I came to my senses and looked to the side. Fushi, who had been sleeping, had disappeared. Moreover, this boy was wearing the collar Fushi had been tied with.
What? What’s going on?
I urgently traced through the novel, but in the amount I’d read, there was no such part. In the first place, the only pet that appears is the real Fushi.
As I blinked and grasped the situation, the boy’s eyes drooped dejectedly.
“I thought you’d recognize me. I thought maybe Rosenthal would recognize me as soon as you saw me.”
“S-sorry.”
Seeing his face filled with disappointment, I felt guilty for no reason. I felt like I really did something wrong.
Fushi lowered his head bitterly, when suddenly his face changed and in an instant he became a huge wolf.
“Fushi…?”
It really was Fushi. What? Am I dreaming right now? From being too shocked, my tears were sucked back in.
I stared intently at Fushi, when his body changed again and returned to the beautiful boy I just saw.
“Don’t tell me you’re a werewolf?”
“Yeah. I’m a beastman. Are you surprised?”
“Yeah….”
So there are beastmen in this world too. It was content that didn’t appear at all in <Three Crowns>.
“Do you dislike me now?”
“Huh?”
“Because I’m a beastman, because my transforming appearance is monstrous, are you disgusted?”
His eyes were full of fear. He was scared of being hated by me. Don’t tell me he couldn’t show his true form until now because he was afraid of that?
“No. That can’t be! Where is there such a handsome monster?”
I urgently shook my head and took off my coat to drape over Fushi.
“Am I handsome?”
He smiled brightly. If Seha’s was a purity that seemed innocent, Fushi was truly like a child who knew nothing.
“Yeah. You’re really handsome. But we should remove this.”
The sturdy iron chains and collar meant to restrain a beast felt terribly cruel and horrible contrasted with Fushi’s innocent smile.
When I thought he was a simple wolf, I passed it off as natural…. I was cruel too. Belated guilt pricked my chest.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. Wait a moment. I’ll bring the key.”
I tried to go to Eldon, when Fushi grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t go.”
“I’ll just bring the key.”
“If you go, you won’t come back again. I waited. I kept waiting for Rosenthal. But even after sleeping and sleeping again, you didn’t come. Waiting is hard! I don’t want to wait anymore!”
“Ah! Fushi, that hurts.”
His grip strength was much stronger than ordinary people. When I grimaced, Fushi was also shocked and let go. But immediately grabbed my shirt sleeve again.
“Sorry. I was wrong. So don’t go.”
“I’ll come right back. Once I remove the collar, you can come with me.”
“You’ll take me?”
“Yeah.”
Not only did they put a collar around this child’s neck, they used him for mockery. I can’t leave him by Eldon’s side anymore. I’ll take him.
I placed my pocket watch in Fushi’s hand.
“I’ll come back before this long hand goes around once.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Just wait a moment.”
“…Okay.”
After reassuring Fushi, I tried to enter the Crown Prince’s Palace. But there was no need. Eldon was standing at the entrance looking at me.
“That fellow was a beastman.”
Eldon stared at Fushi with cold eyes, arms crossed.
“You didn’t know?”
“I received him as a wedding congratulations gift. Since he was injured, I was thinking of treating him then releasing him.”
“And using him for mockery too?”
“Yes. At first it was to vent. But I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“Today! After having you. I was going to tell you everything after that!”
I was so dumbfounded I let out a dry laugh. Who’s going to sleep with you? Plus, it’s an obvious lie. If he was going to tell me, there were plenty of opportunities. But he didn’t say anything. If he hadn’t been caught, he would have kept his mouth shut until the end. But getting angry about this issue would only be my loss.
Compared to what Eldon has done so far, this was a very trivial lie. Since it’s right after being caught in a lie now, he’ll apologize and make excuses, but after just a little time passes, he’ll be annoyed saying why am I nitpicking about something strange when things have been going well.
I heard such words often in my previous life. That my timing for getting angry was strange.
I was originally the type to endure and endure and endure before exploding. But when I actually exploded, people forgot what I’d endured and scolded me saying couldn’t I endure just one more time.
So I didn’t explode. I endured and endured, and when they crossed the line, I just cut ties. Friends, art colleagues, family too.
Getting angry is meaningless.
For Rosenthal, who was born with the fate of a villain to be hated by people, it would be even more meaningless. I calmed my mind and said what was necessary.
“I want to release that child.”
“Since I know he’s a beastman, I’ll release him immediately.”
“And I want to keep him by my side.”
“Impossible.”
I thought he’d throw it at me as if doing charity and tell me to calm down, but unexpectedly I was refused in one stroke.
“To be honest, I can no longer trust the servants and guards Your Highness sent. They joined forces with Your Highness to mock me, and weren’t they unhelpful when I was captured by slave traders?”
“That is…!”
