I peeked my head out slightly and was startled to find myself face to face with Prince Saedel’s bright blue eyes.

‘Ah, bad luck. Of all places to get caught.’

Curiosity kills the kind ferret.

If our eyes hadn’t met, I could have pretended nothing happened and quickly run away, but unfortunately our gazes locked in a way I couldn’t avoid.

Saedel’s brow furrowed deeply when he saw me.

“This ferret…”

Why! What!

‘Going to kick me again?’

You jerk, I was too small and cute back then to retaliate! Now I can run at Saedel and bite his cheek.

‘I’m a one-punch three-corn ferret. Want to taste my fire fist?’

I made swooshing sounds while waving my hands threateningly. But then I froze like ice at the words Saedel uttered with narrowed eyes.

“I sense a spark from you.”

Oh no.

‘Why is he so sensitive?’

It’s natural that spark mana can be sensed from me. Yesterday I clung to Hadel like a mosquito and sucked up mana.

But sensing that energy is a different story!

‘Even Hadel didn’t seem to notice!’

I instinctively felt I needed to run away. I quickly stepped on the windowsill and dashed off. Surprisingly, Saedel chased after me.

“Stop right there!”

“Your Highness?”

“Prince Saedel!”

Screams erupted from inside the room as Saedel suddenly leapt out the window. I turned back and blanched at the sight of Saedel pursuing me.

‘What’s with that crazy impulsiveness?’

He acts aloof and disinterested in others, but reacts intensely like fire when something catches his attention.

“Kyu kyu!”

I ran in a panic. But today seemed to be a day when everything went wrong – Hadel’s window was firmly shut.

‘No!’

He usually leaves it open for me, but why is it so tightly closed today of all days! Just as I was frantically knocking on Hadel’s window with my small hands:

“Kyu!”

A large hand snatched and grabbed me. At the same time, I felt an icy chill sweep through my body.

It was ice mana.

‘So it’s an ice attribute!’

Not only does he look exactly like Espen, but even his attribute is the same. My stomach churned.

‘Cold.’

In the past, I could freely unleash fiery mana from my heart, so no matter how intensely Espen scattered his cold energy, it didn’t affect me. But now it was different. From the moment I felt the freezing air swirling around me like an attack, my teeth chattered.

I hate this. It’s painful.

But Saedel, unable to understand my cries, didn’t let go. Instead, he held me up close to examine me while muttering:

“Why do I sense fire from an animal? Can it generate mana? That should be impossible.”

Right, I can’t. This isn’t my mana. So let me go.

“Kyu, kyuu.”

“Pink…”

Saedel’s brow furrowed as he observed me crying weakly.

“What are you?”

He asked in a low voice. I just twitched my nose. What else, what am I? A cute and adorable white ferret.

There’s no way he could hear a human response from me. Realizing this, Saedel seemed to decide on a different approach.

“Well, I’ll just have to check.”

Why don’t you let me go before that? I’m scared of falling since we’re outside the window, and it’s already cold but being outside makes it even colder…

“Kyu?!”

I screamed with wide eyes. It was because of the icy chill creeping through my veins.

‘W-what!’

Since I’m not ice-attributed, I can’t absorb the mana he’s emitting. I can only freeze up.

‘I’ll die! I’m going to die!’

Even as I resisted, the ice violently surged in. It felt like it would freeze me solid and turn me into ice.

“Kyu!”

I screamed in complete terror. Right at that moment, the window we were standing at flew open, and a large hand snatched me away.

“Kyu?”

I could have resisted, but I perked my ears up in reverse out of joy. A familiar fire spread from where it touched my skin, pushing away the unpleasant chill enveloping my body.

‘Hadel.’

It was Hadel.

‘Hng, I was so scared.’

As soon as I realized it was Hadel who had rescued me from Saedel, I clung tightly to Hadel’s hand. Perhaps because my heart had softened along with becoming a small animal, tears streamed down.

‘I feel wronged. I felt so wronged.’

Kicking me for being a small creature, then chasing after me when I’m just crossing the windowsill, grabbing me and even trying to freeze me!

Hadel cupped me protectively in both hands as I cried with kyu sounds. Then he glared at Saedel and asked:

“What are you doing here?”

“Elder brother.”

So you know Hadel is your elder brother. You damned bastard.

Still crying in Hadel’s hands, I glared at Saedel. I was even angrier at the fact that someone who knew Hadel was his elder brother had been ignoring him all this time.

