Hadel, who met my eyes, muttered in a deflated tone.

“…Well, there’s no point in skinning me now, as you couldn’t even fit my neck.”

Here we go again. Just like before, toying with people’s hearts!

‘Do you think I’ll fall for it again? Are you trying to say you’ll skin me as soon as I let my guard down?’

I kept my arms crossed and my gaze fixed sternly on Hadel.

Go ahead, say it. I’m already prepared. Nothing will surprise me.

But the words that reached my ears had nothing to do with skinning.

“For now, let’s fatten you up a bit and then think about it.”

“Kyu?”

Fatten me up?

At those words, it felt like a bell rang in my head.

‘Does that mean he’ll give me more food?’

In that brief moment of grasping the true meaning of his words, my mind flashed back to the long journey of forest life since becoming a ferret.

Filling my stomach with water, digging for grubs only to flee without eating them, and then drinking water again – those memories.

‘And now he’s saying he’ll feed me?!’

At this moment, there were no sweeter words for me.

I flapped my short arms, repeatedly shouting, “Hooray! Hooray!” Hadel, who had been staring at me blankly, turned to the knight and asked.

“What do ferrets eat?”

Ferrets eat beef stacked on beef. They also like pork and chicken.

‘Hurry up and say meat!’

I gazed at the knight with desperate eyes. After pondering for a moment with his hand on his chin, the knight answered with a casual smile.

Well, he did mention meat.

“I’ve seen them tearing into mice before.”

“Mice?”

“Kyuu?!”

…It’s just that the meat was something neither Hadel nor I had imagined.

While Hadel and I were silent, shocked by this revelation, the knight calmly explained about ferret ecology.

“In the northern regions, they sometimes keep ferrets to catch mice. But they’re not commonly kept because they harm chickens and ducks.”

“They harm chickens and ducks?”

“Even though chickens are much bigger than this one, once it gets on top, it can hunt chickens too.”

“…”

Hadel looked down at me with an expression that seemed to ask, ‘Really?’ I shook my head desperately.

Chickens! Sure, I like chicken meat. But I can’t hunt chickens by jumping on top of them!

‘To begin with, my claws are so small and short. That means I’d have to use my teeth to hunt chickens…’

I decided not to imagine what comes next for the sake of my mental health. In fact, it was because of this very problem that bugs were my only food option in the forest.

After a moment of contemplation, Hadel made a thoughtful sound and asked again.

“What about other food? Don’t they eat grains like bread?”

“They also catch and eat frogs and fish well. But they seem to like mice the best. I’ve often seen them carrying mice as big as their own bodies.”

“…So they’re carnivores?”

Hadel stared at me intently again. Although his lips didn’t move at all, somehow I felt like I could hear his voice in my ear.

‘Then why did you eat that bread so deliciously?’

But I felt wronged too.

‘I didn’t know!’

To think that I was a carnivore! To think that I was a carnivore!

‘Then what happens to the two pieces of bread I swallowed?’

Surely my stomach won’t start hurting again, like when I created those flames and was crawling around in pain earlier?

While I was making a pitiful face, Hadel, oblivious to my inner turmoil, said in a serious tone.

“I wonder if there are any mice in the castle we could give this one.”

He looked ready to go catch and serve them right away.

“Kyu!”

‘Mice? Absolutely not!’

I shook my head vigorously. My strong will seemed to get through to Hadel, as he fell silent for a moment, lips pressed tightly together in thought.

After a while, he asked the knight.

“…If it eats fish and frogs, does that mean it’s a good swimmer?”

“I would think so?”

“Then if we put it in the pond inside the castle, could it hunt for itself?”

“Don’t all ferrets in the wild live that way?”

“Then we could build a ferret house in the center of the pond…”

Sensing that my residence might become the pond if this continued, I protested loudly.

“Kyu!”

It was natural for me to dislike it. I hate swimming!

‘Swimming, absolutely not! My heart is practically stopped as it is! I’ll freeze to death if I go in the water!’

Originally being of the fire attribute, I didn’t like swimming. Although I had learned to swim for unavoidable combat situations.

‘I won’t do it! Absolutely not!’

With that resolve, I glared at Hadel with fiery eyes. That’s when Hadel tilted his head and muttered in a meaningful voice.

“Strange, isn’t it?”

“It is strange.”

The knight agreed. I protested by patting Hadel’s hand with my short front paws.

