And so, after devouring the book titled “How to Tame a Bad Man” in the span of a week, Meliciel felt her confidence fill up to a reasonable degree.

In between, there were wedding dress fittings, gifts, and all sorts of things to keep her a little busy, but with Belita, Rose, and Chayden looking after her, it was manageable.

Rest time was longer than scheduled, so it wasn’t much of a burden.

“Phew……”

A little too early for evening. Summer afternoons in the north were less hot than slightly cool.

Meliciel loved taking walks alone.

It was also time she could gather and release her divine power, and it put her at ease.

Belita and Rose were kind to her, but it was a kindness earned under a false identity, so her conscience always ached.

That was why these moments alone were when she felt most like herself.

Barix was probably following somewhere behind, but he rarely involved himself in Meliciel’s affairs, so she didn’t pay him much mind.

Meliciel walked slowly and retraced the contents of the book she read over the past week.

「Step 1. Linger where the bad man frequently appears. Showing your face at the same time and place every day is most effective.」

This was something she already did. She ran into Kahar at the dining hall almost every lunch. On days they missed each other, she headed to the dining hall in the evening to see him.

That one was covered, so on to the next.

“Step 2. Be kind.”

Meliciel muttered to herself and let out a sigh.

Every time the Grand Duke opens his mouth, any desire to be kind just vanishes……

It was an undeniably difficult item, but considering this book was a bestseller for eight consecutive weeks ten years ago, it was worth trying.

Kind, be kind.

Reciting it like a spell as she walked, a large iron-barred gate came into view.

This was the leopard enclosure, located on the opposite side of Od Palace, centered around the forest.

The leopards’ dwelling, which took up about a quarter of the forest, was perhaps a bit much to call a mere enclosure.

One of the guards standing watch at the gate made of thick iron bars spoke to Meliciel first.

“Who goes there? Oh! Might you be the young lady?”

People recognized her easily wherever she went, so she was able to nod naturally.

“Yes. Would it be all right if I went inside?”

“Pardon? In there?”

“Yes.”

“M, my lady, this is where the leopards kept by the Bliber Knights live.”

The guard replied with a flustered expression.

No matter how strict Grand Duke Kahar’s orders were to treat the young lady with the utmost care, he couldn’t just stand by while she said she wanted to go into the leopard enclosure.

“They are very fierce creatures. Going inside would be terribly dangerous.”

The enclosure had triple-layered security, that was how thoroughly safety was maintained. Which meant it was the habitat of ferocious beasts.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Pardon?”

“Animals tend to take to me well. The leopards won’t attack or anything like that. They never have……”

She wondered what excuse to give on the way here, but sure enough, it seemed that one wasn’t going to work.

The guard’s face twisted in a way that didn’t bode well. He looked troubled.

“My lady, this is no joke. If you go in there, something terrible will happen to you!”

“Then what if I prove otherwise?”

“Pardon?”

“Call Lemon over near here. Cream or Almond would be fine too.”

When Meliciel said the leopards’ names, the guard’s expression grew even more complicated.

“How do you know those names?”

“We’re close.”

“How……”

He was about to ask how the young lady could possibly be close with those leopards, but the guard had no authority to press the matter that far. Meliciel, who knew that about him, dug in her heels in a way that was unlike her.

“It should be safe to check from the other side of the iron gate. Would that not be possible either?”

Meliciel pressed again, and the guard had no choice.

“Please step back a little in case it is dangerous.”

“All right. Thank you.”

Meliciel handed over a caramel she brought in her pocket as a gesture of thanks.

“What is this?”

“It’s delicious, so I wanted to share.”

Meliciel simply smiled brightly, and the guard quickly bent at the waist and received the caramel with both hands.

“Th, thank you.”

The guard thought the young lady was thoroughly strange, but he called for the keeper and the leopard all the same. Since he couldn’t afford to upset the young lady, his thinking was that it would be better to show her the terrifying leopard and drive her off.

It was the moment the keeper appeared, leading Lemon.

“Lemon!”

Meliciel pressed herself close to the iron gate and raised her voice.

“Grrrr!”

The golden leopard let out a fierce roar and came charging at the bars. The force of it was so sharp that the guards all thought at once that they needed to intervene, and were just about to move.

Lick, lick.

Lick, lick?

The golden leopard that came charging so ferociously began licking the tips of Meliciel’s fingers through the bars.

“Lemon, have you been well?”

That tickles. I know, I missed you too.

