PSITAC 12

 Chapter 12

Aside from Nael, who kept destroying my peace, there was another problem I had to face: the welfare of my babies.

I couldn’t have different children living in the same environment, after all.

And I had also received a report that our adorable otter was looking listless and sluggish.

“Your Grace, Luna has no energy. She’s been lying around and even refused her snack!”

An animal refusing snacks was a serious red alert.

An otter should be living leisurely, swimming freely in a flowing stream. But there was no stream in this garden. It wasn’t an environment suitable for an otter.

Luna, the otter, had arrived just the day before yesterday. Rodgo had found her while going to buy rosewood.

Since there had been an expensive ribbon tied around the otter’s neck, it was clear she had not been a wild otter but one that had been living in a mansion.

The decisive proof, of course, was that she ate herbs.

At this rate, every divine beast in existence is going to end up in this mansion.

Anyway, an urgent new construction project was needed for Luna.

“Hm…”

“What are you thinking about?”

Emma peeked over my desk. A rough pile of sketches was spread out there.

They were still closer to doodles than proper drawings, but I was planning to model it after a zoo and create suitable environments for each animal. No fences, by the way.

Perhaps because they had once been divine beasts, even the carnivores all ate vegetables. Even the bears were gnawing on herbs, so no cruel struggle for survival broke out. Who would have thought I would one day see bears grazing?

“Luna refused her snack.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s very serious. Luna refused her snack.”

The divine beasts in this area all seemed to eat nothing but grass, so they went absolutely crazy for fruit and sweet potato snacks. But Luna had rejected even the sweet potato treats.

“Lu, Luna might be sick?”

“Maybe she’s depressed. Her environment is different from what she’s used to.”

It looked like I would have to work a miracle. Create something from nothing.

“Please contact Sir David.”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

Emma said brightly.

* * *

Can someone explain this situation?

Instead of David, who I had been expecting, someone completely unexpected had shown up.

Didn’t we already part ways saying we’d never see each other again?

Then why was Nael standing in front of me?

I glared at the peace-destroyer who kept scattering ashes over my happy honey-jam life.

“Open the door, Agatha.”

“Please speak from there.”

I was still annoyed. I had been wrongfully accused, and I hadn’t even gotten an apology yet. …Well, it had been a situation that looked suspicious enough, admittedly.

In any case, I had no desire to get tangled up with Nael any further—not even as much as Merry’s poop.

“Fuu. What did you do to my dog?”

Nael sighed, and his bangs swayed.

“Nothing.”

Was it a crime to feed him well, let him sleep well, and then send him back for free? A crime? If you think it is, then sue me!

“My dog isn’t eating. He was never a picky eater, either. Did you do something to the feed?”

Nael said it as though he were exhausted. Underneath that, though, was a small suspicion that Agatha had perhaps mixed something into the feed in order to bewitch Hisha.

That would certainly be in character for Agatha, if you thought about all the things she had done to get attention.

But there’s no way, right? What are you, some kind of delusional lunatic? I’ve already told you enough times that it wasn’t me!

“There’s no way. I’m innocent.”

I deliberately spoke coldly and stiffly.

Why should I be polite when his words weren’t polite to begin with?

“…The important thing is that Hisha isn’t eating.”

In Nael’s arms, Hisha opened his eyes wide. I couldn’t bring myself to ignore that harmless little gaze looking at me.

“…Emma, bring the feed.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Emma, who had been giving Nael a sour look, soon returned with the feed.

You said he wasn’t eating?

The moment Emma gave him the food, Hisha devoured it as if he had never refused food in his life. Nael glared at him with blazing eyes.

Chomp, chomp, chomp—

I quietly watched as Hisha ate with such enthusiasm he looked ready to lick the bowl clean.

Hisha was a tiny puppy with deep navy-blue fur. His tail curled upward in a round little loop, and his ears stood perkily up. Judging by how he was wagging his tail while eating, the food must have been delicious.

Phew. He doesn’t even know the first letter of “picky eater.”

“What about changing the feed?”

If he won’t eat it, then what on earth are you feeding him?

