Robenhalf also clapped diligently among the people. His mouth was as busy as his hands. He whispered to Deon, who stood sullenly next to him.

“It’s a shame. If not for yesterday’s incident, the winner would have been Duke Roadwick, as always.”

The quarrel between Blake and Duke Gerwer at the hunt.

Enraged, the Emperor revoked the two families’ participation rights for this year’s hunting contest, and Serdiya won the hunt attended by the Imperial family, Hibenhatz, and Serdiya.

“What’s so great about that?”

Deon answered sullenly.

Blake, seated elsewhere, seemed to share the thought, clapping formally with a blank expression.

“But you won’t get the reward you’ve been receiving every year, will you?”

“What reward?”

Though the prizes Blake brought back to the castle every year were dazzling, there was nothing particularly regrettable if he didn’t receive them.

They were all things easily attainable with the Roadwick family’s funds and distribution network.

“The victory celebration cookies made by His Majesty’s personal chef. Your younger sister would have liked them.”

Deon furrowed his brow.

Robenhalf knew why he brought up the reward.

He just wanted to talk about Liche, that boy.

“You know, Derkeadion. I’ll get that, so can I go to your house?”

As Robenhalf turned his gaze to Duke Serdiya, who was wearing the victory crown, he casually asked Deon beside him.

“Huh? Did you hear me?”

Deon’s reply was absent.

Not only the crumbling Robenhalf Hibeitz here.

While maintaining a congratulatory smile for Duke Serdiya, Robenhalf thought.

‘I expected this much.’

For the past two months, he had longed for the days when he would face Deon.

His letters, sent in deep thought, went unanswered.

He tried to approach after seeing him yesterday, but the atmosphere became awkward due to the altercation between Duke Roadwick and Duke Gerwer, so he couldn’t bring it up.

So.

‘Today, I must hear that I can visit the Duke of Roadwick.’

If he goes to the duke’s mansion, he might find out the cause of this chime.

He might learn the whereabouts of the silverhaired girl that Duke Roadwick took with him.

Cooling his reddening face with a chill, Robenhalf turned his head.

“I won’t really be a bother…… Hey, Derkeadion? Where did you go?”

But Deon, who should have been beside him, was already gone.

Robenhalf’s blue eyes darted around in confusion.

A nearby noble told him what he had seen.

“The Duke’s son left his seat a while ago. When Duke Serdiya put on the victory crown.”

Almost from the beginning, wasn’t it?

He failed again.

Robenhalf sulked inwardly as he watched the foundation celebration.

(This is a time delimiter.)

It has been over a week since Liche began to flit around Clang’s treatment room like her own room.

“Hello, Clang. May I come in?”

“Of course.”

She even knocked on the open door and asked for permission.

Clang nodded his head with a kind smile at Liche’s behavior.

Liche drew back the curtain that covered the bed in the corner.
In the basket on the bed, a small wolf, with its body bandaged, curled up.

‘It’s asleep.’

Now, even without Pythons telling her, she could somewhat understand the wolf’s condition.

Whenever the wolf slept, the purified energy, which now covered only half of its upper body, diminished little by little.

But the wounds on its body were not something she could deal with, so Liche, like any other day, asked Clang about the wolf’s condition.

“Is it much better today?”

“Yes. Perhaps because it’s young, it’s recovering quickly. The wounds are almost healed, and the broken leg bone will be joined soon.”

Sway.

Upon hearing the two’s conversation, the wolf’s tail swayed. As it opened its wrapped eyes, eyes resembling the forest, green, appeared.

“Kiing.”

“Are you okay?”

Liche reached out her hand. The docile wolf, giving its head, licked Liche’s palm.

“It tickles.”

Liche laughed. Whether the young wolf liked that reaction, it licked Liche’s palm a few more times.

“Oh, it’s very energetic today?”

Suddenly, Zed, who had entered the treatment room, spoke.

Only Liche, Clang, and the Treang siblings knew of the wolf’s existence, staying in the treatment room at the Lodwick Ducal House.

Even though Clang and the Treang siblings realized that the wolf was an ability user, they did not tell Liche. They thought it would be better that way.

Liche was no different.

She thought that the three didn’t know the wolf was an ability user.

‘A beastkin ability user……. One year older than me now?’

To hide her ability from other ability users, she had to know basic information about them.

Liche asked Madam Michelle, who taught etiquette, and learned about the ability users.

The wolf in front of her was eightyearold Siegbert Serdiya, the second son of the Serdiya Ducal family.

The problem was that the Lodwick Ducal House and the Serdiya Ducal House had been like water and oil for generations.

If it was revealed that the wolf was the second son of Serdiya, Siegbert might be driven out of the ducal house that day.

‘But the Serdiya family’s ability users are clumsy with their abilities when young and mainly spend time in animal forms. Luckily.’

So she was a bit relieved that the beastkin wouldn’t be revealed within the Lodwick Ducal House.

Since it was in wolf form, nobody would know it was an ability user.

Liche was able to think this because she didn’t know the unique fur color of the Serdiya family’s ability users.

“The Lord has returned!”

In the meantime, the cries of the servants connected from the entrance of the estate reached every corner of the mansion.

Liche got up happily and turned her head.

Beyond the open door of the treatment room, she could hear the bustling noise of those greeting the returning Lord’s party.

Having not seen them for over two weeks, she had quite missed them.

“Our Lord has arrived early.”

She had received word that they would arrive tonight or tomorrow morning.

It wasn’t even noon yet.

Why? As Zed’s mischievous gaze shifted, Liche, fluttering, ran into his view.

With a joyous look on her back, Zed covered his mouth in a touched manner. It wasn’t a onesided familial love from the Lord.

Meanwhile, Liche, who had left the treatment room, bumped into someone’s leg. Her body, naturally lifted into the air, was caught in familiar arms.

“Liche.”

“Ah, Daddy!”

Seeing Liche’s face light up as she recognized him, Blake’s lips slightly curved upward.

He stroked Liche’s head and asked his daughter, whom he saw after a long time, about her wellbeing.

“Have you been well?”

“Hey, did your fake illness get better?”

Deon, who had come with him, asked Liche instead of greeting her.

Fake illness? He must have discovered she feigned sickness to avoid the hunting festival.

“Uh, um…….”

Her face flushed. Liche nodded.

Chuff, chuff.

Then, the sound, not yet ready to be revealed, was heard.

“…….”

“What’s that?”

Two pairs of red eyes turned towards the interior of the treatment room beyond the open door.