The Northern Mad Dog Is Wagging Its Tail

  Sig hadn’t even entertained the thought of rejecting any request from Britia. However, when it came down to it, he found himself unable to provide an answer.

 

  He didn’t mind when she called him by his name.

 

  “Sig.”

 

  Once again, she called him Sig.

 

  That simple act of meeting his gaze and calling his name was enough. Yet, he couldn’t react at all. His heart was pounding too intensely.

 

  If she called him “Sig” so affectionately and smiled like that. If she pretended…

 

  He experienced a sensation of something within him melting away. He couldn’t discern what had melted, but he knew it had completely liquefied, becoming mushy.

 

  Observing Sig’s flustered and frozen state, Britia lightly tapped his cheek with her finger. Then, her hand moved upward, gently brushing his forehead, causing his wide-open eyes to grow even larger.

 

  “Is it not possible?”

 

  Britia inquired while looking at Sig, frozen in place. Sig’s lips slowly parted, but ultimately, no sound escaped.

 

  “I apologize. Perhaps I was too forward.”

 

  Britia, who had been melting away with laughter, smiled.

 

  “Duke-nim.”

 

  Those additional words instantly snapped Sig back to his senses. Her previously sweet voice had taken on a somewhat colder tone.

 

  “No, it’s not like that.”

 

  Sig urgently spoke without a subject or an object.

 

  “If it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to force yourself to accept it.”

 

  However, Britia turned her head, as if she already knew what he was trying to say, and spoke.

 

  “No matter how close we may be, there are things that must be protected. I didn’t consider that.”

 

  He hadn’t intended to make her think he was indifferent. He wanted to respond, but his body and mind wouldn’t cooperate.

 

  “Britia, it’s not like that…”

 

  “Even though Duke-nim Turas addresses me as Britia, I suppose it’s impossible for me to do the same.”

 

  Britia murmured in a small voice, as if unsure if he could hear her. Then she glanced at him with a sidelong glance.

 

  “I was just startled. It’s not because I dislike you calling me by my name. On the contrary…”

 

  As Sig’s words trailed off, Britia narrowed her eyes.

 

  “Are you saying that you’re so uncomfortable that you can’t express it with words? Are you annoyed and embarrassed?”

 

  “No, it’s not that!”

 

  Sig exclaimed, taken aback.

 

  “I appreciate it when you call me by my name. I’m grateful to know that you refer to me as Sig. I’ve never had any complaints about my name, but there have been times when I’ve been incredibly happy…”

 

  Sig slowly organized his emotions into words. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he sighed.

 

  “I think I really, really like you much more than I thought.”

 

  He had believed that he understood all of his feelings for her, but it seemed there was still a depth he didn’t know.

 

  Just the act of her calling his name could bring him such happiness.

 

  “Duke-nim.”

 

  Due to Britia’s continued use of the title “Duke-nim,” a sense of disappointment clouded Sig’s face. He should have said it was okay when she asked if she could call him that.

 

  It pained him to realize that he had kicked away his chance. Shouldn’t he have asked for one more opportunity?

 

  Sig looked at Britia with pleading eyes.

 

  “If you say something like that, I can’t continue teasing you.”

 

  At that moment, Britia’s previously cold voice softened. It was warm like usual, with a touch of mischievousness mixed in.

 

  “Have you been teasing me all this time?” Sig blinked his eyes slowly and asked.

 

  In response, Britia lifted her chin with a refreshed expression. She had tried to maintain a dignified demeanor, but she couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

 

  “Oh my, Duke-nim, your reaction is just too adorable. I can’t help but tease you.”

 

  “…But you keep calling me Duke-nim.”

 

  Sig sent her a suspicious gaze. His tail drooped sadly. Britia leaned her head against his shoulder and stifled her laughter.

 

  “So, from now on, can I call you whatever I want, Sig?”

 

  Intentionally appending his name to the end of her remark, her grip on Sig’s arm tightened playfully.

 

* * *

 

  Leon became restless when his older sister, who had left in a frightful state, still hadn’t returned.

 

  He was worried about what might have happened to his sister, but an even bigger concern was what his sister might do.

 

  For Leon, Britia was not only the scariest person among the three siblings but also the most terrifying figure in his life. It was something he must never sincerely anger her.

 

  “Could she be angry with us too?”

 

  Leon asked Crave in a slightly anxious tone.

 

  The way his sister had looked at him and their brother seemed unsettling, and it continued to weigh on his mind.

 

  “…What did we do? Tia is angry because of that pesky Huate. By now, he must be giving Tia a hard time as payback for bothering us!”

 

  Crave grumbled, trying to act tough. However, a sense of fear was evident on his face.

 

  “It’s because you kept quiet about this matter to our sister.”

 

  “Hey!”

 

  Crave, lying on the makeshift bed, shouted indignantly, as if feeling wronged.

 

  “Didn’t you also say that Tia shouldn’t know about this?”

 

  When Crave argued that it wasn’t a mutual agreement, Leon turned around abruptly, his eyes fixed on him.

 

  “Ah, back then, I didn’t expect things to turn out like this!”

 

  “Then, was I supposed to know?”

 

  “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ll say that I was being blackmailed by my brother and had no choice but to keep quiet.”

 

  Leon quickly shook his head from side to side, making a frustrated expression.

 

  “Come to think of it, I never had a chance to tell Sister from the beginning. It was only after Sister briefly disappeared from the room that brother spilled the beans to me.”

 

  Leon’s complexion brightened as she realized her innocence in this matter.

