The place Hadel headed to was none other than the training ground in the middle of the castle.

Training with swords in the early morning when everyone was still asleep was Hadel’s long-standing habit.

Whoosh!

He preferred to train with his sword when no one else was around, as he found it more difficult to control his flames when holding a weapon.

Sometimes those flames would move so powerfully that they would burn the area around the training ground, regardless of his will.

But today was a bit different.

‘The flames aren’t bursting out randomly.’

Usually, when he gripped his sword, the suppressed flames would explode out like a bomb, as if a dam had been opened.

But not today. The flames coiling around his sword like a snake were beautiful and even awe-inspiring.

‘I thought it was just my imagination before.’

Gripping the sword, he could be certain now. The flames erupting from his heart were different from usual.

And that change…

‘It’s been since I picked up Kyukyu.’

The small, cute white ferret that seemed to actually enjoy his flames.

Meeting it in the forest was pure coincidence. He brought it home because he found it fascinating that it didn’t feel hot when he held it, but rather seemed to enjoy it, going limp with pleasure.

‘But since I brought that fellow home, controlling the flames has become much easier.’

It was the same when sleeping at night. He had never been able to sleep soundly because of the heat that made his insides sizzle throughout the night.

But today he had a very pleasant sleep. When he opened his eyes, he found the ferret he had put on the floor sleeping soundly beside him.

‘Though it seemed Kyukyu itself wasn’t sleeping very well.’

Normally, he would have gotten up as soon as he opened his eyes and come to the training ground, but today he hesitated to wake the ferret and couldn’t get up right away.

Thanks to that, he saw it all.

The ferret crying sadly in its sleep.

‘It showed some suspicious aspects too. Its body was like ice while it slept.’

The sleeping ferret’s body was cold. Cold enough that it wouldn’t have been strange if it were dead.

‘Normal creatures don’t drop their body temperature while sleeping. Unless it’s a magical beast.’

Magical beasts. Creatures with frozen hearts. If bitten by one, humans freeze to death.

‘But they say there are humans who don’t die. Rarely, cases occur where they become magical beasts themselves and attack other humans.’

Could that white ferret be such a case? Perhaps it was slowly turning into a magical beast.

‘But if that were the case, it should dislike my flames.’

No matter how deeply he thought about it, no hypothesis quite fit. Hadel silently swung his sword.

‘If I keep watching, I’ll find the answer.’

He didn’t feel like abandoning the ferret when it wasn’t immediately dangerous.

After swinging his sword and raising flames several more times, the dark night sky was beginning to brighten dimly. It was dawn.

As he entered the castle with steady steps, the butler who had been waiting for him offered a towel and water.

“Good work, sir.”

Gulping down the water, Hadel walked down the corridor and opened the door to his room. As the butler tried to follow him in, his gaze fell on the cushion placed in the middle of the floor.

‘Kyukyu.’

It seemed the ferret was still sleeping. But if the unfamiliar butler came in and bustled about, it would wake up.

Without even realizing he had become so considerate of the ferret, Hadel said to the butler in a gruff voice:

“I’ll wash up on my own, so don’t worry about it.”

It meant don’t come in. The butler, who had flinched for a moment, bowed his head and asked:

“How would you like your meal, sir?”

“Hmm.”

Usually, he ate meals in the dining room or his office, but…

‘Then I’d have to order them to take care of Kyukyu separately, right?’

But he was worried that unique ferret might not eat food offered by a stranger. From what he’d seen, its eating habits didn’t seem ordinary either…

After pondering for a moment, Hadel ordered gruffly:

“Send it up to my room.”

“Yes, understood.”

Just as Hadel thought the conversation was over and was about to enter his room,

The butler, who was usually polite and had little to say, hesitated and spoke up today.

“If I may be so bold, Your Grace…”

Wondering what serious matter he was going to bring up with such hesitation, Hadel turned to look at him. After hesitating for a long while, the butler closed his eyes tightly and asked:

“May I inquire why there is a ferret in Your Grace’s room?”

“Hmm.”

It was because of the white ferret Hadel had brought in his arms.

‘Right. Why did I put it in my room?’

It wasn’t that there was no reason. He needed to analyze the strange phenomenon of it absorbing fire mana, and he was also concerned about its abnormally cold body.

‘But it’s not all certain yet.’

He felt that if he said anything unnecessary, it would cause more worry and they might suggest killing it right away. So Hadel sighed and gave an ordinary reason.

“I’m going to raise it a bit more and then skin it, so make sure it doesn’t get hurt.”

“Pardon?”

A ferret’s only use was its fur.

