On the dazzlingly sparkling ice rink, we engaged in a romantic play befitting lovers.

It was a game of ‘catch me if you can’.

“Hahaha! How is it, Sir? I’m good at this, right!”

I laughed out loud as I ran like crazy on the ice. Aspeiran, who was following behind at a leisurely pace, halfheartedly responded.

“Yes… You’re having fun.”

“I’m really fast, right?!”

“Why are you so obsessed with speed?”

“Well, it feels great!”

“Haa…”

Aspeiran sighed. Oh my, it seems our Aspeiran doesn’t quite understand the joy of speed yet.

I slowly reduced my speed and approached Aspeiran.

“Shall we stop playing catch and skate together now?”

“This was a game of catch?”

“You probably found it hard to catch me because I was too fast.”

“…”

I reached out my hand towards Aspeiran, who had a dumbfounded expression. The feeling of being the first to offer my hand to Aspeiran was truly amazing.

Aspeiran let out another deep sigh and took my hand.

At that moment.

“Hic!”

Suddenly, an intense coldness that seemed to freeze even my blood swept over my entire body. I let out a groan that sounded like a final scream and shrank my body.

It felt like I had been rolling around in a warm ondol room and then suddenly thrown out into the freezing winter with a chilling wind blowing. My body temperature was dropping rapidly.

As I curled up and shivered, Aspeiran quickly embraced me.

“Why are you… What is this, your body is like an ice block!”

I was too cold to even speak. As I just chattered my teeth, Aspeiran lifted me up and first took me out of the lake.

Aspeiran’s coat, which had been neatly folded on the snow—when did he fold it when I clearly threw it off haphazardly?—wrapped around my body. It was a very warm and cozy coat.

Thanks to it, my body’s shivering gradually subsided. Aspeiran carried me like that and entered a pergola on one side of the lake.

The air inside the pergola was pleasantly warm, as if a temperature control spell had been cast on it too. My body temperature was slowly returning to normal.

Only then did Aspeiran ask.

“So, what happened all of a sudden.”

“Umm, I’m not sure… Ah!”

I took out the necklace I had hidden inside my clothes. It was the body temperature regulating necklace that Canis had given me as a gift when I first became a beast tamer.

The necklace, which had been shining brightly in red until this morning, had now turned transparent.

Seeing my necklace, Aspeiran raised one eyebrow.

“That looks like Canis’s necklace.”

“That’s right. Canis gave it to me as a gift when he saw me feeling cold before.”

I examined the necklace from various angles. Canis had told me when he gave me the necklace that the body temperature regulation magic would activate only if I regularly recharged it with mana.

In that case, it seemed the mana had run out now.

‘Then if I recharge the mana, I should be able to use it again.’

Fortunately, there was a great mage with an immense amount of mana next to me. I looked at Aspeiran with a delighted expression.

But before I could ask him to recharge it, Aspeiran abruptly snatched the necklace away.

He examined the necklace from various angles with a deeply furrowed brow.

“… You’ve been wearing this around your neck all this time?”

“Huh? Yes! Thanks to it, I was able to stay warm. Lord Canis seems to be a very thoughtful and kind person.”

“…”

For some reason, Aspeiran’s expression turned very unpleasant. Why was he acting like that?

Gasp. Could it be that he’s angry because Canis gave his gift to someone else? If so, this is a big problem!

I quickly defended Canis.

“Lord Canis wanted this necklace to continue helping someone. He wanted the boundless grace of the lord who personally looks after his subjects to spread widely. Isn’t it a truly wonderful thought…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Aspeiran tightened his grip on the fist holding the necklace. A crunching sound came from the necklace trapped in his firm fist.

The atmosphere seemed unusual. I cautiously asked while being mindful.

“Uh… Sir. The necklace might break like that… Could you please give it back to me…”

“Why?”

“Well, with that, I can diligently fulfill my duties with the strength of the lord’s grace…”

“So, you’re going to keep wearing this crude piece of junk around your neck?”

Calling it a crude piece of junk, isn’t that what you gave to Canis?

I made a small protest.

“If you say it that harshly, Lord Canis might cry…”

“As if he doesn’t cry every other day.”

Aspeiran grumbled and put the necklace inside his own clothes.

“This is confiscated.”

“But that was a gift I received!”

“What’s wrong with me taking back what was originally mine?”

“Well, that’s true. But still, Lord Canis…”

“Don’t worry about that fool. And you, wear this. I’ve cast a warmth spell on it.”

Aspeiran plopped his fur coat over my head. I couldn’t see in front of me.

“Let’s go back now.”

Aspeiran, who had straightened out my clothes, went out of the pergola. I also hurriedly followed, but my pace was slow because I was waddling due to the large coat.

“Come here.”

Aspeiran lifted me up. I had been carried by him so often recently that I wasn’t particularly flustered anymore.

‘I am Aspeiran’s teddy bear.’

I leaned my head against Aspeiran’s broad chest, looking up at the sky with hazy eyes.

I felt somehow tired.

The deserted beast tamer institute.

A group of royal guards were hovering around it. They grumbled.

“We haven’t seen the lovely Lady Shuria or the cute puppies at all for the past few days.”

“The joy of life has disappeared…”

For the knights who repeated the lord’s escort duties and rigorous training day after day, the existence of the institute filled with cute creatures was like a rain shower on dry land.

But the institute had been empty for some time now. It was a truly regrettable situation.

The knights kept bouncing around meaninglessly near the institute, trying to soothe their empty hearts.

