“O Great Lord Reineke, please forgive our terrible ignorance. This young light is completely innocent. I beg of you, do not extinguish him. I beg of you... I beg of you...”
The man was pitiful, but Lord Reineke still looked angry. I walked up to him and petted his massive side.
“Please, do not be so angry,” I pleaded.
“This boy is already thirteen years old!” Lord Reineke snapped. “He ought to know how to apologize properly. Where are his manners?”
I smiled wryly. I agreed with him on that point.
“Lord Reineke says: has he not been taught how to apologize properly?” I said.
The chamberlain made Hodr stand upright, and then forcibly held his head down.
“Say, ‘My deepest apologies,’ Your Highness,” the man whispered.
“My deepest...apologies...” the boy repeated through gritted teeth, still trembling and teary-eyed.
The chamberlain bowed even more deeply. “It is my fault for not preventing this. I deeply, thoroughly apologize,” he said with sincerity. He must’ve felt responsible for the numerous breaches in etiquette that had led up to this moment.
I once again petted Lord Reineke to pacify him.
“Fine. I will show magnanimity this time, but only because you mediated, Lune. And because I got a lot of power from this,” Lord Reineke conceded with a sigh, closing his mouth.
The chamberlain sank down to the ground. “Have we...earned his forgiveness?”
“Yes,” I said.
The man began thanking Lord Reineke, tears streaming down his face. Meanwhile, His Highness simply stood there as if paralyzed. The man in the hat remained in the shadows throughout the entire event, showing no intent to interfere on behalf of the prince.
Just who is that man? I wondered as I watched him disappear.
The children all gathered around the gigantic Lord Reineke.
“Wow! Lord Reineke’s so big now!”
“I didn’t know you could do that, Lord Reineke!”
More golden light poured from them, while the fox spirit grinned proudly.
The next day at noon, father visited me in my room with a grim expression on his face. Brother didn’t look happy either.
“We are to have dinner with His Highness the Prince,” father said.
“Really? He was so against it until now. I guess that’s good,” I replied.
Neither of them were eager to reply, leaving a long moment of utter silence.
I gasped, realizing what they were implying. “Wait...do I have to be there too?!”
My father nodded silently. I stared at him, my mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.
“Wha— Huh? Um...but why?”
I couldn’t fathom it. I was certain that someone as haughty as the crown prince wouldn’t want to dine with an ex-orphan like me. We had done so in my previous life, but only because I’d been introduced to him as a daughter of the marquis. This time, everyone knew that I was adopted.
“He called me a beast, and now he wants to dine with me?!”
A vein of anger popped on my father’s temple.
Even father can’t hide how he feels about this.
“He insisted that he see you again and apologize to you directly. I couldn’t refuse such a request,” the marquis explained bitterly.
“But I used to be an orphan, and I’m a commoner, and I have fox ears... Did you explain all that?”
“I did, but he wouldn’t give up. He said that he won’t go back to the capital until he gets to meet with you.”
My mouth hung open again.
“Ugh...this sucks. And all this after his shameful behavior in front of everyone... This really suuucks...” Bal groaned.
“I’m completely against it,” Liam spoke up. “He said he wanted to buy Lune. What an idiot.”
Now brother is even willing to insult the crown prince!
“Don’t be disrespectful. Although, he is immature for his age and his views are shallow,” father bit out scathingly. “But that’s exactly why I want him to leave as soon as possible. We can’t have him staying here long enough to draw the king’s attention. So I’m sorry, but will you attend for at least a while?”
I grasped my head at his question, but I knew I couldn’t just say no. This was the crown prince’s order, after all.
With a thousand-yard stare, I murmured, “Very well.”
And so the banquet was upon us. Father was carrying me, and Lord Reineke was trotting behind us. I was dressed in a beautiful, long, purple dress in the fashion of House Renard. The silver lacing glimmered like moonlight.
Honestly, I felt overdressed, which only worried me.
Is father intending to sell me off? He did say he wants His Highness gone as soon as possible, and that would be the quickest way to make him leave.
These bleak thoughts caused me to hang my head down.
“You look lovely, Lune.”
Liam’s affectionate words lightened my mood. My fox ears twitched and my tail wagged.
“Thank you, brother. You look wonderful too.”
Liam was wearing a suit that matched my gown. The sight of us put mother in high spirits.
“How adorable! You two look marvelous together. I’m glad I had these made for you!”
I felt a little relieved to find out that our outfits had been arranged by her.
As for Bal, he had to sit this one out in his room. We couldn’t have Prince Hodr find out that Bal was his younger half brother. If the queen were to hear the king’s illegitimate child was still alive, she might send more assassins after him. And if she were to know that House Renard had been secretly raising him, it’d cause a huge conflict between them. My father said that he’d like Bal to meet with the king eventually, but now wasn’t the time.
The dinner began. I was sitting in Liam’s lap, with Lord Reineke lying by his feet. Even though we were to dine with the crown prince, this wasn’t a good show of manners. But when His Highness finally arrived late, he didn’t look angry at all. Quite the opposite—his face lit up.
“You, fox girl! I wanted to see you!”
“Please have a seat, Your Highness,” father said, cutting the boy off with a blank look.
Faced with the solemn dignity of the royal family’s loyal retainer, the prince timidly obeyed. The chamberlain couldn’t say anything against the marquis either.
“We are still in the process of recovering, so we cannot offer you sufficient hospitality, but I hope you enjoy the meal nevertheless,” father said, and with that, we began dining.
The appetizer was His Highness’s least favorite food—mushroom soup. I knew all about his likes and dislikes from my time as the crown princess.
Does father know too? Is that why he chose this meal?
“The soup’s delicious, father,” I said, causing him to smile.
“I knew you’d be able to appreciate it, Lune. This soup is made from a special kind of mushroom which can only be found by specially trained boars. Your Highness, please have your fill as well.”
Father gave Hodr a big smile to pressure him. The boy groaned under his breath and took a sip of the soup with open disgust. However, his face brightened as soon as he tasted it, and he happily ate the rest of it.
“The Renard domain’s food really is great!” he said with a smile, for once looking his age.
He had loved the curry soup too. This wasn’t like in my past life, when he’d had a poor appetite. But as I sipped the soup myself, realization dawned on me. Our territory didn’t have much livestock, so the soup was made with vegetable scraps. It was warm, and the soft mushrooms added a pleasant aroma.
But in the palace, our meals were always cold.
A long corridor separated the kitchen from the dining hall, and all food had to be tested for poison. By the time the royals ate it, it had already gone cold and lost both its aroma and texture.
That’s why His Highness always liked food that tasted good when cold.
I felt the tiniest bit of pity for him. As I watched him happily eating such a simple soup, I found him just a little endearing.
But then our eyes met.
“A-Anyway, introduce me to that fox girl!” Hodr demanded, suddenly remembering why he was here.
Mother put on a smile at his rude request.
“What is your tutor even doing, Your Highness? I’m surprised to hear you speak like that to a lady, especially after Lord Reineke’s scolding just yesterday. Her Majesty would be heartbroken.”
An icy air exuded from her. The boy bit his lip, while the chamberlain hung his head in shame.
Prince Hodr tried again, speaking politely as though the words were being wrung out of him. “Marquis Renard? I heard that this beautiful lady is your daughter. May I know her name?”