But as she stood there staring blankly at the mirror, water dripped from her face.

Knock knock.

“The coffee’s getting cold. Want me to bring it to you?”

The voice from outside the bathroom door made it unmistakably clear that none of this was a dream. Impossibly so.

“……”

“Daisy? Are you asleep in there?”

“N, no. I’ll come out and drink it. No, eat. Breakfast.”

Daisy fumbled over her words in a flustered rush.

Throughout the entire breakfast she shared alone with a man she had never seen before yet felt deeply familiar with, Daisy was so tense that she dropped the butter knife three times and knocked over her coffee once.

Anyone might reasonably get annoyed watching someone cause that much chaos in front of a meal they had taken care to prepare, but Ruik never lost his temper once, replacing the butter knife each time and wiping up the coffee with a cloth.

Watching someone who seemed so entirely unsuited to such things handle the household chores with such ease only made it harder for Daisy to adjust.

“If it’s too awkward, should we go back to the way things were?”

Ruik asked as he poured Daisy a fresh cup of coffee.

“The way things were?”

“Me eating out of a dog bowl on the floor. If familiar is more comfortable for you.”

“What!”

Daisy cried out in disbelief, and Ruik gave a small laugh and lightly tapped her forehead with his index finger.

“Don’t be nervous. I understand this isn’t what you’re used to.”

“…Sorry.”

Daisy apologized, feeling she had made it too obvious with him sitting right there. Even if it couldn’t be helped, given that something beyond all common sense had just happened.

“Still, I’d appreciate it if you told me before coming inside.”

“You never said that once when I was your dog.”

Ruik grumbled playfully, his eyes crinkling with amusement.

On his wrist, something glinted that she hadn’t noticed the night before.

It was the collar she had given to Ruik. He had wrapped it around his arm several times and wore it like a bracelet.

“That…”

“Ah.”

Ruik held up his hand.

“I couldn’t take the toy with me, but I always kept this on. It’s proof of family, something you gave me.”

“What are you saying…”

“Is it not?”

It was true, but she couldn’t help the heat that rose to her face when the word family came out of the mouth of that impossibly handsome man. Daisy changed the subject.

“More importantly, why did you disappear? Ruik.”

Ruik went quiet. Watching him weigh his words carefully, Daisy narrowed her eyes.

“Tell me the truth.”

“The truth. All right. It was hard to deal with pests in dog form.”

“What do you mean?”

“Malcolm Dylan, was it?”

When that deeply unpleasant man’s name came out of Ruik’s mouth in that pleasant low voice, Daisy felt confused.

“What does he have to do with it?”

“Do you remember the last thing you said when you still thought I was a dog? You told me you had received a marriage proposal from that man. My Daisy. Did you think I could just sit with that?”

Daisy was at a loss for words.

Ruik’s amber-gold eyes flashed with a deep and fierce intensity of desire.

“You’re kind even to a pest like that, but I had to hold myself back from wanting to k*ll him on the spot. But if I had done that in wolf form, it would have caused trouble for you, so I had to leave. But then… once I was back, there was too much to take care of. I was a little late.”

Ruik said it all matter-of-factly.

His tone left Daisy feeling a little hurt. But she couldn’t quite grasp why she felt hurt, so she couldn’t bring herself to tell him.

*   *   *

“Excuse me, is the shop owner in… oh my.”

The Pearson household maid stepped into the flower shop and startled at the sight of Ruik.

Ruik looked at her and smiled pleasantly.

“Welcome. Are you here to place a flower order?”

“Yes, but who are you? I hadn’t heard the shop had changed hands…”

“I’m Daisy’s family.”

And Ruik closed one eye in a slow wink.

“She hasn’t given me permission yet, so please keep it a secret.”

“Oh my goodness.”

The maid covered her mouth with one hand. Her eyes lit up at this rare piece of gossip.

This dangerously beautiful man was attached to that utterly girlish, slender flower shop owner and courting her?

Daisy, who had been in the back garden taking in the laundry, saw the scene, set down her laundry basket, and hurried over.

“I’m sorry, I was just doing some housework… Ruik, come get me when a customer arrives.”

