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“Sylvie, are you upset?”
I approached Sylvie and held him in my arms.
“Oh, my. If you fall on the floor like this, you’ll get water on it. My stomach hurts if you do this.”
“Are you worried about me?”
“I have to worry!”
He was my puppy. I’ll protect him since he’s smaller than me.
Of course, I said that Sylvie will protect me, but I don’t think he will protect me exactly as I would now. I wiped Sylvie’s wet body with a towel.
“Subordinate, you’re a bit of a good person.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You give me food, you hug me…”
“So. Don’t call me ‘subordinate’ anymore. Call me Bebe!”
With my confident words, Sylvie  shook his head from side to side.
“No. I made up my mind, human.”
“What?”
“I will protect you as my subordinate. Therefore, you are my subordinate.”
Sylvie, who spoke like an old man again, looked up at me in my arms.
“Am I your subordinate?”
“Yes. That’s right. If you don’t like it…”
At that time…
When I was talking to Sylvie, something in the back of my head became cold. I felt someone with strong power come inside my magic circle, which surrounded the Grand Duke’s castle.
“Who is it?”
It was a power that was familiar but unfamiliar, but it had already crossed the magic circle, and even quickly hid its own power. It was clumsy, but the power quickly disappeared to the point where it was impossible to know where it was coming from.
“What’s wrong?”
Perhaps he noticed my situation, but Sylvie put his wet paw on my cheek.
“Huh? No… That’s… I felt power.”
“Power?”
“No. I guess I’m being sensitive.”
I felt people coming and going dozens of times a day.
‘It’ll be weird if I suddenly become sensitive like that.’
As Sylvie said, he was not in a particularly good condition, so he thought that he felt that way and shook his head quickly.
“Oh, no. Nothing.”
“It’s nothing… There’s something.”
“It’s just that I felt the power that I’ve never felt before.”
Smiling awkwardly, I wiped Sylvie’s body again.
“…Yes, but Subordinate, feel free to tell me if you have any concerns. I’ll take care of everything, because I’m your master.”
“What? Call me whatever you want. All I need is Sylvie.”
“…Do you like me?”
“Yes! I like Sylvie!”
At that moment, Sylvie’s elongated snout twitched.
“…Well, I know that. I’m always popular.”
In the meantime, Sylvie’s fur became fluffy.
“Sylvie, are you that popular?”
“…Well, that-”
At that time…
The door opened very slowly. Then, a familiar head popped out of there.
“Little Sister? Brother is here… Are you sleeping?”
The protagonist of the very cautious voice was Allen. Perhaps this was the time, but Allen came inside very slowly.
Then I slowly approached the bed.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah! You scared me! Haven’t you slept?”
“I just happened to wake up.”
“I see… What’s that in your arms?”
My older brother, who smiled brightly at me, hardened his face when he saw Sylvie in my arms.
“Yes! This is Sylvie!”
“Sylvie? Are you a doll?”
The older brother touched Sylvie, perhaps because he was curious about the silver-haired puppy.
Perhaps this was at this time when Sylvie nipped my brother’s hand.
“Argh! What? What? You’re alive?”
“Yes!”
“Oh! Is this what it is?”
“What do you mean? How dare you say that to me as a human subject?”
My brother opened his mouth wide at Sylvie’s unexpected voice.
“Hey, is that thing talking?”
“Have there been any rumors going around?”
“I was just told that Bebe had a dog.”
“Ah. I see.”
“And…”
However, unlike usual, Allen’s face became quite dark. He looked serious as if he was trying to hide something he didn’t want to hide.
“And? Is there more to talk about?”
“Oh, that’s… that’s…”
Seeing my brother linger around, I felt relieved. Somehow, something sounded like a dog barking from afar, or a growl.
It felt like there was more than one dog growling.
“My dad is gathering all kinds of dogs, saying that it seems like Bebe likes dogs.”
“Huh?”
I liked seeing Sylvie in front of the Grand Duke, but I couldn’t believe he was gathering dogs.
“So, are the dog sounds from far away real dogs?”
“Yeah.”
“…No. I only like Sylvie.”
However, contrary to the expectation that my brother might be making a mistake, the dogs’ voices got closer and closer.
The sound seemed to be heard outside the room, and shortly after, the familiar head protruded from the open door.