Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: The Stupid Sheep
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"Do you even know how wicked Lady Lami is? They told me to be careful! And I know her way better than that girl does!"
I never imagined Rosalyn would say something like that to Ed.
I was completely at a loss for words.
Originally, talk of Lami had no place in their first meeting.
'No way... I haven't messed up their future romance because of me, have I...?'
The idea that I could ruin Ed's heartfelt romance arc from the original story felt like a bolt from the blue. I'd loved reading it so much.
"So I told her it wasn't true, but she wouldn't believe me! I got so mad that I called her a stupid sheep first... I'm sorry, Lady Lami."
Ed apologized to me with a teary-eyed, pitiful expression. He seemed genuinely guilty for snapping and calling her a stupid sheep.
In that brief moment, I racked my brain desperately for the right thing to say to him.
'Raising kids isn't easy at all...'
Words that would come easily to an adult felt so tricky with a child—I kept second-guessing myself.
But the next instant, I realized all my agonizing was pointless wasted time anyway.
Times like this, I was almost glad to see the choice window pop up.
I quickly scanned the options and picked one.
"Geez, fighting over something like that. From now on, I'll handle those things, so you just stay out of it."
This felt reassuring, right? The tone wasn't too curt, and the line seemed spot-on.
If I'd hurled a venomous insult at Ed even in a moment like this, his favorability would've tanked hard.
I glanced at the favorability bar I'd painstakingly raised to 47% bit by bit.
Then I blinked in disbelief, looking back and forth between Ed's face and the bar to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.
'Why is it like that? Is it glitched?'
I hadn't even hoped it'd go up. After all, Ed had fought with a kid his age, and here I was scolding him for it.
But for it to drop by 2%? Unthinkable!
'That's precious favorability I worked so hard to build...!'
It didn't rise just from being nice, and it fluctuated on weird points. No rhyme or reason at all.
Biting back tears, I tore my eyes from the shrunken bar and saw Ed standing there, lips pressed tight in a sulky pout.
"It's not like that..."
Ed muttered in a tiny voice.
The moment I heard it, I realized my mistake—but before I could speak, Ed unleashed a torrent of words like a machine gun.
"How can I just stand there when they insult Lady Lami? You don't get how I feel—that's too much!"
"Ed, that's..."
"I hate Lady Lami!"
With a piercing shriek, Ed shoved me wildly out of the study.
Ed runs out crying, and I get chased away instead?
The door slammed shut the second I was out. Standing forlornly in the hall, I hesitantly called to Billy inside.
"Um, can I come in?"
The curious stares from passing servants made it mortifying.
"I'll talk to Ed, so go back and rest."
Clutching the doorknob like each second was an hour, I heard Billy's reply.
My hand drooped dejectedly from the knob.
I trudged back to my room.
Not only had I run into Rosalyn like that, but hearing "I hate Lady Lami!" from Ed again felt like a punch to the head.
"Ahh! Are you okay?"
The moment I opened the door and slid bonelessly to the floor, Anna—who'd been tidying—rushed over in alarm.
I let out a deep sigh from the depths of my dantian, grabbed Anna, and asked.
"Anna, what should I do in a situation like this?"
"What happened? Get up first."
Mature Anna calmly helped me up and asked. Keeping my teary face, I slowly opened my mouth.
"Well, just now..."
While Anna was deep in hearing about the Magic Tower from Lami, an awkward silence hung in Billy's study.
"Can't say you did well."
Billy broke the quiet, rubbing his forehead. Ed hung his head, much calmer now than before.
"If someone insults one of mine, you fight back. But you shouldn't have yelled at Lady Morton like that."
"Then, Uncle, you're not scolding me for fighting that sheep beastkin?"
"Right. But you need to apologize to Lady Morton."
"...Yes!"
Ed looked up at Billy with touched, shining eyes.
Billy gave Ed an impassive glance before sitting at his desk.
"How'd you get that injury? Getting hurt that bad fighting a kid? Unbecoming of Rub blood."
Ed trained daily in swordsmanship and visited the Magic Tower regularly for magic—yet he'd gotten scratched by an untrained little sheep.
It was naturally irksome.
Billy frowned at the long scratches on Ed's cheek and nape.
Ed hesitated, covering the wounds with both hands, then spoke.
"I'm a wolf, and she's a sheep."
Head bowed as he spoke, Ed looked straight up at Billy.
"She has no fangs or sharp claws like Lady Lami—what if I accidentally hurt her bad?"
Insulting Lami infuriated him, but Ed knew going all-out would seriously injure that tiny sheep.
First real scrap, so he'd focused solely on holding back his strength—and neglected his defense, getting hurt.
'If I hadn't met Lady Lami, I might've fought full-force.'
Growing up among carnivores, he'd known little of herbivores' traits.
If Lami hadn't taken him in, if he hadn't spent time at Morton Manor surrounded by sheep beastkin, such consideration wouldn't have crossed his mind.
And she wasn't just any herbivore—she was a sheep beastkin like Lami. He couldn't use his full power.
"Thinking that far ahead? Commendable."
Billy, legs crossed as he listened, smiled faintly.
"Get that wound treated first, then go see Lady Morton."
"Yeees..."
Ed, briefly puffed up from the praise, deflated at Lami's name and mumbled.
After leaving the study, Ed got simple treatment from the manor physician, then headed to Lami's room.
Behind the vast fields of Sheep Territory stretched a lush forest.
In a small cabin at the forest's edge, Rosalyn sat alone at the table, chin propped on her hand.
Her parents had headed deeper into the woods for herbs right after returning from the Magic Tower, leaving her by herself.
Sitting with a sulky expression, she stared at the few strands of blue hair clutched in her palm.
'Hmph, stupid wolf.'
Memories of the fight with Ed kept replaying. Probably because she hadn't tossed those blue hairs yet.
"Hope I never see him again."
She shook the hairs into the trash and rubbed her own nape. Smooth, not a scratch.
Cheeks, hands, arms—same story.
No minor abrasions even where she'd easily gotten hurt fighting Ed.
'He held back, so he seems nice... but why side with a bad beastkin like that?'
In the heat of battle, she hadn't noticed. But replaying it at home, anyone could see Ed had gone easy on her.
"Still, calling me a stupid sheep was too much!"
Rosalyn shook her head furiously, nearly thinking Ed was okay for a second, and yelled.
She'd kindly warned him Lami was a bad beastkin to stay away from, and he'd shot back, "Lady Lami's the best sheep beastkin I've met!"
Outraged, she'd snapped back—and he'd yelled, "You stupid sheep!"
'Who's the stupid one calling me stupid?'
Rosalyn huffed and puffed alone in the cabin.
Living in a remote forest cabin far from the central district, this was her first real fight with a peer.
'That kid seemed like Wolf Territory nobility.'
Suddenly, she recalled the tall wolf beastkin standing behind Ed.
Not flashy or gaudy, but soft, luxurious fabric—clearly expensive.
His leisurely, arrogant gaze, natural casual speech—they screamed nobility, someone used to lording over beastkin.
"Rosalyn, been good?"
Her parents returned, baskets brimming with herbs.
Rosalyn bolted to them, asking about the man behind Ed.
"That man..."
Dad hesitated without answering right away, so Mom stepped in.
"He's the head of Wolf Territory. A very scary man."