Lord Rivolte’s cuteness.
I had a strong feeling that it was definitely a trap, but I felt like it would be a waste not to pet him when he was begging me this much.
Honestly, I was so jealous of Lena earlier.
After a long internal conflict, I decided to pretend to pet him as a test, raising my hand over his head. His amber eyes started to shine with anticipation.
Bright and sparkling.
‘Come on! Pet me already!’
I could almost hear his thoughts.
I let out a reluctant smile.
‘Hmm. At this point, I can’t refuse, can I?’
I cleared my throat.
“Alright, this is what you wanted, right?”
Woof!
Ah! I got his permission.
Now it was my eyes that began to sparkle.
I had been living with the feeling of stabbing my thigh every day, but since I got his permission, I promptly placed my hand on his head.
And in one swift motion, I stroked all the way down his back.
‘Oh. It’s really soft, as I expected.’
I enjoyed the soft fur brushing against my palm, and Ludwin tilting his head happily each time I petted him was too cute.
I stroked down from his head to the nape of his neck, and even over his broad back, Ludwin’s black tail swayed gently, showing he was pleased.
His face showed he was content from being adored, making him look full of joy.
‘Ah, he’s really cute.’
My lips stretched wide to the point of almost reaching my ears.
If he were a real puppy, I wouldn’t hesitate to adopt him and make him my own.
Why does he have to be a supporting character?
While I was petting him, the ones who targeted us last night came to mind.
‘Maybe they’re after Ludwin because he’s too cute.’
My imagination ran wild as my cuteness gauge filled up.
Maybe they wanted to pet him all day long or use him as a pillow. Or perhaps just looking at him would make them happy, like having a living doll…
‘No, no, that’s not right!’
Realizing my thoughts were dangerously off track, I snapped back to reality and cleared my throat again.
“Lu, do you know anything about what happened yesterday?”
He had been enjoying my touch for a while, but hesitated for a moment at my words, then looked at me and whined.
“Oh.”
Seeing that, I realized Ludwin couldn’t talk even if he wanted to. The canine’s oral structure is different from humans.
I clapped my hands together.
“Ah! I have an idea. Just wait a moment!”
The language of the Rem Empire was simple, like English, with straightforward word arrangements.
I quickly made some vocabulary cards. Then, I laid them out in front of him.
“You can form words with these.”
But Ludwin hesitated before forming a sentence. It seemed like he had difficulty even making words.
‘Why? Shouldn’t he be able to communicate like a person now?’
He struggled for a while before nudging a card with his paw.
I was startled to see the card.
“Beastmen”
‘So, the robbers yesterday were beastmen after all.’
I crossed my arms and brought a hand to my chin.
‘What about the beastmen?’
I waited for the next word.
Ludwin quickly nudged another card.
“Dislike”
Seeing that card, I became serious for multiple reasons.
*****
At that time, Jeffrey was sitting in his office at the Guild.
It was time to hold his regular meeting with the high-ranking executives, but he had canceled all his appointments.
‘Why on earth is it Lord Rivolte?’
Jeffrey knew the large dog was Ludwin Rivolte.
But he hadn’t learned this from the Laplace Garden’s information network.
A while ago, while heading home late after working overtime, he had been attacked by a large wolf-dog in a dark alley.
‘Ahhh!’
Being afraid of dogs, Jeffrey naturally tried to run away, but the large dog quickly pinned him down.
‘Help, someone!’
The wolf-dog dropped a letter in front of Jeffrey, who was trembling with fear. It seemed as if he was holding it in his mouth.
‘This is…’
The letter revealed the shocking fact that the wolf-dog was Ludwin Rivolte and contained a request.
Even though it was not a job for an information guild, Jeffrey couldn’t refuse his request.
‘I thought my neck was going to be torn apart.’
If it hadn’t been related to Tyria’s safety, he would have declined, even if it meant losing his life.
Jeffrey groaned as he remembered what the request had been.
‘I never thought he’d ask me to wrap and deliver him as a gift.’
Moreover, when he put a pink ribbon on himself before getting into the box, it was an indescribable feeling.
“Sigh.”
He rubbed his furrowed brow.
Fortunately, Ludwin seemed unaware that Tyria was the owner of Laplace Garden.
The Lord of Rivolte and Laplace Garden were deeply connected. Besides Tyria stalking him for ten years, the Lord was also a major client of Laplace Garden.
For several years now, Ludwin has been using them whenever he needed information as the Crown Prince’s closest confidant and the Sword Master representing the Empire’s military power.