“When will Lady Shuria return?”

“I heard the reason the puppies aren’t here is because the mana control device broke down. In that case, probably soon?”

“I hope they come back quickly.”

It was when they had circled around the institute about ten times. The youngest knight pointed to the fir tree forest behind the research lab.

“Seniors, those four huge white fur balls over there, aren’t they moonlight wolves?”

“Where?”

The knights stopped in their tracks and murmured.

Indeed, as the youngest knight had said, four large fur balls were approaching from far away.

“Wow, they’re here! It’s the return of the puppies!”

“But wait a moment, there were only three moonlight wolves living in the institute. What’s the other one?”

“… Doesn’t it seem to be floating in the air?”

“No, no, you fools. It’s not floating in the air, someone is carrying it!”

The knights narrowed their eyes. Upon closer look, the person carrying the unidentified furball was none other than their lord!

The dumbfounded knights all knelt down at once.

“Greetings to the Lord!”

Aspeiran, who noticed them, frowned. He put a finger to his lips as if telling them to be quiet.

The knights hurriedly covered their mouths.

At the same time, they mustered up courage and peeked into their lord’s arms. What could it be that he was cherishing and hiding in his arms like that?

And the knights were once again dumbfounded upon realizing the identity of the furball.

That furball was none other than Lady Shuria, wrapped in a cozy fur coat and dozing off in his arms.

“…!”

A silent shock swept through the knights. Regardless, Aspeiran turned his body and entered the research lab building.

After Aspeiran completely disappeared, the knights simultaneously dropped their jaws.

“Did you see that?”

“I saw it! My goodness, Lady Shuria sleeping in the lord’s arms while wearing the lord’s coat!”

“At this rate, aren’t the two of them really going to get married?”

“You fool, that’s not something to ponder about. We should now be pondering not whether the two of them will get married or not, but when the royal wedding will be held!”

The knights all turned their heads at the same time. At the end of their gaze, the blessing bell that rings only during the royal wedding of the current lord or the next lord was boasting its magnificent presence.

Aspeiran really confiscated the necklace Canis gave me.

I couldn’t even protest further because Aspeiran looked so displeased that day and didn’t show a single hair for a week after we returned. I just felt sorry to Canis.

“What should I say when I meet Lord Canis…”

That I told the lord you gave me the necklace and he became furious and just snatched it away? It’s weird!

“Sigh…”

I sat crouched inside the pergola and let out a deep sigh. Unlike me, who had a complicated mind, the pups were excitedly rummaging around without any worries.

They seemed to like the new home. I smiled for a moment looking at our babies, then drooped my shoulders again.

“This is so unfair.”

“What is.”

“Ahh!”

I jumped up from my spot and reflexively swung my fist. Aspeiran, the meanie who suddenly appeared and startled me, caught my fist.

Meeting his indifferent eyes, the blood in my whole body turned cold. This was bad. I swung my fist at the lord!

I hurriedly bent my waist and bowed.

“I, I’m sorry! I was just startled so…”

“No, it’s fine. It’s a good attitude. Never allow anyone else to approach you from now on.”

But Aspeiran unexpectedly praised me. I widened my eyes at the unexpected situation.

‘I thought he would at least sneer that I would beat the lord to death at this rate…’

No? Is that also not really praise but high-level sneering?

While I was rolling my eyes, Aspeiran entered the pergola. His face seemed to be in a good mood.

He said.

“I came because I have something to give you.”

Then he snapped his fingers. I obediently approached Aspeiran.

But then, Aspeiran suddenly embraced me.

“?!”

Although I was often carried around, it was the first time being hugged from the front like this when nothing was going on. I flapped my arms, not knowing what to do.

“L-Lord?!”

“Just a moment. Stay still.”

Aspeiran’s hand moved around my neck area. I stood stiffly, waiting for him to finish his business quickly.

After a while, Aspeiran straightened his bent waist back to its original position. Then he pointed to my chest area with his finger.

“Take a look.”

I lowered my head to see what he was pointing at. It was a lovely necklace with a small, round gem that looked like a blueberry.

The dazzling blue light emitted by the necklace was almost blinding.

“This is…”

“The necklace I gave to Canis was something I made in a hurry when I was young, so it’s crude. The mana stone is also of lower quality. So wear that one.”

Aspeiran shoved both hands into his pockets and turned his gaze towards the pups.

He added as if it was no big deal.

“I used the highest-grade mana stone, so you won’t need to recharge the mana for about 10 years. And if you have that, wherever you are, I can find you and go to you. Look.”

A round sphere of light floated above Aspeiran’s hand. A straight line of blue light shot out from it and connected to the necklace around my neck. He said.

“If you’re in danger, I’ll rush to you anytime.”

The necklace was very pretty. It was also filled with Aspeiran’s heart that cared for me.

So I should have just said thank you as usual. It wasn’t much different from the items Aspeiran had bestowed upon me before.

But my mouth was already blurting out strange words on its own.

“Why… are you giving me something like this?”

Even I myself couldn’t understand the intention behind those words. For the first time since I’d known him, Aspeiran made a dumbfounded expression.

He opened his mouth.

“… Because you.”

Aspeiran hesitated, which was rare. He fumbled for words several times.

“You…”

Finally, Aspeiran stopped his wavering. My face was fully reflected in those blue eyes.

Aspeiran, who took a deep breath, whispered clearly as if stamping a seal.

“Because you are… a precious person to me.”