But Hadel, with his high body heat, didn’t use fur.

‘Besides, is there any reason to raise it before skinning it?’

Ferrets aren’t large animals to begin with, so there wouldn’t be much difference whether you raise it or leave it be.

‘In the end, this means you’re just going to raise it, doesn’t it?’

Hadel hadn’t realized it himself yet, but it seemed he was quite fond of that ferret. It looked like he had grown quite attached to it.

“…I suppose we should remove things like mouse traps. Understood.”

The butler, who had hesitated for a moment, bowed his head.

Well, he’ll realize it soon enough.

* * *

After Hadel left, I tossed and turned, unable to fall into a deep sleep.

‘Ugh, it’s uncomfortable.’

The cushion was soft, but for some reason, it was terribly uncomfortable.

‘There’s not enough warmth. Not enough coziness either.’

As I thought that, the thrill I felt earlier when I lightly licked the back of his hand came back tingling. I shook my head.

‘No! No matter how good it is, that’s not okay.’

Licking someone else’s skin.

‘…But the amount of mana that entered my body when I licked was completely different.’

Now that I knew that warmth, it was natural that nothing else would satisfy me. In the end, I scratched the cushion again, feeling miserable.

‘Hng! What is this!’

I repeated this cycle several times – trying to sleep by closing my eyes, opening them because I was cold, feeling miserable.

As sleep hazily approached and I was in a drowsy state, a deep voice flowed into my ears. Hadel had returned.

‘My heater!’

Glad to see him, I raised my body and turned to look at him. But then.

“I’m going to raise it a bit more and then skin it, so make sure it doesn’t get hurt.”

What did he say!

At these unexpected words, I froze like ice.

‘S-skin me? Wasn’t that something that had passed? He hasn’t given up yet?’

He even planned to kill me after raising me to increase the size of the fur.

‘This is no time to be guarding the room for snacks! I need to escape quickly before I’m skinned.’

My eyes darted back and forth as I realized Hadel’s true intentions. That’s when I heard Hadel’s footsteps approaching.

‘Eek!’

Afraid that if our eyes met, he might skin me right away, I quickly curled up and pretended to be asleep.

The footsteps seemed to slow down a bit around me, then scattered towards the door he had called the bathroom. Feeling Hadel move away, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Phew, I was nervous for nothing.’

I thought I had gotten quite used to Hadel, but hearing words like that made me uneasy.

‘Ugh, even the snacks I ate earlier look suspicious now.’

Could it be that he fed me high-calorie snacks on purpose to fatten me up quickly?

‘Sob sob, I guess it can’t be helped since in Hadel’s eyes I’m nothing but a ferret.’

I couldn’t blame Hadel either. It was like expecting him to treat me as a human for no reason. He was simply acting as one would towards a ferret.

‘Hng. But it still hurts.’

I felt miserable when I first opened my eyes in the forest in an animal’s body, but after meeting Hadel, the number of heartbreaking incidents doubled.

As I was whimpering to myself, kyuing kyuing,

‘Footsteps.’

The sound of steady footsteps approached me. I quickly buried my face in the cushion again, pretending to be asleep.

The one who opened the door and entered was a middle-aged man wearing a neat tailcoat. He seemed to be the butler of this castle.

And what he brought in was…

‘Food?!’

A savory and warm steam was rising from the cart he pushed in.

‘Breakfast! Right, it’s morning so it’s time to eat!’

It seems he eats in his room. That was good news for me too. No one would think it strange if I eagerly nibbled on some bread.

‘I wonder what we’re having. What should I eat? What will be delicious?’

As I was getting excited thinking about these things,

‘Gasp.’

The butler was staring at me with narrowed eyes as I was happily tapping the cushion with my tail. Startled, I buried my head in the cushion.

‘He’s not eyeing how much fur I have, is he?’

And then he might scurry off to Hadel and say, ‘It’s fully grown now, so you can skin it.’ I curled my body as small as possible to look tiny.

The butler, who had been staring at me for a long time, let out a big sigh and muttered:

“…It’s just an ordinary ferret after all.”

Then, with a serious expression, he mumbled:

“Could it be a magical beast mimicking His Grace? His Grace isn’t the type to keep a creature like a ferret by his side.”

I wanted to protest that statement too.

‘Where exactly is he soft?!’

Didn’t you hear him talk about skinning me?

When he talked about skinning earlier and didn’t mention it again afterwards, I thought he had completely forgotten about it. But to think he was making long-term plans…

A little while later, Hadel walked out with wet hair, and the butler quickly left the room after setting down breakfast.