Huff. Huff.

Ritter felt irritated just by the Viscountess’s figure alone, who was gasping for air with a feverish face.

‘What do you mean you could do well?’

And now, was she trying to avoid being reprimanded by coaxing him in advance?

“This ungrateful thing.. once she gets caught, she will be educated thorough—“

“Viscountess.”

Ritter throw her a sharp glance, cutting off the Viscountess’s mumbled words and her teeth grinding.

“You said, you’ll introduce your niece to me.”

“Y-Your Highness!”

“It was a very.. unexpected encounter.”

Unlike the Viscountess’s shrieking voice towards Beatty, in front of the boy, her voice was squashed down like a frog exposed to a snake.

“I also don’t know.. why that child suddenly went berserk.”

“Hm.”

“Next time, I’ll educate her firmly, Your Highness.”

“I’m not sure..”

At the Viscountess’s excuse, Ritter muttered while tilting his head, “Isn’t Viscountess the one who needs to explain the matter first?”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t it a rare opportunity? The youngest prince is out of the palace. At times like this.. are you trying to pull some strings to make contributions for my brother?”

“What, what is Your Highness talking about! Don’t Your Highness know that I’m loyal to Your Highness and His Majesty?”

The Viscountess screamed out.

“If you don’t want to be suspected like this, you have to work properly. Isn’t that so?”

“Y-yes. I’ll definitely sort it out, so I beg to Your Highness...”

“Yeah.”

Looking at the Viscountess bowing down with a trembling voice, Ritter declared in a cold voice, “Opportunities won’t be given multiple times.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

A cold sweat fell on Firina’s forehead, who bowed her head even deeper. “J-just in case it takes time to find her, I’ll tell the Duke’s family not to say anything unnecessary.”

“Hmm?”

“If I tell them that my niece ran away from home on her own accord, we can prevent the suspicion from pointing out this way.”

Ritter then replied with a smile to Firina, who had been sweating profusely while orchestrating a way to put the blame entirely on her niece.

“Great. If you need it, I’ll give you the permission to use the royal crystal ball.”

***

Gallop. Gallop.

Honk!

“To the North! To the North, Aslan Territory! For people who are going to Aslan Territory, please get on board quickly!”

Beatty, who ran away in her little squirrel form, hid in a stagecoach that’s moving around the kingdom.

‘Phew.’

As she barely managed to avoid people, she climbed onto the roof of the stagecoach, then saw the view of the capital.

A square with a fountain. A guild street with numerous street vendors. A little further away, she could see the mansions of the nobles.

Not too far from here, she saw a mansion with blue roof tiles. That was the place where she spent her life in the last decade.

And the place where she grew up.

‘My neck, it really hurts.’

The place where she died once.

Looking at the blue roof that was getting further away, she was lost in thought.

‘I thought, I would be happy by simply getting out of there.’

She only hoped to get out of that stuffy annex where she had been confined for almost her entire life.

Even after one death, she should have been delighted that she succeeded in escaping. It was the moment she’d been dreaming of, yet somehow, her heart felt empty.

‘But, why?’

Her skin that was peeled off due to the impact of reckless slapping earlier now stung.

Swish.

Unknowingly, the depressed squirrel’s tail hung down.

Gallop, gallop.

In the meantime, the racing stagecoach passed through the gate and finally left the capital.

Going far away.

From the place where she spent all of her life before.

From the place where someone whom she once believed as her friend.

‘Goodbye.’

Saying the unfamiliar greeting, she slightly cried.

On the roof of the stagecoach, there was a squirrel-sized moisture mark.

***

Thud. Thud.

In the swaying stagecoach, Beatty in her squirrel form licked her tiny paws with a calm face.

The first time she left the capital, she grieved because of the lingering feeling of the post betrayal.

‘It’s my fault for believing.’

Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that the cause of the problem was expecting an unpaid favor from a ‘friend’.

She should’ve noticed in the first place when he approached her, saying that it was his first time meeting a shapeshifter peer and wanting to be her friend.

“I don’t care even if you’re a humble squirrel shapeshifter. Because I think of you as a friend.”

No one around her had ever said that. Therefore, she was elated.

But now, she could think about it thoroughly.

‘It’s the pattern of a deception!’

But what was the reason that such ridiculous sweet-talk sounded so different from the others?

‘Friendship, ‘you are special’, those kinds of sweet words are all poison in disguise.’

Shuddered, Beatty made a firm resolve.

‘Let’s be wary of those who approach people with such unconditional favor! Promise to never trust anyone again!’

Beatty sorted out her chaotic thoughts and recalled the phrase within her favorite book, which she had memorized entirely.

[The term “Art of Tolerance” in the Memoirs of the Legendary Merchant Leader:

..I, as the writer and the legendary merchant leader who topped the continent with my own power, think, ‘To expect from stupid people is the act of being stupid people themselves.’]

