“It is shameful for the daughter of a duke to use her authority in such a way. Besides…”
“I knew that it was not in your nature to refuse, and took advantage of it rather forcefully. I can make no excuses for that…”
I really did not see myself as having been forced to do it… If anything, a part of me thought it was a great opportunity.
Well, I wouldn’t deny that I had been afraid of Ms. Claire in the moment, but that hardly made me feel manipulated.
Besides, I still remember everything she said on that day… And there had been nothing about her position or authority?
Perhaps it was just my way of thinking. But she had never brought up her father being a duke.
And yet, she was being very hard on herself now.
…In any case, I would have to answer everything she said, one by one.
I turned to Leo, who had been listening quietly. And then in a small whisper so that Ms. Claire could not hear, I told her what I wanted her to do.
Leo nodded and then got up to her feet. And then she moved away from me and went over to Ms. Claire.
Then Leo lay down and rested her face on Ms. Claire’s lap.
“Good Leo? Mr. Takumi. What is this?”
“For now, I think you should pet her and calm down.”
And so Ms. Claire did as I said and began to stroke Leo’s head.
The texture of Leo’s lushious coat had a healing effect, and Ms.Claire’s stiff expression began to relax.
Oh. At the sound of my voice, she became tense again.
Perhaps she thought that I would be cross with her, just like Sebastian?
But please, just continue to pet Loe and relax…
“…Umm. It seems that you believe you abused your authority, but I don’t agree with that. Not even a little. In fact, I don’t even think you were speaking to me as a daughter of a duke during that time.”
Alright. She was listening.
Leo. Please stay there and keep being petted.
I said wordlessly to Leo as our eyes met. And then I continued to speak.
…But I wasn’t even sure if Leo understood what I wanted.
“I won’t deny that I was a little overwhelmed when I saw you rebuke the servants. However, it wasn’t directed towards me, and yet you still apologized to me about raising your voice. And that was enough for me.”
“And while you may say that you took advantage of my character… I do not feel as if I’ve been used. If anything, I saw it as a convenient reason for me to come to this forest. …Furthermore…”
“How could a man like me not feel happy about having a beautiful woman make a request to him?”
Ms. Claire’s cheeks flushed… Perhaps I had said too much?
Oh, well. There was no taking it back now.
Besides, her expression had relaxed greatly.
And it was a little difficult to see such a pretty face be tense for so long…
“…But, are you really certain about it?”
Ms. Claire was still not wholly convinced.
“In that case, Ms. Claire. Please tell me the reason that you wanted to come to this forest. And then we can consider this entire matter settled.”
“…If that is what you want, Mr. Takumi. Of course, I already did mean to tell you.”
“…Yes, you did say that.”
“It was just that I assumed then, that it would be only you and Leo who were with me. And that we could talk whenever we wanted.”
“Ahaha. Well, not Sebastian, Ms. Lyra and the guards are here too.”
“It is not something I want Sebastian to hear… But I can speak of it now. Everyone is asleep.”
So, Ms. Claire was finally going to tell me why she wanted to come to this forest.
The reason that warranted berating her servants and asking me rather vigorously to accompany her… I had been so curious that I only slept for about eight hours at night…
No, that was a joke. Such pointless and unspoken thoughts drifted in my mind as I waited for Ms. Claire to begin.
“I… I have no actual interest in the forest itself. My real interest is with the Silver Fenrirs.”
“The ones that aren’t Leo?”
“Yes. Different Silver Fenrirs… To borrow your words, Mr. Takumi, the Silver Fenrirs of this world…”
“Hmm… And why are you interested in Silver Fenrirs?”
“It is because… Well, my encounter with Leo is part of the reason…”
Here she paused once and seemed to be deep in thought.
In the meantime, Leo continued to lie there quietly under Ms. Claire’s hand.
As she petted Leo, Ms. Claire’s face showed a gentle smile that was quite different from her expression earlier.
Leo’s healing ability was impressive…
Perhaps this is what they meant when they said Silver Fenrirs were the most powerful… As the silly notion came to me, Ms. Claire seemed to have gathered her thoughts.
“I…when I was born… To be precise, as far back as I can remember…from that time…a certain rumor spread through the household among the servants.”
“Yes. They were saying that I was the founder, the first lord of the Liebert house, now reborn.”
“Reborn… Was there a reason for people to think this?”
“That… It had to do with a painting.”
“There were several such paintings. They showed the growth of the first lord of the Liebert house. And one of the paintings was that of a baby. …And I looked just like it.”
“You did? …Was the founder of your house a woman then?”
“Yes. But in spite of being a woman, she stood on the battlefield and bravely routed out the enemy forces.”
So the founder was…a woman… Given the stories of battle that led to becoming a noble, I had assumed that she was a man…