The secretary doubted his ears. He looked back at Hadel with an expression as if he had misheard.

“If you don’t remove the ink stains on the marble quickly, it will be discolored, right?”

However, Hadel’s answer was the same.

“Just leave it.”

“…Yes.”

The steward had grumbled that the viscount had completely mesmerized His Highness the Grand Duke with some trick.

‘Is it true.’

It felt so unfamiliar even to the secretary that Hadel, who never kept anyone by his side, was acting like this.

Regardless of what the secretary thought, Hadel slowly followed the small footprints and arrived at his desk. There were documents on the desk. They had been there before he ran out, but the feeling was subtly different.

‘Whose handwriting is this?’

Hadel frowned and picked up the paper. Then, he asked the secretary in a dubious tone.

“Has there been an addition to the authors of the documents submitted to me recently?”

“Pardon? The workforce working in the office remains the same. Why do you ask?”

“The font seems to have changed. It’s a handwriting I’ve never seen before.”

The secretary, who received the letter from Hadel, frowned while pushing up his glasses tightly.

“…Is that so? It’s a very elegant handwriting style? Especially this kind of trailing cursive disappeared about 100 years ago…”

“Hm.”

A handwriting style that disappeared about 100 years ago, it was even more concerning. As Hadel frowned, the secretary asked in a careful tone while rolling his eyes.

“If it bothers you, shall I look into it?”

“No, it’s fine.”

The secretary didn’t seem to notice, but Hadel saw something else.

‘The mistakes have been corrected too.’

The subtotal addition was slightly off, so he was going to scold them when reviewing this document, but that part had been neatly rewritten.

‘Who on earth could it be?’

The place where the footprints, like ant tracks, continued from the desk was right under the trash can. Inside, the uncorrected document was crumpled up.

‘…Could it be.’

At this moment, there was only one being who could correct this document. All the evidence, including the footprints, pointed to him.

The problem was that the being was not human.

‘I thought he was smart, but he can write too?’

Is it really possible for a beast to be able to write?

It was not a level to simply think he’s smart and cute and move on.

‘Maybe he’s really a demon.’

A demon that he must kill in order to protect this land.

“…”

“What’s the matter, Your Highness?”

“It’s nothing.”

The moment the thought that he might be a demon came to mind, Hadel unknowingly grasped the documents on the desk tightly. Nevermind that they were crumpled by the force of his grip, they could have caught fire.

He tried to smooth it out and put it back down, when a small flower caught Hadel’s eye.

‘A flower.’

A very, very small wildflower that seemed to bloom everywhere, with a few petals falling off, probably because it wasn’t properly picked.

‘Kyukyu.’

It was a gift left by his ferret for him.

It’s already been over a month since I entrusted my body to Hadel.

When I woke up in the morning, Hadel had already left for sword training. I leisurely lay on the bed and washed my face with my two front paws without water.

‘I think my fur has become silky too.’

Eating delicious food and sleeping with my back supported in a warm place, it was natural for my fur to become silky.

‘Gasp! But the silkier my fur becomes, the more people will be after my hide, right?’

I can’t live trembling in fear of when Hadel will catch me forever.

So, I decided to prove that I have tremendous usefulness besides my hide.

‘Phew, I’ll be very busy trying to please Hadel.’

My daily routine is as follows.

Sleeping in in the morning (because ferrets are nocturnal, it can’t be helped)

Cleaning Hadel’s room after breakfast and lunch

Exploring the kitchen (getting snacks is a bonus)

Cleaning Hadel’s office while he works

Reading books in the library until before dinner

Chatting with Hadel after dinner

Right now, it’s sleeping in time.

‘But I woke up earlier than usual today.’

Usually, I wake up to the sound of Hadel taking a bath or the steward pulling a cart.

‘I think I went to bed a bit early yesterday too.’

At night, I fall asleep while chatting with Hadel, but yesterday, I fell asleep early because Hadel put me inside his shirt.

‘Hadel’s embrace is excessively warm.’

I still melt like cheese when I touch Hadel’s flames.

‘But I’ve learned a lot while staying here for a month.’

First, I can absorb Hadel’s flames.

It wasn’t my imagination that I felt unusually warm when I licked his finger last time. Through more dense contact, I was able to absorb Hadel’s flames.

