Chapter 8
……On the way back to the annex where I had been staying with the maid sister.
I kept thinking about my conversation with my sister.
“Then, I have a condition.”
“Huh? What condition is it……?”
“Don’t call me sister. Whether you get adopted into my family or not, I don’t care.”
“…….”
“You’re not my younger sister. There is only one person I recognize as my family.”
“…….”
“So even if you come to my annex, don’t ever bother me. If you come, quickly disappear when you see the situation.”
The maid sister greeted me with a look that said she had expected this.
After taking off my shoes and quietly lying down on the bed,
I kept thinking about my meeting with my sister.
‘As expected, Sister doesn’t recognize me.’
But it was okay.
I had expected that she wouldn’t recognize me.
‘I’m just worried that my sister is lonely.’
Today, my sister had the strong smell of loneliness around her.
With an affectionate heart, I bravely lay down.
But I couldn’t fall asleep at all.
“This is all because this bed is too hard!”
I used to sleep on a soft, fluffy bed, lying beside my sister and snoring softly.
I turned my head and looked at the empty space beside me.
‘There’s no soft bed, no squishy sister, nothing…….’
Only then did I truly realize it.
For some reason, my body began to tremble, and I felt cold.
My teeth chattered as I hugged the blanket tightly.
“But I’m okay.”
When I was a stray dog, I often slept alone on the cold ground.
Sometimes people even spat at me.
Sometimes wild beasts tried to eat me in one bite.
So, you see.
The reason I’m trembling like this right now is…
It’s just because a little cold wind is getting into my heart.
I buried my face deeply into the pillowcase.
There was a salty smell around my eyes, but I held back my tears.
Because I had to go see my sister again tomorrow.
I desperately tried to think of something good.
‘At least I haven’t been banned from entering Sister’s house, so I can keep seeing her.’
I had brought flowers to my sister and let her meet the warm sunlight.
‘I really have to be strong.’
I had to become close with my sister again and make her face bloom with nothing but happy smiles.
I tightly closed my eyes again.
And so, the whole night passed.
The next morning.
Just as I finished getting ready to visit my sister’s Haeguk Mansion,
I was attacked by a whole bunch of mice.
“Gasp! W-what are these m-mice?”
Among them, a mouse with especially pure white fur ran right in front of me.
“I saw you at Haeguk Mansion yesterday! Amazing human! H-how did you do it? You did something incredibly amazing!”
The mouse’s tail slapped against my pajamas.
“Huh? What was so amazing?”
“The master of that gloomy house let you into the mansion!”
“Yeah, she did…….”
“How did you manage to win over that terrifying master who controls such frightening darkness?!”
“Win her over? You bad mouse! Is my sister a sweet potato?”
“I didn’t mean it like that……. I mean, how did you become close with her?”
I gave the mouse some cheese from my breakfast and muttered sadly.
“No. We aren’t close at all yet. Sister told me not to stand out. She told me not to call her sister and not to bother her…….”
“What are you talking about? Anyway, she allowed you to come, didn’t she? You’re probably the only child who has ever entered that gloomy mansion!”
“……Huh?”
“Even our mouse group suspects that you’re going to cause some kind of huge disturbance in that mansion!”
At those words, the corners of my mouth lifted.
‘Hehe, I’m still the best to my sister!’
I shook my head as if wagging my tail, but the mouse muttered,
“But you know, that master doesn’t seem to have any intention of meeting you today. She locked the door first thing in the morning.”
“Tch…….”
“But try to understand her. That master is actually quite pitiful.”
“……Why?”
“Those maids isolate their master and put all the money into their own pockets. But your sister doesn’t really care about things like that, so…”
I thought about it carefully.
Come to think of it, the dress I had briefly seen my sister wearing yesterday was old.
There were also lots of grass stains along the hem of her skirt.
It was a problem my sister didn’t seem to care about.
But somehow, it made me sad.
‘My sister is the most sparkling person in the whole world.’
