Failed to Train the Beast Male Lead

“I see.”

“What about you?”

“Huh?”

Carol asked back. It had been bothering her all along. What if all the conditions were met, but the curse wasn’t broken because Noah didn’t actually love the Duke?

Thinking of this remote possibility, she asked,

“Do you… like the Duke?”

“Of course I love him, he’s family!”

And Noah immediately gave a sunny answer that made Carol’s doubts seem silly.

“Right. I see.”

Noah’s answer made Carol feel much more at ease.

Noah clenched both fists and replied with a voice full of enthusiasm.

“Don’t worry, Carol. I’ll safely take you to the Duke’s room.”

“…Thank you.”

Noah wore a determined expression as if he had been given an important mission.

“I was just worried about him too!”

Noah hopped off the bed where he had been sitting.

Click.

Noah’s eyes rolled from side to side as he slightly opened the door. After confirming no one was outside, Noah quickly opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

But after a few steps, he quickly hid behind a pillar.

“…Isn’t it still before the servants start work?”

“Mary is probably already moving around early.”

Noah trembled, saying if he was caught out at this hour, it would be all over. It sounded like he had painfully attempted to sneak out before.

Contrary to Noah’s worries, they didn’t encounter anyone until they reached the Duke’s room.

“Phew…I’m nervous.”

Thanks to Noah’s efforts, they weren’t caught by anyone until they reached the corridor where the Duke’s room was.

From that point on, Noah ran as fast as he could all the way to the room without stopping.

“Huff. Huff. We’re here.”

Noah opened the door halfway, breathing heavily. Someone called Noah’s name from behind.

“Noah?”

It was Mrs. Wells.

“…Mrs. Wells?”

“Why are you here at this hour?”

“…I heard the Duke was unwell.”

Noah smiled awkwardly. Then he whispered to Carol, who was perched on his shoulder.

“Hurry and go in.”

Even though he had been caught, Noah was still keeping his foot in the slightly opened door to keep it from closing.

“Thank you.”

Carol’s beak lightly touched Noah’s cheek. Then she squeezed through the small gap in the door.

Before Mrs. Wells could come closer, the door closed as if it had never been opened.

“But at this hour, coming secretly without saying anything!”

Mrs. Wells’ scolding went on at length.

“I’m sorry.”

Noah apologized obediently, grasping Mrs. Wells’ skirt.

“Today was supposed to be my first swordsmanship lesson. I was planning to come and express my gratitude… I won’t do it again.”

“I see. But don’t go in.”

It was unclear whether his current illness was just a common fever or a precursor to a seizure. They didn’t know when he might turn violent.

“Yes. Were you on your way to the Duke’s room, ma’am?”

Thinking Noah might insist on going in together if she said yes, Mrs. Wells shook her head.

“No. I just followed you when I saw you running this way. The Duke said he needs rest and that no one except Norman should be allowed in, even at mealtimes.”

“I almost made a mistake with the Duke then.”

Noah, walking with Mrs. Wells, glanced back at the firmly closed door.

‘…Will it be alright?’

Though he worried belatedly, there was nothing Noah could do now.

****

At times his body felt like it was burning in fire, and at other times like he had been doused in ice water.

His mind was hazy. The pain was so severe it wouldn’t be strange if he died like this.

“…Ugh.”

It felt like his brain was melting. He missed the teacher. Though he had said he didn’t want to apologize for his feelings, right now he felt he could apologize any number of times.

It seemed he could do anything.

If only she were by his side…

The Duke pressed his forehead, exhaling hot breaths.

“Duke, are you alright?”

“…Oh my. Now I’m even hearing things.”

Though it wouldn’t be strange to go mad in this environment, hearing things made him laugh bitterly.

Soon, something small and round entered his hand. It was a familiar sensation. The Duke slightly closed his hand to confirm what had nestled into it.

“It’s my old friend.”

“…Your fever is severe.”

Both the teacher and his small friend were in this room?

It was nonsense. Such a miraculous thing couldn’t happen to him.

“Perhaps it’s really time for me to die.”

That must be why he was hearing these pleasant hallucinations.

‘If this is a dream, it might be nice if I never wake up.’

“…Don’t say such frightening things.”

How could she roll on his forehead to check his temperature? So instead, Carol, who had entered and left the Duke’s hand, scolded him.

“Is it really the teacher?”

“Yes.”

