CHAPTER 05
The sound of boots striking the cold marble floor echoed—
mixed with the light pattering of small footsteps.
When Esteban, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped, the smaller footsteps behind him stopped as well.
His clenched fists trembled.
Finally unable to hold back, he turned around.
“What are you trying to do?”
I tilted my head at his sharp glare.
His expression twisted in irritation as he spoke again.
“Stop following me.”
“Kyap…?”
‘What, does this country not even allow freedom of movement—? … Ah. It doesn’t, does it?’
I suddenly remembered.
Idelio was a country where humans and beastkin lived in separate areas, with restricted movement between them.
In the first place, if it weren’t for the five-year contract between Winchester and Fenec, I wouldn’t even be allowed to stay here.
I shook my head at myself for forgetting that after only a few days.
Watching me, Esteban frowned deeply and turned back around, continuing to walk.
And of course—
I hurried after him again, not wanting to lose him.
Ignoring me completely, he didn’t even look back once as he walked.
The place he headed to—
was his room.
‘What? You were just going to your room? Then say so!’
I had followed him thinking he might be going somewhere important, but now I just felt deflated and turned around.
‘Well… since I’m here, I might as well go rest in my room too.’
It seemed the technician who was supposed to come in the morning had already finished, because I saw the small secondary door installed in my room.
I pushed it open naturally and went inside—
when I heard Esteban’s annoyed voice behind me.
“How far are you going to follow—!”
I heard him too late.
I was already inside my room.
I paused, wondering if I should go back out, and listened carefully.
From outside, I heard him mutter quietly,
“…So she wasn’t following me… she was just going to her own room…”
‘No. I was following you at first.’
Of course, there was no way he could hear that.
Instead, he slammed his door shut as if trying to break it.
Even the frame on my wall shook from the impact.
‘If you’re going to do that, just break it already…’
For a moment, I wondered if my eardrums had burst this time—but remembering his embarrassed expression earlier made me feel oddly amused.
‘I thought he was mature, but seeing this… he’s still just a kid.’
Stretching with my hips raised and front legs extended, I perked up my ears and listened carefully to the next room.
I could hear water splashing.
‘Hmm… is he taking a bath? Then the chances of a rampage happening right now are probably low.’
After all, rampages were usually triggered when the mana channels reacted to emotional stimulation.
Leaning against the wall, I went over what I remembered from the original story about rampages.
The “rampage” mentioned in the title was inseparable from the Winchester family.
And the saying, “Life is a comedy from afar but a tragedy up close,” fit them perfectly.
The direct bloodline of Winchester was born with an overwhelming amount of mana.
Not just their base mana tied to life itself, but also the amount they could develop through training was far beyond others.
Thanks to that, most of them became sword masters or great mages.
But—
Because their mana was so vast, they couldn’t properly control it during childhood.
The real problem was that mana channels reacted to emotions.
And if someone lost control of their emotions—
They would fall into what was called a rampage.
‘And Esteban, the male lead of , also rampaged when he was young.’
Esteban Hadel Winchester.
In the future, he would become a sword master and be called the guardian of Idelio.
But right now—
He was just a child who couldn’t even properly control his mana.
That was why Winchester came up with a solution:
the Fenec family.
The direct beastkin of Fenec, who were born with low mana, had the ability to absorb the base mana of others when in human form.
When Hardiun learned this, he proposed a deal.
In exchange for providing Bluebell, which activated mana flow—
Fenec would send a contractor for five years.
During the most dangerous five years of the Winchester heir’s life, the contractor would stay by their side and prevent rampages.
And in return, Fenec would receive 1% of the total output for free.
‘He really targeted Fenec’s biggest weakness—short lifespans due to low mana.’
If everything had worked out, both sides would have benefited.
But—
‘It didn’t. That’s why the story continued.’
In the novel, Esteban’s contractor, Ariel—
failed to stop the rampage.
No—
More accurately, she refused to.
“W-What?! No! That’s too scary! You never said it would be this dangerous! What if I get caught up in it and get hurt?!”
“M-Miss Ariel! What are you saying now? Didn’t you agree to this contract with Winchester?!”
“I—I’m going back! I’m returning to Fenec!”
And when Esteban finally came to his senses—
He looked at the devastated mansion and let out a hollow laugh.
“…So in the end, all my effort meant nothing.”
I quickly shook those thoughts away.
‘That’s just the original story.’
If I wanted to avoid dying at the hands of a broken, darkened Esteban—
I had to change this fate.
‘Even if I came instead of Ariel, I still can’t transform into a human… So wouldn’t it be easier to just find and remove the cause of his rampage?’
In the novel, Esteban’s rampage was caused by someone putting a poisonous herb—allium seeds, which stimulated mana flow—into his food.
The problem was—
It happened so suddenly that many people in the mansion died.
‘No… the bigger problem is that they never found the culprit.’
I believed that was because the person responsible was also caught in the rampage and died.
‘So basically… I have to find someone who dies early in the story and was never even properly described…?’
“Whine…”
I let out a sigh.
Even after thinking so much, there was no clear answer.
But that only made it more frustrating.
‘No. I didn’t come here just to give up!’
I slapped my cheeks lightly with both paws and shook myself.
The sound of water from next door had stopped.
Now—
It was time to stick close to Esteban and find the suspicious person who caused his rampage.
‘This isn’t even about knowing the original story anymore…’
Feeling miserable, I left my room through the small door.
In front of Esteban’s room, there was a similar small entrance.
‘Hmm… I should at least knock. I’m a well-mannered beastkin.’
I scratched the small door with my claws—scratch, scratch—and went inside.
Inside, Esteban had already finished bathing and changed into a tunic.
‘No matter how I look at him… he really is handsome.’
His silver hair was still damp, shining in the light, and a fresh, pleasant scent lingered around him.
I quietly watched, my tail swaying—
when he suddenly turned around.
“You—what are you doing here?”
“……”
“Are you some kind of pervert?”
I blinked blankly at his question—
then let out a disbelieving laugh.
‘If I were a pervert, would I come into your room?’
Honestly, accusing me of that just because I saw him like this—
He needed at least five more years before that would even make sense.
I slapped my tail against the floor.
Have some conscience, will you?
