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chapter 45
It was the first time I had ever seen his face this close while in my human form, and it left me flustered.
On top of that, there was something thick and heavy about the atmosphere surrounding him that held me in place.
‘What is this…?’
I stared at him blankly.
Ariel’s eyes trembled like reeds swaying in the wind.
As the silence stretched on, his eyes gradually sank into darkness.
“Did you really not want to see me?”
With a low, quiet voice, his red lips moved right in front of me.
At this rate, it felt like our lips might touch at any moment.
That deep voice sent a chill down to my fingertips, making them curl.
It almost sounded like a growl.
“O-Of course I wanted to see you!”
At this rate, this was dangerous.
I pressed down on his shoulder and tried to get up, but failed.
His unnecessarily firm body didn’t budge at all.
Placing his other hand on my back, he tightened his grip and trapped me in his arms.
Instead of getting up, I ended up burying my face into his chest.
“Or… were you trying to run away?”
I told you. You can’t escape.
As I squirmed in his arms, a low, muffled chuckle brushed against my ear.
“Why would I run away for no reason—”
Wait.
Now that I thought about it, my track record wasn’t exactly clean. I had flown off at the banquet just to drink alcohol, and I had even escaped once from the infirmary and hidden from his sight.
Considering my surprisingly colorful history, I corrected myself.
“I wasn’t planning to run away this time.”
I don’t know about the future, though.
I swallowed the words that were about to follow.
He tightened his arms around my waist just enough so I wouldn’t feel suffocated, holding me closer.
“Ariel.”
Lowering his gaze slightly, he brought his lips close to her ear.
At that angle, he wore the most pitiful and beautiful expression possible as he whispered softly.
His voice, low and submerged, felt as if it were sinking in water.
“Don’t abandon me.”
Perhaps because of the light, his eyes scattered in shades of blue.
A strange, unfamiliar feeling curled deep inside my chest like a wave crashing in.
I absentmindedly fidgeted with the blanket.
‘I need to get out of here.’
This soft, fluttery feeling in my heart was strange. It felt like something was sprouting inside me.
If I stayed like this, sitting on top of him in his arms… I didn’t know what might happen.
I smacked his shoulder with all my strength.
‘A kidnapper and a kidnapped beast-person are not supposed to have this kind of relationship!’
I threw my weight forward and slammed into his shoulder, and perhaps because he was startled, his grip loosened slightly.
Not missing the chance, I slipped out of his arms and jumped to my feet.
“I-I’m going to take a shower!”
Ariel’s cheeks were flushed red. Seeing that, Ian quietly curled his lips into a smile.
“You don’t need to call a maid. You can manage on your own.”
With that, Ariel—her ears now red as well—walked stiffly like a wooden puppet.
“Ariel, your hands and feet are moving together.”
I switched my steps.
“They’re still moving together.”
Damn it.
Something inside me was definitely broken.
“Ariel, the door!”
“Ah!”
I nearly smashed into the bathroom door at full speed and rubbed my reddened forehead.
…Why was it so hard just to go to the bathroom?
Only after hitting my head against the door did I finally make it inside.
Ian kept staring at the bathroom door Ariel had entered.
He had expected, to some extent, that Ariel would go out.
It had been strange that she suddenly went out to the lake with Louise, and Ariel was the type to do whatever she wanted.
However, it was unexpected that his subordinate had lost track of her midway.
When he received the report that they had lost her trail, Ian felt like his heart had fallen off a steep cliff.
He thought she had run away from him. And if that were the case, there was a real chance he might never find her again.
Considering how she had been searching for a dog hole in the mansion since day one, and how she had escaped from his basket at the party, it was entirely possible.
Now that she could transform into a human, she could easily leave the mansion and settle somewhere else.
When Ian received that report, he gave off a chilling aura as if he might kill someone.
His mind went cold, and he understood exactly what it meant for a beast-person to go mad.
‘…And of all things, her human form is that beautiful.’
Ariel’s human form was stunning. Her flowing black hair and clear light-green eyes evoked a mysterious charm that made one want to defile it at least once. Her refreshing pheromone scent stirred a desire to draw closer and become intoxicated by it.
When he returned to his room, thinking she had run away, there was a small figure crouched inside, grinning to herself.
It was her.
The one he thought had escaped had returned to his room.
The moment he saw her, he wanted to go to her immediately and lock her in his arms so she could never go anywhere.
Wouldn’t it be fine to lock her inside his room?
So she wouldn’t be able to take even a single step.
If it were up to him, he wanted to block out everyone else’s gaze and make her look only at him.
‘…They say the obsession toward a compatible pheromone surpasses imagination.’
Originally, instead of feeling emotions, Ian was someone who could read the thoughts of beast-people well, and he could understand most of what Ariel was thinking.
