/
The next moment, a serpent-like cloud of black mist emerged from his shadow before it dragged the hounds roughly and placed them on the horses’ backs.
“Careful, careful.”
As I was restless with the concern of them being treated like luggage, Dimitri, who was staring at me, suddenly made a groaning sound as he opened his mouth.
“Look at their frames. It would be me who’d get hurt because of pushing them around, Rowaine.
“Let me see.”
“It feels throbbing, to say the least.”
“Come here then. I’ll treat you.”
“Should I show you my wounds? Even though it’s just the two of us, I don’t like to take my shirt off outdoors. Let’s go home quickly. I’ll hold it in.
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.
“…It doesn’t hurt, does it? Are you lying?”
He insisted without reservation.
“It hurts like a lie*. Come on, get on the horse. I want to leave quickly.”
[ T/N: ‘Like a lie,’ here is an idiom which means changing completely from what it was in the past. ]
He hastened me to get on the horse. Though when I got on the horse, he took the reins only after carefully arranging his hair and meticulously touching every wrinkle on his clothes. Even though the vice captain said he would do it, Dimitri waved his hand as if he had done it and drew the horse himself.
“Let’s go.”
Anyway, it was fortunate that he looked fine with no injuries. I sighed in relief and nodded my head.
“Let’s go home.”
I was exhausted physically and mentally and wanted to rest. Dimitri, who glanced at my exhausted figure, comforted me.
“When we join the rest of the knights, I’ll rent a carriage so be patient even if you’re tired for now.”
“All right”
Then, Dimitri asked as if he had suddenly remembered.
“But, who was the one who got stuck in the carriage instead of Rowaine?”
“Oh, did you see that as well?”
As I remembered the scapegoat that I had forgotten, I burst into laughter even though I was exhausted.
ﾟ· : * ✧ * :· ﾟ
“Rowaine ran away?”
Count Larscel, who received the report from his subordinates, could not understand what they were saying at all.
“…Then, who’s in the carriage?”
“I’ve had them bring the carriage back. Ah, it looks like they’ve arrived now.”
When he saw the carriage stop outside the window, he ran outside quickly. Having the servants tear off the nail blocking the door and opening the wagon door, he eventually saw the person who was inside and shouted.
“No, you…?”
“Heungg, honey!”
It was Countess Larscel, who was lying on the floor of the carriage, with her face covered in tears. Somehow she crawled out of the sack, but it seemed that she was struggling to untie the chains and was unable to move from the corner.
”I said no, huu—! Stupid bastards gagged me! Heungg…!”
Uttering so, the Countess wept bitterly.
“Rowaine, that b*tch…!”
The Count’s body trembled with a reddened face.
ﾟ· : * ✧ * :· ﾟ
I laughed mischievously, imagining how far Countess Larscel was taken before she returned.
“It must be the Countess who got into the carriage. I put on a shawl full of my body scent on her.”
The shawl I gave to the Countess was the shawl that I had rubbed and wore all over my skin and put my body odor on it as much as possible. You would not know how much I held it dearly throughout the carriage ride.
“But, it wouldn’t confuse the hounds that much?”
“What if I had completely wiped the body scent from my body and gave the Countess the shawl that was the only thing that had my scent?”
“That can’t be possible. The body scent doesn’t go away even if it’s covered with other scents.”
At his words, I took out the perfume in a small glass bottle and showed it to Dimitri.
“I came across this by accident. Magical perfume.”
I made up the excuse moderately.
“It’s a little different from its intended use, but after using it, it seems to disturb the sense of smell of dog shapeshifters.”
After spraying the perfume to show him, he nodded his head as if he understood.
“It’s a perfume based on white magic. It doesn’t work for me though it’s quite interesting from what you said.”
“Right? I thought it might be useful, so I decided to sponsor the research of the person who made it.”
I never know when I would be chased by the Emperor’s hounds again, so it would not be bad to build trust with Avila in advance. I thought it was very simple up until this point… Without knowing how I would become involved with the original female lead through my choice of the day.
ﾟ· : * ✧ * :· ﾟ
The road back to Blois was smooth. After borrowing a carriage in the middle and getting changed, I dozed off. I only woke up when the carriage was already at the Duke’s residence.
