
While John explained this and that to me, I was busy sniffing around.
There was a strange smell.
It smelled somewhat like something burning and somewhat like it wasn’t…….
‘This smoky smell, like dry cinnamon powder. I’ve definitely smelled it before.’
Sniff, sniff.
I moved my nose around diligently and managed to pull a memory from the distant corners of my mind—a lesson with Laphiren.
‘Gunpowder!’
Yes, that was it.
This was definitely the smell of gunpowder.
But why was there gunpowder here?
‘Is there a shooting lesson or something?’
If I decided it was nothing important, I could simply let it go.
But I couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling.
It felt like getting completely soaked in the rain and then having no towel to dry myself with, forcing my fur to dry naturally while remaining damp and clammy.
“The front courtyard of the Heirs’ Residence is occasionally used for small parties, so it has soft grass.”
“Mm-hm.”
“This is the indoor training ground. It was designed so it can also be used on rainy days.”
“Hmm……”
Ian…… gunpowder…… bullying…… Ian.
‘But when was Ian mentioned in the original story again……?’
Lost in thought, my tail flicked back and forth.
I flipped through the pages in my head, searching for his name.
‘Ah, but why does the gunpowder smell so strong?’
It was almost as though someone had scattered gunpowder powder all over the floor……?
“Huh?”
In that instant, letters suddenly whirled through my mind.
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