The White Stoat Princess (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 16
The secretary doubted his own ears. He turned to look at Hadel with an expression that asked if he had misheard.
“If we don’t quickly wipe away the ink spilled on the marble, it will stain, you know?”
However, Hadel’s answer remained the same.
“Just leave it.”
“……Yes.”
The butler had grumbled something about how the weasel had completely bewitched His Grace the Archduke.
‘Is it really true?’
Even to the secretary, Hadel—who never kept anyone by his side—acting like this felt utterly unfamiliar.
No matter what the secretary thought, Hadel slowly followed the tiny footprints and arrived at his desk. Documents were placed on the desk. They had been there even before he stepped out, but something felt subtly different.
‘Whose handwriting is this?’
Hadel frowned as he picked up the paper. Then, in a reluctant tone, he asked the secretary.
“Has a new person been added to write the documents submitted to me recently?”
“Pardon? The staff at the government office remains the same. Why do you ask?”
“It seems the handwriting has changed. This is a script I’ve never seen before.”
The secretary, receiving the letter from Hadel, pushed his glasses up and furrowed his brow.
“……You’re right? It’s a very old-fashioned style of handwriting, isn’t it? Especially this kind of cursive that trails off at the ends—it disappeared around a hundred years ago……”
“Hmm.”
A handwriting style that vanished about a hundred years ago only made it more concerning. As Hadel continued frowning, the secretary rolled his eyes nervously and asked in a cautious tone.
“Shall I look into it if it bothers you?”
“No, never mind.”
The secretary didn’t seem to notice, but Hadel saw something else.
‘Even the mistakes have been corrected.’
He had planned to scold whoever wrote this because the tax calculations were subtly wrong, yet that part had been neatly rewritten.
‘Just who could it be?’
The trail of footprints stamped on the desk like ant steps led straight to the wastebasket beneath it. Inside was the crumpled original document before it was fixed.
‘……No way.’
At this very moment, there was only one being capable of correcting these documents. Every piece of evidence—the footprints and all—pointed to it.
The problem was that this being was not human.
‘I knew it was clever, but it can write too?’
Is it truly possible for a beast to write?
This was far beyond simply being smart or cute.
‘Perhaps it really is a demonic beast.’
A demonic beast he might have to kill to protect this land.
“……”
“Is something wrong, Your Highness?”
“It’s nothing.”
The moment the thought that it might be a demonic beast crossed his mind, Hadel unconsciously gripped the documents on the desk tightly. The papers crumpling under his strength was secondary; they could have caught fire.
As he tried to smooth them out again and set them down, Hadel’s gaze landed on a small flower.
‘A flower.’
An extremely tiny wildflower, one that bloomed everywhere, with a few petals fallen because it hadn’t been picked properly.
‘Kyu Kyu.’
It was a gift his weasel had left for him.
[This is the timeline separator]It has already been well over a month since I entrusted my body to Hadel.
When I woke up in the morning, Hadel had already left for swordsmanship training. I lay leisurely on the bed and washed my face without water using my two front paws.
‘I think my fur has become softer.’
Eating delicious food and sleeping curled up in warm places naturally made fur sleek.
‘Ack! But the softer my fur gets, the more people will covet my pelt, won’t they?’
I can’t keep living in fear that Hadel might catch and skin me one day.
So I decided to prove that I have tremendous value beyond just my fur.
‘Sigh, trying to win Hadel’s heart is really busy work.’
My daily routine goes like this.
Morning: sleeping in (weasels are nocturnal, nothing I can do)
After breakfast-lunch: cleaning Hadel’s room
Kitchen exploration (snacks are a bonus)
While Hadel works: cleaning his office
Until dinner: reading books in the library
After dinner: playing and cuddling with Hadel
Right now is sleeping-in time.
‘But today I woke up earlier than usual.’
Normally I wake to the sound of Hadel bathing or the butler pushing the cart.
‘I think I went to bed a bit early yesterday.’
At night I usually fall asleep while playing with Hadel, but yesterday he tucked me inside his shirt, so I fell asleep quickly.
‘Hadel’s embrace is excessively warm.’
Even now, touching Hadel’s flames makes me melt like cheese.
‘Still, I’ve learned a lot during this past month here.’
First, I can absorb Hadel’s flames.
