‘Surely Espen hasn’t also become a beast like me.’

As I stared blankly at the boy who resembled Espen, my heart felt increasingly heavy. Not wanting to become more depressed, I quickly turned around.

‘Regardless of what happened to Espen, it has nothing to do with me now. It’s a matter of my past life.’

And now I was living my own life. It’s foolish to continue holding onto an irretrievable past.

Still, perhaps because I thought of Espen, my already cold feet felt as if they were freezing more and more. I hurriedly moved my steps.

‘I need to go where Hadel is.’

No sooner had I gained my freedom than I wanted to return to Hadel’s side. At this point, it was an addiction to his flame.

‘But which direction is the office?’

How would I know when it’s my first time wandering around the castle? I moved aimlessly. As I wondered if I was going the right way, I finally encountered a person.

“Oh! A weasel!”

‘A person!’

She was a young maid wearing a black hat, with long sleeves and a skirt that covered her ankles.

Since she was the first woman I met after waking up as a weasel, I raised my front paws and stood up in delight.

“Squeak!”

However, I couldn’t receive a response to my greeting. Because the other maid standing beside her, holding a large basket, tapped her shoulder and said,

“Shh! His Lordship said if we happen to see a white weasel in the castle, we should pretend not to know it.”

“Ah, right.”

At their conversation, I gaped in disbelief.

‘What kind of order did you give, Hadel?’

Pretend not to know me. So you’re telling me to live only talking to you? What kind of new harassment is this?

But the Grand Duke’s orders are strict law. The maids quickly picked up the baskets and hurried away. I awkwardly scratched my head and thought,

‘The pile they’re carrying looks like laundry? Usually, there would be more than ten maids doing laundry in a castle. Are there no other maids?’

If I follow those people, I might be able to meet other maids too.

Then among them, there should also be maids who clean the office.

‘It’ll be faster to follow someone working.’

When would I ever finish circling the castle with these small feet? I quickly started following the maids.

At first, they didn’t notice me, but then one person turned around and made a sad face.

“Oh no, what do we do? The weasel-nim is following us.”

If it’s a weasel, it’s a weasel, what’s with the ‘weasel-nim’?

‘And if you noticed I’m following, just slow down your steps. It’s hard to keep up.’

Human strides are much larger, and since I’m moving with my whole body using four legs, naturally my energy consumption is extreme.

‘It would be nice if you put me in that laundry basket while you’re at it.’

As I was hoping for such a trick and sending them a sparkling gaze, the maid who had said to pretend not to know earlier spoke up again.

“Still, let’s pretend we don’t know. What if His Highness gets angry and starts spewing flames?”

“Ugh, just imagining it is scary.”

“Should we just run away?”

“Yes, let’s!”

Hey! Where are you going! Hey!

They all ran away in a hurry. I, who had been chasing them, stopped in my tracks and stared at them blankly.

‘……Hadel, you lead a lonely life.’

Actually, it seemed like I was the one leading a lonely life, but I tried hard to ignore that fact. I’m about to cry from the sadness.

‘People are afraid of Hadel’s flames, so it seems the number of people working in the castle has been minimized too. He’s such a nice guy.’

Feeling down, I flopped onto the hallway floor. Looking at my feet, the soles were black from trampling through areas that hadn’t been properly cleaned earlier.

‘But they’re not just leaving the castle dirty, right? It doesn’t uphold the Grand Duke’s dignity.’

Hire more people, I say. While you’re at it, hire someone in charge of me too. Someone who will move in the direction I point my hair.

I was spouting complaints filled with self-interest when I heard a familiar voice calling my name from afar.

“……Gyugyu?”

“Gyu!”

I jumped up in delight. It wasn’t my imagination, it was really Hadel!

“Gyugyugyu!”

I quickly ran to Hadel. Hadel gently picked me up.

“I told you that you could come out, and you’ve already made it all the way here.”

“Gyu.”

“Hm?”

As his touch reached me, the chill enveloping my body receded, and in an instant, my body became soft and warm.

I was so happy to see him that I spread my arms and clung to Hadel’s arm.

Then Hadel frowned and said,

“If you’re cold, say you’re cold. Don’t suddenly cling to me like this.”

‘Dummy.’

I blushed and pouted, grumbling inwardly.

‘I’m hugging you. Consider it an honor.’

Held in Hadel’s arms, I easily arrived at the office. My sixth sense is amazingly incredible, the direction I had earnestly run towards was indeed the direction of Hadel’s office.