 

  “I haven’t done anything wrong. I just couldn’t let my brother go alone, that’s all.”

 

And if he hadn’t gone with him, he would have been even more severely injured by now. Leon proudly puffed out his chest, saying that he had only done a good deed.

 

  “Leon Lockhart, have you forgotten what you did? What you were up to?”

 

  Crave snorted at him, trying to escape the blame alone.

 

  “What did I do?”

 

  Leon tried to appear confident, but his pupils trembled. He made an effort to rummage through his thoughts, trying to recall what he had done.

 

  “You lied, saying that Huate proposed to you.”

 

  “…So what? If Sister doesn’t know it’s a lie, that’s the end of it.”

 

  “You fool! Tia didn’t know about it!”

 

  Crave lashed out at him, urging him to think logically.

 

  “No matter how strange Huate may be, he went crazy, saying he wanted to marry Tia! But suddenly, he changed his mind as if flipping the back of his hand and said he wants to marry someone else. And that someone is you?”

 

  “Well, then what should I have said at that time!”

 

  Philip, who had been listening quietly as the two fought, intervened, looking towards the entrance.

 

  “Isn’t it more important that big sister isn’t too late?”

 

  With that remark, Crave and Leon, who had been making a fuss, fell quiet as if cold water had been poured over them.

 

  “I’ll go and look for her.”

 

  Leon scratched his head with his uninjured hand and stood up from his seat.

 

  “Where do you think you’re going with that body? You can’t.”

 

  Philip grabbed Leon’s arm and stopped him.

 

  “Who are you to order me around?”

 

  “Big sister asked me to keep an eye on the two of you.”

 

  Leon, who had been threatening him growlingly, hesitated.

 

  “That means she wants me to make sure the two of you don’t do anything else here.”

 

  Leon lowered his head and closed her mouth. Then, he clicked his tongue, stood up from his seat, and headed towards the entrance.

 

  “Leon, if you go, sister will scold you even more later.”

 

  “Ah, I’m not going! I’m just checking when sis will come!”

 

  Leon, irritated, lifted the curtain that was hanging at the entrance and looked outside. He saw people gathering at the edge of the camp.

 

  He could soon recognize the man standing in the middle. He was the easiest to identify among the Northern Knights due to his imposing stature.

 

  But along with that stature, he witnessed something strange. Sig Turas was holding his sister in his arms. And he was saying something to the knights.

 

  “Sis is over there.”

 

  Philip, who had approached him, said. Leon turned to look at him with a serious expression.

 

  “You see it the same way in your eyes, right? It’s not just me seeing it that way, right?”

 

  “Unless he’s magically disguised, that person is your sister.”

 

  “What is he doing?”

 

  Leon had to rely on his intuition to grasp their conversation, which could not be heard from a distance.

 

  Britia, with flushed cheeks, seemed to be pushing Sig away with her arms as she said something to him. Then Sig shook his head and said something.

 

  “Please let me go, Duke-nim. I have to go back to my family.”

 

  “No, Britia. You are my prisoner. You can’t go anywhere.”

 

  Distorted voices of the two people echoed in Leon’s mind.

 

  “Why is that? What’s going on? What is Tia doing?”

 

  Crave, who couldn’t get up, couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.

 

  “That mad dog is holding sis, and the Northern Knights are surrounding them, preventing her from coming this way.”

 

  Leon mixed the visible situation with the situation in his mind as he spoke.

 

  “What? What’s happening?”

 

  Thanks to that, Crave was so surprised that his mouth hung open.

 

  “It’s fortunate that sis doesn’t seem to be angry anymore.”

 

  “Wow, that’s a relief. But what do you mean by Sig holding Tia? Give me proper information about the patient!”

 

  Is Sig holding her body? Or is he not letting her go as she tries to leave? He couldn’t possibly be holding her tightly like a vice, right?

 

  “It’s a dangerous situation for Tia, isn’t it?”

 

  “She doesn’t seem to be in danger.”

 

  “That’s a relief, but explain it in more detail, Philip!”

 

  “I don’t know how to explain it… Duke Turas seems to truly love big sister. It looks like genuine affection.”

 

  At the mention of “genuine affection,” the tension in Crave’s neck relaxed.

 

  “It feels like when I first saw Hailey acting annoyingly in front of me and my brother. My limbs went weak, and I felt strange inside.”

 

  Following Leon’s complaints, Crave became completely relieved. In short, it was the sound of the two engaging in a lovey-dovey behavior.

 

  “Why are you speaking so ambiguously and confusingly!”

 

  Crave, who had worried and thought something had happened between the two of them, became angry.

 

  “Brother, what if that mad dog actually kidnaps our sister like that?”

 

  He wasn’t confident that he could stop Sig if he really intended to do that. Especially with so many Northern Knights around.

 

  Reluctantly, he had to admit that even if they used Philip as bait, it would be difficult to rescue Britia.

 

  “Well, then…”

 

  Crave fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.

 

  What if Sig kidnapped Britia with the intention of taking her to Altheim?

 

  In his mind, he pictured the pitiful sight of Britia yearning for the warm southern lands, frozen in the cold walls of Altheim Castle.

 

  Her homeland was the South, no matter what anyone said. But now, that southern land had become an unreachable place, no matter how much she longed for it.

 

  And he felt the same way. Crave had to accept reality.

 

  “If Sig kidnaps Tia, let’s ask him to take us with them when they go.”

 

  Feeling awkward, he chuckled and spoke as if making one of his usual teasing jokes.