It wasn’t my imagination when I licked his finger last time and felt unusually warm. Through closer physical contact, I could absorb Hadel’s flames.
‘I thought my heart was broken, but it seems my ability to contain flames is the same.’
From simply pressing our bodies together to licking or lightly biting his fingertips—the amount of mana I could absorb varied accordingly.
Probably, with even more contact I could absorb more mana, but……
‘No way. That’s impossible. Totally impossible. Absolutely impossible.’
Even occasionally crawling inside Hadel’s shirt and clinging to his bare skin is already intensely intimate already. Asking for more contact than that? I can’t.
‘That would be rude to Hadel too.’
Anyway, I haven’t tried anything beyond that. Though if I did try, it would probably succeed.
Second, the more of Hadel’s mana I absorb through that contact, the more comfortable Hadel becomes.
‘That’s fortunate.’
Since Hadel originally suffered from excessive mana production, my taking tiny amounts like a mosquito seems to help a lot. Lately Hadel seems to have noticed too; whenever he has a fever, he often pulls me close and holds me.
‘Because of that, strange rumors are circulating in the castle.’
That the aloof Archduke from the capital is head over heels for a single weasel, or that he actually can’t resist cute things.
‘Not only keeping a weasel, but animal-ear hats have even become a trendy item in the north now.’
Well, there’s nothing to be done about it. Cute things are good, after all.
And finally, the third thing.
Shockingly, it has been 100 years since I died!
‘I never imagined Yulnisia would become such a great magical tool artisan.’
While reading various books in the library, I learned the current era and the events that happened after my death.
The most surprising was that my former comrade and closest friend Yulnisia had her name etched in history as a great magical tool artisan.
‘The item in the bathroom where turning the ring makes warm water gush out, and the toilet that flushes everything away just by pulling a lever in the room—both were inventions by Yulnisia.’
Yulnisia had always sung about wanting to create magical tools that improve ordinary people’s lives rather than weapons for war.
Who would have thought she actually achieved that dream.
‘My friend left a great name behind, while I’m reduced to a mere wild beast.’
Feeling gloomy, I soon shook my head.
‘No. That too is thanks to me ending the war and sending the other races beyond the barrier, so I can feel proud.’
Comforting myself, I patted my own head with my paw.
‘By the way, this thing called the barrier really bothers me.’
The barrier. The wall created when I—Princess Marian in my previous life—drove out all beings that threatened humanity, including demonic beasts.
No one who approached it knows its true nature, so it is simply called “the barrier.”
‘Yet from there flows a cold so intense no life can withstand it, and occasionally ice-attributed demonic beasts leap over it.’
That place is none other than the north. I think I understand why Hadel, who possesses the flame attribute, was exiled here.
Because only the flame attribute can oppose ice.
‘The demonic beasts of the past definitely weren’t only ice-attributed. They had various attributes like humans. Yet here, cold-emitting barriers and ice demonic beasts that cross them are now commonplace……’
Doesn’t something smell suspicious?
Speaking of ice attribute, one thing comes to mind. It was Espen, who went berserk right before I died.
Back then, cold poured from Espen’s body too—strong enough to freeze the entire battlefield.
‘Could it be that even after I went berserk, I failed to eliminate Espen’s cold? If Espen’s heart is still continuously emitting cold……’
Having thought that far, I shook my head.
‘No, that can’t be. The moment Espen’s breath stopped, his heart should no longer have produced cold.’
Just as I, with my broken heart, can no longer emit flames.
Remembering my empty heart made the edges of my mind throb. Anyway, the strangest thing right now is the barrier.
‘Later, if Hadel ever goes near the barrier, I’ll follow and investigate. For now, there’s no way to know.’
With Hadel’s flames, approaching the barrier should be possible. Of course, if we can just maintain the current safe situation, there’s no need to approach it.
Having organized my thoughts, I let out a big yawn.
‘My sleepiness is completely gone. It’s earlier than my usual schedule, but shall I start today’s tasks?’
Rolling up my sleeves—or rather, stretching my arms—I scampered down from the bed. Then I pulled out my belongings stored underneath.
‘Ta-da! The personal broom the maids made for me! And this is my personal apron!’
They were cleaning tools the maids made for me after learning I cleaned Hadel’s room with my tail.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
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