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Chapter 12
What jumped out of the box was an Imugi doll with its mouth wide open.
With a classic “boing!” sound, it popped out and dangled there—exactly the kind of gift that would make a baby hamster jump in fright and tremble if it saw it.
In other words, since I was in human form, it wasn’t startling to me at all—it just looked like a cute toy.
It must have been a gift prepared because they wanted to see the pitiful hamster—me—get startled by a trivial toy.
But you see, I’m not an ordinary baby hamster.
I smiled brightly and tightly hugged the Imugi doll that had popped out.
“It’s so cute! How did you know I wanted an Imugi doll? Thank you so much!”
“……? Y-You wanted one?”
“Of course!”
With a disbelieving expression, Alik looked over at my older brothers.
The twin older brothers, who were already uncomfortable with the fact that I liked Imugi, openly looked sullen when they saw me happily receiving the Imugi doll.
One of the twins poked the Imugi doll, which was dangling from a spring, with his fingertip.
“Haaah. I’m jealous. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever been jealous of someone like this…….”
“Only the first time being jealous? It’s also the first time someone stole the chance from us like this.”
“That’s true. I wanted to be the first to give Systia an Imugi doll, but our plan turned into nothing. What a shame…….”
“It can’t be helped. Let’s prepare one that’s bigger and pops out more realistically than this. Honestly, I’d like to stuff a real Imugi and make it into one, but I guess that’s not allowed?”
“Absolutely not. If you do that, Systia will cut ties with you.”
“Ugh! Cutting ties—that can never happen!”
Watching the twin brothers like that, Alik muttered blankly,
“……That makes no sense. There’s no way she likes an Imugi doll.”
I quickly reacted to Alik’s words.
“What do you mean it makes no sense? What do you mean by that?”
“That’s because you—no, Lady Systia is……!”
Just as Alik raised his voice to say something, Raisa quietly raised a hand to stop him.
“Alik.”
At Raisa’s low call, Alik flinched in surprise and tightly shut his mouth.
Tch.
I had intended to provoke Alik into rambling on about things unfavorable to the Imugi family, but it seemed to have failed.
If it came out that the Imugi who had come to Gladwin for the first time in their lives knew far too much about me, it would look extremely suspicious.
Hesitating as if reading the room, Alik quickly began making excuses.
“I-I misspoke. I assumed Lady Systia would naturally like it. It’s a very popular surprise box among snake beastmen. That’s why I prepared it as a gift. Of course. If I had thought you would dislike it, I wouldn’t have prepared it.”
“Wow. So it’s a surprise box that’s popular among snake beastmen. Thank you for the wonderful gift. I really like it. I’ll enjoy playing with it!”
As a punching bag for training combat techniques, that is. It looked like the perfect toy for practicing the cute little punches of a Gladwin hamster.
Hiding my true thoughts, I hugged the dangling snake doll tightly for them to see, and Alik laughed awkwardly.
“Ahaha……. I’m really glad you like it.”
Even as he said that, the corner of his lips twitched slightly.
Considering that Alik had only just become an adult Imugi, it was quite good acting—but he couldn’t fool me, who knew all of his intentions.
He was extremely frustrated that I hadn’t been startled and squeaked in fear the way he had expected.
After finishing their greetings, the Imugi from Evanoyle moved to the guest area.
Since they had come from far away, it seemed they intended to stay for a few days before returning.
Regardless of that, I went alone to the washroom and scrubbed my hands vigorously with soap.
There was no visible dirt, but just the fact that I had touched the Imugi doll made me feel so unpleasant that I kept wanting to wash my hands.
Filthy bastards.
Seriously, their insides are pitch-black while their outside is all sly—just like Imugi.
I should quickly coax Yehokin and find a way to return to Daeho.
“When we return to Evanoyle, there won’t be many ways to keep in contact, so we should get close while he’s here in Gladwin. I should ask him to go on an evening walk with me later.”
“Do you really need to wait until evening?”
“……?”
Startled by the suddenly heard sly male voice, I turned toward where the voice came from.
Alik was leaning against the wall near the wash basin.
When had he come in?
Was it because he’s a snake?
How did he get here without making any sound?