Then, as if finding an interesting toy, Saedel stared at me in a trance. When our eyes met, I was startled and pushed my head into Hadel’s palm.

“What is that?”

What, at least blink or something. So scary!

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d gotten caught up with a madman. I trembled in fear. I couldn’t forget the sensation of that icy chill freezing my veins and approaching my heart.

I hate this. What if he chases me until I die? What if Hadel hands me over when that guy asks for me?

Our relationship isn’t that casual, right? You won’t hand me over, will you? You’ll protect me, right?

‘Even if I die and become a ghost, I’ll curse you forever if you hand me over!’

Though I was shaking, I tried hard to convey this determination to Hadel through my eyes.

Right then, as if understanding my words, Hadel cupped me with his other hand, wrapping me in another layer. I looked up at Hadel with round eyes at the warm energy flowing in.

‘Hadel?’

Hadel raised his head firmly and spoke in a calm tone.

“This one is mine. Don’t touch it.”

For the first time, Hadel, who had been passive towards Saedel all along, clearly expressed his opinion.

Saedel’s eyebrows curved greatly in displeasure. He gripped the windowsill with his long arms and used the momentum to leap into Hadel’s room.

‘Eek! Why are you coming in here!’

Isn’t Hadel’s room basically my room too? My heart pounded and anxiety grew as this threatening person entered my room.

“Kyu kyu.”

I cried softly and tried to burrow deeper into Hadel’s palm. Hadel gently rubbed my back.

As if to reassure me.

‘Hadel?’

Is this really comforting me?

‘We’ve gotten closer, right?’

Realizing that Hadel was trying to protect me, a corner of my heart throbbed with a pleasant feeling. It was the excitement I could feel when absorbing mana from Hadel.

I wanted to examine this good feeling more delicately, but with Saedel in front of me, I couldn’t focus on my emotions.

Saedel smiled fiercely and said:

“It seems this country life suits you well. You used to not even be able to make eye contact with people from the capital.”

Our Hadel was that passive? Saedel continued, full of sarcasm.

“But can people really change? You’re still the monster who hurt innocent people and made them tremble in fear.”

“…”

No, why are you just listening to such words!

The answer to why Hadel had been reacting timidly all this time was contained in Saedel’s words. Everyone had driven Hadel to be a potential monster.

‘But that’s not true! He was just born with fire-attribute mana.’

From my perspective, the ice attribute that tried to freeze me solid felt more threatening.

And fire wasn’t the only threat. Other attributes could become just as powerful if intending to harm people. It’s just that fire’s intensity imprints fear more strongly.

I tapped Hadel’s hand to indicate there was no need to pay attention to such words. Hadel’s red eyes looked down at me.

Right then, Saedel crossed the line.

“Hand over that ferret to me before you burn it to death.”

“You…”

I could clearly feel Hadel’s emotions greatly stirring through his hand holding me. Hadel’s heart began to pound, creating powerful flames.

Saedel smirked mockingly as he sensed that mana. It meant that Hadel still couldn’t control his flames even now.

“Kyu!”

Finally unable to contain my anger, I forgot the overwhelming fear I felt earlier and raised my head to yell at Saedel.

‘This is my baby! I’ll be the one to scold it! You keep your mouth shut.’

Although this protest was filled with such profound meaning, of course to Saedel’s ears it only sounded like this:

“Kyu kyu kyu! Kyu kyu! Kyu!”

It’s not my fault my vocal cords don’t move according to my will, so it can’t be helped.

However, the meaning of protest seemed to be conveyed, as Saedel’s eyebrows twitched greatly.

“This ferret.”

“Kyu kyu!”

Go ahead and try if you dare! I’ve already died once from freezing in my past life. If I freeze to death a second time, I guess it’s just my fate!

I stretched out my head and provoked Saedel. Saedel reached out his hand as if he really wanted to kill me in anger. Ice crystals seemed to float around the tips of his fingers.

‘Eek!’

I acted tough earlier, but freezing to death was still scary. I clutched Hadel’s hand tightly, terrified.

‘Huh?’

Hadel lightly turned his body as if to block between Saedel and me. Then he extended his hand towards Saedel’s hand.

– Hiss!

Steam billowed as Hadel and Saedel’s mana collided. It was a natural reaction since the two people’s mana had completely different natures.

Saedel’s face contorted, as if he hadn’t expected Hadel to directly defy him like this.

“Did you just spew flames at me?”