IBTBD 33

chapter 33

‘D-did he just kill them?!’

“No, I didn’t kill them. I merely gave them some rest.”

Frozen in shock at the sudden situation, I looked up. Above me, Erjin lowered his gaze with a calm smile.

It was a smile like a spring breeze melting the snows of late winter.

‘…What’s with him all of a sudden?’

I felt a bit uneasy.

He was clearly different from a few days ago.

Perhaps a little more sincerity in his expression?

‘Don’t tell me this guy thinks I came here just to save him?’

That would be a problem.

This was all for the sake of protecting my comfortable life in the Black Dragon Castle, nothing more.

Scratching my head awkwardly, I slipped out of his grasp.

Fortunately, the knights had fallen to the opposite side, not into the bars.

Judging from their heavy, steady breathing, Erjin had been telling the truth—they were fast asleep.

“Chuu.”

Well then, time for a proper conversation.

Creak, creak—the cheap bed groaned whenever I moved.

“Chit.”

“Is this supposed to be an interrogation?”

I sat upright while Erjin sat across from me.

When I tilted my head back to stare at him seriously, his lips started twitching as though he were fighting laughter.

A muffled pfft escaped, and soon he bowed his head completely, like a stalk of ripe rice bent under its weight.

‘Go ahead. Laugh while you can.’

I glared at him like some vengeful spirit had possessed me.

“…My apologies. But the Black Dragon Castle’s interrogators are truly bad for my heart.”

“Chit.”

First a cursed doll, and now an interrogator?

I gave a dry laugh. Beneath me, Erjin carefully folded a blanket and laid it out, as though trying to meet me at eye level.

“Then let’s begin the interrogation.”

“Chuuut.”

Let’s start with this, shall we?

I pointed to the shredded scraps of a letter, torn as finely as my claws.

“As I thought.”

‘As you thought?’

What was he implying?

While I stared in silence, Erjin’s lips moved slowly.

“I already knew that letter wasn’t from my father.”

The handwriting was indeed Duke Astrahan’s, he admitted.

“But my father hasn’t been in any state to write letters.”

Erjin’s voice was calm as he continued.

Duke Astrahan had been bedridden for five years now.

No illness had ever been diagnosed, but his health had withered away. In the end, he became an empty shell, like a tree with rotting roots.

He could no longer even meet the eyes of his family, and his lips had frozen shut long ago.

“I haven’t seen him since.”

Erjin’s breath came out in white puffs in the cold air of the underground cell.

His tone was detached, as though it were someone else’s story, but the slight tremor of his lips betrayed him.

“The mana of beastkin is as cunning as any wild animal’s instinct.”

I faintly understood what he meant.

He was talking about mana transfer.

Among carnivorous beastkin, only a few with strong mana showed that trait.

And Astrahan… so their bloodline was one of them.

When I nodded, Erjin went on.

“Astrahan’s mana tends to flow from the weak to the strong.”

Of course, it didn’t happen at all times.

Normally, mana remained tied to its owner. But once the owner was deemed incapacitated, mana would prepare to move.

In other words, just by existing, Erjin was poisonous to Duke Astrahan.

‘Because the mana would abandon its weak master and flow toward strong Erjin.’

That was why he could not stay by his father’s side.

And though he knew the letter couldn’t have been from his father, he couldn’t bring himself to discard it.

“…Maybe I was hoping, without realizing it.”

That somehow, the letter really had been from Duke Astrahan.

Erjin let out a self-mocking sigh.

“Chuu, chuut…”

Should I even be hearing this?

I hadn’t expected him to talk about family matters, and for a moment, I felt awkward. But I decided to just listen quietly.

It wasn’t as though a squirrel like me could tell anyone about it anyway.

Nothing would change.

But here came the real question.

“Chuut…?”

What about the brainwashing?

Truthfully, I had suspected Duke Astrahan himself.

His family was the only one in the empire able to rival the Kreutz house. And his years of seclusion had always seemed suspicious.

‘But judging from Erjin’s reaction, this wasn’t fabricated…’

There had to be someone else between father and son.

I was rubbing my chin when Erjin spoke.

“The exact timing of the brainwashing… I can’t say for sure.”

He scratched his neck uncomfortably.

The first time he felt something off was the second day he arrived at the Black Dragon Castle.

The window had been left open, and his room showed clear signs of intrusion.

“Of course, I assumed it was the work of Duke Kreutz’s men.”

But the footprints left behind had been far too careless.

It didn’t take long for him to realize they were his own.

“It was as if someone had carved out part of my memory.”

Two days later, he was certain something was wrong.

‘That must’ve been the day he came to Kœnig’s chambers.’

“When I came to, I was in a corridor near the Duke’s bedchamber. And then…”

‘And then?’

“In the haze, only one sound lingered strongly in my mind.”

“Chuut?”

A sound?

When I tilted my head, Erjin hesitated.

“It was… a squirrel’s cry, like yours. But strangely, I understood the meaning.”

“Chuu, chuut?”

You mean my voice?

I pointed at myself, and Erjin nodded slowly.

“It told me to wake up.”

Erjin’s voice held a trace of embarrassment.

But there was no mistaking it—that really was what I had said.

‘But how?!’

Until now, only ordinary animals had ever understood my telepathy.

Not Kœnig, not Gerard, not even Ria.

I had sent countless telepathic cries, but no human had ever heard them.

‘And now Erjin… heard me?’

I clutched my head, bewildered.

“It was faint, but it was definitely mana.”

“And even now.”

Erjin met my eyes squarely.

“It wasn’t Kreutz’s venomous mana, nor the vile stench of the Viper family’s. No—it was…”

A fresh, sweet fragrance.

Erjin spoke with conviction.

And I could only gape at him.

‘Mana?!’

But I was a beastkin with not a single speck of mana.

How on earth had he felt it?

I had so many questions for Erjin.

But our time had already run out.

$Bigtrouble!Thesun’scomingup!$

Dawn was breaking.

Which meant Kœnig would soon awaken.

‘Already?’

I couldn’t confirm it down here in the pitch-black dungeon.

But Sebi was an expert, having lived his whole life in the castle’s attic.

Even the faintest change in the Black Dragon Castle told him the time.

$Weneedtogonow!$

With Sebi urging me again, I couldn’t afford to linger.

We’d have to continue this another time.

“Chit.”

The rest of the story would have to wait.

I hurried to turn away, but Erjin gently caught my hand.

“Leaving already?”

“Chit?”

Well, what did you expect?

Do you need a lullaby or something?

I frowned at him, only to notice his ears flushing red.

“It’s just… a shame. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

“Chuu, chuut…?”

What kind of nonsense was that?

I blinked rapidly at him, but Erjin only smiled shamelessly.

“Next time, stay a little longer. Or better yet—don’t leave at all.”