Chapter 003
Walter stared at his aide with a cold gaze for a moment, then returned his eyes to the documents and answered:
“She was small.”
“Yes, she appeared smaller than her peers.”
“And excessively thin as well.”
“…Was she suffering from maltreatment in her family?”
“Most likely.”
“I apologize for any deficiency in my information.”
“It seems they are skilled at keeping secrets internally. There may be other details we missed, so we must investigate thoroughly.”
“Understood, I will focus on activating the information network.”
Walter narrowed his eyes.
He still remembered clearly how his young daughter-in-law looked frightened and tense, despite his attempt to approach her with a friendly attitude. Even the dress she was wearing was too small, pressing against her thin frame.
If her parents had cared for her, they would have at least adjusted the size of her clothes to fit her, even if they couldn’t afford high-quality garments due to financial constraints. However, the absence of this basic care made it easy to guess how her family had treated her.
“Feed the child the best possible food with the utmost effort.”
“Understood.”
“And tell them to purchase whatever she needs in terms of new clothes and jewelry. Her appearance was unbearably shabby.”
“……”
Yuan, who was jotting down the Duke’s instructions, paused for a moment and looked intently at his master.
“…What is it?”
“Nothing, I just thought that the Little Mistress has caught your favor quite a bit, Your Grace.”
“Nonsense.”
Walter denied his aide’s words with a dismissive click of his tongue.
“As long as she resides in the Duke’s castle, I simply want her to be treated in a manner befitting this place.”
“……”
“In any case, we cannot know for now whether this girl is truly worthy of staying with us until the end. And you know that well.”
“I apologize for my forwardness.”
“It is fine.”
After discussing some other issues, Yuan asked cautiously:
“What is your plan for the upcoming ‘Rest Day’?”
“If we say it is an illness, the girl might worry, so we will say we are going on an external inspection tour.”
“Understood, I will arrange the schedule accordingly.”
If the beast-kin continued to maintain their human form for too long, the imbalance of magical power could lead to an explosion. They might become obsessed or suddenly transform into animals against their will. To prevent this, they had to spend at least one full day every two or three months in their animal form to stabilize their magical power—an event referred to among the beast-kin as the ‘Rest Day.’
In the Elestein Ducal family, only the servants bound by contracts of obedience knew this secret and cooperated in protecting it. Some vassal families and servants were among them, as was Yuan.
“How wonderful it would be if the ‘Moon Witch’ from the legends appeared.”
“That is pure nonsense. If she truly existed, would my ancestors have suffered like this?”
The ‘Moon Witch’ was a legendary figure told among half-demons. A beloved witch who stands in opposition to the ‘Sun Saintess’ who descends into the world. According to legend, the Moon Witch was a transcendent being who could freely control immense magical power and was capable of soothing the erupting powers of half-demons.
Walter himself had once wished that the Moon Witch would appear in the world. It was a brief delusion he had abandoned in his childhood. Even the records speaking of the Moon Witch’s appearance in the past were of questionable authenticity.
“If that legend were true, neither Your Grace nor the Young Master would have suffered any hardship.”
“Serge, that boy, still struggles because he cannot control his magical power, but it is a matter that will pass in time. If you have time for such ridiculous talk, leave and get to work.”
“Understood. If there are additional instructions, please make a magical contact immediately.”
“Alright.”
After Yuan left the office, Walter slowly opened the desk drawer. His hand hesitated as he pulled out an old locket from within. When he opened the cover, a small empty space the size of two fingers appeared, but the name ‘Rima’ was engraved in small script inside it.
Walter gave a bitter, mocking smile, then returned the locket to its place and slammed the drawer shut.
In any case, others were not trustworthy. Promises to stay together for a lifetime were like bubbles that vanished meaninglessly. Whether his ‘daughter-in-law’ would not betray him was something that would be revealed with time.
And he had already prepared a ‘test’ for that.
* * *
After facing her father-in-law, it was now time to meet her husband. Rayleigh followed the maid, walking behind her. She was currently staying in a separate guest wing and did not yet share living quarters with her husband, Serge. Although they were a married couple, they were young children, so she was told that sharing a room immediately might be uncomfortable for them….
‘But the real reason is the possibility of exposing that they are beast-kin, right?’
