chapter 45
‘The reason I ran away?’
I pricked up my ears at Gerard’s words, his small body curled up inside my pocket.
The reason I went to Gerard instead of Lia was simple.
Because it was close.
I couldn’t just leave Kenig lying on the cold floor, so I dragged the blanket over with my mouth to cover him, and before I knew it, the sun was rising.
So, out of necessity, I chose the room closest to the duke’s chamber — Gerard’s room.
But apparently, that meant something quite significant to Gerard.
Judging from how passionately he was defending me now.
“Yesterday, Your Grace!”
“Yesterday?”
At Gerard’s words, Kenig frowned, clearly not understanding.
“You interrogated Lady Cherry like she was some kind of spy! Even if she’s clever, she’s still just a squirrel the size of your fist. If you glare at her with that face of yours—the one that could slice through a knight—of course she’d decide to run away!”
He was referring to when he and Bishop searched Erjin’s room and when I was captured afterward.
‘Well, that’s true.’
Inside the pocket, I nodded slightly.
Kenig had indeed questioned me as if I were a spy sent by Astrahan.
To be precise, he was interrogating how I’d managed to hide that I was a beastman.
Anyway—
That whole ordeal, and what happened at dawn yesterday too,
I had seriously considered running away.
And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to leave Black Dragon Castle.
‘Hmm… even I don’t really know why.’
Maybe it was because thinking it might be my last time made it hard to walk away.
I did miss the bears of Mount Ursus, but there were too many loose ends.
I hadn’t said goodbye to the Viper siblings, and I’d somehow grown attached to the knights here at the castle.
‘Most of all—’
Kenig.
He was a problem.
My way of turning back into a human was connected to him.
Even though I had turned human again after meeting Erjin…
‘Hmm, but that was more of an accident.’
I thought of my ability to become human as being like a battery.
It seemed like I had to be “charged” to a certain level before I could transform.
In other words, if Kenig hadn’t been charging me bit by bit, I probably couldn’t have transformed at all.
That was only my theory, but—
‘I can’t leave this castle until I figure this secret out completely.’
So, I settled for a compromise: running away to Gerard’s room.
I couldn’t leave Black Dragon Castle, but I could avoid Kenig.
Anyway.
It seemed like not returning to Mount Ursus had been the right decision.
‘Still, to think he said he’d burn down the entire mountain just to find me…’
If I really did escape, he might turn into a stalker worse than the emperor himself.
I’d better be extra careful.
“I completely understand Lady Cherry’s feelings for running away. A hundred times over!”
While I was silently steeling my resolve, Gerard continued to defend me fervently.
Well, it made sense.
He, too, worked as Kenig’s aide — he must have wanted to run away even more than I did.
If the Viper family hadn’t sworn loyalty to the Kreutz family generations ago, he’d probably have left this castle ages ago.
“To think how much this tiny Lady Cherry must have suffered, oh…”
Gerard’s voice started to tremble, as though he might cry.
“You scolded her with the same expression you use on me or the knights! How could that tiny squirrel not run away, sniff…”
Of course, Gerard had no idea I was actually a beastman.
So, his misunderstanding made sense.
Still—
‘Wait, is he really crying?’
Worried, I peeked my head slightly out of the pocket—
“…Tch!”
And locked eyes with Kenig.
Panicking, I dove back into the pocket, my heart pounding wildly.
Had he been looking at me this whole time?
Since when?!
I curled myself into a ball again, pressing a paw over my chest. Then the pocket lifted gently into the air.
Not with his usual roughness — this touch was oddly careful.
It confused me.
‘Kenig? …Or Gerard?’
Then a low voice came through the fabric.
“Cherry.”
It was Kenig.
“Cherry. Are you really never going to talk to me again?”
I couldn’t see his face through the velvet, but I could easily imagine it — that smooth, handsome face barely concealing irritation.
If I fell for that act and came out, he’d probably interrogate me again.
Hmph. As if I’d fall for that.
I folded my little arms and pressed my lips together.
‘He still thinks what happened last night was just poison side effects, but he could remember any time.’
And when he did, I’d have to tell him the truth.
So for now—
All I could do was avoid Kenig at all costs!
“How long do you plan to ignore me?”
Two more days had passed since I started avoiding Kenig.
In the end, unable to stand the stuffiness, I climbed out of my pocket voluntarily.
But I still wasn’t talking to him.
‘Well, not that we ever really had proper conversations before.’
I claimed a corner of the bed for myself, but before long, I was dragged back beside his pillow.
At least he didn’t forcibly roll me over like he usually did.
“I’ll just hold your tail, okay? Just the tail.”
As if making a pinky promise, Kenig wrapped my tail gently around his finger and fell asleep.
The next morning—
“I’m heading out.”
At his voice, I stayed flat on my little bed, unmoving.
Thanks to the runaway incident, I was exempt from “work.”
While Kenig and Gerard were at the office, I had tea time with Sebi.
[Golden Walnut went home, nya.]
Apparently, while Kenig’s attention was elsewhere, Erjin had managed to leave Black Dragon Castle safely.
[But he came back at dawn and left something weird on the ceiling, nya.]
‘Hmm? What did he leave?’
[Dunno, nya. It’s really big. Lots of dust, nya. Sebi’s not interested, nya.]
Sebi swallowed a grape whole and tilted his head.
If even that glutton wasn’t interested, it probably wasn’t edible.
‘Hmm, something big and dusty, huh?’
Probably nothing important… but since I was free, I decided to check it out.
It might be something perishable, after all.
As I stood up, Sebi turned away awkwardly.
He peeked at me sideways, clutching another grape, and mumbled—
[Does… Sebi have to go too, nya…?]
This little guy was clearly saying “I really don’t wanna go” with his whole body.
Not that I blamed him.
He’d been busy nonstop lately.
After discovering the existence of the squirrel tunnels, Kenig and Gerard had sealed every gap in the castle.
All to prevent another runaway.
But their efforts had gone to waste soon enough — within a day, Sebi had already found another route.
‘It’s fine. I’ll go alone.’
As a reward for his hard work, I decided to handle this one myself.
…If only I’d known how that choice would come back to bite us all.
The new passage Sebi discovered ran along a steep pillar.
A spiral of connected stone ridges — difficult to climb, but fast for getting around.
‘I might not be as good as Sebi, but I know most of the routes now.’
Hop, hop.
In no time, I reached the ceiling of the guest room.
And what I found there was—
“Chuut…?!”
A book?
Erjin had hidden a dust-covered book up there.
[Everything About Mana That Ordinary Beastmen Don’t Know]
A massive tome filled with complex knowledge — just one glance told me that.
And tucked inside, right in the middle—
“Chuut…?”
A mouse?
No, a squirrel?
A clumsily but lovingly drawn squirrel was sketched on a bookmark.
‘Guess that means I should check this page.’
I flipped it open—
“Beastmen who cannot generate mana on their own—”
At that same moment, in the duke’s chamber—
[B-Boss, why isn’t she back yet, nya…? Sebi’s doomed, nya…]