‘I thought my heart was broken, but it seems the ability to absorb flames is the same.’

From just skin-to-skin contact to licking or biting his fingertips. The amount of mana I could absorb varied depending on the degree.

Perhaps, if I had more contact, I could absorb more mana, but…

‘Impossible. That’s impossible. Impossible, impossible. Absolutely impossible.’

Even now, occasionally crawling into Hadel’s shirt and clinging to his bare skin is intimate enough. Asking me to have even closer contact than this? I can’t do it.

‘It would be rude to Hadel too.’

Anyway, that’s why I didn’t try contact beyond that. If I tried, I might succeed though.

Secondly, through that contact, Hadel became more comfortable to the extent that I absorbed his mana.

‘That’s a relief.’

Hadel was originally suffering from mana overproduction, so even me sucking out mana like a mosquito seemed to be a big help. Hadel seemed to have noticed this recently, and whenever he had a fever or something, he often held me.

‘Because of that, there seem to be strange rumors circulating in the castle.’

Things like the aloof Grand Duke from the capital being head over heels for a ferret, or that he actually has a weakness for cute things.

‘Not only did raising a ferret become a trend, even animal ear hats became a popular item in the North.’

Well, I guess that can’t be helped. Cute things are good.

And finally, the third thing.

Surprisingly, it’s been 100 years since I died!

‘I didn’t know Yulnisia would become such a great magical tool maker.’

While reading various books in the library, I learned about the current era. Even the things that happened after I died.

The most amazing thing was that Yulnisia, my comrade and closest friend, became a great magical tool maker whose name was engraved in history books.

‘The item in the bathroom where warm water pours out when you turn the knob, and the toilet where you just need to pull a lever in the room to flush away your business, were all Yulnisia’s inventions.’

Yulnisia had always sung about wanting to create magical tools that could improve the lives of the common people rather than weapons used in war.

But to think she actually achieved that dream.

‘My friend left a great name, while I’m just a mere wild beast.’

I was feeling down, but soon shook my head.

‘No. That’s also thanks to me ending the war and sending the different races beyond the barrier, so I can be proud.’

I tried to comfort myself and patted my own head with my hand.

‘By the way, this thing called the barrier is very annoying.’

The barrier. The wall that was created when Princess Marian, my past self, drove out all the beings that threatened humans, including demons.

No one has approached its entity or knows exactly what it is, so it’s simply called the ‘barrier’.

‘But from there, a strong chill that life cannot withstand flows out, and sometimes, demons with ice attributes leap out from beyond it.’

That place was right here, the North. I could also understand why Hadel, who possesses the flame attribute, was driven to this side.

Only the flame attribute can compete with the ice attribute.

‘The demons of the past were definitely not just ice attributes. They had various attributes like humans. But the fact that the barrier emitting cold air and the ice attribute demons coming from beyond it are common here….’

Something smells fishy, doesn’t it?

Speaking of ice attributes, there was something that came to mind. It was Espen, who went on a rampage right before I died.

At that time, cold air also poured out from Espen’s body. So strong that it froze the entire battlefield.

‘Could it be that even when I went berserk, I couldn’t get rid of Espen’s cold air? If Espen’s heart keeps emitting cold air…’

I shook my head at the thought.

‘That can’t be. At the point when Espen’s breath stopped, Espen’s heart must have also stopped producing cold air.’

Just like how I, with a broken heart, can no longer spew flames.

Thinking of my empty heart made my chest ache. Anyway, the most strange thing right now was the barrier.

‘If Hadel has to go near the barrier later, I’ll follow and investigate. There’s no way to know for now.’

With the flames Hadel possesses, it would be possible to get close to the barrier. Of course, if it’s not dangerous and the current situation is just maintained, there’s no need to approach it.

After organizing my thoughts, I let out a big yawn.

‘I’m fully awake now. It’s earlier than my usual schedule, but shall I do today’s work?’

I rolled up my sleeves, got up, and came down from the bed. Then, I took out my belongings that I had put under the bed.

‘Ta-da! My personal broom made by the maids! And this is my personal apron!’

They were my cleaning tools made for me after learning that I go around cleaning Hadel’s room with my tail.