IBTBD 08

Chapter 08

“Since it’s already late today, let’s stop here. We’ll arrange a temporary room for the thief in the ducal castle. The formal interrogation will begin tomorrow.”

Gerard, who had been preaching for a full hour to no one in particular, reached out his hand toward me.

“No need for that.”

“Pardon?”

“Leave it here. I don’t trust either of you very much.”

König glanced between me and Gerard.

One was a problem for being too quick, the other for being too slow.

Tch, this is why I hate sharp-eyed beastmen.

My second escape attempt—where I planned to ditch the sloppy Gerard—was completely ruined.

Gerard’s face looked just as gloomy as mine felt.

He lowered his head, stayed silent for a moment, and then let out several sighs in a row.

“……You’re right. A slowpoke tortoise like me could never keep watch over a sly thief who relies on cheap tricks.”

Just how many insults can you pack into a single sentence?

That guy Gerard, despite his looks, seems to hold grudges for quite a while.

With Gerard gone, only König and I remained in the room.

For the first time in my life, I thought I might actually die from being buried under someone’s gaze.

Because—

“Why are you looking away when you should be looking at me?”

On the wide bed, König, draped only in a loose robe, kept tugging me closer to him.

He called it a “simple questioning” before the real interrogation began.

The real problem was his outfit—or rather, his near-nakedness.

“Chuu… chuu….”

I kept turning my head in distress.

Right now I might look like a fist-sized squirrel, but inside I was still a beast… no, an 18-year-old with boiling blood.

If he kept provoking me like this, even I didn’t know what I might do!

“Chuu!”

“……Does that mean you’re frustrated?”

I widened my eyes in warning, but of course, it didn’t get through to König.

He stopped spinning the long ribbon around his finger and, as usual, twisted my meaning however he liked.

Not that it was all bad—he loosened the pouch that had been choking me, giving me more freedom of movement.

If I inhaled deeply and shrank my body, I could probably slip one arm free.

Then escape would be possible.

Heh, all I need is for this lizard to fall asleep…

I buried my face into the pouch with a triumphant smile, when—

“Just so you know, it’d be better to give up on escaping.”

König turned fully toward me, eyes narrowing as if he had read my thoughts.

“I might let it slide once because you’re cute, but not twice.”

And if you don’t let it slide? What then?

Will you eat me?

I looked up at him with round eyes, but he just tilted his head again.

He never seemed to understand the important parts.

“Chuu, chuu.”

Like this, like this—you mean to eat me whole, right?

I made biting motions in the air, and finally König let out a short laugh.

“You’re asking if I’ll eat you?”

“Chuu―.”

“What would I gain from eating a tiny thing like you? You wouldn’t even fill my stomach.”

Oh, so you won’t eat me.

Then why are you licking your lips?

Uneasy, I squirmed backward, but was quickly grabbed by the scruff and pulled back.

“A squirrel with so many uses can’t just be eaten.”

König raised an eyebrow as he spoke.

I couldn’t make sense of it.

A squirrel with many uses?

Does this lizard know something?

I stared at him, waiting for an answer, but he only looked back at me, unblinking.

As though he could pierce through to my very core.

“I hear the Imperial Family is desperately searching for a squirrel beastman. White fur, cherry-red eyes, wasn’t it….”

His tone was flat, almost like talking to himself.

But to me, it sounded like the sharpest threat of all.

When I saw my reflection in König’s eyes, my heart plummeted.

Maybe this crazy black dragon already knew who I really was.

Maybe he brought me here knowing I was Muriel Aymond, planning to hand me over to the Imperial Family alive come morning.

No… he couldn’t be certain.

I steadied my breath and refuted my own fears.

For one, I wasn’t an albino squirrel anymore.

My eyes might still be red, but now I looked like an ordinary brown squirrel.

No way he could be sure based on eye color alone.

And albino squirrels were rare, but not unheard of.

So König was probably just suspicious, nothing more.

Besides, he doesn’t even know I’m a beastman.

If he did, he’d have locked me in the dungeon long ago, just like Gerard and the doctor said.

“They say the one who captures that squirrel will get enough of a reward to buy a townhouse in the capital.”

König kept speaking, oblivious to my rising panic.

His eyes narrowed, his lips curled in a leisurely smile, but I was trembling with fear, burrowing deeper into the pouch to hide it.

“Are you scared?”

Do you even have to ask?

I poked just my eyes out and gave a cautious nod.

The one thing I couldn’t allow was being handed over to the Imperial Family.

The Aymonds may have fallen, but we were still an old and venerable marquisate.

One of the leading houses of herbivore beastmen, no less.

And yet, overnight, without trial or investigation, we were branded traitors.

The only ones who could pull that off…

Was the Imperial Family.

Even three years later, they were still hunting me down.

There couldn’t be a good reason for it.

With no power to resist, I had to stay hidden, like the dead.

And ironically, the Kreuz Duchy—the one place untouched by the Emperor’s hand—was the safest refuge.

Safer even than the wild Bear Mountains.

So even if I had to swallow my pride, I needed to stay in this mad black dragon’s castle.

Maybe this is my chance.

A chance to take over this Black Dragon’s Castle and secure a safe haven.

To do that, I first had to conquer the infamous Duke of Kreuz.

“Chuu…”

I wriggled my folded legs inside the pouch, inching toward König.

Then, with the most adorable expression I could muster, I blinked up at him.

“…Can squirrels get eye diseases too?”

“Chuuut!!”

Eye disease, my tail! You clueless lizard!

“Ah, so it’s a seduction attempt.”

“Chuu, chuu.”

I nodded vigorously, and he let out another small laugh.

By the time I looked up, his expression was back to its usual impassive state.

“Didn’t think you’d try something so bold.”

“Chuu…”

Well, think about it now.

He still looked like he didn’t quite understand me.

But he clearly didn’t dislike it either—he cautiously stroked the top of my head.

It felt like he was treating me as a toy doll, but…

What did it matter, if it meant survival?

“Don’t worry. Kreuz and the Imperial Family don’t get along. Besides, there’s plenty I want to learn from you.”

Thank goodness they didn’t get along.

But… learn from me?

What could a duke who rivaled the Emperor in wealth possibly want from me?

The only things I knew were the locations of my emergency food stores and my treasure stash.

Yet minutes passed with no answer.

König only kept staring at me with that inscrutable expression.

“I’m filthy rich. No way I’d hand over something I’ve already got in my hands for a measly reward.”

…Should I be relieved he’s insane?

At least for now, my safety was secure.

But I couldn’t relax just yet.

And it seemed he thought the same.

“You’re not planning to lull me into a sense of security and then run off, are you?”

Muttering as if to himself, his face grew serious.

Given my record of theft and escape attempts, he clearly thought it possible.

“I guess I’ll have no choice, then.”

No choice?

I tilted my head, and König pointed toward the cabinet—the one Gerard and I had wrecked during our chase.

“One of my favorite ornaments broke while you were escaping. If you try to run again and I catch you, I’ll replace it with you.”

So… you mean—

“I’ll have you stuffed. You’d make quite the cute decoration.”

Quite the cute decoration.

Quite the cute decoration.

Quite the cute decoration.

His sweet yet merciless words echoed in my ears.

Mom… what do I do?

I think I’ve gotten myself caught by a real madman…