"Like I said, we're heading to the family meeting now."
"Yes."
"The old men with bounties on their heads will make a fuss, but just ignore them."
“...”
"After all, my bounty is the highest."
Oh, right...
I was once again reminded that Kiraxis was the most villainous of villains. Who boasts about the bounty on their head?
'Wait a minute. If I become the daughter-in-law of this household, will I have to be like that too?'
Could my allowance be based on the bounty amount?
"If you've finished eating, let's go, dear."
"What... huh?"
Wait, where did it go? Where's my cookie?
I looked at my now empty hands, feeling disheartened.
‘I've already eaten it all!’
Seeing me stare blankly at my empty hands, Kiraxis handed me another cookie.
"Want more?"
"Yes! Thank you."
Oh, but... It feels a bit wrong to eat this all by myself.
I happily accepted it and held it in my arms. I had already eaten the previous cookie like I was possessed. I didn’t want to be so selfish.
Reflecting on my actions, I broke the cookie in half with my front paws.
I broke one of the halves again and handed it to Nina.
"This is for you, Nina."
"Oh my, are you giving this to me? Thank you!"
"And this is for..."
Hmm, what should I call him?
He's not 'villain', and 'Mr. Kiraxis' is too hard to pronounce.
While contemplating, I just held out the cookie piece.
Who knows? He might want it too.
"Is this for me?"
"Yes."
"You're quite greedy for cookies, aren't you?"
Squish.
Kiraxis poked my cheek as if testing me.
I flailed my arms, trying to teach this villain some human decency.
Since we have to live together from now on, it would be nice if we got along well.
"Still, you shouldn't eat alone."
"Well, thank you."
Kiraxis took the cookie piece from my hand and... huh?
‘He didn’t eat it but put it into the air?’
Why???
Surely, he didn’t discard it in front of me because he didn’t want it, right?
* * *
Though I felt a bit unsettled, I decided to let go of the cookie piece’s whereabouts since it was Kiraxis who gave it to me in the first place.
How the recipient handles a gift is their own business.
While moving to the meeting room, I burrowed into his vest and suddenly became curious.
‘Is it warmer if he carries me around like this?’
Though I couldn't understand why he dressed up so nicely, there was no point in trying to guess the thoughts of a madman.
‘Why does he look so happy? Isn’t he smiling too often?’
The Kiraxis described in the original story was cold and stern, rarely smiling.
Yet earlier, when I was staring blankly at my empty hands, he covered his mouth and trembled as if stifling a laugh. I saw it all.
Then, just as I was feeling uneasy about acting too childish, an imposing door appeared. With a blink of an eye, the location had changed in an instant. Truly, magic was like magic.
"Announce us."
The servant, frozen in surprise by Kiraxis's arrival, regained his senses at the command and opened his mouth.
"The master of the Magic Tower, Kiraxis Rysian Driblyane, and...!"
The servant hesitated, unsure if I was a doll, an animal, or a beastkin, and glanced nervously at Kiraxis.
Kiraxis patiently supplied the missing information.
"Lady Florin."
"Ah, yes! Lady Florin!"
And soon after, the meeting went as expected—chaos.
* * *
"That's ridiculous! If we bring in an albino daughter-in-law, the next generation will surely have another albino!"
"Tsk, tsk, get a grip. Master of the Magic Tower!"
"Have you been bewitched by a demon?"
"What about the candidates who have long been working to be suitable for that position?"
The loud criticisms directed at Kiraxis were enough to make my ears hurt.
The surprising part was that Kiraxis never took me out of his vest during the entire meeting. It was as if he was protecting me.
‘If I were sitting on that table...’
I might have thrown up from the overwhelming pheromones and shouts.
I never expected the Driblyane family meeting to be easy, but this was beyond imagination. Clinging tightly to Kiraxis's chest, I barely moved.
Pat, pat. Kiraxis looked down at me for a moment and comforted me as if to reassure me.
"The old folks are barking more than usual today. They're like a pack of dogs, howling together."
The problem was, his relaxed demeanor and words only provoked the elders even more.
"That, that, that!!!"
Oh, one down.
"Argh!"
Two down.
‘Hang in there.’
I worried for the elderly council members who clutched their chests and fell over, feeling their blood pressure spike in real-time.
‘The family head didn’t seem to attend the meeting.’
Kiraxis naturally sat at the left of the head seat. Both the head seat and the one opposite Kiraxis were empty.
‘Oh, one of the empty seats is for the family head. The other must be for Ariadne, the former heir.’
Then, it happened.
"The great head of the Driblyane family has arrived. Everyone, shut up."
The meeting room doors, which had somehow opened, now admitted a cold, authoritative voice that cut through the chaos.
The man who spoke looked like he had 'assistant' written all over him.
With olive-green hair neatly tied back and silver-rimmed glasses, he wore an owl emblem badge, the mark of an aide, on his chest. And he... was a fierce critic.
"Don't foul the air with your breath. It's filthy. Don't spray saliva everywhere."
"......"
"Now, clear the way for the family head."
Correcting myself, the man who was spraying something that smelled like cedarwood air freshener seemed more like a fanatic of the family head.
‘He seems a bit off...’
However, the fresh scent in the air made things feel a lot better. The oppressive atmosphere seemed lighter.
"That’s pheromone neutralizing perfume. He developed it himself."
"Wow."
Kiraxis briefly explained as he patted my head. Yet while everyone else stood up, he remained seated, not even turning to acknowledge the family head, giving off a very nonchalant impression.
‘Kiraxis... acting coy...’
The gap between this and his image in the original story was shocking, but there was something even more surprising.
"How long are you planning to not look at your father’s face?"
"Until I feel like it."
"Being sulky is only acceptable for a day or two, you brat. Your sister is gone, so you should fill her place!"
"If I feel like it."
"Tch. You should quickly take up the position of heir and protect the family."
Thump, thump.
The sound of heavy footsteps filled the room.
With his hair slicked back with pomade, a sturdy jaw, and shoulders broad and solid enough to defy his age, he wore a white suit with a... hot pink shirt underneath.
‘A hot pink shirt???’
I stared, slack-jawed, at the family head. The original story barely described him, so I had no idea what he looked like.
I assumed he would resemble a corporate chairman, but this... this was...
‘More like a mob boss!’
If Kiraxis was a modernized corporate-style mob boss, then the family head looked like the original boss who had dozens of subsidiaries.
I buried my head between my stubby front paws, eyes wide.
‘Oh no, I think I really picked the wrong life this time...!’
Where is my life heading?
"Rafiren. What do you think that is, that my son is holding?"
"In my eyes, it appears to be a white marten. Usually, martens change their fur color with the seasons, but this being winter, it is white."
"Not an albino?"
"I can’t say for certain without seeing its eyes, but considering the young master's extreme collection habits, I judge it highly likely to be an albino."
The spray-happy aide’s name was Rafiren.
By now, the room had settled into a quiet stillness. Those who had been shouting earlier seemed subdued by the family head’s authority.
Naturally, I, just a poor, cute, pitiful marten, was also cowed into silence.
"Don’t mind it. She’s my daughter-in-law."
At that moment, Kiraxis tried to push my head deeper into his vest, as if to hide me from view, as if I was too precious to show.
‘Ack! This only makes them more interested in me!’
And I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!
Struggling, I managed to peek my head out from between the buttons of his vest.
“Huff, huff...”
I thought I was going to die!
"...Heh."
Rafiren, who had caught my eye, burst into a laugh. But within a second, he returned to his icy demeanor, as if he had never laughed.
