TMDW | Chapter 010

Chapter 10

The cool evening breeze brushed over both of them.

Shayla sat on the balcony munching buttered corn, while Callion sat on the table gnawing a cow bone.

“The fact that I can turn into a rabbit is a secret that must stay hidden from everyone.”

“Of course.”

“If anyone found out, I might be sold to a circus troupe.”

Was it because they now shared a secret no one else knew?

Callion dropped the bone he had been carefully holding between his front paws and stood up.

“Shasha, I was born in the north.”

“What?”

“You might not know this, but in the north, a promise is worth more than life itself.”

Shayla, swallowing a kernel of corn, felt his words sounded almost sacred.

“No matter what happens, I will keep my promise to you, Shasha.”

He looked up at her with eyes raised high, tail wagging gently; he was truly tiny.

Yet Shayla felt a strange emotion.

“In other words, you can always trust what I say. Got it?”

“…”

As if this little thing could be a powerful creature protecting her, as if she had found the one person in the world she could rely on…

‘Get a grip, Shayla Lexi. You’re alone in this world. There’s no one you can lean on.’

He was just a little wolf, after all. He couldn’t even turn human.

‘I’m the one who has to protect him.’

At that moment, a strong northern wind blew. Shayla calmed her pounding heart and set the corn aside.

Then she lifted Callion with both hands so their eyes were level.

She had promised to make him human, but the result had been disastrous. Callion didn’t show any disappointment, but…

‘It must have been crushing.’

Shayla felt everything was her fault.

“I have something serious to tell you, Leon.”

But unlike Shayla, who was weighed down by huge responsibility…

“What?”

Suddenly his tail began swinging wildly, like a broken clock pendulum.

What excited him this time?

Because of that innocent tail, Callion could never hide his feelings.

It wagged, then tucked down.

He was happy, then upset.

His mood changed so abruptly it was impossible to predict.

“Shasha called me by my nickname! It’s the first time!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I was waiting for when you would…”

“From now on I’ll call you Leon a lot.”

“Awesome! I love nicknames so, so much!”

He grinned merrily and began licking near Shayla’s chin.

“It tickles, stop!”

When Shayla laughed, Callion grew more enthusiastic and licked her entire face.

“Ah!”

In the end she fell dramatically off the chair.

“…”

Shayla’s neck, now on the floor, was covered in wolf saliva.

“Shasha, are you okay?! Did it hurt a lot?”

Callion, who had been carefully held in her arms, thankfully wasn’t scratched at all.

“You fell because of me, right? You told you to stop but I kept going… I’m an idiot.”

The nervous little one began grumbling and crying.

Shayla sighed, wiping the saliva-soaked hair from her forehead.

‘Raising him… is really hard.’

I should write a letter to the nanny back in the capital.

«———♡———»

Dear Nanny,

How are you?

I am doing better in the north than you worried about. The Hamelock mountains are cold and harsh, but the people here are kind and treat me gently.

My husband is a little silly but good-hearted…

Shayla paused at that sentence and carefully erased “silly but good-hearted.”

‘No, that wording won’t do.’

Any letter arriving at Count Lexi’s mansion would be read by the Count first.

Nothing that might upset her father must be in it for the letter to reach the nanny safely.

Shayla burned the paper and started over.

My husband is gentle and listens to me well. We became friends quickly, and I believe we will be a good couple.

Shayla wrote about her life in the cold north, how well Callion and the castle staff treated her, and ended the letter.

With love,

Shayla, who always wishes safety for the rabbit

‘Now I’ll get a reply from Ella, right?’

The nanny would show the letter to Ella, and when Ella saw it she would understand the hidden meaning.

‘How is my sister…’

Is she all right?

Ella was physically weak and sensitive; Shayla worried she might fall ill after she left home.

She wanted to ask directly, but mentioning Layla’s existence outside the house was forbidden. “Wishing safety for the rabbit” was a code between Shayla and Ella.

Layla spent her days locked in a cage inside a dark storeroom.

Shayla’s heart ached remembering how Layla would rush to her and speak quickly when the door opened, as if she had been waiting only for that moment.

‘Even if her body is a rabbit, her soul is completely human.’

She had begged her father to take her out of the cage, but he never listened.

It was a special measure from her father so that, if anyone ever discovered her, he could claim she was merely a pet rabbit.

‘Wait a little longer, sister. I will definitely come get you.’

At first Shayla had wanted to bring Layla north with her. They had always been together in the capital.

‘But if my sister disappeared from the house, it would have caused an uproar.’

She could almost hear her father’s furious voice in her ears.

“Are you going to broadcast the family’s shame to the world?!”

Moreover, the journey from the capital to the north took a full month, and it was dangerous to bring a frail rabbit in a box inside Count Lexi’s carriage to this freezing place.

Shayla’s plan was to become completely independent, then visit her parents’ house under the pretext of a family visit and take her sister.

‘Then Father won’t be able to punish me.’

How could he dare raise a hand against a duchess?

Even if she was his daughter, Shayla would no longer be the powerless child of the Lexi family.

‘But to do that, I must become a full Graywolf.’

She had to blend completely into this family.

She now spent most of her time with Callion, but she never neglected her duties.

In the mornings she greeted Duke Graywolf first, learned castle management from the head maid, and received updates from the head butler.

No one had asked her to. Shayla did it all on her own.

‘Everyone must feel they need me… even more than now…’

While she stoked that resolve like fire in a hearth, there was a light knock.

