Chapter 2

“Trying to make up excuses to get out of this situation, but none of it makes sense….”

“He’s a duck beastman. I only found out this morning, too.”

“…….”

“He suddenly transformed into a human, so he was undressed….”

The family members looked back and forth between Letina and Kiaros.

“…Prove it.”

Illen said.

“Show us you can become a duck.”

Kiaros confirmed with a frozen expression.

“Do you really need to see it?”

“Yes! We need to see it.”

“Really?”

“If we don’t see it, we can’t believe it.”

The Earl and Countess nodded as well.

“…Alright.”

With even the Earl couple urging him, there was no other choice. Kiaros stood up from the sofa.

The next moment.

Puff.

Where Kiaros had been, he vanished, and in his place appeared a round duck boasting snowy white feathers.

“This, this can’t be….”

Quack.

“To think that fierce look from before and now a duck—it just doesn’t fit…!”

The family muttered in a daze.

Kiaros Gatiel was large and looked a bit fierce. The gap between him and this small, cute duck was striking.

“They say there’s no connection between a human’s appearance and their animal form.”

Of course, Letina herself was confused as she explained.

Quaaack.

Liri, that is, duck Kiaros, flew up and landed on the sofa, crying out as he looked at Letina.

“Ah.”

Letina always understood what Liri wanted to do. She used to feel proud of that, but now the feeling was a bit complicated.

“…He needs to get dressed, so just a moment.”

Letina picked up the clothes that had fallen on the floor.

“Come here.”

Liri waddled after Letina. The scene of the duck following Letina was familiar, but now the people of the Feymun mansion could only look on with strange eyes.

“Get dressed and come out.”

Letina placed the clothes in the adjacent room and closed the door after Liri went in.

A short while later, Kiaros Gatiel came out, dressed neatly in his human form just as before.

“But I think you’ll need to fix your hair again.”

They’d said he was undressed because he’d transformed into a duck, and he’d shown his duck form.

But showing his messy hair wouldn’t help to clear up all misunderstandings.

‘It feels kind of decadent….’

Kiaros looked in the mirror and brushed his hair neatly.

“How about now?”

“Hmm…. Bow your head.”

He bent over toward Letina. Letina tidied up a stray hair that was sticking out. Kiaros flinched but obediently let her fix his hair.

“There.”

“…….”

“Let’s go.”

Thus, Letina and Kiaros returned to the drawing room.

Zap.

Hostile gazes were still waiting for Kiaros. Letina’s family, who had been in shock after learning he was a beastman, were now ready to fire questions again as he finished tidying up.

“So, Kiaros Gatiel. You were pretending to be an animal, sticking close to my sister, even though you’re a beastman? Deceiving all of us?”

Illen again was the first to press Kiaros.

“Sly bastard. Do you know how worried Letina was every time you disappeared for days?”

Behind the fuming Illen, the Earl and Countess looked dissatisfied.

“And you, I remember you came to Letina’s room almost every day. You even slept together.”

“Even if today you just happened to turn human, who knows what you’ve done all this time. Especially while Letina was asleep…. Ah, just imagining it….”

All the family members shuddered and held their heads.

“What are you worried about? He hates me.”

Letina was so dumbfounded her mouth hung open.

She had already explained how bad her relationship with Kiaros Gatiel had been at the academy!

“Then why didn’t you reveal your true identity and just stayed by her side?”

“I tried to tell her, but as you know, Letina Feymun likes me so much and wouldn’t let go, so I couldn’t find the right timing. I apologize for that.”

Kiaros, who had been listening quietly to the Earldom’s people, answered.

“Ha! You expect us to believe that.”

Illen glared at Kiaros even more menacingly, as if he might devour him any moment.

“I truly did nothing to Letina Feymun. But….”

Kiaros took a deep breath and spoke.

“Alright, let’s get married. Now that things have come to this, we should get married.”

“W-what?”

Letina couldn’t hide her bewilderment at the sudden statement.

‘Why is he suddenly saying this?’

The one who had been clearing up misunderstandings with her suddenly made a bombshell declaration!

“Are you crazy?”

“You have to take responsibility for me.”

Kiaros turned to Letina.

“What?”

“You know I’m a duck beastman now.”

“So what?”

“I always hid the fact that I’m a duck beastman because I was embarrassed. I only planned to reveal my true identity to the person I would marry.”  

“……”  

“But now you’ve found out.”

“Ah, you didn’t say that earlier!”

“I was too flustered to say it before.”

Kiaros continued.

“When my identity was exposed, I wanted to just let it go, but you kept asking if I was Liri, so I had to reveal it.”

“No, if you hadn’t transformed from Liri to a human, none of this would’ve happened! And I didn’t really get a proper explanation—why did you suddenly turn into a human now….”

“You broke my resolve, so aren’t you going to take responsibility?”

Letina was quite flustered. It even seemed as if Kiaros’s eyes were glistening with moisture.

“H-ha, but I hate you, and you hate me too.”

“It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you found out I’m a duck beastman. And just now, I showed my duck form to all your family.”

Kiaros pointed at the Feymun mansion people sitting opposite.

“They insisted on seeing it when I asked again.”

Letina’s family, who had just been pressing Kiaros, hesitated.

“You know all my secrets now, so you’re not going to just keep quiet, right?”

“I won’t tell anyone!”

“How am I supposed to trust that?”

Kiaros replied coldly and turned to Letina’s family.

“I can’t marry anyone else now. So, Letina Feymun has to take responsibility for me.”

“…….”

“You’re all right with that, aren’t you? After all, you were just telling me to take responsibility a moment ago.”

***

“Haaaaa….”

A long sigh escaped Letina’s lips, one after another.

After the conversation ended, Kiaros returned to the Gatiel family.

The family, who had told her to get married, now believed nothing had happened since Kiaros demanded she take responsibility, and told Letina there was no need to listen to him at all.

‘He said he’d only show his secret to the person he’d marry, but now he’s whining that he can’t get married anymore.’