CH 79

“Did you find Kim?”

Kendrick asked sharply. Degon answered yes and nodded briefly.

“He is currently being transported here.”

“Report where you found it.”

“He hid in a small village near wolf territory and bird territory. It seems like he didn’t intend to stay long because he only paid for the room for two days.”

“He must have tried to leaving soon.”

Unless Kendrick is an idiot, he can’t not notice that Akim is the one who put Giles pollen on the food.

Kendrick sighed.

Now it was his turn to ask who had made Akim do this. 

‘Well, there’s no need to ask.’

On the day of the incident, two falcons from Raniero’s order of knights, the Peregrine Falcon Knights, were caught near Yeckhart’s second mansion. 

In addition, Raniero has wanted Linsy back for a long time, so if he asks, of course, it will be Raniero.

The question was, where did Raniero get the Giles pollen?

The Giles flower was a flower that became extinct along with it when the land of Tamar was cursed a long time ago.

Because Giles flowers could only grow in the soil of Tamar’s land.

But. 

The fact that the flower appeared again—

‘The reappearance of that flower…Are you saying that there is a place where the curse has been lifted somewhere in the land of Tamar?’

Kendrick narrowed his eyes.

If that’s the case, he might be able to find a way to break Arsene’s curse.

“Report when Akim is transferred. You can go.” 

“Yes, my Lord.”

It was time for Degon to greet him and leave the room.

Someone lightly knocked on Kendrick’s study door.

“Come in.”

At Kendrick’s brief command, the study door opened slowly.

And.

“Arsene.”

Kendrick opened and closed his eyes when he saw a familiar face standing on the threshold.

“Dagon, get out. Come in, Arsene.”

Degon left the room, and Arsene approached with a determined expression and sat on the sofa.

Kendrick told the maid to bring him a cup of cocoa, and then he sat across from Arsene.

“Tell me what happened.”

“…I want to learn how to use my abilities.”

After Arsene struggled to speak, he closed his lips tightly.

“Suddenly? You’ll learn with Linsy when you go back to the main mansion.”

“…Now, I want to learn it now. My ability is too weak, so….” 

Kendrick looked surprised at his son’s sudden change of heart.

“It seems something happened, Arsene.”

“….”

“Let’s talk over a cup of cocoa.”

The maid served hot cocoa with marshmallows.

Arsene took a sip of the cocoa, holding it in both hands and puffing. 

And for a long time, he closed his mouth and said nothing.

Kendrick waited patiently for Arsene to speak first.

Because pushing a child to talk when they don’t want to won’t help.

Arsene wiggled his fingers and played with his hands for a while, then suddenly raised his head.

“I hate it because my ability is too weak. I want to learn how to use it.”

“If you learn gradually, you will become strong enough, Arsene. You don’t have to be in such a hurry.”

“But… With my abilities, I can’t protect someone like Dad.”

Protect? 

Arsene’s words sparked interest in Kendrick’s eyes.

Kendrick touched his well-shaven chin with his hand, then opened his mouth.

“It’s because of Linsy.”

As Kendrick came to a clean conclusion, Arsene trembled.

“That’s not….” 

“Is it because of what happened a few days ago?”

At Kendrick’s words, Arsene, who immediately blushed as if embarrassed, nodded his head.

A few days ago, Akim fed Giles pollen to the mansion’s servants.

Linsy was almost seriously injured by the servants, who temporarily lost their minds while turning into a beast. 

If Kendrick hadn’t arrived in time, the accident would have happened.

‘And Arsene witnessed it up close.’

He is a child who follows Linsy very well, but he has no idea how big of an effect it would have.

When he returned to the mansion, he thought he would seek counseling through Hern.

But he came here first.

Arsene, who stared at Kendrick, had even his small ears dyed red.

“Ung, with just this ability. Because I can’t protect Linsy.” 

Arsene opened his palms with a melancholy face.

Black light shimmered faintly from Arsene’s palm, and the surrounding shadows gathered and took the shape of a wolf.

When the wolf saw Kendrick, it immediately laid down with its stomach open. 

“Arsene, I told you not to use your ability during the festival.”

“…But, it’s just the two of us in the study.”

“Yeah, but be careful outside. And…” 

Kendrick reached out to Arsene’s shadow wolf.

The little wolf saw Kendrick and waggled its tail, then came running and stood tall in front of Kendrick.

