Remi seemed to have just returned from her errands in the main building.
She glanced back and forth between Ed, who was struggling with the laundry basket, and Ben, who was walking away. Her beautiful brow furrowed in displeasure.
“My slave taking orders from someone like him? What a sight.”
With these cutting words, she passed Ed and crossed the hallway.
Ed, who had been standing with his head bowed, bit his lip and looked up again. The rain seemed to be coming down harder than before.
If he got soaked in this weather, he’d undoubtedly catch a cold, but he couldn’t just leave the laundry undone, especially since it was Remi’s everyday clothes in the basket.
“Stay in my room while I’m gone so you don’t catch a cold.”
“My slave taking orders from someone like him? What a sight.”
As Ed stood by the back door of the annex, unable to step out and just staring at the sky, Remi’s words echoed in his ears like a hallucination.
Ed looked back at the hallway where Remi had disappeared, his eyes heavy with contemplation.
Ignoring Ben’s orders seemed like the right thing to do when he thought of Remi. However, he had already accepted the laundry basket.
If he now said, “I only follow Miss Remi’s orders,” and threw the basket away, it would spread bad rumors about Remi’s inability to properly train her slave.
‘That would just trouble Miss Remi.’
His faint sigh was lost in the heavy rain.
With no other choice, Ed stepped outside, closed his eyes tightly, and ran into the rain.
“…Huh?”
Something felt off. He squinted one eye and looked around. His body, which should have been soaked by now, felt strangely dry.
“What’s going on?”
His eyes widened in disbelief at the unbelievable sight. He had no idea what was happening, and his face was filled with confusion.
The heavy rain that had been pouring like a waterfall was avoiding Ed and falling to the ground around him.
Despite his bewilderment, Ed carried on, washed the laundry at the stream, and returned to the annex without a single drop of rain touching him.
‘Could that have been magic?’
Ed’s cheeks flushed with excitement as he recalled the strange event from that day.
The idea of being a magician sounded incredibly cool.
***
In the Sheep territory, as anywhere else, each magician was a precious and valuable human resource.
No one expected to recruit a magician capable of being formally employed at the Magic Tower. Even magicians with little magic power were rare.
“I’ll be taking that slave.”
Facing Raymond, who had suddenly announced his intention to take Ed to the main building, I set my teacup down with a sharp clink.
So that was why he had come to the annex without any prior notice.
Despite having ignored and looked down on Ed, treating him poorly, now Raymond was changing his attitude over an unverified rumor.
‘Does he think I’ll just let him take Ed?’
I had no intention of revealing to Raymond that Ed could use magic.
Who knows how he’d exploit Ed, claiming he’d provide a teacher or support.
More importantly, a wolf cannot become a magician in the Sheep territory. If the Wolf territory learns about this, they won’t stand idly by. They’d definitely try to take him back.
‘If Ed’s uncle hears about this and comes looking for him, all my efforts to care for Ed would be in vain.’
I knew exactly how Raymond would treat Ed if he got his hands on him.
Once Ed’s uncle finds out, we’d meet the same fate as in the original story. Raymond would die, I would die, and the Morton family would be destroyed.
However, Raymond, blinded by the ‘potential magician slave’ in front of him, demanded Ed with confidence.
“What do you plan to do with him?”
“Do I really need to explain? Do you have any idea how valuable a magician is in our territory?”
“Of course. But what does that have to do with my slave?”
I deliberately sipped my tea calmly, causing Raymond’s straight forehead to wrinkle.
“I heard a rumor that he used magic at the pasture.”
He smirked as if he’d uncovered something significant.
I openly laughed, filled my voice with derision, and scoffed.
“Do you believe such nonsense? As the head of a territory, you can’t be that gullible.”
“If you intend to deny it, you should stop. Someone saw you floating.”
Feigning indifference, I tilted my head and pointed to the pasture visible behind the annex.
“See that wooden fence?”
Raymond, turning his head to look, gave me a questioning glare.
“If someone saw me floating, they must have also seen me jump down from up there, stumble over a rock, and crash below.”
Raymond’s expression changed rapidly. He frowned, raised his eyebrows, and alternated between looking at the fence and me. It was quite amusing.
“I know you’re desperate for a magician to compete with Mark Robney, but as a leader, you should work on your judgment.”
“It’s amusing to hear that from you… We’ll talk later.”
With a disgruntled face, Raymond turned on his heel and stomped out of the garden. His assistant, following him, looked extremely pitiful.