Lady Meliciel burst out laughing and exchanged greetings with the leopard.

“You’ve grown so much I almost didn’t recognize you?”

“My lady, please step back. It is dangerous.”

“I met them when they were young. So let me in.”

“B, but……”

“The keeper can come with me.”

The keeper, who came running up late and out of breath, was aghast at the sight of the tamed beast.

“Good heavens. What’s gotten into this one?”

He let out a dumbfounded breath as he watched Lemon wagging his tail and Lady Meliciel, as though he couldn’t believe it.

“If anything happens, Sir Barix is here too. Isn’t that right, Sir?”

Meliciel raised her voice toward somewhere in the distance.

“Sir Barix will protect me. Surely you don’t doubt Sir Barix?”

Barix was a knight held in high esteem even among the guards. A knight with a brilliant record of taking down several hundred raiders single-handedly.

And so, unable to resist Meliciel’s stubbornness, everyone could only watch helplessly as she stepped into the vast forest teeming with leopards.

Meliciel ran a little faster and drew near to Lemon. He pounced on her as though he had been waiting, knocked her down, and began earnestly licking her cheek.

“S, stop. You’re not a cub anymore!”

Until a year ago, he was still a cub. But Meliciel recognized Lemon at a glance.

Almond, Lemon, and Cream, three leopard brothers she found dying in the rain near Od Palace, were rescued, cleaned up, fed, and raised by Meliciel.

How heavily they weighed on her heart when she left Od Palace.

“Stop, do you know where the others are?”

Meliciel asked. The corners of her eyes glistened with a few tears as she did.

Someone recognized Lani, and she was genuinely moved by that.

Because she could no longer live as Lani.

“You really do know me, don’t you?”

She pulled Lemon’s neck into an embrace and whispered, and he let out a low rumbling cry.

“Thank you.”

Goodbye. I am Lani.

She whispered in a trembling voice.

***

She was a nuisance, a nuisance, and now it had gone too far. Meliciel always exceeded Kahar’s imagination.

Kahar narrowed his brow as he looked at the three leopards rolling around on the grass and, directly beneath them, a young lady with only her feet sticking out.

Anyone watching would think she was being eaten alive.

But remarkably, the three leopards were fawning over her shamelessly.

The leopards, newly grown into adults, were vicious and fierce. He thought them untamed beasts, yet in front of this small, delicate woman, they had turned into docile house cats.

He swallowed a hollow breath and walked toward her.

Every mealtime she showed her face and practically invited humiliation.

And now what scheme was this?

Meliciel, is this on purpose?

Is she trying to be a thorn in his eye on purpose?

She didn’t seem to have a personality that twisted.

Kahar still couldn’t untangle the complicated knot of thoughts and ran a hand through his hair.

Even as he drew close, Meliciel was too busy laughing to notice his presence.

“After the potted plant, now it’s leopards?”

Kahar’s voice rang out, and the two legs buried under the leopards began to flail.

A moment later, a thoroughly disheveled Meliciel emerged.

The sight of her constantly toppling backward as the leopards playfully shoved against her was absurd.

“G, Grand Duke?”

“I didn’t tell you I was coming here.”

That startled expression couldn’t be an act.

“What brings you here?”

“I’d like to ask you the same thing.”

“Oh, I like animals. So…… after asking a, around……”

“Of course you do.”

Kahar perched on a rock. Then he gave a quick wave of his hand.

The leopards, receiving his signal, suddenly hesitated. The animals looked at Meliciel and wagged their tails with reluctant expressions.

Unable to throw themselves at her freely under Kahar’s orders.

“Shh.”

Kahar’s eyes sharpened, and the leopards finally tucked their tails and fled into the forest.

“Wh, what was that?”

“It’s feeding time. Time for the beasts to hunt. The young lady might want to wash her face.”

Kahar gestured with his eyes toward a nearby stream. Only then did Meliciel straighten her appearance and approach the stream, bending down to crouch beside it.

“Try not to fall in again.”

“I won’t.”

“I’m not so sure. That body of yours doesn’t seem to move the way you intend.”

He brought up the incident where she fell into the lake and mocked her, and her cheek gave a small twitch.

Meliciel rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands in the cool water, and scrubbed her face.

The sound of the stream flowing along was unusually clear. The afternoon sunlight and Meliciel’s pink hair rippled across the surface of the water.

Unable to suppress an inexplicable itch, Kahar opened his mouth.

“Who told you about the leopards?”