/
There was no need for words since we could only communicate via the animal language now.
[Aw, don’t be shocked.]
Grr.
I spread out my wings as I’ve completed my black swan transformation. As the queen of the lake, the animals’ master, and… Haniel’s mother.
[…Hello. You should know who I am now, right?]
—
Haniel, Selene, and I.
Our mornings usually started with us seated, surrounding the basket. First was our baby princess’s fish jerky, then Selene’s feed. It was only after them that I was left with just a small piece of bread for myself.
But today, the order after giving Selene’s feed was changed slightly. Instead of having the bread, I turned around and looked towards the door.
“Come quickly.”
Purrr.
“Stop purring.”
You’re quite funny.
“It’s time to eat. If you’re not eating, I won’t give you any after this.”
Yelp.
The door opened eventually, and a black body revealed itself. It was obvious in its eyes that it would stay as far away from us as possible as it came to grab its portion of the feed.
“Hey, we eat together during meal times. I’m still a Duchess in this state, so I won’t clear two areas. Got it?”
Yelp.
“Don’t be on guard. You aren’t scary and you’re making fur fly around!”
Who was going to clean up!
As I reached out to pat down its fur, the dog jumped away in surprise. Sigh, what a scaredy cat.
“Seriously. Others might think that I’ve abused you.”
[A,aren’t you hitting it?] Selene asked with a surprised face and food in her mouth even though she was wary of the dog. She was hidden in the room when I trashed it out with the dog last night, thus she didn’t know what the situation was.
[Weren’t you avenging Princess Haniel? I heard crying sounds last night…]
“I wanted to do that but…” I threw a glance at the dog, perplexed. It seemed to have been quite shocked as it was panting  instead of eating its food in peace.
—
[You’re an ancient magical beast’s descendant. So you must have guessed my identity, right?] I glared at it as soon as we were left alone last night.
Regardless how huge it was, it didn’t dare to speak now since it was intimidated by my sudden transformation. But it was still a magical beast, so it started howling, filling up the entire room.
Grrrr.
[Calm down, before I pull out all your fur.]
Getting a head start was most important. There was no way a cursed black swan like me would be able to stand against the magical beast raised by His Highness.
There’s no way the clever dog wouldn’t know of this, thus I struck while the iron was hot before it could come back to its senses.
[Are you trying to get a go at me?]
Grrrrrr!
After the long confrontation, the dog extended its sharp claws and left a long scratch mark on the wooden floor. I smiled the moment it exerted strength in the knees , as if about to run towards me.
[I’m going to tell on you.]
Yelp.
[Try me, I’ll exaggerate it ten fold. I’ll tell your master everything as it happened.] Just then, I folded my wings back graciously.
I was about to reprimand it severely but seeing it drooling looks like the threat was sufficient.
[Good. I won’t tell your master anything yet.]
Yelp.
I swear, it was the first time I’ve seen a dog feel relieved. Of course, it was also my first time seeing it withdraw that expression.
[It’ll depend on how you treat my daughter.]
—
“Honestly, what wrong did it have? It’s natural for it to be wild, and truthfully speaking, it was purely following its master’s orders.”
[But still, it frightened the princess so much…] Selene said as she stroked Haniel,who was still scared sick, with her wing pitifully.
It was breaking my heart to see Haniel so frightened. But there was no way she could avoid dogs all her life since it didn’t harm her physically in any way. It didn’t fit my educational philosophy either.
“Baby, shall we eat together? Shall I feed you in my arms?”
[Mommy, ask it go! Tell it to go. It bit Haniel!]
Whimper.
Though it was still young, the dog could sense its surroundings while eating, and started shaking its head violently. What did it want to say?