‘Hoho, I’m quite the weasel. A smart weasel at that.’

As I was feeling smug, Hadel’s palm pressed down on my head. Then, pointing to the office door, he told me clearly,

“This dark green door is my office. Come here if you’re hungry.”

‘The office!’

It was the place where we had a meeting last time. Hadel put me down on the office floor. I, who had excitedly stepped down, shivered and stood on two feet.

‘Ah, it’s cold.’

Why do you have the window open on such a cold day! The hallway is actually warmer.

Pat pat pat.

As soon as I got down, I scratched Hadel’s leg with both hands, signaling that I wanted to be held again.

Hadel made a wry smile and bent down to pick me up again.

“What a spoiled child.”

He says that, but is it my imagination that the corners of his mouth seem to be slightly raised?

‘You also like it when I ask to be held.’

Not wanting to admit that I was the only one who liked being held, I grumbled for no reason.

With me in his arms, Hadel sat at his desk. Several sheets of paper were scattered on the desk, and like last time, an official was sitting next to him, filling out documents in Hadel’s stead.

Hadel pointed to a corner of the desk and said,

“Your cushion is here, so if you get bored, go up there.”

“Gyu?”

My cushion, why is it there? When did he know I would come to the office?

As I tilted my head, Hadel pressed down on my head and answered,

“I just brought it here. You crawl up onto the bed every time anyway.”

“Gyu.”

That’s something I don’t know about.

‘Every time I open my eyes in the morning, I’m always on the bed.’

Since the topic was unfavorable to me, I quietly hunched my body and avoided Hadel’s gaze.

‘So what? No one lectures a weasel on etiquette. Hadel doesn’t seem to care whether I’m female or male either.’

As I obediently nestled in his arms, Hadel resumed the work he had paused. He would dictate and the official would write it down, but naturally, the writing speed was slower than the dictation speed, so the conversation was often interrupted.

‘Even working seems inconvenient. It would be easier to just pour out the overflowing mana.’

Still, I thought there might be some helpful information for me, so I stretched my head out and peered at the documents as well.

‘Just boring documents. I don’t know the years well either. I don’t know the place names.’

Since the official documents were completely different from the era I lived in, they weren’t particularly helpful. Bored, I pressed down on Hadel’s palm.

“Gyu-oo.”

Hadel’s red eyes held me. He seemed to have gotten quite used to me now, easily reading the meaning of my cry.

“You want to be put down?”

“Gyu.”

“How fickle.”

His voice seemed to be scolding me, but his hands setting me down on the floor were incomparably gentle.

Even after being put down on the floor, Hadel’s characteristically flat voice with no inflection was clearly audible.

“The North welcomes the visit of Prince Saedel next month…”

He mentioned a letter arriving earlier, and it seems a prince is visiting the North.

‘If it’s a prince, isn’t it Hadel’s brother?’

However, the letter he dictated sounded more like thoroughly observing etiquette towards a stranger than a sibling.

‘Well, family relationships are as diverse as stars.’

It wasn’t my place to interfere with what kind of relationship Hadel had with his other family members.

I stopped paying attention to Hadel’s letter and eagerly looked around Hadel’s office.

I saw the maids passing by earlier, but it didn’t seem like they cleaned here every day.

‘The lack of servants is a problem. Look here. Dust has piled up a lot too.’

Usually, for a place where a Grand Duke resides, every nook and cranny down to under the sofa would be swept and wiped daily, but it seemed they didn’t clean that meticulously here.

‘Well, with few people, there would be limits to that too. Hadel’s flames are the problem.’

Can’t he share some of those flames with me? One person has so much it’s causing a ruckus, so it would be good to give charity to a lacking weasel.

As I was thoroughly examining every corner and returning to Hadel’s desk, one of Hadel’s subordinates knocked on the door and entered, bowing his head to Hadel.

“Your Highness, a moment please.”

“What is it?”

It must have been a serious matter, because upon hearing the story, Hadel’s face hardened, and he even took the man in the office with him and left. Suddenly left alone to guard the office, I put my hands on my hips vigorously.

Finally, this body has found a way to earn its keep!

‘While Hadel is out working, should I try cleaning?’

Cleaning, that’s right.

Cleaning the entire room would be too much, so I decided to start with Hadel’s desk and its surroundings. Fortunately, the window was open, so there was no need to open it.

The first thing to do is, of course, dusting.

‘Ugh, my tail is the only thing that can be used as a broom. No choice.’