She wasn’t someone who deserved to be treated that way.
I clenched my fists tightly.
“I’m going to punish those maids!”
The mouse glanced at me with my fists tightly clenched and asked,
“How are you going to punish them?”
“Well……”
In reality, I was a stupid child who was about to be kicked out of the family.
And maybe it was because my sister had pushed me away?
Or maybe because I had suddenly become depressed?
Yesterday, I had been a brilliant puppy who could spout wise sayings one after another, but today, all I could think about was sweet potatoes.
At that moment, the mouse solemnly slapped its tail against the floor.
“I knew this would happen, so I came to help you.”
“Huh? You?”
“Actually, this mouse was given a mission by the Dog God and came to find you.”
“Gasp! The Dog God! Why didn’t he come himself and send a mouse instead……?”
“That’s because I’m such an amazing mouse. Anyway, close your eyes. The time has come for the Dog God to show you the future!”
That’s right!
Come to think of it, the Dog God had said that!
“Since you’re going to become human, you’ll need some useful abilities. ……Second, the ability to see the future.”
“Waaah! The Doggy God is the best! He’s going to show me the future!”
Even though he promised to make me my sister’s younger sister and then pushed me toward being abandoned!
‘As expected, the Dog God is the best!’
I raised my front paws—no, my hands—into the air and said,
“I’m ready!”
Before I knew it, a mass of pure white light began writhing in front of my eyes.
Thousands and tens of thousands of letters flowed into my head.
It seemed that the future was flowing into my mind in the form of books.
Several dozen minutes passed.
I was able to see all the possible futures.
And tears slowly filled my eyes.
The mouse anxiously slapped its tail and asked,
“Wh-why are you crying? Like a little puppy!”
“I am a puppy…….”
“……W-well, anyway. How was it? The future.”
“Very, very, very bad.”
My sister was mistreated by her stepmother, Lucretia, and her stepsister, Teresia.
Then, she was falsely accused of causing the sick youngest sibling of the Grand Duke of Rivera, who had come to the Ardos Duke’s residence to recuperate, to go berserk.
She was expelled from the family.
But my sister never defended herself.
I tried to protect my sister, but every attempt ended in failure.
I went through all kinds of hardships to be adopted into the family so I could protect my sister.
But I couldn’t save my sister, who had fallen into despair.
Because, by a narrow margin, my sister chose death.
Among the countless futures, all I saw was despair.
But when I saw the final future,
the voices of my puppy friends echoed through my head.
“Coco, you can change the future! That’s what our brave puppies do!”
“Cherry, Cookie, Bobby, Lucky, Happy, and Leo are all cheering for you!”
“Go live happily with your big sis and come back to us!”
Yes, that’s right.
I shouted bravely,
“I can change the future! I just made a goal!”
In the future I saw, my sister became unhappy because I had started things off the wrong way.
But this time would be different.
I would definitely become close with my sister. I would protect her so she could live happily.
‘Right now, the people who torment my sister the most are her stepmother, Lucretia, and her stepsister, Teresia.’
I couldn’t do anything about those people right away.
But there were some rotten people who were destroying my sister’s will to live.
Those people could be removed.
‘Those bad people who make my sister wear old clothes and spread strange rumors about her.’
The head maid and the other maids sent by Lucretia.
“You, after seeing the future, suddenly have such a-a sharp look in your eyes…….”
That’s because I decided not to give up!
“I’m going to get rid of those rotten-sweet-potato-like people!”
I am Coco, the scheming puppy.
Whether I was a dog or a human,
when it came to my sister, I became very, very smart.
‘Those people must have weaknesses too.’
And that weakness was……
I clenched my fist tightly.
“Mouse.”
“Hmm?”
“Can you give me two pieces of cheese?”
The mouse slapped its tail against the floor and said solemnly,
“Hehehe, do you need the power of this great ‘Emperor of Mice’?”
What is that……?
