At my question, Hadel’s face frowned.

“What do you mean by how far?”

“How serious are you?”

Just curious about women, or do you just want to date me, or are you even thinking about making me your wife?

That part was really important to me. Because,

‘My answer will change depending on Hadel’s mindset!’

I listened intently to Hadel’s answer. Sensing my seriousness, Hadel let out a short sigh and suddenly began unbuttoning his shirt.

“How should I show you? With my body?”

“Stop! You must be crazy!”

What kind of answer is that with your body! At the answer with nowhere to go, only my face helplessly reddened. I slapped Hadel’s arms repeatedly to stop him.

Hadel replied incredulously.

“You asked first.”

“I didn’t ask you to show me with your body? Will you please listen to what I say before acting? How have you hidden that crazy impulsiveness all this time?”

“It only manifests for you.”

Hadel’s hand grasped my wrist that was patting his shoulder. It was a firm, large-boned, fully masculine hand.

Meeting my gaze, Hadel said in a heavy voice.

“Because I’m desperate. Afraid you’ll leave me behind.”

“…Why would I leave?”

“If I can’t capture your heart, you’ll leave, won’t you?”

Surprised that Hadel had been thinking this way, I couldn’t give any answer. As I hesitated, Hadel’s face contorted painfully.

“But I don’t have anything to hold you with. You’re a woman who says it’s more comfortable living as a weasel.”

“T-that…”

I never thought the words I said would come back like this as a boomerang. Since it didn’t mean I was fine without Hadel, I fidgeted with my fingers and mumbled an excuse.

“I-I meant it’s better to be a weasel if I want to stay by your side. How could being a weasel normally be better than being human? Being human is better.”

Making such a pitiful expression that gives people strong guilt! As soon as I said this, Hadel completely changed his expression and approached me one step closer again, more lightly.

“Then there’s no problem.”

Look at this guy? I pushed his chest with my free hand.

“No, it’s not! I don’t understand what you mean by no problem. You haven’t given the most important answer at all.”

Of course, his chest, hard as stone, didn’t budge even when pushed. He spoke with a strangely relaxed expression.

“I told you everything, didn’t I? Everything’s resolved. What’s the problem?”

Nothing’s been resolved at all, what are you saying! I beat my chest in frustration and shouted.

“I’m just an ordinary weasel! How can I… future with you… future… sob.”

“Marian.”

As I spoke, emotions welled up and tears began to flow. I couldn’t see through the tears. I shouted angrily.

“Ugh! Do you think I want to say these things myself? I’m originally a princess too, you know? It hurts my pride to say such things!”

Hadel hugged me and patted my back as if comforting a child.

“Yes, you’re a weasel princess.”

“Don’t you say it! It’s irritating!”

I pounded his chest forcefully, but Hadel didn’t budge at all. Hadel’s lips touched the tip of my nose. Startled, I closed my eyes then opened them. As tears fell, Hadel’s face suddenly became clear.

Hadel was smiling.

“Marian, you’re overthinking and making it complicated. Try thinking simply.”

“Simply?”

“Yes. Do you like me?”

I bit my lip. Even if I denied the truth and came up with all sorts of reasons to conclude it wasn’t possible, my answer was already set in the end.

Tears came again. With a contorted face, I cried but answered in a small voice.

“…I like you.”

Hadel asked again.

“Do you want to live with me?”

“I want to live with you.”

Hadel’s large hand gently rubbed my eyes. This question was a bit more mischievous and blatant.

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“…You’re really silly.”

Instead of answering, I pressed my lips to Hadel’s.

Perhaps because my lips were wet with tears, there was a slightly salty taste on the pressed lips. As I licked the soft lips, his mouth opened wide.

“Marian, you…”

I pushed my breath into the inside of his mouth as if to block his words. Hot air rushed back into me, warming my whole body languidly.

Clearly I was the one who boldly initiated the kiss, but at some point I was helplessly held in Hadel’s arms.

Hadel covered his reddened face with the back of his hand and grumbled lightly.

“Ah, really. Stop encouraging me.”

After he asked himself.

The tears disappeared completely, and for some reason, laughter came out. I couldn’t even understand why I had been worrying, avoiding Hadel, and crying.

Hadel spun me around. And pushed my back.

“Anyway, let’s get dressed. You’ll be spending more time as a human from now on.”