Whether she was in a good mood—the room was filled with a more uplifting, refreshing pheromone than usual.
‘…Ha.’
The pheromone that cleared his mind was addictive the more he inhaled it.
He wanted to consume her down to her bones. He wanted to greedily lick up even a single drop of fluid that came from her.
‘That would probably be sweet too.’
After pondering this feeling, Ian came to a conclusion.
This was possessiveness.
Certainly, it wasn’t normal.
Ian slowly opened his eyes, deeply stained with an immeasurable possessiveness and obsession.
He couldn’t let her notice this state.
She was more sensitive than any other beast-person; if she sensed even the slightest oddity from him, she would surely distance herself immediately.
He ran a hand down his face.
“Ariel.”
Her name slipped out between his lips in a whisper.
Crash!
At that moment, as if answering his whisper, a loud noise came from the bathroom.
“Ariel, are you okay?”
Ian stopped his thoughts and called out.
“……”
The bathroom fell silent as a grave.
“Ariel?”
Ian got up from the bed and approached the bathroom.
“I’m fine!”
From behind the door came a desperate shout that clearly meant don’t come in under any circumstances.
“Ugh…”
I stared blankly at the scene inside the bathroom.
There I was, sprawled out flat on the floor of the empty bathroom.
Anyone could tell—I had slipped and fallen.
If Ian had walked in and seen me like that, I might have died of embarrassment.
…There wasn’t a single day in my life that went quietly.
‘I thought today might finally be calm, aside from Ian acting a bit strange after we went out.’
As if that would ever happen.
After brushing off my knees, I put on my pajamas and went out of the bathroom.
‘That tiger isn’t going to say something when he sees my knees, right?’
Worried about getting scolded, I subtly pulled my chemise dress down to cover my knees.
The fresh breeze coming through the open window fluttered my hair.
The hair that swayed was no longer the chestnut color from earlier, but black.
‘The chestnut hair I had while searching for the letter wasn’t bad either.’
Contrary to my worries that I might end up living without pheromones, my pheromones had manifested just fine.
However, while I couldn’t change into other animals in my beast form, I could freely change my appearance when in human form.
‘It feels kind of incomplete.’
I didn’t understand why a pheromone ability that usually appeared in chameleon tribes had manifested in me.
I had no connection to them whatsoever.
Still, since it was a useful ability, I couldn’t complain.
And it was incredibly useful.
‘Plus, I can secretly practice when no one’s around, and no one will know.’
It was the perfect pheromone for pulling off scams.
Of course, I wasn’t scamming anyone.
‘…What even is a scam?’
I’m a good, honest citizen, so I could never do something like that.
Resting my chin on my hand, Ariel gazed outside in a good mood.
‘Today’s the day they serve that delicious crème brûlée.’
At Café <Ganache>, the desserts changed daily.
Some days they served incredibly soft pudding that melted in your mouth, other days sweet macarons, and sometimes perfectly baked bread—crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.
‘Why doesn’t anyone know about this place?’
Though, that worked in my favor.
Looking around, only two tables in the café were occupied. One had four young ladies with colorful hair, and the other had a beast-person with violet hair tied up, reading a newspaper while eating crème brûlée.
‘Even if this place is run by an information guild, the café menu is ridiculously good.’
This small information guild would eventually merge with Suella’s organization near the end of the original story and grow tremendously.
“Here is your crème brûlée. And this pudding is a service for our regular customer.”
A kindly-looking male server placed the dessert down with a gentle smile.
Once he left, I took a bite of the long-awaited crème brûlée while opening the letter.
The cool and warm layers melted softly in my mouth.
Sweetness lingered on my tongue.
[Miss Bian West,
The mountain you requested has been purchased. The total cost was 950 gold…]
Bian West was my alias. It was a mix of modifying the first syllable of Ian’s name and randomly picking a direction.
If I had picked east, it would’ve been Bian East.
‘They haggled it down to less than half the original price.’
950 gold for a mountain.
‘Considering how much money I have right now, it makes my hands tremble… but it’s still incredibly cheap.’
Even so, my mouth felt bitter.
Even at half price, most of the money I gave her must’ve been spent.
Watching your money disappear like a bungee jump was never a pleasant feeling.
‘I need to refill my pockets quickly.’
With glittering gold and treasures.
Thinking of it as an investment for the future, I took another bite of the sweet crème brûlée.
‘It’ll come back soon anyway.’
The sweetness seemed to ease the bitterness of life.
[…I miss you. I’m counting the days until we meet again!
– Chloe –]
“Ladies, did you hear?”
At that moment, the whispers from the table behind me drifted over.
“They say Lady Celestine of the Simond family and Lord Nox of the Hiat family are getting engaged!”
The clear voice rang through the café.
‘What? …Who’s getting engaged to whom?’
I nearly spat out the drink I was sipping on the spot.