‘Is this Laplace Garden?’
When he first visited, Jeffrey thought he had come to destroy Laplace Garden after discovering the stalking.
Frightened, he ran to Tyria, who calmly told him to take the request.
‘He’s back again.’
Even now, he didn’t know what she meant, but Lord Rivolte really just made an information request and left.
Since then, he had frequently visited Laplace Garden, and following Tyria’s orders, Laplace Garden actively provided him with information.
With that information, he quickly rose to become a promising figure in the Empire.
Even now, he was a treasure of the Empire, but when Crown Prince Pedro ascends the throne, he’ll stand at the center of power, untouchable.
Tyria predicted this, and it was coming true.
‘Our captain is amazing.’
Jeffrey felt a renewed sense of pride.
Not only had she raised the current Dilucia family from the ground up, but the picky Crown Prince and his beloved fiancée couldn’t refuse her.
Having established connections with numerous prominent families and sponsored promising talents for ten years, soon those individuals would dominate the political and economic spheres.
Moreover, she was the founder of the Empire’s top information guild, Laplace Garden, holder of the patents for her peculiar inventions, and still making money from her hobby flower shop.
She was practically the Empire’s hidden mastermind that no one dared to touch.
But for Ludwin Rivolte to be so close to her? Something smelled fishy.
There was no other reason.
Last year, he gave information about an illegal organization run by the Empress who opposed the Crown Prince, and the next day, that organization vanished without a trace.
And when he provided information about a noble faction belonging to the second prince, that family was uprooted and disappeared soon after.
‘They say he wiped out that family’s knight order by himself.’
But that monstrous person was acting cute, wagging his tail and showing affection to Tyria. Every time he saw that, he had an indescribable feeling.
‘I shouldn’t have accepted the request.’
Sometimes, when he wanted to confess to Tyria and began to speak, Ludwin would sense his intenions like a ghost and let out a whine.
Then, when Tiria looked, he acted innocent, wagging his tail.
‘Our captain seems to find him utterly adorable.’
Seeing Tyria’s face soften at the sight of that big black dog, Jeffrey wondered why life felt so futile?
Actually, he had a lot he wanted to ask about the street thugs who showed up last night.
Because of the gag order, they couldn’t even investigate.
Jeffrey suddenly felt miserable and let out a long sigh.
‘Oh, dear. I forgot to clean up after that crazy guy.’
The original reason he went to see Tyria yesterday was to hear the whole story of the commotion that happened during the day.
Jeffrey’s expression turned grim.
How dare someone cause a ruckus at the captain’s flower shop.
‘It seems she’s busy with Lord Rivolte, so I’ll handle it myself. Count Dilucia also said he’d actively cooperate.’
Jeffrey hummed with a big smile on his face, putting on the black gloves he only wore when working.
It was a well-known fact among the guild members, except for himself, that Jeffrey, the leader of the Empire’s top information guild, was one of those who could not escape Tyria.
*****
“Hmm, I guess it’s no use.”
I fiddled with the vocabulary cards on the desk.
Despite playing word card games with Ludwin all day yesterday, he only managed to come up with ‘Beastmen’ and ‘Dislike.’
After that, he couldn’t form any other sentences and could only give simple yes or no answers to my questions.
I thought he remembered everything from when he was a dog since he knew I called him ‘Lu’.
So, I thought I could have a conversation like a human being, but it seems that wasn’t the case.
Lacking information from the original story made understanding the situation difficult.
The more I pondered, the less I understood, so I slumped over my desk.
“Ugh. I give up.”
Sometimes not thinking about anything when your mind is too cluttered is a strategy.
But since it seemed possible for him to turn back into a human, I decided to try talking again later.
“…We’ll be able to talk, right?”
‘When I was a dog, you petted me to your heart’s content? Hahaha, die!’
I shook my head to shake off the delusions that were popping up again.
“Alright! Let’s just go to work!”
It’s a little late, but I think I’ll feel a little better if I go to my beloved flower shop.
Having decided that, I went to work at the flower shop with Ludwin as usual.
As soon as I entered the store, Nina and Leria greeted me.
“Ah! Boss, are you feeling better?”
“Welcome back. Were you unwell?”
They asked worriedly, one after the other.
It seemed they misunderstood and thought I was sick because I sent someone to say I couldn’t come to work yesterday.
“I’m fine, perfectly healthy.”
I waved my hands to show I was okay, and they looked relieved.
Then they reported any unusual occurrences from the previous day.
