In the little over two months they had spent together, Daisy had given Ruik far more of her heart than she had realized. Before she knew it, tears she hadn’t even sensed coming welled up in her eyes.

‘Ruik, please just come back safe.’

Daisy trudged home on weary feet and stopped short in front of her door.

She was certain she had locked the door and turned off the lights when she left to search for Ruik after work, yet light flickered in the window.

In that instant, only one thought came to her.

‘Could Ruik have come back?’

No matter how human-like Ruik was for a dog, its anatomy made it physically impossible to light a fire, but Daisy was too desperate to think straight, and she ran to the door in a frantic rush.

Bang!

“Ru…!”

“Daisy! Where have you been?”

It was not Ruik. It was Malcolm Dylan.

Without noticing the look on Daisy’s face or the way the blood drained out of her, Malcolm strode toward her.

“What have you been doing out at this hour? Hardly proper behavior for a woman. You’re not out meeting some man, are you?”

“……”

“I’m joking. I know perfectly well our Daisy would never do something like that. A woman like Daisy not knowing how to play around with men is one of her good points, after all. Don’t you think so?”

Then he glanced over at the shoulder bag she was carrying and sneered.

“Still looking for that mutt?”

“……”

“Why bother looking for a dog that left on its own? Good riddance. I was going to chase it out anyway, and it saved me the trouble by leaving on its own. I suppose whether it’s a person or a dog, some creatures do have the sense to read the room. Don’t you think? You too, Daisy. What’s a woman who needs to have children doing making such a fuss over some furry animal? Fur is terrible for children, you know.”

Daisy stared at him with hollow eyes as he rattled on with one deranged statement after another, now addressing her with casual informality.

Her parched, cracked lips moved.

“Get out of my house.”

“Are you talking to me?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I never!”

Malcolm raised his voice at the still-expressionless Daisy, the way one might shout at a child.

“I took time out of my day to come check on you for going out every night, and this is the attitude I get! How do you expect to be a wife anyone loves? A woman should be proper and agreeable and say yes to whatever her man says…”

“Malcolm Dylan.”

Daisy called his name in a calm, even voice.

The truth was, Daisy wasn’t particularly angry at Malcolm’s string of nonsense. This Malcolm was such a shameless and repulsive pest that she couldn’t even work up the energy to be angry at him. Her thinking was clear and cold: get rid of him quickly and give her exhausted body and mind some rest.

“I’ll take your advice about my conduct to heart. So please leave.”

“Why do you keep telling me to leave, talking back to your future husband like that, huh? I’m only putting up with this because it’s you, otherwise I’d…”

“I don’t know who that poor Daisy is who’s supposed to become your wife, but she has nothing to do with me, so stop barking and get out.”

Malcolm’s expression hardened.

It was shocking enough just to hear the word “barking” come out of the mouth of a Daisy who always smiled warmly at everyone and seemed gentle and soft-hearted.

And it didn’t stop there. Daisy looked at him with a pitying, exhausted gaze and let out a sigh.

“That thing you did before, was that a proposal? Anyway, I’ll give you my answer now, even if it’s a bit late. I’d sooner jump into the Harn River than marry you. Being a water ghost in the Harn River seems a little better than being your wife.”

“What, you…!”

“I said get out. Do I need to call the constables before you understand?”

Malcolm glared at Daisy, seething with fury.

He huffed and looked ready to lunge at her at any moment, but he barely managed to rein in his temper and smiled in a way that turned the stomach. That unpleasant composure seemed to pass for something like male pride in Malcolm’s mind.

“Looks like that mutt gave you fleas in the brain, Daisy. I’ll be generous and overlook it, so get some rest tonight.”

Daisy didn’t bother telling him it wasn’t just tonight, it was forever. She couldn’t bring herself to believe Malcolm had the intelligence to understand that anyway.

Malcolm shoved past her roughly, his shoulder knocking against hers as he left. Daisy turned to look after him with distaste, and soon understood why he had left without more of a fight.

