What are you talking about? I'm still young to go to get married."
"That's why. Don't be friends with that guy. Okay?"
"...But it's my first friend."
Perhaps Sage didn't even know that before inviting me over? Because I just found out myself.
If he had known what that really meant, he wouldn't have told me. As expected, it should be something like that. Whew. I feel at ease.
"I guess Sage didn't know."
"He was ignorant enough to not know that!"
But he was still angry so I handed Arban the chocolate cookies on the plate to calm him down.
"Eat this."
"......"
"It's good, right?"
Arban closed his mouth and took the cookie with one hand. A strangely unpleasant gaze came toward me.
"Hey."
"What?"
"Do you think I'm a kid like you? If you give me something to eat, do you think I'll be quiet?"
"Then you're not going to eat?"
"...I'm going to eat it."
Arban snatched the cookies away. It seemed that he still had a lot to say, but he seemed to be softened by the snack offensive.
Humph. After all, Arban is also a kid but he goes around treating me like a baby every day.
I bit the cookie while watching him eat.
"By the way, Brother Arban."
"What."
"You came to see me to talk about the shapeshifting, right? You said you were worried."
"...No, I didn't?"
Then why did you come? There's no reason to come to me other than that.
When I stared at him, Arban panicked and got up quickly. His slightly reddish ears could be seen through his curly black hair.
"Hey, I just stopped while passing by! I came just in case you were bored?"
Arban quickly left the room.
Bang!
The door slammed shut. Seeing that, Rosaria gave a small laugh.
"Young Master Arban is not honest."
"Right?"
He came pretending to be a fool that knew nothing.
He could be honest and just say straight out he wanted to go on a family trip as soon as possible, instead of teaching me how to succeed in shapeshifting.
* * *
Her head was throbbing. Ella opened her eyes, feeling her senses slowly returning.
She couldn't remember anything since the time she had fallen from the cliff. Seeing that she safely opened her eyes, she had fortunately survived the fall.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she tried to get her body up. When she realized that her limbs were bound, her eyes widened.
Not even a handful of pheromone could be felt in her body.
Her mind flashed, and she quickly looked around her. All she could see was a dark, windowless dungeon.
"Looks like you just woke up. Did you sleep well, Miss Ella?"
"...Huck!"
Ella caught her breath at the sound of the voice coming from behind her. Her body stiffened with fear. Because of the rope studded with pheromone control stones, she didn't even notice Durias was nearby.
She slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice.
Durias sat cross-legged in a chair looking down at her. And behind him, she saw Hestia standing silently, guarding her seat.
"Thanks to Miss Ella sleeping, I was able to quickly return without being caught."
"Ugh! Unhg!"
"Ah. Just in case, I gagged you a bit. Please bear with it even if it's uncomfortable."
"Hung......!"
"If you wait a minute, someone who wants to see you will arrive."
Someone who would like to meet you.
At that, Ella held her breath. Even without telling who the opponent was, she knew right away.
Her body began to tremble.
Ella could hear someone coming through the quiet cellar door. Soon, the basement door opened and Ella's eyes fluttered aimlessly as she looked at her opponent.
"It's a face I haven't seen in a long time."
It was Cade Astrophel.
* * *
As Cade entered the basement, Durias and Hestia politely bowed their heads and stepped back.
"Are you here, my lord?"
"Greetings, my lord."
Cade looked at the two for a moment, then turned his head towards the prison where Ella was held.
"......Ungh!"
In the dark, his red eyes were clearly visible. Ella hurriedly plunged her head to the floor because of the creepy eyes staring at her.
"It's definitely a nostalgic face. I remember you helped deliver Estella's children."
Estella.
Ella's complexion grew pale at the mention of a name she couldn't forget even in her dreams. Cade expressionlessly looked at her and calmly continued his words.
"I don't know if you've heard it, but in my family, a child not of my clan was born."
"......!"
"I think you know why."
As Cade continued to speak, Ella's body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Her eyes shook aimlessly enough to make the viewer feel pity as she looked very anxious.
Cade opened the locked prison door and entered, stopping right in front of Ella.
