Hello, Readers! I am celebrating my birthday with extra chapter updates, so please enjoy this special chapter release of 4 bonus chapters! 🥳

(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 4/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

“You said you were going outside the forest today, right? Take me with you. I want to look around the market.”

Sprout squatted in front of me, grabbed my arm, and shook it as he begged.

Rory gently removed his hand and pulled me behind him.

I pretended to gnaw on some meat and said.

“We’re going out to eat meat.”

“Ugh. Meat again? You guys are so cruel. Those poor animals.”

I shook my head as I watched Sprout stick out his tongue and grimace.

“Animals hunt and eat meat to survive too. We’re simply following the laws of nature for healthy and proper survival and growth. How could you say something so blasphemous?”

“You’re so mean. But I’m still going with you.”

“Fine. But you have to behave. Don’t wander off and get lost like last time.”

“Okay!”

After Rory, drenched in sweat from sword training, finished his shower, we climbed onto the wagon.

Ann, who had learned how to drive the wagon from Brussel, took the reins.

In the past, we only went out when Brussel went to sell thread, but ever since Ann learned how to drive, we had been going out on our own at least once a week to eat meat or buy clothes.

When we arrived in Roche, we entered a restaurant and ordered roasted pork cooked over a grill and salad pasta for Sprout.

On the restaurant wall hung a tattered portrait of me.

[Missing Person: The youngest daughter of the Hauser Count family, Merchen Hauser. The most beautiful baby in the world. Honey-colored hair that glistens like it’s coated in syrup and black eyes that sparkle like obsidian. If found, send a telegram to the Hauser family immediately. Negotiation is allowed, but if you don’t want your wrist severed and attached to your ankle, do not lay a finger on her.]

Even just reading the printed words, I could hear Honey Hauser’s cold, pretentious voice in my head.

And yet, the ridiculous flattery in the description of me was absurdly amusing.

The restaurant was bustling with people, but no one recognized me.

My hair, which had grown down to my waist, was dyed black regularly whenever the roots began to show, so unless someone from the Hauser family came directly, there was no risk of being caught.

Besides, who would think that I, dressed in a clean but cheap dress, with my black hair roughly tied back, was the young lady of a Count’s family?

“Your food is here~ The apple pie is a spe-cial ser-vice just for our regulars.”

The girl serving the food chirped in a cheerful voice as she placed the plates on the table.

She glanced at Sprout, blushed, and spoke to him sweetly.

“Instead of a tip, how about a date after your meal?”

“No.”

“Ah, why not? You said you don’t even have a girlfriend!”

“You keep snorting while looking at me. It’s creepy.”

At Sprout’s blunt and firm rejection, the girl hid her reddened face behind her tray.

“T-that’s not something I can help! When I see a handsome guy, it just happens automatically…!”

The girl, clearly embarrassed, squeaked out, “Enjoy your meal!” and ran off.

A bronze-toned, muscular physique and a strong, chiseled jawline.

A dreamy, mesmerizing voice.

In just a few weeks, Sprout, now a young man, had become the #1 “Most Wanted Man to Date” in Roche.

As a result, those of us who accompanied him also became minor celebrities.

“Look over there! It’s the hunter and the little fairies!”

Ha!

“The hunter and the little fairies,” they say.

What a contradictory nickname!

Sprout, who couldn’t even kill a bug, let alone hunt, and who couldn’t eat meat, had somehow become a “hunter” due to his deep, beast-like eyes and his large, healthy physique.

Meanwhile, Rory, a human, and I, a fox shapeshifter, were suddenly being called “fairies” in front of an actual fairy.

Ironically, Sprout seemed to like this nickname.

***

We rode the wagon into the dense, wooded forest.

The road back to Greenvalley.

Thud! The wagon jolted, and our bodies lurched forward.

“Ahh!”

“Careful.”

Sprout caught Rory and me before we could be thrown off.

“Oh no! What’s wrong with the front wheel?”

Ann, startled, calmed the horse and got down to inspect the wheel.

It seemed to have broken.

As she untied the leather strap connecting the horse to the wagon, Ann said.

“Sprout, could I ask you to look after the young master and the young lady? I’ll go fetch Brussel.”

After I revealed to Rory that he was actually the only son of the Valliet Ducal family and shared this with Ann and Sprout, the two began addressing Rory as “young master.”

Rory wanted everyone to continue calling him by his name, as before, so nothing much had changed. However, Ann, as my nanny, couldn’t bring herself to address a noble so informally and insisted on calling him “young master,” while Sprout used the title just to tease Rory.

“Okay. Be safe.”

Sprout gave a lazy nod and plopped down beside the wagon while Ann carefully mounted the horse.

She had only recently learned how to ride from Brussel, so she was still inexperienced.

Driving a wagon wasn’t too difficult, but riding a horse was an entirely different matter.

I watched Ann ride off with concern.

She had likely chosen to go herself instead of sending Sprout because she thought it would be safer for Sprout to stay with us in case a bear or some other danger appeared.

“……”

Rory and I crouched beside the wagon as well.

The thick scent of grass, the sound of birds, and the lush green scenery of the forest.

The peaceful atmosphere somehow lulled me into a daze.

“By the way, Rory. Are you sure you don’t remember anything?”

“Not at all. I don’t remember anything.”

According to the original story, Rory should have regained all his memories by the age of eight.

Yet, he still hadn’t recovered even a fragment of them.

No matter how many times I asked, or even when I went to great lengths to find and show him a portrait of the Duke and Duchess, Rory’s answer remained the same.

Was this a side effect of me twisting the story?

“Think carefully. You need to regain your memories if you want to return to the Ducal family.”

Rory stared at me silently without responding.

He hesitated, opening and closing his lips, before lowering his head with a sullen expression.

“Mel… Did I do something to bother you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why do you keep trying to send me away?”

Fear flickered in his downward gaze as he looked up at me.

“Well… because the Ducal family is your home. I’m only trying to help you return there.”

It’s just the natural thing to do…

So why do I feel so guilty about it?

Rory should be fine without me now.

He’s grown into a boy who can take care of himself, and it would be better for him to return early so he can begin his education as an heir.

“I don’t remember. Nothing at all.”

Though his words were firm, his voice lacked strength.

A shadow fell over his lovely eyes.