“Little Princess, are you busy right now?”

It was the voice of Antonio, the head butler.

“No, please come in.”

She hadn’t seen his face in a while.

The head butler spent most of his time in the west wing where the duke’s office was, so Shayla rarely met him.

Another steward handled the east wing’s internal affairs with the head maid, so she usually dealt with him.

She folded the letter, climbed down from the tall chair, and sat on the reception sofa.

“What brings you? If I’d known you were coming, I would have prepared tea in advance.”

Antonio glanced at Shayla’s hairstyle for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.

“Really…”

Her long blonde hair was neatly tied with a red ribbon.

Her dress was neither too flashy nor too plain—elegant.

“What?”

Her eyes blazed like the sun, a gentle smile on her lips.

Shayla looked like a beautiful doll sent from the capital, perfectly trained to perfection.

Since arriving in the north, she had never once appeared improper; everyone said she was a cultured lady from the Count’s family.

“Is something strange?”

Shayla anxiously checked her hair and dress, but Antonio quickly shook his head.

“No, you’re just too perfect, so I hesitated choosing my words and startled you. My fault.”

“Ah…”

Shayla let out a relieved breath and placed a hand on her chest.

Even that gesture looked straight out of the “Etiquette and Morals for Ladies” book studied by capital noblewomen.

Regaining her usual composure, Shayla began the conversation.

“Actually, I actually intended to visit you about some matters concerning Callion.”

“Concerning the young duke…”

Antonio’s voice trailed off. This was the one topic in the castle he could not trust.

“Well, I don’t know if I’ll answer correctly. I don’t see the young duke as often as you do.”

“What, even you? I thought he only avoided the maids?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but the young duke feels uncomfortable even around me and His Grace the Duke.”

Shayla’s lips parted in shock.

She had thought he avoided only the servants; who knew he fled even from his father and the head butler?

“The last time I saw him was probably two years ago? Yes, that long.”

On a bitterly cold winter dawn.

“I saw something white wandering near the chimney; I believe it was the young duke.”

“…”

Shayla was speechless, so Antonio asked in return.

“Is the young duke gentle with you? Does he show his face?”

He knew Shayla visited Callion’s bedroom often, but no one knew whether they played or hid there.

“Actually, I came to ask about that…”

“Leon is kind and gentle.”

He hadn’t been at first.

His behavior changed after he saw her rabbit form. There was a clear reason, but she couldn’t tell anyone.

“Just a little while ago, he even climbed into my lap.”

“What?”

Antonio’s eyes widened in shock, and he clapped enthusiastically.

“That’s truly amazing! As far as I know, you’re the first person he has allowed to touch him.”

Shayla nodded as if she understood.

‘Not surprising…’

He was as fast as a rabbit. If anyone tried to touch him, he’d escape instantly.

“Why does Leon hate others? Especially maids?”

“Well, there was an unfortunate incident.”

Five years ago, when Callion was two years old.

From birth he had lacked social interaction and avoided people.

“No servant had ever met the young duke. Everyone thought he was sick in bed.”

Even if they did meet him, they assumed he was a pet dog. If he didn’t speak, he looked just like a puppy.

Then a new maid who had just entered the castle discovered Callion sleeping in his room.

Callion, facing a stranger for the first time, was confused and didn’t reveal his identity…

“And the maid kidnapped him and ran away.”

“Kidnapped?”

“Yes. She said she saw a cute, lonely-looking puppy and wanted to take it home to care for it.”

“To her home?”

“Yes, she lived near the castle walls.”

After that, it became law that maids must live inside the castle.

“When we first found the young duke, I was shocked. He was in a farmyard… tied with a rope.”

“…”

Shayla couldn’t continue speaking from the shock.

Even if he was in wolf form, Callion was human. He might be delayed, but Shayla believed he would one day become fully human.

Born from a human, raised by a human, speaking like a human.

A being with human consciousness—how could he be tied with a rope like a dog?

‘If that had happened to my sister…’

Just thinking about it made her furious. It was horrifying.

“What happened to the maid?”

“She was dismissed.”

“Only dismissed? Callion is Graywolf’s son! How could the punishment be so light?”

She kidnapped the heir and treated him like a dog!

“Well… the young duke didn’t want his identity revealed.”

“What? Couldn’t he speak well at two?”

“No, he spoke fluently even then.”

So it was his own choice.

In the end, the maid was expelled from the north on charges of attempting to steal a pet dog owned by the castle.

It was never revealed that the puppy she tried to take was actually the duke’s heir.

“That incident probably traumatised him.”

Shayla understood. Not being able to say “I am Callion Graywolf,” being treated like a pet in a stranger’s arms—how humiliating for someone as proud as him?

She remembered their first meeting and her face flushed. She had also tried to hug him because he looked cute.

‘He was irresistibly cute…’

No, that thinking was wrong.

No matter how cute, reaching out to touch without permission was rude. Even Layla, used to Shayla’s hands, sometimes got startled.

“After that painful incident… perhaps I thought something improper.”

Antonio recalled what happened five years ago.

Even Duke Graywolf, who rarely lost his composure, had half his mind gone. Antonio hadn’t slept for days searching. The nanny who had cared for three generations of duke’s children had to leave the castle because of that incident.

“If the young duke had revealed his identity from the start, that unfortunate incident wouldn’t have happened…”

Shayla had wondered the same thing.

‘Why didn’t that idiot say it…’

Even when the rope was put around his neck, why didn’t he reveal he was the duke’s heir?