ENGDB 13

Chapter 13

Calid sat at the desk in his office, anxiously tapping his fingers against the surface again and again.

Watching his master look unusually restless today, the aide Henry could only let out another quiet sigh.

“Your Highness. Did something happen last night?”

“……”

“Your Highness?”

“Ah… Henry. What is it?”

Calid looked distracted, as if his mind was somewhere else.

“…I was asking if something happened last night.”

“Last night… Nothing happened. Right. It was nothing… It was nothing at all.”

“……”

Seeing Calid sink back into his own thoughts once again, Henry silently left the office.

It would be better not to see this any longer…

Trying hard to calm himself, Henry walked away to continue his work.

And so, Henry’s worries only grew deeper.

The person responsible for Henry’s growing concern, Calid, was currently confused by what had happened this morning.

After waking up feeling unbelievably refreshed despite having passed the full moon, Calid looked at the little white creature sleeping peacefully beside him.

‘Hmm… I think its form changed a little.’

The white creature clearly had arms and legs now.

Unlike before, when they would occasionally stick out only slightly.

‘Are those really arms and legs? …Cute.’

As he curiously observed the sleeping white creature, it slowly began to wake up.

Then he heard a voice.

“Mm… Calid…?”

It was clearly his name.

A bright and clear voice.

That beautiful voice seemed to be coming from the white creature in front of him.

The white creature tilted its head while looking at him, and Calid could not take his eyes off it.

Then the voice came again.

“Calid? …Your expression… totally… hahaha.”

The sleepy voice mixed with laughter was soft and pure.

A voice that strangely calmed people’s hearts.

And for some reason, it also felt deeply familiar and nostalgic.

But regardless of how beautiful the voice was, Calid froze in shock as if he had been struck by lightning.

He could not even breathe.

He had thought the white creature was simply a special magical beast with unusual powers.

But now it was speaking with a human voice.

And not just any voice—

A woman’s voice.

Calid was completely confused.

That was why he had hurriedly escaped from the bedroom and hidden himself inside the office.

And even now, that confusion had not disappeared.

‘Could it be… it’s not a magical beast? A magical beast shouldn’t be able to speak the human language.’

Not once had Calid ever thought the white creature was something other than a magical beast.

Even after it transformed into a human shape.

He had simply assumed it preferred looking human and was using some special ability to change its appearance.

That was also why he had prepared a room for it after seeing how attached it was to the bedroom.

He wanted it to live comfortably.

But if it could use language, then everything changed.

And not just any language—

It was perfectly speaking the language of humans living in this land.

Although Calid could only hear a few words clearly for now, it seemed the white creature was actually forming complete sentences.

Unaware of Calid’s troubled thoughts, Irene wandered around searching for him before finally entering the office.

‘Calid! Why did you suddenly disappear without saying anything? I searched everywhere for you! And isn’t this supposed to be morning exercise time? Why are you sitting here?’

Since Irene naturally believed Calid could not hear her, she chatted away like usual.

And hearing some of her words for the first time, Calid quickly pretended to focus on the documents in front of him so she would not notice his confusion.

‘Calid? Why are you so quiet today? Don’t tell me you’re still sick?’

Irene found it strange that Calid only stared at his papers without reacting at all.

Thinking his condition still had not fully recovered, she quickly ran over to him.

As Irene came closer, Calid became flustered once more.

“T-The body is fine. I’m not sick… I just suddenly remembered urgent work.”

His tone and speech became awkward from panic, but Irene was too busy examining him worriedly to notice.

Seeing the white creature focus entirely on checking his condition, Calid suddenly felt foolish for running away in panic earlier.

Even if it had developed something like arms and legs.

Even if it could now speak like a human.

The white creature was still the same white creature.

The one that had lived beside him for months.

The one he had decided to take responsibility for and care for properly.

The one who worried about him more than anyone else.

Once he thought of it that way, his shaken heart quickly calmed down.

“I’m really fine. I’m not sick. Now then, what book were we supposed to read today…?”