‘What’s strange about it! There are all kinds of ferrets in the world. Among them, there are ferrets who dislike water and don’t eat frogs.’

Despite only recently learning that I was a ferret, I squeaked boldly as if speaking for all ferrets in the world. That’s when it happened.

Hadel, narrowing his eyes, looked at me intently and said.

“It seems to understand human speech.”

“Hiccup!”

Oops, did I give myself away too much?

Only then did I realize how strange it was for a ferret to react to every single human word like this. I hunched my shoulders and blinked innocently, pretending to be well-behaved.

But I had already shown too much behavior, making it difficult to dispel suspicion. The knight asked in a cautious tone.

“Could it be a magic beast?”

A magic beast! Do you know how hard I fought against magic beasts? This ferret is offended!

Hadel pressed his finger firmly on my growling head. The sudden influx of flames made me melt again, just like before.

‘Ah, that feels good.’

Showing this sight to the knight, Hadel answered in a brusque tone.

“If it were a magic beast, it would be incompatible with me and wouldn’t be so docile with the flames.”

“That’s true, but…”

I tilted my head at the two people’s conversation.

‘Huh? Magic beasts are incompatible with flames? That can’t be right.’

Rather, during the war, magic beasts didn’t have any particular attributes. That’s why I, with my fire attribute, Espen with his ice attribute, and Yulnisia, who didn’t have much mana but could imbue weapons with magic, fought together.

‘Are most of the magic beasts in this territory ice-attributed? Let’s not jump to conclusions, as it could depend on the climate.’

Just looking at the tall birch forests, one could predict that this was a region with a cold climate. Naturally, magic beasts might gather with only ice attributes.

‘That aside, a grand duke, huh.’

I completely relaxed my body, entrusting myself to Hadel’s rigid hand. In my mind, the bread I had eaten earlier was spinning round and round.

‘Then there must be lots of delicious things, right? I should expect a feast.’

He said with his own mouth that he’d fatten me up, so he’ll give me lots of tasty food, right?

‘Ah, but maybe because it’s so warm… I’m getting sleepy…’

Perhaps because I had been tense since yesterday, my eyes kept closing no matter how hard I tried to stay awake. I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Hadel looked down at the white ferret that had gone limp in his palm.

“Kyuu…”

Whatever good dream it was having, the creature was grinning as it buried its face in Hadel’s hand. When he lightly shook his hand, the tiny head rolled around as if it had no bones.

Seeing this, the knight exclaimed in surprise.

“Gasp! Is it dead?”

I was shocked too when I first saw it, thinking I had accidentally blown too much flame and killed it.

Hadel answered in a calm tone, his lips slightly twisted.

“No. It’s sleeping. It’s breathing.”

“B-but why is it so limp? I mean, do ferrets usually stretch out like cheese like that?”

“I don’t know either.”

I’d have to have observed animals this closely before to know.

No matter how much he shook it, the ferret didn’t wake up. Hadel, who had been looking at the round pink tips of its ears, cradled the ferret in both hands. The ferret sagged like slime, filling Hadel’s two palms.

‘It seems boneless. How can it bend so flexibly like this?’

He slightly moved his palms to create a step, and changed the angle, but the ferret just sloshed around in his hands like half-liquid while continuing to sleep soundly.

‘Moreover, it looks comfortable. Is something wrong with my eyes?’

It should clearly be suffering from the heat and avoiding him.

“Kyu, kyu…”

Flinch.

Hadel, who had been looking down at the ferret with a serious expression, involuntarily flinched at the small whimpering sounds it made.

In his ears, a very old memory rang clearly.

[Don’t come near me!]

From a time when he lived with his family in a large palace, not in this desolate north.

[You killed the puppy I loved because of you, brother!]

Back then, Hadel was even less able to control his flames than now. It was a complete accident that he severely burned his sister’s puppy, ultimately causing its death.

No matter how cute it was, no matter how it wagged its tail and approached, he shouldn’t have touched it carelessly.

[You’re no different from a monster! It’s creepy! Please keep him away from us!]

Because of that incident, his sister would scream to drive him away whenever she saw Hadel, and as a result, Hadel received the title of Grand Duke and came to live alone in the far north.

Nothing changed even after coming to the north. He still couldn’t ride horses or have contact with people.

But this ferret, far from being in pain, was clinging to Hadel and sleeping soundly as if comfortable.

“…You really are a strange one.”

Hadel muttered in a small voice.