Yeckhart had never heard of such a superpower in history.

Even though Kendrick searched the records in the library where he kept his old books, he couldn’t find them.

‘An ability with ego.’

If this ego had been an ego against its owner, it would have been a problem.

“Do you think it can listen to you well?”

“…It can bring what I ask to bring.”

Arsene glared at the shadow wolf and dangled his leg.

“But I can’t protect Linsy with this ability.”

Arsene must have been very shocked by that day.

Kendrick stared at Arsene’s face and soon opened his mouth.

“Arsene, the doctors said you wouldn’t be able to manifest your ability.”

“….” 

“But you have manifested your ability. Think of the moment you first used your abilities.”

Arsene wrinkled his nose slightly.

And he remembered the moment when he first used this ability.

The day he ran around the mansion thinking that he should find Linsy when he heard that she was disappeared.

Arsene summoned his ability for the first time.

And.

‘Find Linsy.’

He earnestly asked for his own faintly sparkling ability. 

And Arsene’s ability answered that prayer. 

He found Linsy.

Arsene looked at the shadow wolf circling in front of Kendrick.

“…” 

“Arsene, as you grow up, your abilities will naturally become stronger, so don’t think too impatiently. I’ll teach you how to use your ability when we return to the mansion after this is over. And Arsene, you’ve already found Linsy once.” 

Kendrick said. 

“You already protect Linsy once. So please don’t blame yourself too much for this, Arsene.” 

Arsene nodded his head slowly. 

And he gathers his power. 

Arsene’s shadow wolf quickly dispersed into the air and disappeared.

“And Arsene, I guarantee you that when you grow up you will definitely be stronger than me.” 

Kendrick smiled lightly. 

Kendrick was the head of the family and is now considered to have the strongest ability in Yeckhart’s history. 

Arsene raised an eyebrow, thinking that his father was making fun of him.

“….” 

“So you don’t believe me.”

Kendrick smiled. And he beckoned Arsene to say goodbye.

“Don’t use this ability as much as possible.”

“All right.”

Arsene nodded firmly and left Kendrick’s study.

Kendrick stared blankly at the spot where Arsene had left.

***

I told Betty about Arsene’s strange behavior.

Betty asked, widening her eyes in surprise.

“Did something like that happen?”

“Yeah, it’s completely strange.”

I nodded, leaving my hair in Betty’s hand.

But as I answered quickly, my eyes kept going back to the mirror in my hand.

‘I don’t have a red hair again, right?’

Yesterday, I pulled out seven strands, but there’s a lot of hair, so there may be red hair I don’t know about.

‘I threw away the ones I pulled up yesterday, right?’ 

I glanced at the floor of the room. 

If possible, put the plucked hair in the trash as soon as possible, and if not, blow them out the window.

‘Of course, I don’t want to throw it out the window, but…’

There are no wolves with red hair in the wolf clan, so if they find the hair, they will be suspicious. 

So, I usually put it in the trash can so that no one can see it.

I looked Betty in the eye and hoped she wouldn’t notice if I had red hair.

Fortunately, Betty brushed my hair and tied it into two pigtails, as if nothing got caught.

“Okay, it’s done, Lady.”

“Ung, thank you.” 

After fiddling with my neatly tied hair for a while, I looked in the hand mirror.

I could see the wheat-colored hair that was tied neatly. 

‘So, I have to tell Kendrick about the hair…’

Serious things broke out one after another, and I kept missing the time to speak.

‘I have to tell him soon.’

Before the red hair grows more and is now difficult to pull out.

Besides.

“Lady, it seems that you are losing a lot of hair these days.”

Betty said concernedly as she fiddled with my hair.

I haven’t reached the age to shed my hair yet, so I don’t think I’ll be able to shed it—.

“Ung? Is that so?” 

I smiled awkwardly and fiddled with my hair.

As much as my red hair was growing, my wheat-colored hair continued to fall out.

If I continued like this, I would have been caught before I could even speak.

‘I can’t do that.’

Once this is all taken care of and I’m legally married to Arsene, I have to tell Kendrick the truth.

Red hair wasn’t something I could hide even if I wanted to, so it was better to speak quickly and ask for forgiveness.

‘Let’s just say that I will make sure to treat Arsene.’ 

I can’t do anything about my hair, so I just have to do what I can.

I looked into the hand mirror with a determined expression and nodded.