CH 54

Oscar, who suddenly shifted back to his human form, stood in front of me and reached out, and between his fingers that had long protruding fingernails was a blue bead.

He held onto the deer’s horn with one hand and blocked it from moving any further, and he hit the deer’s torso with his other hand.

Just then, the bead was absorbed into the deer’s body.

It struggled for a long time before it fell sideways, blood oozing out of its orifices.

“Master!”

Damian had descended from the sky and took me into his arms. As I looked back down, I saw Oscar’s back.

His whole body was splattered with red blood, and when he turned around, his equally bright red eyes looked back at me.

“Master, you okay?”

I’ve always treated Oscar like a child. In fact, he purposely acts cute.

But for the first time, I saw him as a fully grown adult. It might have been a long time since he’s grown up, but I only now saw him as one.

Since I changed his name, he said he’d talk to me respectfully, but…

The only thing that he changed is the way he called me ‘Master.’*

Oscar roughly wiped the blood that had splashed onto his face, then approached me.

“Are you surprised by just this much? You can run a little wilder while having a rare species of a white fox shapeshifter and a hawk shapeshifter by your side, Master.”

“Doggy, you…”

“I’m Oscar from now on! Don’t call me Doggy, you seaweed punk!”

“Did you forget that you promised to be more polite?”

“What are you talking about? I’m being polite. I’m calling Master properly.”

Oscar grinned, fully doing this on purpose.

“Aren’t two promises too much? Anyway, I’ll keep my promise. I’ll call Master politely.”

Ah, how annoying.

It seemed that I underestimated this fox shapeshifter.

“But Master, did that woman trick you?”

These two were aware of Cassandra’s presence.

Well, I couldn’t deceive Damian’s eyes anyway, and Amber had asked them when she was worried about me before. I had to explain the truth to them.

“I think she’s just fooling around… because I blocked her. But I don’t want to hear her talking again.”

I don’t know why Cassandra was being so impatient just because she couldn’t take over me.

No matter how many times I explained it to her, she would only reply with cursing and aggressive words while telling me to get out of her descendant’s body.

Anyway, she said she would help me.

“Master, I’ve heard of it before when I was still with the slave merchant, from another shapeshifter.”

“Hm?”

This was the first time I heard this. Oscar took a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe my face.

When Oscar did what Damian normally did, his touch felt delicate.

“Something about the missing history of the Leonis Empire?”

“What do you mean missing history? What?”

Was it something like revising history to make it more favorable?

Oscar, who thoroughly wiped my face, put the handkerchief back into his pocket and continued talking.

“A thousand years ago, the Demon King and his subordinates came to the Leonis Empire because it was their first target. The newly established Empire had sacrificed the lives of countless soldiers just to protect the country. Of course, the temple helped as well, and their contribution was as significant as the Imperial Family’s.”

“Then now…”

“The Saintess, who was the representative of the temple, blocked the Demon King and his subordinates, then succeeded in sealing them.”

After finishing his explanation, Oscar shrugged.

“I also heard from someone that it’s not in any Leonis history book.”

“From who?”

“A turtle shapeshifter.”

“There are turtle shapeshifters, too?”

“Yeah. Turtle shapeshifters live for a long time. The old man I met was a nobleman who lived for a thousand years.”

“…I’ve never heard of something like this before.”

“I guess that’s the case. I didn’t believe it either when I first heard it. I wasn’t interested in human history in the first place.”

“I see.”

I blinked in a daze, trying to wrap my head around information that wasn’t shown in the original work.

“Ah, right. I almost forgot about this story. Anyway, that’s what the turtle shapeshifter said. Sometimes, beings that weren’t human only exist where there’s a gap between humans. Isn’t it like that with history?”

At Oscar’s words, I felt goosebumps all over my skin. If it was a being that wasn’t human…

“Like Cassandra?”

“I don’t know exactly if that’s what that old man meant, but I just mentioned the story anyway. He didn’t even tell me, actually. It was more like he was talking to himself. Anyway, he was a funny grandpa.”

“Is he still alive?”

“I don’t know if he ran away safely or just died, Master.”

What if there was someone like me during the Empire’s long history?

Then if yes? Did that mean that there was someone like me in the present, too?

“Master, let’s go back.”

