Late in the evening, Grace Manor was turned upside down because of a beastfolk who rode a black panther.
A white-haired woman who hung on Bara’s back like a bundle.
Meimi, who had followed Ahin out on a trip, heard the description of the figure, and her face turned white. She should have just stayed in the mansion. Blaming herself, she immediately went out to find Vivi.
Ahin, who looked around the noisy mansion, the messy bedroom, and Quinn, who was trapped in a birdcage, touched the corner of his eye. At this point, he was afraid to leave Vivi behind and go out.
“I did tell you to protect her, but I did not order you to sit in the cage and eat strawberries.”
He opened the cage and picked up Quinn. Quinn, who had strawberry fragments all over his beak, avoided his gaze.
“After living as a bird for a while, I guess you really became a birdbrain?”
With one swipe of a forepaw, Bara could have been knocked down, so it was about time to stop overprotecting her. Feeling aggrieved, Quinn peeped in protest. Ignoring this, Ahin opened the terrace door and spoke calmly.
“If you cannot find her in ten minutes, know that you will be served as Vivi’s breakfast tomorrow.”
The hawk, at the crossroads of life and death, flew high up.
“Master Ahin.”
Behind Ahin, who was glaring at Quinn as he flapped away, Everine approached quickly.
“We received a report that she stayed in the indoor greenhouse.”
“I’ll go.”
Ahin crossed the terrace railing without going through the door.
Tap, tap, as he ran toward the indoor greenhouse, his insides twisted and turned indefinitely.
He wondered by what means she had become human without even having Perenium, or perhaps if she had fallen victim to someone’s pheromones.
If she had turned into a human, she should have waited a bit. He could not understand why she had escaped the bedroom by riding Bara.
At this point, he wondered if she had become adept at running away. He even felt like applauding Vivi, who thought to use a black panther as a means of transport.
She had toyed with him in such a short time, then acted perfectly calm while staying in the indoor greenhouse.
Though he felt anxious and angry, Ahin knew that his anger would melt away like snow as soon as he saw Vivi. All the more so if she was in human form now.
“Felton, what on earth was wrong with Toto?”
“Arsera, from the moment you start worrying about such things, your aesthetic sense was doomed.”
“Toto?”
Ahin, who arrived at the entrance of the indoor greenhouse, caught his breath. The astonished guards straightened their backs.
“W-We greet the future head of the family.”
“T-That, just now…!”
Ahin, who realized that Toto’s true identity was Vivi, wasted no time passing through the entrance.
“She went out….”
The guard’s words, which reached no one, vanished along with the night breeze.
* * *
As night fell, lamps brightly lit the inside of the greenhouse.
There was no one inside that Ahin sought. Instead, a fake Vivi, who was sixty-eight years old and wore Vivi’s cloak, sat at the tea table.
He scanned him unpleasantly, then stood in front of the tea table.
“Where is Vivi?”
“She just went out, so I guess you missed each other. Hand this cloak over to her.”
“…Why are you wearing that, old man?”
“As the conversation went on for a long time, she said she felt hot and covered me with it. Anyway, you cheeky fellow, how dare you only look for a rabbit even when your grandfather is here?”
“You did not say anything unnecessary, did you?”
Lilion shrugged his shoulders nastily and sipped his tea. Ahin, who had no time for a war of words, turned around.
“What if her delicate neck got pierced by fangs. She had a scar.”
A sudden accusation pierced Ahin’s back. Turning slightly, he wore a look of surprise.
“You saw?”
“It would be strange not to see from that position.”
“You are more composed than I expected. I thought you would run wild.”
“Anyway, your manner of speaking. Do you think this old man is such a stuffy person?”
“You know well. Shouldn’t the first thing you ask be what kind of trick I am up to by taking along a rabbit of unknown identity?”
Ahin raised one corner of his mouth.
“Since when did you welcome Vivi so warmly, only to now weigh her like this?”
Left with nothing to say, Lilion merely drank his black tea.
Just as Vivi left the greenhouse, he also could not immediately sort out his complicated feelings.
There was no solution to the seizures caused by dominant pheromones. Back when Edith was alive, even though Valence searched throughout the continent, she could not find a way.
However, a healing-type pheromone, which might be the clue to that distant troublesome matter, wandered busily around Ahin.
If he could only find out the range of the healing-type ability. It might have been the best insurance for Ahin, who could have triggered a pheromone seizure at any time.
The more Lilion recalled those round purple eyes, the more selfishness and guilt collided.
The selfishness of wanting Ahin’s life to remain intact, and the guilt of having to tie Vivi down for him.
“Which family’s young lady was she? She seemed clumsy with etiquette, so she couldn’t have been just a mere commoner.”
“Here we go again, talking about marriage contracts.”
“Just answer the question.”
“A mid-level noble. But I ruined them.”
“Y-You crazy brat…!”
Just what had he done! Lilion, who had finally vented the anger he had held back, realized his slip and cleared his throat.
“-I see, well, if she was from a mid-level noble family, her bloodline wouldn’t have been too bad. Indeed, not bad at all.”
“Are you going to pretend you didn’t hear the last part?”
“What did you say?”
Feigning ignorance, Lilion fiddled with his innocent teacup.
He had leaked the minimum information to Vivi as if telling an old story, but essentially, it was a secret of House Grace.
Vivi, who did not quite fit but was sharp in her own way, would not have failed to notice this. She must have guessed the weight of confidentiality and the fact that she might be shackled by it.
Fortunately, Vivi’s heart was leaning towards Ahin at the moment. The assumption of Ahin’s death would hold her back once more.
‘It didn’t feel good.’
Lilion had already lost a child once. He could not afford to lose Ahin for the same reason.
Bloodline or social status became meaningless in the face of survival.
Someday, if Ahin had a seizure, Vivi’s mere presence would likely bring about a different result than Edith’s.
However, perhaps it would be a thorny path for Vivi, who would have to remain here even if she did not want to.
The scale that wavered between guilt and selfishness slowly tipped towards selfishness. Lilion, who buried his thoughts, jerked his chin in the direction of the mansion.
“They said she returned to the bedroom with the two black panthers who only chased her tail.”
“…….”
“Aren’t you going?”
Ahin skeptically examined Lilion, who tried to act affectionate.
Just as he was about to leave the indoor greenhouse, his steps strode back toward the tea table. Whoosh, he snatched the cloak and spoke coldly.
“Even if Vivi handed it over for you to wear, never wear it again, because it’s horrible.”
“You rascal!”
In the end, unable to hold back his anger, Lilion’s roar shook the indoor greenhouse.
* * *
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