The lantern light of a night watchman making his rounds flickered past the window outside.

‘I need to report this to the constables tomorrow.’

Daisy closed the door and bolted it from the inside. She locked the windows firmly from inside as well, drew the curtains, secured the back door, and climbed the stairs to the second floor on tired feet.

She was exhausted, worn down, a pest had come crawling around, and Ruik was still gone.

*   *   *

“An accident?”

The next day, Daisy visited the constabulary early in the morning to file a report against Malcolm, and in the evening a constable knight came by with strange news.

“Yes, apparently he was hospitalized last night after suddenly sustaining serious injuries, including fractures to both shins. You were the last person to see him, Miss Daisy, so I wanted to ask if you might have any idea what happened.”

“I don’t know anything beyond what I already reported. He trespassed in my home, and I talked him into leaving. That’s all.”

Daisy replied with an air of irritation, as though she couldn’t understand why Malcolm was dragging her into more trouble when she was the one who had been wronged. The constable knight shook his head.

“I don’t think you had anything to do with it. This is just routine questioning, so please don’t take offense. The two of you are neighbors. Was there any regular contact between you?”

“He acted familiar with me on his own. He even confessed his feelings to me in the street. I didn’t accept.”

The knight jotted down her statement in his notebook and asked offhandedly, “Is there anyone who might have retaliated against him on your behalf?”

“No, not at all. I don’t have anyone in this neighborhood close enough to do something like that.”

“Hmm… Understood. I’ll let you know when the investigation turns up something.”

“Of course. Oh, and about the other matter I mentioned before…”

The constable knight, who had been turning to leave, turned back and looked at Daisy with a sympathetic expression.

“No reports of any large dog-like animal sightings in the area have come in.”

“…I see.”

“Keep your chin up. You’ll find it soon.”

The constable knight offered the standard parting words and left promptly. It seemed he really had come only for routine questioning.

A sigh escaped Daisy’s lips.

Half of it was disappointment at still finding no trace of Ruik, and half was relief that Malcolm would not be able to bother her for at least a month or two.

And two uneventful weeks flew by in a flash.

During that time, Daisy worked at the flower shop, and after closing, went out to put up flyers looking for Ruik. Still no word came about Ruik, and the only new thing she had learned in the meantime was a rumor she couldn’t care less about, that Malcolm had apparently done something to his back as well.

Two weeks after the night she had her confrontation with Malcolm, Daisy dragged her tired body home once again.

The physical exhaustion was one thing, but the exhaustion in her heart was harder to bear. So many people lived in the capital, and not a single one of them had seen that enormous dog.

Lost in thoughts of Ruik on her way home, she noticed a large figure standing in front of her house that evening.

‘What, is that Dylan again?’

Even with her gentle nature, Daisy felt a surge of irritation rise up in her.

But looking more carefully, she could tell it was not him.

The figure was far taller and more solidly built than Malcolm, with a fluid, graceful silhouette. He was standing outside, not inside, and stood beneath the eaves where she could only make him out in shadow, yet even so the air about him was entirely different from Malcolm’s.

‘Then again, shin bones don’t mend in two weeks. But who is this… a servant from some household?’

“Who’s there? The shop is closed for the day.”

Daisy called out to the figure as she walked carefully toward her house, ready to call for a constable on patrol if it came to that.

But the figure turned its head toward her and, without a word, walked straight toward her with long, unhesitating strides.

That bold, direct approach sent a jolt of fear through Daisy and she was about to step back.

“Daisy.”

The owner of that figure called her name in a deep, low voice.

He stepped into the light of the streetlamp in front of the flower shop, and Daisy froze with a sharp intake of breath.

It was because the face now revealed before her was strikingly, almost overwhelmingly handsome.

He stood well over 190 centimeters tall, and his short black hair carried a soft sheen. Beneath sharp, dark brows, his amber-gold eyes shone with a look of fierce longing, and the lashes that cast their shadow over them were long and dense. His nose was straighter than the marble statue of a god she had once seen at a museum.