The wing where Rayleigh stayed was on the western side, while Serge’s residence was in the eastern wing. The distance between them suggested a clear intention.
In any case, since he was a husband whose face she had never seen and was a total stranger, it was awkward to suddenly live with him. Thus, it was comfortable for Rayleigh as well.
‘By the way, there was no Duchess in Elestein, was there?’
She knew the Duchess had passed away a long time ago. Because they had strongly advised her to be cautious when speaking about it, the matter remained stuck in her mind. If he hadn’t remarried and remained alone until now, wasn’t that proof of the depth of his love for his wife?
‘There’s no need for me to bring up the subject of the Duchess and sadden that man who seems soft-hearted.’
With this resolve, she continued walking until she reached the eastern wing without even realizing it.
“Welcome. Master Serge has been waiting for you for a short while.”
“Ah, yes…!”
Rayleigh swallowed hard.
‘What will my husband be like?’
If he had inherited his father’s features, he would undoubtedly be a handsome boy with black hair. A cold and sharp beauty, as is the standard for romance novel heroes. Perhaps he would say upon seeing her, “Hmph, this is my wife?”, relying on his good looks to show an arrogant attitude.
Rayleigh prepared herself well and entered the drawing room.
But,
“……?”
There was no ‘person waiting’ in the room.
‘Has he not arrived yet? But they said he was waiting for me?’
Rayleigh looked around quickly, wondering if she had missed something. Then she noticed something unexpected that made her startle. Behind the sofa, there was a bit of shiny black fur protruding slightly.
“Hmm?”
She approached to see clearly, and there… was a small mass of black fur curled up and trembling with fear.
The one waiting for her was not a handsome boy with black hair, but a small fox with black fur.
“……”
When she looked closely, she saw the edge of a garment tucked under the sofa, as if it had been hidden in a hurry. After a moment of reflection, Rayleigh confirmed:
‘This is my husband who suddenly turned into a fox!’
According to the original novel, the beast-kin were less able to control their magical power the younger they were. Therefore, they transformed into animals unintentionally when their magical power exploded. It seemed her husband, Serge, was one of these cases.
Especially since the transformation occurs when emotions fluctuate or they are subjected to stress, perhaps the cause was the anxiety of meeting his wife for the first time. And when he turned into an animal, he probably panicked and stuffed his clothes under the sofa.
‘…No, this isn’t the time to analyze this calmly!’
Despite his young age, if he had transformed into an animal due to an explosion of his magical power, he might have lost his reason. In reality, beast-kin who lost their minds due to the increasing demonic power fell into madness, destroying and slaughtering, which revealed their identity.
In the novel, the Saintess and her companions seal the power of the demon and bring peace to the world…. But that would happen more than ten years later. At the moment, Rayleigh felt fear.
But she couldn’t run away immediately. She had to pretend to be ignorant of the Elestein family’s identity as fox-kin.
‘If it looks like he’s going to attack me, I’ll run then.’
Rayleigh calmed her fear and tried to think rationally. Assuming she didn’t know his identity, what would be the appropriate response now…?
“Oh my, is this a dog they raise here?”
Rayleigh wasn’t the type to talk out loud to herself usually, but she was forced to do so now. The little fox didn’t have a very long snout, which made it look like a dog at first glance. And because its fur was black and not the usual brown of foxes, it looked a bit unusual.
So, it was natural to assume that the mass of fur she suddenly saw was a dog.
As soon as Rayleigh uttered those words, the little fox raised its ears cautiously and looked at her. It seemed it was reassured when she gave it a sign that she thought it was a pet. The eyes of the fox that raised its head were a very beautiful golden color.
She didn’t know yet if he was a handsome boy, but he was undoubtedly a strikingly beautiful fox.
‘That’s a relief, he doesn’t seem to be in a state of madness.’
Reassured, Rayleigh continued the charade of talking to herself in an awkward voice:
“Where is Master Serge? Did he leave suddenly?”
“……!”
As soon as he heard the word ‘Serge,’ the fox visibly flinched. Rayleigh screamed internally:
‘I’m putting in all this effort to pretend I don’t know anything! You try to act well, too!’
Does he intend to win a challenge for the shortest time to discover the identity of the fox-kin or what?!