It’s so difficult to say you want to kiss. Instead of being pushed away, I hugged Hadel’s neck again.

[This is the timeline separator]

The reason Hadel was so shocked yesterday was because my clothes were wet from crying and clung to my body.

After letting me kiss him as I pleased, Hadel pleaded like this.

[The tailor is coming tomorrow, so let’s get all your clothes ready as soon as possible. Make sure to wrap up tightly when you go out. Understood?]

Yeah, I don’t want to.

The next day. Back in weasel form, I quickly left the room and scurried down the hallway. Behind me, I heard the maids screaming.

“The young lady has disappeared!”

“Oh my, where did she go at such an important time.”

I feel sorry for the people who came all this way to make clothes for me, but no matter how I think about it, I don’t need clothes.

‘Still, annoying things are annoying.’

There were many places in this castle where others couldn’t find me.

‘If it’s really necessary, they can just make them in a size similar to mine, right?’

Just imagining having my arm length and waist measured in front of strangers was bothersome. At first, I was so scared to stay in a desolate forest with no people, but now even people are all troublesome.

‘Ah, it feels good to walk on four legs after a long time.’

At first, I was planning to hide somewhere like in a corner of the stairs, but as I walked around, I wanted to get some fresh air too. When I went out to the back yard where food ingredients come and go through a slightly open door, there were carriages lined up that had to go to other regions.

‘Let’s see what kind of carriages there are.’

Besides helping Hadel adapt to his flames, another thing I wanted to do was find new businesses for the North. To do that, I needed to know what kinds of goods were coming and going by carriage.

I looked into the carriage with great expectations, but honestly, there wasn’t much being transported.

‘The domestic economy really is terrible.’

I was sighing heavily when I hopped onto another carriage. Inside were piles of letters.

‘Ah, so this is how letters are sent out.’

Usually there’s a separate post office, but it seems the North just sorts mail inside the castle.

‘The illiteracy rate might be higher than expected? Then do I need to teach people how to read and write too?’

While thinking about such things and looking at what kinds of letters were going back and forth, I sensed someone approaching.

‘Oh!’

I hurriedly hid among the letters. The people who walked up were two men.

“It’s no small feat to send reports consistently.”

“What else can we do? Prince Saedel insisted.”

At first I hid because I might get in trouble for secretly looking at the letters, but when Prince Saedel was mentioned, my eyes flew open.

‘Why is that name coming up here?’

It’s been a while since he left for the capital, so it was very suspicious to hear Prince Saedel’s name mentioned inside a castle full of Hadel’s subordinates.

I perked up my pink ear tips and eavesdropped on the conversation between the two.

“Why is Prince Saedel suddenly interested in a pink-haired woman in the Grand Duke’s castle?”

“Until now he was only interested in things like Lord Hadel’s health or mana condition. When we asked the people at the Grand Duke’s castle, they just spouted nonsense about a weasel turning into a beautiful woman with pink hair.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

The more the conversation progressed, the more suspicious it became. I blinked in shock.

‘A weasel? Me? Prince Saedel is ordering reports about me?’

He was so desperate to catch me last time too. Just remembering the feeling of his hand pulling my tail made me shudder.

As I was shivering, the two continued talking about me, not knowing I was there.

“Honestly, does it make sense for a weasel to turn into a human? They’re probably just lying because they think they’ll be opposed if they try to bring in some commoner woman.”

I nodded unconsciously at the plausible speculation.

‘That’s right. That’s the normal way to think. The people at the Grand Duke’s castle who readily believe the weasel thing are the strange ones.’

The carriage shook slightly with a jolt. I twisted my body in surprise.

‘Ah! Wait, are we departing right now?’

This isn’t good. Should I jump out of the carriage even now?

While I was deliberating, fortunately the carriage stopped again. Someone else called the two men.

“Hey, you there! Come here for a moment!”

“What? The mail carriage needs to leave!”

“Just a moment! Something’s missing! I can’t lift it alone, so come here!”

“Aish, really.”

It was the perfect moment.

‘Let’s quickly steal the letter in this gap.’

I grabbed the envelope the two men had left earlier in my mouth and jumped off the carriage. I ran inside the door frantically and put the envelope back down on the floor, panting.

‘So this is the letter going to Prince Saedel.’

If the two hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have thought this ordinary-looking envelope was suspicious at all.