Even if I ran now, I had nowhere to go.
More than anything, my belly was full, and my body was warm.
‘Right. Let’s see how things play out for now.’
Having reached that conclusion, I remained in Elysia’s arms as we headed deeper into the mansion.
The corridor was wide.
Portraits of people who seemed to be successive members of House Vallerion hung on the walls, and between them, armor and swords were displayed.
But they did not look like mere ornaments for show.
Every sword was well maintained, and the armor bore fine scratches that seemed to have come from real battlefields.
‘They call this the house of the sword, and it’s the real thing.’
Whenever we passed through the corridor, the servants paid their respects to Elysia.
“Lady Elysia.”
“My lady, you have returned.”
They looked surprised for a moment when they saw me, but no one asked carelessly.
That alone was enough to tell me Elysia’s position.
She was not a child who was ignored.
She was someone with a definite place in this household.
Someone treated with respect as the daughter of the family.
However.
The energy I felt from within her arms was still complicated.
Abundant, bright, and sharp.
And yet that flow could not gather into one place, instead continuing to collide somewhere inside her body.
Leaning against her chest, I quietly felt that flow.
‘What a waste.’
That was truly all I could say.
That power was not a problem because it was weak.
If anything, it was a problem because it overflowed too much.
The flow could not continue in a single direction and kept scattering within her body.
As though her talent were pushing away its own master.
Just then, Elysia stopped in front of a room.
It was a heavy door.
On it was carved the crest of a golden lion biting a sword.
The butler standing before the door quietly announced to those inside.
“Lady Elysia has come to see you.”
A moment later, a low voice came from within.
“Let her in.”
The door opened.
Inside was a study.
Tall bookshelves and a large desk.
Documents that looked like maps of the empire and military deployment charts hung on the walls.
The room smelled of ink, old paper, and a faint scent of metal.
A man stood before the desk.
He seemed to be getting on in years, but there was not a single disheveled thing about him.
His dark blond hair was faintly mixed with gray, and his blue-gray eyes seemed to pierce straight through a person.
The physique visible beneath his neat uniform was firm enough that one could believe he was still an active knight.
There were not many splendid decorations.
But the sword at his waist, his upright posture, and the presence that made the air in the room heavy simply by existing all spoke of what kind of person he was.
‘That man is……’
At that moment, a fragment of memory that remained somewhere inside this body faintly stirred.
It was not a name I personally knew.
But the instant I thought of the name Vallerion, there was a name that rose along with it.
The Sword of the Empire.
Master of the Golden Lion.
The current Duke of Vallerion.
Leopold von Vallerion.
‘……Is this body remembering it?’
It was a strange sensation.
It was different from recalling knowledge I had read in a book.
It felt as though common sense once known by someone long ago was taking shape at the edge of my mind, scattering like dust.
Beside him sat a woman.
She was a woman with elegant silver-gold hair neatly pinned up.
She had blue eyes resembling Elysia’s, but their light was deeper and calmer.
Though she was not dressed extravagantly, dignity was imbued in each and every movement she made.
The thin shawl draped over her shoulders made her look gentle, but her gaze was by no means soft.
And her name, too, quietly rose from the edge of my memory.
Isolde von Vallerion.
The Duchess of Vallerion.
Holding me in her arms, Elysia greeted them respectfully.
“Father, Mother.”
Leopold’s gaze immediately turned to me.
I instinctively stiffened.
His eyes were sharp.
Like a knight reading an enemy’s movements on the battlefield, he slowly looked me over from the tips of my fur to my feet.
“What is that fox?”
His voice was low.
He was not angry.
But he did not seem inclined to let it pass lightly, either.
Elysia held me a little more firmly in her arms.
“I found it in an alley in the rain. It was alone and soaked through.”
“So you brought it here?”
“Yes.”
“It may be a stray beast. It may carry disease, and we cannot rule out the possibility that it is a demonic beast.”
He was right.
So right that I could not refute him.
‘I’m not a demonic beast, I’m a nine-tailed fox…… But is that even more of a problem?’
I quietly flattened my ears.
Elysia spoke without wavering.
“I will have it examined. If necessary, I will also request an appraisal from the Department of Special Familiar Studies. But I could not leave it alone tonight.”
Leopold looked at his daughter for a moment.
His gaze was strict, but it was not cold.
