8. A New Relationship (1)

The Founding Festival ended.

Whether it was short or long, for Saena, it felt strangely eventful. Even though she only attended the first and last banquets.

‘I’m glad it’s over.’

Saena left the townhouse immediately the day after the final banquet.

As soon as she entered her room in Delvon, Saena threw herself onto the bed.

Thump.

“Yelp!”

Saena screamed in response to something on the bed making a strange noise while fluttering about.

“Ah!”

As she raised her startled body to look, a small puppy was shaking itself while getting up on her bed.

“Ah, it’s you. Were you on the bed?”

It was the puppy she had brought from the garden.

Saena carefully checked if she had landed on the animal, but fortunately, it seemed she hadn’t.

‘The bed is quite high, how did it get up here? Did someone put it up?’

The creature peeked its head out and approached her feet. Finding its appearance cute, Saena reached out to pick it up.

But suddenly, the creature raised its cotton-like front paw and swatted her hand. Though it didn’t hurt, it was enough to stop her movement.

“Oh, what’s wrong?”

The creature kept one cotton-like paw raised while starting to sniff around. Whether puppies can furrow their brows or not, she wasn’t sure, but if one had to describe its current expression, it would be a deeply furrowed brow.

“Grr……”

Then it quickly circled around her, sniffing everywhere. The more it sniffed, the more agitated it seemed to become.

Soon returning to face Saena, the creature sniffed, thumped its tail on the floor, sniffed again, and thumped its tail once more.

“……”

Anyone could tell it meant ‘The smell coming from you is very unpleasant.’

‘Did I pick up some smell while riding in the carriage?’

Saena lifted her arm and carefully sniffed.

Her nose detected nothing unusual. Just the scent of the perfume oil she had applied to her hair after bathing the night before, and the fragrance from the sachet that had been hung with her dress to infuse it with scent.

But since animals typically have better sense of smell, perhaps there was some odor beyond her ability to detect.

Saena carefully got up while watching the creature’s reaction.

‘Even though it was a short outing… Yes, I should wash…’

Though she never expected to bathe because of an animal’s reaction, if she stayed like this, she would have to endure the creature’s tail-thumping attacks. She called a maid to help her undress and finished bathing. After thoroughly drying her hair, two hours had passed.

Just then, as it was dinner time, a servant came to call her, so she dressed simply and headed to the dining room. Her father was scheduled to stay at the townhouse until today. She had dinner with Sage.

When she returned to her room, the creature was still awake. It was lying with its chin on the bed, and upon hearing the door, its ears perked up as it rose.

“I washed. Is it better now?”

As she approached, the creature seemed about to get up and sniff again, so she quickly spoke first.

Though she wasn’t sure why an animal’s expressions could be read in so many ways, the creature sniffed a few times with an expression that said ‘You still smell,’ then flopped back down with a look that seemed to say ‘Well, I’ll let it slide this time.’

‘It feels like living under a strict mother-in-law.’

As she pulled back the covers and got into bed, the creature avoided where she disturbed the bed before rolling back closer.

When she laid on her side with her head on the pillow, the creature stood in front of her face and poked her forehead twice with its nose tip. Then it curled up right next to her and lay down again.

Saena’s eyes widened.

‘Good night. Tap tap.’

‘Good night to you too. Tap tap.’

The creature’s actions brought back a sudden memory to Saena.

Gently tapping each other’s foreheads with fingertips before sleep — that was the goodnight greeting shared only between Yuri and Saena.

Like true twins, they had created and used many secret signals known only to themselves. Even when Sage occasionally grumbled in complaint, they wouldn’t tell him.

But this creature…

“Ah…”

Saena suddenly felt overwhelmed again and hugged the creature. She held the small, squirming being tightly.

If she didn’t, she felt she might cry right then.

“Yuri… Why are you…”

…not here? Where has your existence gone?

Trying to ignore her chilling heart again, Saena focused on the warmth in her arms. Having the creature made things feel a bit better. Or perhaps it was because it had given her a goodnight greeting just like Yuri used to.

Holding the now-calm creature tightly in her arms, Saena slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

“Achoo!”

She woke up to a tickling sensation in her nose.

Saena blinked several times as she awoke to her own sneeze.

Her drowsy eyes were unfocused. But she could at least tell something was moving back and forth in front of her.

“Ah-choo…!”

Saena covered her mouth with her palm as another sneeze threatened to emerge. Her nose felt even more ticklish, perhaps because the sneeze hadn’t fully released.

It turned out to be caused by tail fur. Whether it was trying to wake her up, or by accident, or perhaps out of mischief, the tip of the tail that kept thumping against the surface kept brushing near her nostrils.

“Why are you like this first thing in the morning…”

Saena muttered without enthusiasm, having been forcibly awakened when she wanted to sleep more. She slowly stretched.

“Mmhmm.”

As she stretched, watching the morning sunlight rippling through the window, she naturally began to wonder what to do today.

When she had been obsessed with the Arlesian language before, each day felt too short, but now that she had resolved to stop studying and live diligently, she felt like there was nothing to do.

‘What do other noble ladies do with their time every day…?’

Such curiosity naturally arose.

Having rarely engaged in social activities, she could say this because she had no idea how time-consuming it could be when done properly.

The only social activities she had done were those forced upon her after marriage, and naturally, she wasn’t good at them. Just attending the places she had to go was exhausting enough. It was partly because there were too many household chores to handle within the family.

“Being able to worry about such things itself is something to be grateful for.”

Because she no longer had anything to do with that chaotic household.

Saena pulled the bell cord beside the bed once and opened the bedroom door. Having heard the bell, maids would soon come up to prepare for her morning wash.

Saena muttered as she walked toward the reception room. Though it couldn’t answer, she found herself talking to the creatures like she was speaking to herself, feeling it padding along behind her.

“Oh, wait. How did you get down from the bed?”

There definitely hadn’t been any sound, yet somehow the creature was on the floor.

If it were a cat, she would understand… but isn’t this a dog?

Was the jumping ability of canine creatures originally this good? She didn’t think so.

“Besides… haven’t you gotten bigger?”

She felt it had noticeably grown since she saw it before going to bed last night. Could it suddenly grow this much in just one day?

Finding it too strange, Saena bent down and picked up the creature. She tried to gauge its weight in her hands. But she couldn’t really tell by weight alone. It remained light regardless.

The creature just tilted its head and executed ‘I don’t know’ mode.

Saena looked at the creature with a truly puzzled expression and then surveyed the surroundings. In the corner were what appeared to be its food and water bowls. Looking into the bowls, they were clean. Like they were completely emptied.

“…Did you eat all of this?”

Swish.

The creature silently swayed its tail languidly. It seemed to understand words sometimes but not others, and appeared to be quite moody. Just like someone…