Billy was in the middle of tackling a backlog of paperwork.
‘Good thing I left the Tower Lord position to Nick.’
While Billy was exceptionally capable of handling any task given to him, his personality was far removed from someone who enjoyed working or burying themselves in their duties. This made the current moment unbearably dull for him.
With an audible sigh at the never-ending stack of documents, Billy was focusing intently when—
Click.
The door opened without a knock.
‘Who dares enter the head of the house’s office without knocking?’
Frowning, Billy looked up, his eyes widening at the scene before him.
Through the slightly open door, someone quickly backstepped into the room. It was none other than Remi Morton. Without even glancing in Billy’s direction, she crouched down, pressing herself flat against the door.
‘…What is she doing?’
Billy’s rapid pace of handling documents momentarily paused.
The odd little sheep had barged into someone else’s office unannounced, didn’t even bother closing the door fully, and now sat there, surveying the outside. It was as if she were some kind of investigator sneaking into enemy territory.
Billy’s lips curled into a light smile as he watched her crouched figure on the floor.
Every time a sound echoed from the hallway, her small head moved as though she had eyes on all sides. It was as if she were straining to see as much as possible through the door crack.
Setting his pen down entirely, Billy rested his chin on his hand, observing her curious behavior.
Calling out to her at this moment would probably be fun.
“What are you looking at so intently?”
“Eek!”
…And that’s how Remi ended up sitting on the sofa in front of Billy.
When she mentioned she had something to discuss about Ed, Billy had prepared to listen seriously. However, the words that came out of her mouth were entirely unexpected.
“Ed likes salad!”
Salad?
‘But Ed’s a wolf.’
Yet Remi’s expression as she said this was utterly sincere. Momentarily confused, Billy stared blankly at her. Her tightly closed lips opened again.
“And he’s good with desserts like cakes and meat pies, too.”
She clutched the hem of her dress tightly, her eyes full of seriousness as she gazed at him. It didn’t seem like she was lying.
“Ah, salad…”
Baffled by this incomprehensible claim, Billy propped his chin on one hand, a slight frown forming on his face. At the sight of this, Remi’s already pale complexion grew even whiter.
“I’ll take note of it for now.”
Startled by how pale she’d become, Billy quickly adjusted his expression and gave her a response. Hearing this, Remi seemed somewhat relieved.
“I assume you’ve heard that Ed hasn’t been eating well?”
“Yes, I overheard. I think he might have gotten used to Morton family food in that short time.”
Remi’s voice was filled with concern for Ed as she spoke.
“It must mean it tasted that good.”
“Still…”
“After staying here a little longer, his tastes will adjust.”
Standing up from his chair, Billy leaned against the front of his desk, looking down at Remi as he spoke.
Nodding in agreement, Remi stood from the sofa, announcing she would leave now. Billy followed her to the door, watching as she cautiously stepped across the hallway.
‘What an odd little sheep.’
Perhaps that’s why. He couldn’t help but keep his eyes on her.
Just as Remi reached Ed’s door, the sound of servants ascending the central staircase echoed through the hall. And then Billy witnessed something incredible.
Remi dove under a side table in the hallway. The speed of her movements was astonishing, something he didn’t think he’d ever seen from a sheep before.
As Billy watched with amusement, the servants who had just reached the top of the stairs glanced under the table. Then, their gazes shifted to Billy, who was observing the scene.
Without a word, Billy shook his head and brought a finger to his lips, signaling them to keep quiet and move along.
The servants nodded and walked past Remi, entering the dressing room.
After confirming the servants were gone, Remi emerged from under the table and knocked as quietly as possible on Ed’s door. Once Ed opened the door and Remi stepped inside, Billy finally returned to his office.
Laughter echoed from Billy’s office for quite some time after the door closed.
***
“Ed!”
Having safely reached Ed’s room, I hugged him tightly as he opened the door for me.
Although I quickly let go, seeing Ed, small and adorable compared to the large, intimidating adult wolves I’d been surrounded by, made him feel far less frightening than before.
“Lady Remi?”
Ed seemed flustered by my sudden embrace and urgently grabbed my arms, asking, “Are you—are you alright?”
His big round eyes were filled with worry. I realized he must have been concerned since I hadn’t seen him after I fell backward onto the floor.