‘Fine…? Don’t be sick…! Calid. You’re the only… one… you…’

Calid, who had been carefully listening to the words spoken by the white creature, suddenly froze after piecing them together.

‘You’re asking if I’m okay and telling me not to be sick… And then… “You’re the only one”?!’

Caught off guard by words that sounded almost like a confession, Calid became flustered for a moment.

But he quickly pretended nothing happened and opened a nearby book onto the desk.

The tips of his ears had already turned red.

“Come on, focus on the book. I’m the only one who takes care of you like this.”

‘? That’s true. You… are the only… person I have…’

“Yes. I suppose I’ll continue being the only one from now on.”

‘?’

The white creature looked confused by Calid’s strangely connected yet disconnected responses, but soon turned its attention back to the open book.

Calid’s gaze toward the diligently reading white creature deepened.

Their life together seemed peaceful on the surface.

No—

At least for Calid, small problems had started appearing.

“Your Highness. Lately you seem unable to focus at all. Is something troubling you?”

“…No. What worries would I have? There’s nothing.”

“If there is any problem, please tell us. We will always move for Your Highness.”

The servants, full of energy from early morning, looked at the growing pile of documents on Calid’s desk with worried and puzzled expressions.

His working hours had not changed, but compared to before, his speed had become noticeably slower.

Calid could feel their gazes somewhat, but recently he had been having trouble concentrating because the white creature constantly stole his attention.

‘Calid… this…’

‘This book… is fun… Calid.’

At first, hearing the white creature’s words had only felt amazing and mysterious.

But the problem was—

The white creature was far more talkative than expected.

It chattered endlessly.

For a moment, Calid wondered if it had noticed he could hear it now, but it did not seem that way.

The white creature was simply very talkative.

While reading books, it would suddenly become excited and explain the contents for a long time.

Whenever it saw food, it became curious about the taste.

Because of the nonstop chatter, Calid’s concentration frequently broke.

Once, he even considered telling the white creature to stay quiet.

But seeing it happily bounce around beside him with its whole body full of excitement, he could not bring himself to scold it.

And as time passed, the words that had once only reached him in fragments slowly became clearer until they eventually formed complete sentences.

‘This place really does resemble my second life. Even the etiquette is similar. Then… could this world also be inside some romance fantasy novel?’

The white creature often used strange words he did not understand.

And sometimes, while mumbling to itself thoughtfully, it revealed unexpected information.

‘Since this world has magic instead of science, if it’s used properly, people’s lives could definitely become much more convenient…’

‘Portable fans in summer, hand warmers in winter. Ugh… I wish I had more knowledge about those kinds of things…’

Of course, things like past lives or living inside a novel were difficult to believe.

But most of the white creature’s stories were astonishing and fascinating.

‘A fan cools things down, and a hand warmer keeps things warm? Hmm… If those could be made, they would probably be useful in many ways.’

‘People can fly in the sky? Is that even possible?’

‘Then… are automobiles similar to carriages?’

Sometimes the white creature used unfamiliar words he had never heard before.

But most of its stories felt fresh and shocking to Calid.

Of course, that was not all.

‘No, how can this happen?! This male lead is completely disqualified! How can he take care of another woman instead of his lover here?! A male lead should properly and faithfully care only about his lover!’

‘Calid, listen! Back where I used to live, there was once a huge debate about perilla leaves…’

The excited white creature suddenly fell silent.

Calid also stayed quiet after sensing complicated emotions from it.

“……”

‘Anyway, I absolutely hate it! Both in real life and as a male lead, absolutely not! Calid, if you ever get a lover someday, you absolutely must not act like this! And this book is a very harmful novel, so let’s hide it somewhere out of sight.’

This was how Calid unintentionally learned about the white creature’s firm tastes and preferences.

Still, everything else it said was new and useful to him.

Listening to the white creature chatter beside him every day, Calid increasingly wished to properly speak with it as soon as possible.

And after finally finishing the urgent work piled up in the territory, Calid began seriously investigating the true identity of the white creature.