Chapter 34
Lea had never been this excited in her life. Not in the past, and not in this second, brief life. She was so happy that her eyes were damp with tears.
She was gripping Calix’s shoulder tightly as he flew through the air on the wind.
Just being with him made her happy, but every time Calix turned to her with a bright smile, it filled her with both joy and a strange kind of sadness.
‘If only things had been like this from the start.’
Like a fool, she hadn’t misconstrued her own feelings and had tormented him.
“Oh, there’s someone else wandering alone over there.”
At Ilion’s muttered comment as he sheathed his sword, Lea turned her gaze toward the man.
The game they’d hunted was steadily being packed away into specially crafted subspace pouches.
At this rate, victory was practically guaranteed. But at Ilion’s offhand remark, Lea turned her head without thinking, and flinched in shock.
A young man with black hair, as if covered by the shadow of a tree alone, was standing idly.
Or perhaps he was resting?
He held a sword, but stood there slackly, with no sign of strength in his stance.
He looked completely unmotivated, and Ilion immediately recognized him.
“That’s the bastard son from the Felitier family.”
While it was technically accurate, Calix frowned slightly at Ilion’s blunt words.
“Ilion, you really need to watch your mouth.”
When he gave the quiet reprimand, Ilion bowed deeply and raised his head again. The usual mischief in his face was gone, replaced by a serious expression.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Lea, who had been perched on Calix’s shoulder, gave a soft yelp and climbed down his back.
Of all people she could have run into… why did it have to be him?
“What’s wrong?”
As the weight on his shoulder lightened, Calix looked down to find the fox.
Just a moment ago, she’d been clinging to him, but now she had her tail tucked between her legs and was anxiously pacing.
‘Of all people… why did it have to be him?! This is bad…’
Lea couldn’t take her eyes off Derek, the man Ilion had just called the bastard of the Felitier family. She was deeply flustered.
The fox looked startled and restless, twitching her front paws before darting behind a tree trunk. Calix approached, kneeling down on one knee to meet her gaze.
“Your Highness, allow me to check.”
Ilion couldn’t bear to see the Crown Prince kneeling in the dirt and stepped forward, but Calix raised a hand to stop him.
“It seems startled…”
He tilted his head slightly and observed the fox carefully.
“What’s with it all of a sudden?”
Ilion recalled how the fox had arrogantly perched on the prince’s shoulder like she owned the world—she’d seemed almost smug, but in a cute way.
“Hm…”
Calix lightly tapped the fox’s moist nose with his firm fingertip. Her glimmering eyes immediately locked onto his.
The fear in her eyes didn’t sit well with him, and he extended his hand.
“Come here.”
The fox averted her gaze and instead looked toward Derek.
As soon as her eyes left him, Calix inexplicably felt displeased. His red eyes darkened slightly.
“Does it have a name?”
Ilion suddenly interjected. Perhaps the fox’s reluctance was getting frustrating.
“A name?”
“Our family’s hunting dogs only respond when we call them by name. If we just say ‘fox’, how would it know we’re calling?”
Sure, hunting dogs were trained from young, and there were many of them. But wasn’t this fox different?
She did seem intelligent…
Still thinking it over, Calix softly called out, “Fox.” He managed to get her attention, but she still didn’t approach him.
Watching this, Ilion added,
“Just give it a name already. Then you can train it to listen.”
Prompted by this, Calix began racking his brain. He wanted to give her the perfect name.
Her coat, soft like chocolate, was beautiful. But calling her ‘Chocolate’ felt far too childish.
He wanted something more noble, more affectionate…
“Hmm.”
Staring into the trembling eyes of the frightened fox, he sighed and murmured quietly.
“…Luna.”
At that, Lea—who had been staring at the other side of the tree—snapped her head around.
“See? Give it a name and it responds right away!”
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.