I jumped up when I looked in the mirror. 

 “There’s a mark left!” 

 The day Cedric finds out about this, I’ll be the only one to suffer. Why? Because Zeno will leave the Grand Duke’s residence with Isabelle today. 

 “You! You did this on purpose! You knew you’d be gone and I’d be the only one left here!” 

 “Kying, king.” (Of course there’s a mark when you get bitten. Are you stupid, Master?) 

 The nerve of that mouth. 

 I grabbed Zeno’s muzzle while breathing heavily. For a while, I thought about either wearing a scarf to hide the mark or asking Serina if that didn’t work. 

 ‘Though embarrassing, that would be the cleanest solution.’ 

 It was ridiculous trying to explain what was clearly a bite mark. 

 I could say I got bitten because I’m friendly with animals, but the location! The location of the bite! It looked suspicious whether viewed from far away or up close. 

 “Wooooo.” (You said there’s no time.) 

 Zeno howled while keeping his distance from me. He was probably scared of having more fur pulled out. I clenched and unclenched my fist before roughly covering my neck with my hair. 

 “……Woof.” (It’s visible.) 

 “Can’t help it. Do you want to get your neck bitten by the Grand Duke before you even leave the residence?” 

 “Grrrrrr.” (I’m not a beast, but that guy might actually bite my neck…… yeah, he might.) 

 Zeno quickly agreed. I heaved a deep sigh and firmly secured the hair covering my neck. 

 “Just follow me quickly. We need to go to Isabelle.” 

 “……Kying.” (That guy won’t be there?) 

 “If you don’t want to run into him, move quickly.” 

 I was afraid of running into Cedric too. I let my hair down since wearing it up would make it more noticeable, but kept my neck well hidden. 

 “Is Isabelle inside?” 

 “Yes, she’s inside.” 

 Isabelle stayed only in her room. Though I didn’t know why, she seemed anxious inside. 

 When I carefully opened the door and entered, golden eyes turned toward me. The golden glow visible in the darkness without any lights looked like the eyes of a beast. 

 Moonlight poured in behind her as she stood by the window. Her golden hair beautifully reflected the light. And that wasn’t all. 

 Her expressionless face and the way she had her hand on the window made her look like a tragic heroine. 

 “……What.” 

 However, those golden eyes twisted upon discovering me. 

 “Father has moved. It seems he sent knights to the North along with the divine beast.” 

 “……What?” 

 Isabelle approached me, perhaps growing anxious at the mention of her father coming. 

 “You promised. Are you planning to send me to father? Or are you telling me to get lost?” 

 “Watch your language. You and Zeno need to go somewhere.” 

 “Where?” 

 I couldn’t tell her the location. The moment I said ‘That mansion where I spent my wedding night,’ Isabelle would get angry and refuse to go. 

 “There’s no time for this.” 

 I grabbed Isabelle’s hand and pulled. She frowned and slapped my hand away. 

 “Ouch!” 

 “Are you going to let yourself get caught like this?” 

 “Who said anything about getting caught?” 

 “No time to argue. We need to leave right now.” 

 I brushed back my hair and looked at Isabelle. Clear liquid pooled in her golden eyes as her shoulders heaved. 

 “From your rushed words to trying to hand me over to father! You thought I was useless now that you got the signature, didn’t you!” 

 “What are you talking about? We’re still far from settling the debt.” 

 I sighed watching tears roll down Isabelle’s cheeks. 

 ‘Zeno, this won’t do. We’ll be late at this rate.’ 

 “Wooooo.” (Ah, she won’t stay still.) 

 I spoke to Zeno in my mind. I had no choice since talking out loud might reveal my ability. 

 “What’s with that wolf! Why is it coming closer?” 

 Isabelle stumbled backward at the sight of Zeno. Remembering Cedric’s story, I understood why she was terrified. 

 ‘She must know he’s going to carry her on his back.’ 

 Isabelle hurriedly showed her palms to Zeno while speaking. 

 “Stop! Tell him to stop coming closer! Quickly!” 

 She spoke to me urgently. Though she kept her eyes fixed on Zeno, those words must have been meant for me. 

 “If you come along quietly, I won’t have Zeno carry you.” 

 “You should at least tell me where we’re going! You could be sending me to father like this!” 

 “We’re going to Nadin village.” 

 “……Nadin village?” 

 Isabelle’s expression twisted even more than before. However, there was no time to waste, so I gently pushed Zeno’s behind. 