“Can you take responsibility for it?”
Elysia did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
“You did not simply bring it here because it was cute?”
“It is cute.”
Elysia said it with complete seriousness.
For a moment, I lifted my head.
‘You’re admitting that there?’
The corners of the duchess’s mouth rose ever so faintly.
Elysia continued.
“But that is not all. It was shivering in the rain. I could not see that and pass it by.”
Leopold said nothing for a while.
In the midst of that silence, Isolde quietly opened her mouth.
“Elysia.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Would you show that child to me up close?”
Elysia carefully stepped forward.
Isolde’s gaze turned toward me.
She did not look me over sharply as Leopold had.
Instead, she observed me with great delicacy.
The color of my fur.
My eyes.
The movement of my ears.
My breathing.
And perhaps much more than I realized.
“What a rare color.”
She said.
“Silver with a pink hue. It is unusual for a natural breed.”
‘That hit a nerve.’
In order to look as much like an ordinary baby fox as possible, I blinked.
“Kiiing.”
Isolde’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“And it seems intelligent, too.”
‘I’m doomed.’
Elysia carefully stroked my back.
“I do not think it is a child that will cause harm.”
Leopold asked.
“On what grounds?”
Elysia looked down at me for a moment.
“When I hold it in my arms, strangely enough, the flow of my aura stabilizes.”
The air in the room changed slightly.
Leopold’s eyes shifted minutely.
Isolde, too, no longer seemed to be taking this lightly.
‘Ah.’
I let out a small sigh inwardly.
If you say that now, it makes me look suspicious.
Elysia continued seriously.
“I do not know exactly what it is.
But when I hold this child, it is easier to breathe than usual.
The flow that normally collides inside my body feels as though it calms a little.”
Leopold slowly approached me.
I instinctively shrank back.
But he did not reach out.
Instead, he looked back and forth between Elysia and me.
“If that is what you felt, then there is a possibility that it is not an ordinary beast.”
“Yes.”
“Precisely for that reason, you must be even more careful.”
“I understand.”
Elysia’s answer was firm.
At that moment, I looked at her anew.
This child was not simply a child throwing a tantrum after picking up a cute animal.
She knew what she was asking for.
She also knew the weight of the word responsibility.
Even so, she was saying she would not let go.
Isolde said quietly,
“You may keep it in your room for one night. Tomorrow, ask a professor from the Department of Special Familiar Studies to appraise it.
Until it is confirmed not to be dangerous, do not take it outside the mansion.”
Elysia’s face brightened ever so slightly.
“Thank you, Mother.”
Leopold added,
“And you will give it a name after the appraisal is complete.”
Elysia hesitated for a moment.
I nodded inwardly.
Right.
A name is important.
I already have a name… What was it again?
I can’t remember the name I had in my previous life.
Was it erased from the shock of reincarnating?
No, in the first place, even if I used the name from my previous life here, it would be useless, so maybe it doesn’t matter.
Elysia looked down at my face and murmured very softly.
“It’s white…… and has a pink hue.”
“Haku.”
“Kiiing?”
I could not understand how something white and pinkish led to that name.
Was it a sensibility unique to this world? Something like that…
The gazes of the three people in the room fixed on me at the same time.
I froze as I was.
Elysia blinked.
“……Did it just react?”
No.
I didn’t.
Don’t pretend I did.
But my ears had already perked up, and my tail was slowly swaying.
I was doomed.
A small smile spread across Elysia’s face.
“You like Haku.”
I looked up at her without a word.
“Kiiing……”
Elysia seemed to take that answer as affirmation.
“Then I’ll call you Haku.”
Leopold let out a short sigh.
“I said after the appraisal.”
“I am sorry, Father.”
Even as Elysia said that, she did not loosen the strength in her arms around me.
Isolde looked at her daughter and smiled faintly.
“It seems we are already too late.”
I quietly closed my eyes in Elysia’s arms.
Warm milk.
A soft towel.
The cloak that had shielded me from the rain.
And the voice calling me Haku.
For the first time in this unfamiliar world, I felt just a little at ease.
‘Right.’
It seemed it would be all right to stay in this house for the time being.
And if possible.
Feeling the flow of aura still tangled inside Elysia’s body, I thought,
‘It would be nice if I could untangle that stifling flow someday, too.’