Once Raymond was gone, I set down my teacup and lightly tapped my fingers on the table.
‘Although I’ve evaded immediate danger, I must ensure no other beastmen witness Ed’s abilities in the future.’
Just as I was thinking about Ed, an annoying scene from before flashed in my mind.
At that moment, I noticed a maid passing by the annex hallway.
I called out to her immediately.
“You, come here.”
Startled by my emotionless voice, the maid stopped in her tracks.
“Yes, Miss. Do you need anything?”
“About that incident from before.”
“What?”
The maid, not understanding immediately, then seemed to remember and slightly parted her lips.
“What happened? Did you get rid of him?”
After the laundry incident, I had questioned Ed about whether the servants were harassing him.
‘Ed kept denying it.’
But it didn’t seem like something that would end with one instance of bullying, so I had kept an eye on that servant and looked into his past actions.
As a result, I found out he had been consistently harassing Ed, disliking him.
As soon as I learned this, I ordered that he be expelled, but I hadn’t received a report on the outcome yet.
‘Wasn’t his name Ben?’
If I didn’t punish him as an example, who knows what the other annex servants might do to Ed when I’m not watching.
“He, he packed his things and left last week!”
The maid, stiff with tension, suddenly raised her voice and shouted.
“Uh, uh. I’m sorry.”
Perhaps startled by her own voice, she covered her mouth with both hands and repeatedly bowed her head.
“Enough. You may go.”
“Thank you!”
“Wait.”
The maid, who was about to leave hastily after bowing, was stopped again by my low voice.
“Don’t forget that only I have the right to command my slave.”
Through this maid, the entire annex would soon hear about my actions and today’s incident.
‘This is tiresome.’
Living with constant vigilance subtly sapped my energy.
It was time to write another letter to the Magic Tower.
‘It should be fine to express my desire to nurture the magical talent of a child I’m caring for without mentioning Ed’s name, right?’
If I’m lucky, someone from the Magic Tower might come to take the talented child.
Then I might meet Ed’s uncle a bit sooner. Sending a letter to the Magic Tower could be the last thing I can do for Ed.
‘I hope this plan works.’
As I climbed the stairs, the letter to the Magic Tower was already complete in my mind.
***
Another letter arrived.
In less than a month, this was already the second letter sent by Lady Morton, a brazen act that elicited chuckles from Nick and Billy.
Inside Nick’s neatly organized office, the two wolves, leisurely playing chess on the sofa, immediately read the letter upon its arrival.
“What kind of family is this?” Billy said, placing the letter he had been holding on the table. His voice clearly conveyed his incredulity at the situation.
To make matters worse, both letters were secret pleas for help, meant to be kept from the head of the family, doubling their astonishment.
“Have you looked into it?” Billy, who had slicked back his almost black, dark blue hair, asked Nick.
The response came not from Nick, who was shaking his head, but from his side.
Philip, the secretary to the Master of the Magic Tower, with neatly combed long green hair and a monocle, pulled out a stack of documents.
“Here is the information I found on the Morton family.”
“When did you gather all that?” Nick said, implying praise for the secretary who had taken the initiative.
Unperturbed, Philip handed over the documents with a businesslike demeanor and began reciting the information he had gathered.
Remi Morton.
Known throughout the Sheep Domain as a vicious sheep, her wickedness was so notorious that even the head of the family had given up on her.
“This is the superficial information,” Philip said, flipping a page and beginning to read the ‘real’ details with a soulless gaze.
“She is an illegitimate child born to the former head of the family and a maid. It is said she began to be discriminated against starting on her fifth birthday.”
Though discrimination against illegitimate children in noble families was common, what caught Billy’s attention was the phrase “suddenly began to be discriminated against.”
“Suddenly? So, she was treated well until she turned five?”
“Yes. The discrimination started abruptly on her fifth birthday,” Philip confirmed.
What a strange family, Billy thought, but he gestured for Philip to continue.
“The head of the Morton family, known for looking after his sister, is infamous as a ruffian within the mansion. He recently purchased a slave for her.”
“A slave?”
Does this mean they used the illegal slave market? Nick frowned in distaste.
“Yes. And not a sheep or a herbivorous beastman, but rather a carnivorous beastman.”
Billy and Nick exchanged glances. A carnivorous beastman for a sheep beastman sister? It seemed the family was a chaotic mess without any decent members.
As Billy and Nick shared the same thought, Philip adjusted his glasses and continued.
“Moreover, that slave is said to be a child from the wolf clan.”
Both wolves simultaneously looked up.
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