🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 8
…Trudge, trudge. On my way back to the annex where I was staying with the maid unni, I kept replaying my conversation with my sister.
“Then I have a condition.”
“H-Huh? A condition… what is it?”
“Don’t call me ‘unnie.’ Whether you get adopted into our family or not doesn’t matter.”
“……”
“You’re not my sister. There’s only one person I acknowledge as my family.”
“……”
“So even if you come to my annex, don’t ever bother me. And if you do come, read the room and leave quickly.”
Even as the maid unni greeted me with a look that said she’d expected as much, and even after I took off my shoes and climbed neatly onto the bed, I kept turning that meeting over and over in my mind.
‘Unnie really didn’t recognize me.’
But that was okay.
I’d expected she wouldn’t.
‘I’m just… most worried that my unnie is lonely.’
Today, she had carried a deep scent of loneliness.
Holding that tender thought close, I lay down bravely.
But sleep simply wouldn’t come.
“This is all because this bed is too hard!”
I used to sleep on a soft, fluffy bed, right next to unnie, snoring gently.
I turned my head and looked at the empty space beside me.
‘No fluffy bed, no soft, squishy unnie… nothing at all….’
Only then did it truly sink in.
For some reason, my body started trembling, and I felt cold.
My teeth chattered as I clutched the blanket tightly.
“But I’m okay.”
When I was a stray dog, there were plenty of times I slept alone on the cold ground.
Sometimes people spat at me.
Sometimes wild beasts tried to swallow me in a single bite.
So, you know—
The reason I’m shivering like this right now…
It’s just because a chilly wind is blowing through my heart a little bit.
I buried my face deep into the pillowcase.
There was a salty smell near my eyes, but I held it in as best as I could.
I had to go see unnie again tomorrow.
I tried hard to think of the good things.
‘At least I wasn’t banned from entering her house. That means I can keep seeing her.’
I brought her flowers. I let her meet the warm sunlight.
‘I really have to stay strong.’
I’ll definitely grow close to unnie again and make sure only happy smiles bloom on her face.
I squeezed my eyes shut once more.
And just like that, the whole night passed.
The next morning.
I had just finished getting ready to go visit unnie’s Hae-guk estate—
when I was attacked by a swarm of mice.
“Eek! Wh-what are all these m-mice?!”
Among them, one mouse with completely snow-white fur dashed straight toward me.
“I saw you yesterday at the Hae-guk estate! You incredible human! H-How on earth did you do it?! You pulled off something amazing!”
Its tail thwacked against my pajamas.
“Huh? What was so amazing?”
“The gloomy master of that house let you enter the estate!”
“Well… yeah.”
“How did you sweet-talk that terrifying master who controls dreadful darkness?!”
“Sweet-talk? You bad mouse! Is my unnie a roasted sweet potato or something?!”
“That’s not what I meant…! I mean, how did you get close to her?!”
As I fed the mouse some cheese from my breakfast, I muttered gloomily.
“No. We’re not close at all yet. She told me not to stand out. Not to call her unnie. Not to bother her…”
“What are you talking about? She still allowed you to come, didn’t she? You’re probably the only child who’s ever entered that creepy estate.”
“……Really?”
“Even our mouse clan suspects you might be the one to stir up a storm in that mansion!”
At that, the corners of my mouth lifted.
‘Hehe, of course! I’m the best when it comes to my unnie!’
I shook my head as if wagging a tail, and the mouse muttered,
“But, you know, it doesn’t look like the master plans to see you today. She locked her door from early morning.”
“Tch….”
“Still, try to understand. That master is quite pitiful too.”
“……Why?”
“The maids isolate her and stuff all the money into their own pockets. But your unnie doesn’t really pay attention to things like that.”
I sank into thought.
Come to think of it, the dress I’d glimpsed yesterday was old.
The hem was stained and worn.
It might not matter to unnie.
But for some reason, it made my chest ache.
‘My unnie is the most dazzling person in the world.’
She shouldn’t be treated like that.
I clenched my fist tightly.
“I’ll scold those maids!”
The mouse glanced at my clenched fist and asked,
“And how are you going to do that?”
“Well….”
In reality, I was just a foolish child on the verge of being kicked out.
Maybe because unnie had pushed me away?
Or maybe because I’d suddenly grown gloomy?
Yesterday I was a sparkling puppy spouting wise sayings nonstop—but today, all I could think about were sweet potatoes.
Just then, the mouse struck its tail firmly against the floor.
“I figured you’d say that, so I came to help you.”
“Huh? You?”
“In truth, this mouse has received a mission from the Dog God and came to find you.”
“Gasp, the Dog God! Why didn’t He come Himself and sent a mouse instead…?”
“Because I am a magnificent mouse, of course. Anyway—close your eyes. The time has come for the Dog God to show you the future!”
Right!
Now that I thought about it, the Dog God had said—
“For you, who will become human, you will need good abilities. …Second, the power of foresight to see the future.”
“Waaah! Dog God is the best! You’re showing me the future?!”
Even though He promised to make me unnie’s sister and instead pushed me to the brink of being returned!
‘Still, Dog God is the best!’
I raised my forepaw—no, my hand—into the air.
“I’m ready!”
Before my eyes, a cluster of white light began to writhe.
Thousands—tens of thousands—of letters poured into my mind.
The future was flowing into my head in the form of a book.
After dozens of minutes passed,
I had seen all the futures.
And tears welled up in my eyes.
The mouse thumped its tail anxiously.
“W-Why are you crying? Like a little puppy!”
“I am a puppy……”
“Th-That’s not the point! H-How was it? The future?”
“It’s very… very, very bad.”
Unnie is bullied by her stepmother, Lucrezia, and her stepsister, Teresia.
Then she’s falsely accused of causing the sick youngest sibling of the Grand Duke of Ribera—who had come to recuperate at the Ardos ducal estate—to go berserk.
And she’s expelled from the family.
But unnie never defends herself.
I try to protect her, but every attempt fails.
I go through countless hardships to be adopted into the family to protect her.
But I still can’t save her.
By a hair’s breadth, unnie chooses death.
Among the countless futures I saw, there was nothing but despair.
But when I saw the very last future—
the voices of my puppy friends echoed in my head.
“Coco! The future can be changed! That’s what brave puppies do!”
“We—Cherry, Cookie, Bobby, Lucky, Happy, and Leo—are cheering for you!”
“Live happily with your unnie for a long time and then come back!”
That’s right.
I shouted bravely,
“The future can be changed! I just set a goal!”
In the future I saw, the first button had been fastened wrong, leading unnie to misery—but this time will be different.
I’ll definitely grow close to her. I’ll protect her so she can live happily.
‘Right now, the ones who torment unnie the most are her stepmother, Lucrezia, and her stepsister, Teresia.’
I couldn’t deal with them immediately.
But I could get rid of the nasty ones who were draining unnie’s will to live.
‘The ones who make her wear old clothes and spread strange rumors.’
The head maid and the maids sent by Lucrezia.
“You… after seeing the future, your e-eyes suddenly look really clever….”
Well, I’ve decided not to give in to despair!
“I’m going to get rid of those rotten-sweet-potato humans!”
Me—Coco, the scheming puppy.
Whether as a dog or a human—
when it comes to unnie’s matters, I become very, very smart.
‘They must have weaknesses.’
And that weakness is…
I clenched my fist tightly.
“Mouse.”
“Yeah?”
“You know… want two chunks of cheese?”
The mouse thumped its tail and declared solemnly,
“Heh heh heh. Do you require the power of this great ‘Emperor of Mice’?”
…What’s that supposed to mean?
