I didn’t know what it could be, but I felt like I’d awoken from a very sentimental dream.
All I remembered was that Jiro had been a part of it somehow. But the rest of the details escaped me.
“Jiro…” I murmured his name and felt a single tear escape my eye.
It was so painful, but so warm. I wiped my tear away, processing those contradictory feelings of loss and fulfillment.
“…You’re awake?”
“Your Majesty…”
I sat up off the pillow and saw King Glenreed sitting on the edge of the bed. I realized I must have dozed off while I waited for him, only to have His Majesty carry me to bed.
“…You kept calling Jiro’s name in your sleep.” King Glenreed sounded like he was pouting a little.
“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I still love Jiro, but only as a dog. My heart belongs to you and you alone.”
My voice trailed off as I started to feel shy along the way. I was fully aware of my romantic feelings for King Glenreed now, yet it was still embarrassing to say out loud.
The king answered my clumsy love confession with his embrace.
“Neither you nor Jiro have done anything wrong. …I understand that Jiro was a special dog that can never be replaced. …I was only scowling at my own pettiness and possessiveness, getting jealous over a dog like that.”
“Your Majesty…”
He tightened his arms around me as if to say he would never let anyone else steal me away. I wrapped my arms around his back too. Through his shirt, I felt the warmth of his body and the sensation of his bones and muscles.
“It’s all right. I used to get upset thinking that you and Lady Fillia had fallen for each other when you were children. Even thinking of it now made me jealous again. Besides…”
“Besides?”
“I think Jiro would want the two of us to have a good life together.”
I was never going to see Jiro again, but strangely, I felt convinced that Jiro was cheering on King Glenreed and me as husband and wife.
I looked up at him, and His Majesty shifted his body to face me better, looking down at me too.
Without another word, we stared at each other for a moment. Then we began to draw closer.
We’d kissed each other’s lips during the wedding ceremony, but this was a bedroom, and the two of us were alone together at night.
My heart was absolutely racing. Just as our lips were about to touch…
“What?! Wolf?!”
I froze. A pair of fluffy, triangular ears had appeared on top of King Glenreed’s head. They were the exact same ears as Lord Aroo’s.
“What…?” King Glenreed let out a groan, those furry ears twitching above his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Silverio started talking to me from the inside. He woke up because I was feeling strong emotions. He says that’s what made my wolf ears come out…”
“Silverio…?”
I never expected an intruder to be watching the two of us get so cozy…
I blushed. That was when King Glenreed used his ancestral reversion powers to create a dagger made of ice.
“All right, I’m putting a stop to this. I’m the only one who gets to see you when you make that face, Laetitia.”
“Your Majesty?!”
Without a change in expression, King Glenreed brought his ice dagger up to the base of his wolf ears.
“I might be able to carve out Silverio’s consciousness if I cut off these wolf ears.”
“Your Majesty! Stop! Please just calm down and wait a moment!”
I desperately tried to find the words that would stop the king’s sudden madness. Just then…
“Meow meow?!”
I didn’t know where she’d come from, but Berry burst into the bedroom when she heard my screams.
The two of us spent our wedding night with more furry intruders than we ever could have imagined.