Ella had her head lowered but Cade slowly lowered his body, grabbed her chin, and lifted her head up, raising his lips and smiling.
A cold gaze meant for an enemy was watching her piercingly.
"Huck...!"
"I heard that as soon as Estella died, you headed East."
"......!"
"It's strange. From what I've heard from Estella, you were abandoned by your clan."
Cade was right. Ella was a beast abandoned by the clan.
The East where she was born was very conservative, so there was a strong culture that did not tolerate mixed races.
In particular, the higher the status, the more often it was.
Estella felt sorry for that fact and took Ella in.
She actively helped Ella make a living in the South, and even brought her into the family at the time she married Cade, staying with her.
So, she was not doubted in the least.
When Ella handed in her resignation, saying she would leave the family shortly after Estella died, he was willing to let her go. The Astrophel family without Estella would be terrible. People thought that if she stayed here, she would keep thinking of Estella and suffer.
When she left, he had paid her severance pay as well. That was the remaining of Cade's consideration.
But now Ella was in front of him......
Cade's pheromone vibrated terribly. It was such a vicious energy that it seemed to twist Ella's neck at any moment. Ella was sobbing, unable to breathe properly because of the pain that felt like her jaw was going to crumble.
"...I looked at where you went and seems like the East accepted you. There must be a reason why they took you back."
Durias and Hestia quickly covered their noses. It was because the poisonous incense vibrated inside the basement. It was a power that could poison not only Ella, but both of them as well, even though they were Cade's comrades.
Ella was already turning her eyes upside down, on the verge of blacking out.
As he let go of the chin he was holding on to, Ella's body fell to the floor and the gag in her mouth was released.
Cade's gaze turned to Hestia.
Faced with his eerie, vertically stretched pupils, Hestia flinched and swallowed dry saliva.
"Heal her, Hestia."
"......Yes, sir."
She approached Ella, who had completely lost her mind, and cast her healing skills.
Once the poison had somewhat neutralized, Ella opened her eyes and exhaled a pained breath. Soon, after spotting Cade again, her golden eyes fluttered in despair.
She cried out in fright.
"I, I didn't do anything. Really. I really didn't do anything!"
"That's something I'll find out when you talk to my subordinates from now on. I hope you can hold out well."
"Master Cade! Master Cade!"
Ella screamed when she saw Cade leave the basement.
When the situation somewhat settled, Durias sighed and looked down at Ella, who frowned and shouted loudly.
From now on, something really important was about to begin. Durias took off his gloves one by one.
"Then let's talk now, Miss Ella."
"......! I'm really upset. Sir Durias, you know me. How much I followed after Lady Estella!"
Ella eagerly looked at him with tears in her eyes, but Durias replied with a smile.
"Of course, I know how much you followed Lady Estella."
"Re-really? Then, you trust me right, Sir Durias? I'm glad. I'm really glad......"
"Then let me ask you straight up, Miss Ella."
Ella, who was expressing relief with her smile, stopped breathing. Durias, who sat in the chair, stared at her with expressionless eyes.
"Is it true that Lady Estella really died after giving birth to the heirs?"
* * *
"Ella is gone?"
"Yes, I checked where she was staying this morning and she was gone without a trace."
In a large room decorated with gold on all sides, there was a silhouette that seemed to be visible over the long threaded blinds made of jade.
The man reclining on the throne mumbled as he drank tea.
"This is really annoying. Did she run away?"
"I don't think so."
"You don't think so?"
A cold voice echoed in the room.
The man seemed to be offended by the unclear content of the report.
Elvin held his breath and bowed his head at the sudden chill of the atmosphere. Because he knew very well that he could not survive the moment he went against this man's mood.
"Elvin."
"Yes."
"That's why I told you to take care of it earlier."
"......I'm sorry."
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"If you are presuming she didn't run away, then who kidnapped her?"
"Based on the circumstances, it is presumed to be the Astrophel family."
Pause.
The movement of the man who was waving the teacup and bringing it to his mouth stopped.
"There is no direct evidence that we are involved yet, so it should be fine."