I stroked Ed’s head as I checked the affection gauge hovering above him.
[Affection Level: 25%]
It’s back! Maybe it was because of the hug earlier or the joy of seeing him after a few days, but Ed’s affection level, which had decreased before, was back up again.
“I’m fine, totally fine now! More importantly, Ed, I heard you haven’t been eating well lately?”
Standing up, I tried to show how healthy I was by flexing my arms and hopping in place before diving straight into the topic. Behind me, as expected, there was a plate with only a small portion of horse meat left on the table, looking like it had barely been touched.
At my words, Ed hung his head low, fidgeting with his fingers. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. I simply watched him with a fond smile, waiting for him to speak when he was ready.
“Well…”
After hesitating for a while, Ed suddenly lifted his head and spoke.
“I keep thinking about the strawberry cake and meat pies I had there. The pumpkin salad was delicious too… and so was the honey potato salad.”
Ah, I knew it.
Ed, who had lived on the streets without proper meals, had first tasted good food at the Morton estate, so I had a feeling this would happen.
Ed’s taste had been completely shaped by Morton family cuisine.
Meanwhile, despite living there even longer, I still preferred meat because I couldn’t abandon the dietary habits I had before transmigrating.
‘Aren’t we total opposites?’
Now that I think about it, memories of my time at the Morton estate came flooding back. Before I transmigrated, I must have eaten a lot of herbivorous dishes, but after transmigration, my new carnivorous tastebuds made me the subject of baffled stares.
Back then, while I received weird looks for my sudden preference for meat, the newly arrived wolf beastman ate so well without meat that the household servants often whispered behind our backs.
‘It wasn’t exactly a normal sight, I guess.’
I looked at Ed, who didn’t even glance at the horse meat on the table, with a complicated expression. Then, quickly masking my thoughts, I spoke.
“Isn’t the food here much tastier? I think the steaks are great, and so are the roast duck and rabbit meat.”
It might have sounded odd coming from a sheep who supposedly lived off grass, but I couldn’t help my preferences.
At my words, Ed pouted his lips and lightly tapped the floor with his foot.
“It’s not sweet enough.”
“Sweet?”
Ed nodded, still keeping his head down. As if just thinking about the food from the Morton estate made his mouth water, he wiped his lips with the back of his hand.
‘If you like sweet things so much, couldn’t you just ask the maids or the kitchen staff here?’
But the words I thought of stayed in my head and didn’t come out.
⌈1. Just eat what’s given to you! How can you be picky about food?
2. Do you think this is sheep territory? You’re in wolf territory now—eat the meat!
3. How can you call yourself an heir if you can’t even ask for sweeter food?⌋
As soon as I saw the choices pop up, I smacked my forehead. Just when I had managed to raise the affection level, this happened.
My hands quickly selected an option as I firmly grabbed Ed’s shoulders. A stern voice came out of my mouth.
“Do you think this is sheep territory? You’re in wolf territory now—eat the meat!”
With the atmosphere of a scolding, Ed pressed his lips together and puffed his cheeks in defiance.
It was the first time I’d seen such an expression from him in all our time together, from the Morton estate until now.
“I don’t like meat! I want to eat the food I had there! I hate you, Lady Remi!”
…What?
Caught off guard, I froze as Ed pushed me back with his small hands. Before I knew it, I had stumbled backward entirely out of the room, and the door slammed shut in my face.
“Wha…?”
What just happened?
Standing still in front of the door, I couldn’t even think of knocking again. I just stood there frozen.
‘Why is he acting like this all of a sudden?’
He’d never been picky about food back at the Morton estate, and now he was outright refusing meat. A wolf, of all things!
‘Well, it’s less that he’s refusing meat and more that he just prefers sweet things.’
In any case, he was basically saying he wouldn’t eat meat unless it was covered in a sweet sauce.
Ed had always been obedient and had never once thrown a tantrum or cried before. I never imagined this day would come.
Thrown unexpectedly into this parenting situation, I recalled the last sight I had of Ed’s affection gauge before the door shut.
[Affection Level: 23%]
It had dropped by a whole 2%.
“Ah…”
Raising the affection level of a baby wolf is no easy task…
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