 ‘Now.’ 

 In an instant, Zeno jumped up and grabbed Isabelle’s clothes with his mouth. As she bent forward and stumbled, he quickly positioned his back under her. 

 “Kyaaa!” 

 “Isabelle, hold on tight.” 

 Screaming, Isabelle hastily grabbed Zeno’s fur. The door opened and Zeno dashed toward the back door of the Grand Duke’s residence with Isabelle on his back. 

 “Kyaaaaaa! Claiiiiire! I’ll really curse you!” 

 I waved at Isabelle. 

 Though her trembling voice filled the Grand Duke’s residence, silence soon took its place. 

 ❖ ❖ ❖ 

 “Your Highness! They say the imperial family has arrived at Codran Forest.” 

 “Just proceed as planned.” 

 Cedric responded indifferently to Vahalla’s words. There was nothing to be surprised about since he knew they would come. 

 As long as they didn’t make mistakes, everything would go smoothly with the preparations they had made. 

 “More importantly, everyone understood what I said, right?” 

 “Yes, there won’t be any problems.” 

 Now that they knew about the Emperor’s ability, they couldn’t think about Claire and the Princess. Since they couldn’t erase their memories, they had to think about other things to avoid detection. 

 Everyone had trained for this, so they should handle it well. 

 As Claire had said, the Emperor headed straight for Codran Forest. 

 ‘The tree has been moved to the garden, so there shouldn’t be any issues.’ 

 Since Serina had agreed to protect the tree, they wouldn’t be discovered even if knights and divine beasts came. 

 The wall built with magic stones would confuse the power emanating from the holy power tree. 

 “Don’t worry. We’ve trained every day.” 

 “What about the Princess?” 

 “I hear she just escaped.” 

 They couldn’t let their guard down since they didn’t know what kind of issue the Emperor might raise. Though he only sent knights and a divine beast, sending his precious divine beast meant he was that desperate. 

 ‘Her ability to control the weather is special, so he must be concerned.’ 

 Cedric was more worried about Claire. 

 He could imagine what they were saying about her in the capital, since she had unintentionally gotten caught between the Emperor and Isabelle. 

 “I’m worried about Claire’s reputation in the capital. What do you think?” 

 She would eventually have to attend social gatherings in the capital whether she wanted to or not. He was used to people’s gossip from a young age, but she might get hurt. 

 “Your Highness, please think about it. Though you are my lord…… it’s true that the rumors aren’t good. I think it’s inevitable that the Grand Duchess by Your Highness’s side is affected by that.” 

 “……Are you openly criticizing me right now?” 

 Vahalla jumped up and waved his hands. 

 “I’m just stating facts. You know how many bad rumors the Emperor has spread about Your Highness.” 

 At his words, Cedric called for Sir Aiden. Aiden would know about the capital’s situation from what he heard from Kaven. 

 Kaven often sugar-coated things, so he wasn’t objective. Aiden should be trustworthy enough. 

 “Aiden Pavel, answering Your Highness’s summons.” 

 Sir Aiden, suddenly called, stood before Cedric with a very disciplined posture. 

 “Sir Aiden. In your view, do you think Claire’s reputation is because of me?” 

 Aiden made a troubled expression at the sudden question. 

 “This is more important than the Emperor, so speak quickly.” 

 “……I think it arose because of His Majesty the Emperor.” 

 “Seems you’ve heard something new.” 

 “No.” 

 Cedric squinted his eyes while staring at Aiden. 

 “Speak honestly.” 

 “I hear rumors are circulating that she suddenly came between Princess Isabelle and the Grand Duke.” 

 “Who would spread such nonsense…… The Emperor?” 

 “The Emperor is preoccupied with the missing Princess and divine beast right now.” 

 Then who on earth was spreading such ridiculous rumors? 

 As Cedric’s face grew increasingly twisted, Aiden carefully added. 

 “I heard it started in social circles.” 

 “……It seems there’s no need for the Grand Duchess to go to a place that spreads such useless talk after all.” 

 “I think so too.” 

 Aiden immediately agreed with Cedric’s words. However, Vahalla seemed to think differently as he kept his mouth shut, avoided the topic, and looked at the clock. 

 “Your Highness! I think you should start preparing now.” 

 As guests had arrived, it was proper for the host to welcome them. So he had prepared something interesting. 

 “I hope they’ll like it.” 

 Cedric raised the corners of his mouth in apparent enjoyment.