The feed our mansion animals ate was a special formula I had personally made. I used top-quality ingredients and spared no expense, so there was no way it could taste bad.

“If you need it, I can sell you our feed.”

I said this magnanimously.

Nael, who had been folding his arms and glaring at Hisha, raised an eyebrow.

His eyes burned as he looked at me. He seemed to hate having to ask me for something and receive help from me.

Well, understandable… except, what did I do? Why do I have to keep understanding and apologizing?

“Do you need it?”

I said with a smug smile.

Nael said nothing, only kept glaring at the top of Hisha’s head as the puppy quickly finished the feed and circled around the bowl.

“I can also offer delivery service.”

“What?”

Nael finally looked at me.

“The feed. I can deliver it monthly as well. Wouldn’t that solve the problem?”

And then I wouldn’t have to see you either. This is my special bonus for you only. One extra dumpling for the hated guy.

But instead of saying that, I held out my hand.

Nael looked at me in confusion, then placed his hand in mine.

What the—trying to get things for free, are you?

I flicked his hand away, and his expression changed oddly. Looking at his own hand with a strange face, Nael waited for me to continue.

“Money, please. Money. Surely you’re not expecting me to serve you for free like some sushi restaurant?”

You’re the Crown Prince, and you’re still trying to milk people for free?

Nael’s eyebrows twitched again, this time in disbelief.

David reviewed Agatha’s sketches with a peculiar expression.

He already knew that Agatha had been focusing on far more productive things lately. But this much?

Agatha said seriously,

“Because of the agreement with the gardener, we can’t touch the forest. But among the animals, there are some who absolutely need to live in a forest, and some who need a stream.”

“…That is true.”

“So I think we need to turn part of the garden into a forest or a stream. I made a rough outline, but I’ll need a specialist.”

“I see.”

David nodded.

It was almost like creating a forest in a desert—making water flow across dry ground.

This was the sort of thing that required magic poured into it.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to fire the gardener instead?” David asked.

He wanted to hear Agatha’s response.

Agatha had spent a fortune caring for the animals. And she had also gone further and spent more to hire workers to care for them.

And now she was going to fire the very people who worked for her estate? That would be staining both Stadion’s reputation and her own.

David held his breath and waited.

“No. How could I make the people who have served the family quit just to care for these kids? And we have to respect the gardener’s pride too. Emma told me he’s the best gardener around.”

Agatha said this seriously.

“From now on, I’m going to keep finding ways to satisfy everyone, David.”

David bit his lip.

When people called Agatha a villainess and said she was immature, David never believed them. He believed she was only acting that way because she had been hurt, and that one day she would return to who she used to be.

The Agatha he knew was a kind, warm girl—someone who would even reach out a hand to a street urchin.

Do you have nowhere to go? Father, take this child with us. He looks a bit like my eyes.

She had once lifted David off the ground with her clean hands as though it were nothing.

The warm girl was still alive inside Agatha after all. David’s faith had not been broken.

His cheeks slightly red, David nodded.

The moment he confirmed that he had not been wrong, his face warmed strangely. It felt like the excitement he had hidden away was coming back to life.

David smiled softly.

“You’re right, Your Grace. I said something foolish. I’ll hire a mage and look for people to help with the work.”

“Thank you, David. Oh! Did you find a veterinarian?”

“Yes. He’ll arrive soon. He studied overseas and is said to be a legend in veterinary medicine—especially in the study of divine beasts and animals.”

“Great. Thank you again, David.”

“It’s nothing, Your Grace.”

David thought that as long as Agatha could live like this, he would be satisfied. To make that happen, he intended to serve her with everything he had.

Whatever she wanted, he would make it happen.

Nael roughly set down the feed bag he had been holding.

“Fuu…”

He braced both hands on the desk. Hisha, who had been watching his mood, carefully approached and rubbed his head against Nael’s leg.

[Even herbs with the same name can have different scents and tastes. You eat only tasty things too, so why shouldn’t I?]

Hisha blinked his sparkling eyes innocently.

So this was the dignity of a divine beast? Tossed away on some random family dog.

Nael tapped the neatly packaged feed bag.

“Surely you’re not expecting me to serve you for free?”

With his hand, not with money.