I pouted at the appearance of someone I disliked, and Alik chuckled.
“That’s an interesting expression. Why? Are you embarrassed because I caught you thinking about me?”
Unlike when we were all together, Alik casually spoke in half-informal speech, so I answered back informally as well, annoyed.
“Get out. This is the female section.”
“Oh, is it? Sorry. I thought it was shared.”
“You know now, right? Leave.”
“Why are you being so cold? You wanted to see me.”
“Me? When?”
“You did. Just now. You said you wanted to go on an evening walk.”
Wow. What kind of self-obsessed nonsense is that?
“What nonsense are you talking about? The beastman I want to go on an evening walk with isn’t you—it’s Yehokin. My fiancé is him, not you.”
“I know you’re engaged to that guy. But that’s separate. You might still want to go on a walk with me. Honestly, in every way, I’m better than him.”
“In what way exactly?”
“In every way. Background, position within the Evanoyle family, strength, money, honor—everything.”
I didn’t know about the rest, but it did seem true that Alik’s position within the family was higher than Yehokin’s.
At least Alik didn’t seem to skip meals or get beaten like Yehokin did.
As for the rest, I had far more than Alik did. And since Alik had no chance of helping me become the Daeho, his self-praise didn’t feel attractive to me at all.
I nodded absentmindedly.
“Mm. I see.”
“Right?”
Whether he was happy that I acknowledged him, or happy that I admitted he was better than Yehokin, Alik lifted his chin and made a confident expression.
Still, for an Imugi, he was quite pathetic.
With nothing more to say, I wiped my hands with the towel beside the wash basin.
“Anyway, do whatever you want here—wash your face or go to the bathroom. I’m leaving now.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t go.”
“…….”
“Did you hear me? Systia, I said don’t go.”
Ignoring Alik, I tried to leave the washroom.
But suddenly—grab!
His hand roughly seized my wrist.
I immediately frowned and tried to pull away, but his strength as a fully grown adult was far greater than mine.
“What are you doing? Let go.”
“I said don’t go.”
“I just turned ten—I’m still in my growth period. Do you really want to do this to a kid when you’re a fully grown beastman?”
“So what if you’re a kid? You know everything already, and you do everything already.”
It was true that I knew everything and did everything—but that wasn’t something a guy who had only met me today should be saying.
Here, I was just a slightly smart ten-year-old child.
“I said let go.”
“I came all the way here to meet you. It’d be disappointing if you just left like this.”
“What does your disappointment have to do with me?”
“I want to get close to you.”
“Getting close like this—what nonsense…….”
Just as I was about to say that, a chilling aura suddenly wrapped around my entire body.
A dark red energy was slowly seeping out from the hand that was holding me.
It was killing intent, the kind predators use when subduing prey.
Killing intent.
It seemed Alik had come to Gladwin just to see me tremble in fear.
So giving me the surprise box wasn’t enough—he was even releasing killing intent with full force like this.
But what should he do?
Killing intent doesn’t work on me.
Alik spoke in a sly voice.
“Well? Do you feel like getting close to me now?”
As if.
I had absolutely no desire to get close to someone who pressured those weaker than himself with strength.
Looking at the killing intent rising from Alik like smoke, I let out a deep sigh.
“Siiigh.”
“……You’re sighing in this situation?”
“Yeah, I did. So what?”
“How can you sigh? I’m releasing this much killing intent.”
If I were a real hamster, I would probably be so frightened by Alik’s killing intent that I’d faint.
Just like Loranda trembled at Tigris’s killing intent.
But I wasn’t just a hamster—I was the hamster who would inherit the Daeho Gladwin family.
Thanks to becoming a hamster, I could feel a predator’s killing intent sensitively—but I wouldn’t be frightened by something like an Imugi’s killing intent!
I smiled sweetly and mocked Alik.
“This was killing intent? It felt ticklish, so I thought it was love pheromones.”
“W-What?”
“That’s not the end, right? Try harder. Since it’s come to this, let me see some real Imugi killing intent.”
“You brat……!”
Alik’s expression twisted viciously as he yanked my wrist roughly.
Wow, this Imugi bastard really does have some strength, I thought—
BOOOOM!
The washroom door burst open with a tremendous crash.