“Huh? Ah, sure, let’s do that.”

Damian was about to soar high up with me in his arms, but then Oscar roughly grabbed the dead deer’s antlers and spoke.

“That’s unfair. Can’t we run together like a while ago?”

Damian, who just ignored Oscar’s muttering, spread out his wings and lifted me up in a princess carry. Then, he soared high.

We flew over the trees, but I had no time to admire the view. My mind was filled with complicated thoughts.

It was only natural to be confused after learning something that had never been mentioned in the original.

As soon as we arrived at the mansion, Damian set me down and hid his wings.

“Huu. Thanks.”

“It’s nothing, Master.”

Go back to your room with Oscar and rest.”

I turned around to walk away, exhausted, but as I did, Damian called out to me.

“Master.”

“Hm?”

“I want to ask you one thing.”

“Sure, what is it?”

Damian had never asked me anything like this, so I turned around again to face him.

It felt a little odd because even when I would ask him to do something, he never questioned me.

“Master, what does Lord Lucian mean to you?”

But I never expected he’d ask me this kind of question.

I stared at Damian for a moment, then opened my lips to speak.

“To me, Brother is…”

The first thing that would come to mind was of course my deep admiration for him. I really wanted to hide it all inside so that Lucian wouldn’t know, but somehow, I didn’t want to hide it from Damian.

It might be because those pale wood-colored eyes looked like gold beneath the setting sun’s illumination.

To me, that was how I felt towards Lucian before I transmigrated. But after coming to this world, those feelings became more solidified.

“My other half, my bright future.”

That’s right. Lucian was my everything. I’d only be able to live well if he also lived well.

If he dies like how he did in the original, I don’t think I’d be able to live either.

I don’t remember when it started.

But I transmigrated to this place where Lucian existed, and so I felt that it was fate.

And in this fate, my life began anew.

If I could Lucian living a happy life, even if it wasn’t with me, I would be alright with not being here anymore.

Those who had fled would someday return to their place. I would definitely go back to Korea.

Then, I might be able to restart my future, with Lucian in my mind.

“I understand. I’m always on Master’s side, and I’ll always be your servant. Please don’t forget that.”

Facing Damian’s pale wooden eyes, which looked straight into my gaze without any hesitation, I smiled.

“I will always trust you, Damian.”

After saying this, I went back into the mansion. I felt like I needed to look at the diary where I wrote down what I knew about the original work.

✦

“I will always remember your words as well, Master.”

Damian murmured to himself as he watched her emerald hair disappear into the mansion.

He never forgot the orders she gave him. He wouldn’t hesitate if there would come a moment when he would have to act on those orders someday.

After Rachel had already gone into the doors, Damian turned around.

And there, Lucian stood.

His master hadn’t noticed him, but ever since Damian arrived at this place, he already noticed that Lucian was looking at his master from there.

Damian had always felt uncomfortable around that man, his master’s older brother. No, in fact, he wanted to keep his master away from that man.

Dark, muddled mana swirled within his body.

It filled Lucian completely, like a snake that carried vast mana that even Damian couldn’t estimate.

And that was the problem, this mana that was like a coil. Compared to the pure, clear mana that his master had, Lucian’s mana was like an endless abyss that seemed to have cut down and swallowed the bleak night sky.

Step, step.

As Lucian approached after a deliberate pause, Damian straightened his back.

He recalled how Lucian had suddenly come to face him, like an ambush last night.

“I admit I was a little too harsh last night. But I haven’t heard your answer yet.”

Lucian had tested Rachel’s servants. Even if they were hit with his punches, Damian and Oscar did not tell Rachel.

Of course, Lucian expected that the hawk would stay quiet, but the fox not telling her was something that he didn’t predict.

He recalled how that white fox talked informally towards Rachel.

With underlying motives, Lucian had hit Damian again on the stomach, even stronger this time. But he didn’t groan at all. And he kept silent about the work he did for Rachel.

These tough bastards.

“Just tell me what you know about the prince. I’m not trying to pry into Rachel’s secret.”

——

t/n:

* it couldn’t be translated well in English since Korean is a more hierarchical language, but essentially Oscar calls her ‘Master-nim’ now (kind of like Lord Master, but that’s redundant in English) yet he still retains his informal way of speaking