“I’m sorry. I fell asleep.”
“I didn’t wake you up because you looked tired.”
Getting out of the carriage, Dimitri reached out to me. When I took his hand as my feet reached the ground, the employees who were lined up bowed their heads at us all at once.
‘…What is it?’
However, somehow the atmosphere was strange. It seemed that there was a subtle tension between the employees.
“Did anything happen while we were away?”
When asked, the newly assigned maid, Lucy, opened her mouth in embarrassment.
“Madam, that’s…”
But, before she could explain anything to me, a shriek of a tearful cat from inside the open front door made my heart sink.
I hurriedly ran towards the source of the scream. It was on the fourth floor of the main building, the side where my room was. In the corner of the hallway, Sasha in cat form and my new maid, Liddell, were facing each other.
“Mrrrrrrrrrr…”
Sasha growled at Liddell, making a noise like a running motorcycle engine. When I gazed into her eyes, she had completely lost her sanity.
‘I do not know what is going on, but it looks like there are no serious injuries at least.’
I calmed my startled heart and beckoned those who followed me to hide in the dark.
‘If you rush in front of an excited cat, it will only increase the aggression.’
Crying for a long time and making a loud noise like that meant that she was scared. Frightened cats would lose their sanity to defend themselves and exhibit ‘defensive aggression,’ and it would be counterproductive for several people to hover around in front of them.
Liddell, not realizing that I was there, begged Sasha.
“I’m in big trouble if the Master sees me doing this here! Let’s go back to the annex. Yeah?”
The next moment, she reached out to Sasha as if soothing a puppy and clicking her tongue.
“Come on. Come here now.”
‘She should not do that.’
If you approach a cat with defensive aggression while casting a shadow like that in front of you, you are likely to be attacked.
I quickly called for Liddell in a small, low voice.
“Liddell, put your hands down and slowly step back.”
“Oh, Madam!”
Hearing my voice, she jerked around before raising her lowered body hurriedly.
‘You cannot move like that.’
When there was a gap, Sasha took it swiftly as she ran towards Liddell’s ankle.
“Ouch! Ah—Ouch!”
Liddell screamed and ran to and fro to run away from her. Nevertheless, her loud body movements and screams only stimulated Sasha even more.
‘Standing still and giving something away is going to hurt less…’
However, from the standpoint of being attacked, how easy would that be…? It was something I could do after years of experience and getting used to it, and my reaction was not that different from Liddell’s at first.
The sound of a cat growling and threatening was quite frightening and scary. In addition, humans attacked by animals tend to struggle instinctively. Obviously, in my eyes, the kitten Sasha threatens only to look cute.
Meanwhile, I just kept my mouth shut and waited for one of them to wear out.
‘She is lucky since Sasha is only a kitten.’
Cats were inherently weak in endurance and could not fight for a long time. In addition, their jaw strength was weak and their teeth were small, making it difficult to inflict fatal wounds on humans—especially if it was a kitten.
‘Of course, it would not be good to get scratched, but…’
Although I said that they have small teeth, it did not mean they were not sharp. It is all right though since it would not kill you. Still, what could I do? I do not have the magical ability to put a fierce cat to sleep.
After Sasha rushed up and bit Liddell’s ankle, she sprinted like the wind to the other side of the hallway.
Surprised, Liddell cried and sat down before glancing up at me.
“Madam… I’m so sorry! I… Hnng—I was just trying to brush her teeth, but she stared at me while I was brushing them…! Suddenly, she ran away to the Madam’s room and… Heunng…”
I had a rough idea of what was going on after hearing her explanation. Liddell, who did not show a sign to Sasha, seemed to scare her because she did not know how to handle a cat.
Then, Lucy yelled at the crying Liddell.
“Can’t you get up first? What a fuss in front of the Madam.”
“It’s okay, Lucy. Take Liddell and treat her.”
“Are you going to pick up Sasha? Order a servant instead, Madam. You just saw it, it’s too dangerous.”
Worried, Lucy tried to stop me.
Nonetheless, I told her it was going to be okay, and then I crept over to find Sasha, who hid her body in the darkness of the hallway.
Soon, I found two blue lights flashing in the dark.
“Mrrrrrrrrrr…”