“I can take the order.”

“Ruik? That’s the same name as the dog you had…”

Daisy caught herself at the maid’s words, but Ruik stepped in smoothly and quickly.

“Strange, isn’t it? I was surprised myself when I heard about the dog Daisy kept. Turned out it had the same name as me.”

“Your name is Ruik too, sir?”

“In my case it’s a nickname.”

“Is that so. What a funny coincidence.”

The maid accepted the explanation, but Daisy realized then for the first time that Ruik must have a name given to him by his parents, a human name.

‘Am I an idiot? How did I not think of that.’

“So are you living here together? You and this gentleman, with the shop owner?”

“What? That’s…”

“If Daisy will have me.”

Ruik deflected smoothly.

On her way out, the maid leaned in and whispered to Daisy as she loaded the bouquet onto the handcart she had brought.

“He’s in a completely different league from that pest next door. Hold on tight.”

“Oh goodness, what are you saying?”

“He looks absolutely smitten. Good luck.”

Daisy returned inside after receiving that generously meddlesome encouragement, and found Ruik tidying up the worktable where she arranged flowers.

He had been wearing a relaxed, neutral expression as he worked, but the moment he sensed Daisy coming in, he looked up and smiled warmly. The way smiling at Daisy came to him as naturally as breathing.

Ruik had always been that way. Whenever he saw Daisy, he naturally followed. It had always seemed like instinct.

“Hey. What’s your name? Your human name.”

Even while keeping her guard up about what might come of getting more entangled with this man, Daisy asked anyway.

“Rudelius Deric.”

Ruik answered without hesitation.

“I like the name you gave me better, so call me what you always have.”

“Okay. …But aren’t you busy?”

“Hmm? I still have a little time before I need to start on lunch.”

“No, not with things here. Your actual work. What you were doing before.”

And Daisy drew a short breath and let it all out at once.

“Until just a moment ago I barely knew your name. And I don’t know what kind of person you are. I don’t know if you have family, I don’t know who your friends are, I don’t know what books you like or what songs you sing well. I don’t know anything.”

“I’ll tell you everything, if you want to know.”

Ruik finished clearing the worktable and walked toward Daisy.

“If you don’t want to know, I’ll make sure you never have to. But in return, can you grant me one request?”

“A request? What is it…?”

Ruik bent down and brought his lips close to Daisy’s ear.

His breath was warm.

“Don’t turn me away.”

A hot shiver ran up the back of Daisy’s neck. Not from discomfort or fear, but from a premonition that curled her toes.

The kind that quickened her heartbeat and straightened her spine and made her swallow without meaning to.

Ruik pulled back from her ear and looked at her quietly, the way someone might look at something they intend to take in down to the very last thread, the very last drop.

Daisy felt that burning gaze on her. She could not be at ease under that look of longing that swept over her from head to toe.

But even thinking that, Daisy could not bring herself to send Ruik away.

Because Daisy herself did not want to.

*   *   *

‘…Still, isn’t this a bit much?’

Daisy sat up in bed with a swirl of emotions on her face and looked down at the floor beside it.

Ruik lay there covered with a blanket.

Unlike when he was in wolf form, he had a mat laid out beneath him and a pillow under his head, but it had to be quite uncomfortable.

‘No, that’s not the point.’

“Ruik?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you really going to sleep there?”

“There’s only one room, and I don’t want to sleep in the hallway. But I can’t take your bed either. And I told you, didn’t I? I won’t lay a finger on you unless you want me to.”

As Ruik said, the only space in Daisy’s house fit for a person to sleep was her room on the second floor. The shop was packed wall to wall with pots and flowers, and she could hardly banish him to the bathroom or the kitchen. But more than that.

“Can’t you just go sleep somewhere else?”

“…That’s a bit harsh. Do you really want to chase me away that badly, Daisy?”

“Who’s the one being harsh here?”

Daisy grumbled, but she didn’t push him to leave beyond that. Since this man really was Ruik and Daisy had accepted that somewhere deep down, she had no fear of him doing her any harm.

But she could not let her guard down. Because not all of the problem lay with Ruik.