14 - Baby Yong's Housekeeping
The Dragon that Saved the Duke's Family 14
"Ppihya."
The best in the family, that's incredibly good! Ashil covered her mouth and exclaimed.
'Then humans won't be able to look down on Ashil easily.'
"Ppiya!" (I understand!)
Her eyes sparkling, she nodded. It meant she would gladly become the Divine Beast of the Munrepe Dukedom.
Edenber's face, which had been stiff with tension, relaxed slightly at the readily given affirmative answer.
"Thank you. I will grant you whatever you desire from now on. I swear on my name."
"Ppiyaa ppiee?" (Then if you can't grant Ashil what she wants, Ashil gets your husband's name?)
"...You seem to desire marriage with me quite a bit."
There was only one instance where a human would give their name to another.
Marriage.
He should have known from the moment she called him husband at their first meeting. She had even told Elkai to take her as a daughter-in-law.
And now, she was openly demanding his name.
'We've only just met, but she likes me an awful lot.'
He didn't know what was so great about a Duke who was only a figurehead that she wanted to marry him, but he was the one holding the sword hilt.
"I understand. If you want my name, I'll give it to you."
Having made his decision, Edenber lowered his eyes.
"I don't know why you like me this much... Alright. Let's get married. If that's what you want."
"Ppiyappi ppiya?" (Ashil doesn't like husband?)
"...What?"
Startled by the unexpected answer, Edenber quickly raised his gaze.
"Then why did you say that?"
"Ppiyaa Pipi ppiya." (Mommy said the boy who summoned Ashil is Ashil's husband.)
"Ah. So you're also in a position where you have to have a contract marriage."
A hint of disappointment flickered across Edenber's face. He thought only the Third Princess was demanding a political marriage, but that wasn't the case.
Just as he had naturally felt a sense of closeness, he had thought Ashil also purely liked him, but that wasn't it.
Then, he quickly returned to his expressionless state.
'Well, who would like someone like me anyway.'
Having lost his mother as soon as he was born, he always carried a sense of debt in his heart.
If only his kind mother had lived, his father might not have lost the Divine Beast.
Then the family might not have declined.
So the family's current state was all his fault.
It was because he was born and killed his mother.
He finished speaking in a cold tone that drew a line.
"Alright, I understand. A political marriage is still a marriage. Let's get married."
Then he lowered his head slightly.
Seeing him looking as if he had been hurt, Ashil blinked her large eyes and mumbled with her small mouth.
"Ppiyappi ppiya." (Ashil doesn't not like husband.)
It was true.
She was surprised by the word 'giving her heart' and said she didn't like him, but it was true that she had a good feeling about him.
'Even though he tried to bury Ashil in the ground.'
Husband was the human who gave her delicious strawberries and a warm room. He was also the only one here who seemed to be her age, so she felt attached to him.
Ashil drew a large circle with her front paws.
"Ppiiya- ppiee." (Husband is the ve-ry best of all the humans Ashil knows.)
"How many humans do you know?"
"Ppi, ppiya, ppi..."
Ashil, who was counting on her fingers, spread both front paws wide. It meant she didn't know exactly, but around ten.
At this, Edenber couldn't help but laugh.
"What, so few?"
However, unlike his gruff words, he felt quite good.
Either way, wasn't he number one out of ten?
'I thought no one liked someone like me.'
This little one liked him as number one.
Ashil put both front paws on her waist.
"Ppiiya ppi ppiyat." (And Ashil doesn't do marriage. Ashil will live with Mommy forever.)
"Your mother told you to call me husband, though. Doesn't that mean she wants you to get married?"
"Ppi..."
Ashil was speechless at the logical words.
That couldn't be. Our Mommy wouldn't be like that.
She still didn't know why Mommy told her to call a human husband.
But Mommy's words had never been wrong, so there must be a reason.
Besides, 'marriage' in the Beast-man world didn't really have much meaning. There, if Beast-men who got along lived together, that was marriage.
If there were several Beast-men who got along, they would sometimes form a family together.
In fact, Ashil had five fathers.
"Ppit... ppihaaam."
Ashil, who was continuing her thoughts, yawned widely.
The tension she had felt today had been relieved while talking to Edenber, and drowsiness was washing over her.
"It's already this late..."
Edenber, who looked at the clock, was startled. He thought they had only talked for a short while, but it was already this late.
He lost track of time when he talked to Ashil. He quickly prepared to leave.
"I'll be going now. Sleep well."
Even so, he couldn't believe that he had a Divine Beast, so he added one more greeting as if to get confirmation.
"Sleep well, Divine Beast of Munrepe."
"Ppiya." (Sleep well, husband.)
Ashil, who waved one front paw cutely, covered herself with a blanket and closed her eyes.
Edenber turned off the light and was about to leave when he unconsciously touched the corners of his mouth at a thought that came to mind.
When Ashil had spread out all ten fingers and said she liked him a little while ago.
How long had it been since he had smiled like that...?
He couldn't quite remember.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time.
Biante, who had spent a lot of money to rush over only to be severely scolded and even placed under house arrest, was grinding his teeth.
"How carelessly did you do your job that Father found out!"
As soon as he arrived at the Duke's residence, he was summoned by Elkai.
He was questioned about what he was thinking when he ordered the vassal to open the bear cage, and whether the last incident was not a mistake but something he had intentionally done.
They were things he had done to break his nephew's spirit, but Biante denied it to the end.
But it didn't work on Elkai.
"You are not qualified to manage the Saint Creatures. I'll give you exactly three days. Within that time, hand over all the Saint Creatures to Edenber!"
Biante couldn't find the words to say at the absurd conclusion.
Just as the power of the Divine Beast was the power of the Dukedom, the Saint Creatures were also beings that represented the power of each family.
But to hand all of that over to his eyesore nephew.
Wasn't it an excessive measure for playing a prank by opening a bear cage?
Even though no one was hurt!
Elkai said just one thing to Biante, who was feeling wronged.
"Is there a need for two suns in one family?"
The moment he heard those words, Biante realized.
That his ambition to defeat Edenber and become the new Munrepe Duke had been discovered by his father.
'I was so careful to make sure it didn't reach Father's ears, but with just this!'
He involuntarily ground his teeth.
Was it that difficult for that damn vassal to open a bear cage without being seen by people?
Biante, who didn't know that Ashil could talk to animals, thought that the vassal had handled the job carelessly and that was why things had turned out this way.
Besides, that wasn't the only thing he was angry about.
"What? He didn't kill the Mutant Lizard and instead collapsed himself? Does that make sense?"
He had even fed it a drug that made it violent in preparation for his nephew attaching a guard knight.
A Mutant Lizard, not a guard knight, had defeated a bear that was several times stronger. And with his bare hands.
He couldn't believe it.
In the end, he even came to this thought.
'If he takes a weakling as a Divine Beast, there will obviously be talk, so isn't he lying?'
That the one who actually defeated the Saint Creature was that guard knight.
"Please help me, Biante. My husband only followed orders."
Currently, the wife of the vassal who had been branded as the culprit of this incident was standing in front of him.
She was pleading for him to spare her husband just once.
Biante, who was lost in thought and didn't even pretend to listen to her pleas, asked his aide.
"Is that Dylan guy that strong?"
"Excuse me? D-Dylan?"
"The one who was attached as the lizard's guard knight."