“I’m not yet the Crown Princess. There’s no need for many subordinates and they’re only cumbersome. Raki alone is enough as a servant, and I’ll entrust my guard to that child.”
I excluded emotions and enumerated only facts in a dry voice. I didn’t want to seem like I was throwing a tantrum because I was excited or sulking.
“I’ll find someone trustworthy for you.”
“If you don’t give me that child, I’ll leave the palace.”
“I said breaking off the engagement is impossible.”
His eyes, which had been drooping apologetically, rose coldly again. As expected, repentance is short.
“Without a trustworthy guard, my heart is anxious even staying in the palace. Since we haven’t married yet and I haven’t been formally invested, there would be no breach of etiquette if I returned to my family home.”
“You’ll return there? To where your stepbrother is?”
“Because there’s no one there who mocks me.”
Eldon bit his lip and clenched his fist strongly. His fist trembled, then he snatched my arm.
“He must only be a guard.”
“Of course. If not a guard, what would I entrust him with?”
I was thinking what a strange thing to say, when Eldon pulled up my sleeve. Where Fushi had just grabbed, a red handprint remained intact.
Eldon kissed it.
“Your Highness…!”
“Remember this. If you do anything other than guard duty with that beastman bastard, I’ll behead him on the spot.”
His black eyes flashed with cold madness.
“This is not empty words. Remember this.”
Oh yes. I know. I really know. You’re someone who really would behead him in one stroke.
I stiffly nodded repeatedly.
***
My body was comfortable and I was deeply asleep for the first time in a while, when my wrist felt ticklish. What? I opened my heavy eyelids with difficulty. Then I saw large ears and blue hair. Fushi…?
Lick, lick.
Fushi was licking my wrist with his tongue.
Yesterday Eldon said he’d send Fushi after giving him etiquette education befitting the Crown Princess’s guard, so I should go back first. When I stubbornly refused saying I didn’t want to, Eldon sighed and had a servant bring clothes for Fushi to wear.
As soon as Fushi put on clothes, we returned to the detached palace, and I gave Fushi the room next to Raki’s.
‘I don’t want to. I’m going to sleep with Rosenthal.’
Fushi pouted his lips and held my hand, and Silang, who was watching, rolled his eyes.
I said I only needed Raki and Fushi, but Eldon opposed and sent Silang.
He attached to me a genius mage said to be in the TOP 2 in the Empire excluding the Magic Tower affiliation. Rather than a guard, it would be surveillance.
If I do anything even slightly annoying, I’ll either have my neck chopped off or end up wearing the chastity belt again.
I barely detached the clinging Fushi and returned to my room. And fell asleep.
But why is he licking my arm on my bed?
“Fushi….”
“You’re awake?”
Fushi smiled broadly. As his head moved, his large ears also swayed slightly. Instantly my heart sank. What is this cuteness? It’s not in the human realm? Well, he’s not human though.
“What are you doing?”
I asked as gently as possible. My wrist was covered in saliva, but I couldn’t blame him.
“I was licking your wound. You got hurt because of me.”
Ah, so he really is a wolf.
“Sorry. It’s been a while since I became human, so I couldn’t control my strength.”
Fushi lowered his head dejectedly. Then again, his large ears swayed. To see something like this from morning, my heart is in danger.
“It’s okay. It’s just slightly bruised.”
“Still, I’m sorry.”
Fushi lowered his head again and licked my wrist. The feeling of the warm, soft tongue touching and leaving felt somehow strange. No, let’s not do this. What am I thinking while looking at a child trying to treat a wound?
“It’s really okay.”
I pulled my arm away, when Fushi frowned slightly and climbed on top of me.
“Fushi?”
What is he doing? I blinked looking up, when he undid my pajama shirt. No, he seemed to try to undo it but tore it as is.
“Fushi!”
I shouted in confusion, when he kissed the slave brand engraved on my collarbone.
“It smells here.”
“Smells?”
“Foul. I can’t stand it.”
Fushi started licking the brand again. What? Was there a problem when engraving the brand? Is the wound area rotting as a side effect? It wasn’t itchy or festering. But Fushi is a werewolf so he’s sensitive, he might have felt something. I got scared, when Fushi’s head went downward.
Lick.
Fushi bit my chest hard and licked up my nipple with his hot tongue.
This bastard!
I struck his head and immediately sat up.
“What are you doing!”
Fushi touched his head and shouted as if wronged.
“That bastard’s smell is there!”
“Smell…?”
“The smell of that bastard who made you cry!”
Ah, where Eldon touched yesterday. Even though I showered, can he still feel something? Since he’s a wolf, he must have a good sense of smell. My face flushed red as if a secret act was discovered, when Fushi touched my lips.
“Actually I want to erase the smell here most, but I can’t do that. Because only mates can kiss.”