The Duke half-raised his body.

“Please lie back down.”

“…Didn’t you receive the message not to come?”

“I did.”

“Then…?”

“I just had something I wanted to tell you.”

“…Tell me later.”

The Duke tried to stop Carol. When there’s plenty of time, people usually talk after recovering. But coming to say something while he was this ill surely couldn’t be anything good for the Duke.

“I’m sorry for running away.”

“No. Don’t apologize.”

During the days alone, Carol had wracked her brain to the point of exhaustion. She struggled to reconstruct the now hazy original story, trying to piece together the missing parts in order.

With that persistence, Carol finally grasped the last puzzle piece.

Why had he taken on a form that seemed to combine animal features? The North was a place particularly hostile to beastmen.

Under the leadership of the Duke’s family, who had been the rulers of the North for generations, beastmen would have been even more ostracized.

‘Some beastman must have fallen in love with the Duke.’

Why was such a condition attached to the curse?

What did the author of the original story want to say behind this curse?

Like in many fairy tales, the Duke arrogant and cruelly rejected the beastman.

So that beastman desperately wished, that he too would feel a love that wasn’t accepted. That he would know both human and beastman existence have dignity, and understand how painful life as a beastman could be.

And then, that he might be able to love again.

It was a curse mixed with both resentment and love.

The beastman who cast the curse must have hoped, that beastmen would not be rejected, that they wouldn’t have to live in hiding.

If things had gone as the beastman hoped, perhaps the curse would have been broken long ago.

‘To think the final condition was that the other person must have beastman blood mixed in.’

That’s why Noah couldn’t break the Duke’s curse despite meeting the other conditions.

‘The Chesworth family must have been a lineage with beastman blood mixed in, meeting all the conditions.’

The first thing Carol felt upon learning the final condition was a sense of deprivation.

She didn’t meet the requirements.

If only she had holy power like Noah.

Then she could have broken the curse herself.

“And I’m sorry to say this, but I think I need to quit my job.”

Now that she fully remembered the conditions, she planned to leave and search for someone who could break the Duke’s curse.

Her staying here any longer would be a waste of time.

“You’re quite cruel. You stopped me mid-sentence when I was expressing my feelings, can’t you stop leaving just once?”

“…..”

It was a pitiful plea beyond being humble. Carol’s small body trembled.

“I promise I’ll never do such a thing again.”

Carol couldn’t hold back and interrupted the Duke.

“…I didn’t dislike it.”

“Good heavens. This must really be a dream.”

The Duke let out a bitter laugh. With his consciousness clouded by high fever, the Duke concluded this moment must be a dream upon hearing Carol’s answer.

Carol didn’t correct the Duke’s words. It was fine if he thought it was a dream.

“I suppose it’s for the best. At least I won’t be showing such an unsightly appearance. And your words about quitting must be false too.”

Though he said it was for the best, his words were tinged with self-loathing.

There was a high chance he was dismissing it as a dream despite knowing it was real.

Carol climbed onto the Duke’s chest and quietly gazed at his face.

Accepting his confession might feel good for now.

But there was no future between them.

Unlike Chesworth, she was a perfect beastman. One who couldn’t even properly transform into a human.

If Elisha Chesworth came, could she really stop their love?

Even if not, since the Duke disliked beastmen, if he found out she was one, he might suffer thinking he liked her because she was the same kind of monster.

She wanted to show only her best side to the one she liked.

She had become a coward because she liked him.

“Just think of it as a dream.”

“…..”

“But when you wake up, I won’t be here.”

Carol pattered up his chest.

Being small, she couldn’t bring much. Just a single herb stem was all. Carol placed the herb on the Duke’s lips.

Tap.

Her beak was almost buried in his hair.

But for Carol, this was a confession, and a first kiss.

Even if it was utterly cowardly, that’s what it was to Carol.

The beak that had pressed gently lifted. Carol stepped back.

It was a kiss where even the recipient didn’t know they were being kissed, but Carol felt like her heart would burst.

“Take care.”

The Duke reached out his hand, but Carol had already flown towards the window.

“…Carol.”

She hesitated at hearing her name called for the first time. In that moment, the Duke rose from the bed.

Having lived here for a while, it was easy to open the door from inside.

Click.

In his haste to open the doorknob, he injured his leg.

“Close the door properly this time.”

That was the final word. Carol flew away without looking back once.