So, it’s like that!

The little squirrel nodded repeatedly. Reflecting on her tragic experience, she realized.

‘I still have fantasies about human relationships! That’s why, it’s so easy to believe in that “I wanna save you” kind of word, or “It’s because I’m your friend”.’

Helping someone with a selfless heart.

‘That kind of thing only exists in a novel.’

Although she only had seen it in a book, Beatty had been diligently preparing for her future association member application.

Unlike those real records in commercial, geographical, and historical books, novels were all made-up stories.

A family who cared about each other, a friend who shared a generous heart, and a lover who was only for each other were also part of it.

Friendship, love, and such dazzling stories were like fairy tales.

In other words, it was an illusion that didn’t truly exist.

However, no matter how sweet and wonderful the story was, one had to distinguish it from reality.

‘Novels are different from reality.’

She wasn’t deluded in fantasy because she, uselessly, had been drunk with such a ‘friend who helped another without expecting back’ story.

Holding up her head with her arms crossed, Beatty reflected deeply.

Every favor is an illusion!

Everything in the world is a value-based deal!

Let’s be careful not to get scammed by the exchange rate!

‘Oh my goodness!’

Thinking about the exchange rate, Beatty quickly tidied up her fur and straightened her waist. She raised both of her front paws to brush the fur on her head as well, yet her fluffy little forefeet couldn’t even reach the top of her head, so she took out her notebook instead.

‘Remove the name from the appreciation list, and then on the payback list.. Ritter Deux Astrum.’

She drew a line over the name she had written down and wrote the name at the top of another list so she wouldn’t forget.

The memory of being saddened by his betrayal was such a foolish thing to be dwelled on. She would eventually discern and leave the things off, but that was that and this was this.

‘You gave me a shot, so I’ll have to pay you back.’

It was practical thinking.

According to Beatty’s favorite book, ‘Memoirs of the Legendary Merchant Leader’, the important element in the profit and loss exchange was to maintain an even condition.

Profit and loss, of course, weren’t made up of things only, but also personal relationships.

‘Ritter. I’m sure he is very conscious of the First Prince.’

His voice, which was usually spoken in a relaxed manner, became agitated when he mentioned his half-brother, the First Prince.

‘If only the First Prince were alive, it would be perfect if he could jab on Ritter’s weakness.’

What a waste.

Beatty’s tail, which had been going down because of the dismay, suddenly lifted up again as she remembered something.

‘No! Since I’m 8 years old now, the First Prince must be alive, right?’

But soon after, the striped tail went down the road again.

‘But there’s no way to meet the First Prince, is there? He’s been going around the battlefield and foreign countries since he was young, so how could I find and inform him...’

‘Right, I don’t even have a place to call home right now, what am I gonna accomplish by finding the First Prince.’

Beatty’s tail moved up and down according to her emotions.

Drop!

Suddenly a big seed fell in front of her.

‘Oh my! I like sunflower seeds.’

Beatty, who snatched the seed reflexively as soon as she saw it, kept the food safe in her cheek pouch and plucked out a fur.

As the cheek pouch was filled, she seemed to have calmed down a little.

Beatty, who was holding her forefeet on her chest, slowly caught her breath and gradually regained her composure.

‘All right. Let’s think about it calmly.’

Calmly. She also had to plan what she would do in the future.

“Oh, another one!”

Calmly—enough to get some snacks.

“Look at this squirrel’s cheeks. It’s so cute!”

‘Huh! I didn’t even realize..!’

All of sudden, Beatty, who was busy storing sunflower seeds offered by a passenger to her check pouch in a trance, came to her senses.

Swoosh!

“Oh, it ran away.”

Escaping from the captivating sunflower seeds given by the passenger, Beatty climbed onto the top of the stagecoach.

‘Phew.’

Beatty took the seeds out of her cheeks then arranged them neatly on the roof.

‘I have to be careful. Probably because I’m young, I still get carried away by my instincts quickly.’

No matter how immersed she was as an animal, she’s clearly a shapeshifter.

‘I have to keep my dignity as a shapeshifter.’

Beatty rubbed her cheek vigorously, wondering if she still had any seed crumbs stuck to her white fur.

Only a small number of families in the continent were blessed with shapeshifters born into their ancestry.

In the Astrum Kingdom, only the Aslan Family and the Royal Family received the blessing of a shapeshifter being.

A shapeshifter.

Proof of noble blood that was incomparable to anything else.

After reading the achievements of the great ancient shapeshifters who sacrificed themselves to drive out the mayhem and save the continent, Beatty was a little overwhelmed when she thought that the blood was passed on to her as well.

Therefore, she reckoned that she needed to be prepared as much as possible.