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Chapter 3
Count Bluewood had his head buried in a silver washbasin.
Then, without warning, a blinding light engulfed the entire Bluewood estate.
The windows rattled violently as though a massive hurricane had descended upon the mansion.
“W-What is this?”
The Count, who had been desperately scrubbing the hand and nose that the filthy rat had touched, froze in shock.
Without even wiping away the water from his face, he rushed to the window and looked outside.
The dazzling light forced his eyes shut, but when he finally managed to squint through it…
“…Gah!”
The Count let out a horrified scream.
The magnificent garden—the pride of the Bluewood estate—had been completely destroyed!
More accurately, it was still being destroyed before his very eyes.
A gigantic black magic circle, large enough to cover the entire garden, tore through the green lawn, crushed the flowers, shattered the fountain, and flattened everything in its path.
Only then did he realize what he was witnessing.
It was the signature side effect of hastily casting a large-scale teleportation spell.
‘C-Crazy… Are they out of their minds?’
Every time a teleportation magic circle was engraved, the surrounding area was reduced to ruins.
That was why such spells were always directed to safe, empty clearings.
But engraving a magic circle in someone else’s territory without so much as a warning?
That went beyond simple rudeness.
It was practically a declaration of war.
Yet the Count did not become angry.
Instead, his face turned deathly pale.
Magic circles were regulated by the kingdom, and each noble house had its own designated color.
‘A black magic circle? Then that can only be…’
As the light slowly faded, two figures appeared within the magic circle.
One was an elderly man standing nearly two meters tall, dressed in an impeccably tailored suit that barely concealed his powerful physique.
His neatly combed white hair, razor-sharp eyes that seemed to embody the hardships of his life, and the deep scar running across his face gave him an overwhelming presence.
‘Duke Valkyrisen…!’
Standing beside him was a teenage boy who looked almost identical to the old man.
It was the Duke himself…
…and his young grandson.
…Why?
Why were they here?
What in the world was happening?
As the Count stood there in complete panic, overwhelmed by the disaster-like arrival…
His eyes met a pair of glowing golden ones.
The Duke looked at him as though he were staring at something both troublesome and pitiful.
—I’ll give you ten minutes.
The voice echoed directly inside the Count’s mind.
His shoulders jolted violently.
The Count had been granted ten minutes.
Now, however, only five remained.
He paced anxiously around the room while waiting for his butler, Alfred.
“M-My lord!”
At last, Alfred burst through the door, panting heavily.
“What did they say?!”
The Count demanded immediately.
Duke Valkyrisen.
His title was…
The King of Magical Beasts.
The Duke belonged to the only human noble house that maintained relations with the Beastfolk.
It was thanks to House Valkyrisen that humans and Beastfolk had signed a peace treaty and now enjoyed prosperity together.
The Duke himself was an enormous symbol of that peace, carrying a responsibility unlike anyone else’s.
So why had someone as important as Duke Valkyrisen suddenly appeared at his estate?
And why had he barged in so recklessly, without warning?
“Our house has been accused… of kidnapping a Beastfolk child.”
“A Beastfolk?”
“A… field mouse Beastfolk.”
A field mouse Beastfolk.
“You expect me to believe that I—I—kidnapped a mouse Beastfolk?! What kind of insane accusation is that?!”
Count Bluewood, both furious and dumbfounded, hurled the washbasin aside.
A mouse?
Of all things, a mouse?
He already wanted to exterminate every squeaking rat that dared roam his estate.
Kidnap one?
What absurd slander!
Alfred inhaled sharply and cautiously stepped back before speaking in a trembling voice.
“I couldn’t agree more, my lord. I have no idea what’s happening.”
“No matter how powerful Duke Valkyrisen is, he can’t fabricate crimes out of thin air! Without a shred of evidence, he’s making ridiculous accusations…!”
The Count suddenly stopped shouting.
To him, all rats were simply rats.
He couldn’t have cared less about the specific species.
And yet…
The term field mouse sounded strangely familiar.
“They’re not dirty! Field mice live in the fields, sleep inside flower buds, and eat nothing but grains and pollen. They’re clean wild mice! They don’t belong in a mansion like this, so there must be a reason it’s here!”
In that instant, the Count remembered Sera’s desperate cry.
But he immediately rejected the thought.
‘Impossible.’
Out of all the countless rats in existence…
The one I beat to death…
Could it really have been the precious Beastfolk that Duke Valkyrisen himself had come searching for?
There couldn’t possibly be such monstrously terrible luck.
It would be more fortunate to be struck dead by lightning while walking down the street.
‘But she said field mice don’t appear inside mansions.’
A mouse that belonged in the fields had somehow ended up in his estate.
And now Duke Valkyrisen had appeared, demanding a Beastfolk of that exact same species.
‘There’s no way the two aren’t connected.’
If he dismissed it as a coincidence…
He had the chilling feeling that it would cost him his head.
“…Why are they looking for a mere mouse? It can’t possibly belong to some distinguished bloodline.”
The strong ruled.
Surely the world of the Beastfolk, more animalistic than humans, followed the law of the jungle.
A tiny mouse Beastfolk shouldn’t even qualify as nobility.
“I-I have never heard anything regarding that…”
“So saying you don’t know is supposed to be enough?! Say something useful!”
With time rapidly running out, the Count’s already foul temper reached its limit.
“W-Well… at the very least, if Duke Valkyrisen personally came looking, then that child must be someone extremely important.”
“Damn it!”
The Count slammed his foot into the floor before resuming his frantic pacing.
‘I didn’t kill it on purpose. That damn rat attacked me first!’
It was infuriating.
Painfully unfair.
If that Beastfolk intended to disguise itself as a rat and sneak into another person’s estate…
Then it should have been prepared to be beaten to death.
But there was no way such an excuse would work on the Duke.
All he would see was that Count Bluewood had killed the Beastfolk he had desperately been searching for.
“Where’s the mouse now?”
“I saw Cinderella… I mean, Miss Seraphina… recover the body and carry it away.”
“Good. Go and see whether it’s still alive.”
“Should I summon a physician?”
At those words, the Count, who had been rubbing his face repeatedly, abruptly raised his head.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Pardon?”
“If it’s really a Beastfolk, there’s no way it’ll keep quiet after I beat it into that state.”
“You mean…”
“We have to finish it off.”
“No matter what.”
That way, the Duke would never know whether the mouse had died after eating poison on its own…
Or had wandered into the kitchen and been beaten to death by a maid.
Dead creatures told no tales.
That was the only way House Bluewood could survive.
“Kill the mouse. Lock Sera away.”
“Don’t let her escape under any circumstances.”
Naturally, he had no intention of leaving behind anyone who could speak carelessly to Duke Valkyrisen.
The mouse had suddenly turned into a person.
“E-Elodie? Is that really you, Elodie?”
Holding the child tightly in her arms, Sera stared at the little girl in complete shock.
“…It really is. Your fur… no, your hair is the same color.”
Ash-blond fur—
No, ash-blond hair.
Large, round eyes framed by thick, doll-like eyelashes.
Within them were jet-black pupils so captivating that anyone who gazed into them would want to give her everything they possessed.
Her adorable, chubby cheeks were tinted pink and twitched ever so slightly.
And above all…
There was one undeniable piece of evidence.
A pair of tiny, adorable ears poked out from between her hair.
At that moment, Sera realized the child’s true identity.
“You’re a Beastfolk!”
A Beastfolk?
Elodie stopped crying at once and blinked her large, round eyes.
