The Arranged Suitor Was the Kidnapper

When Laria returned to her original form, her family embraced each other in joy.

They must have been very anxious, not knowing when she would return.

Semela stroked Laria’s hair and said:

“Your fox form was cute too, but I prefer your original appearance after all.”

“Is there a possibility you’ll transform into a fox again?”

To Theodore’s question, Laria answered:

“It seems I become a fox when I use up my magical power to its limit.”

Though it’s unlikely she’ll use that much magical power in the future.

While Theodore was happy Laria had returned, he couldn’t shake off his disappointment.

He had liked her baby fox form more than anyone.

“I should have touched her paw pads one more time before she turned back.”

Maybe it would be better to just raise a regular fox…

“Are there any unusual symptoms?”

Herdin examined Laria thoroughly. His eyes showed concern that there might be problems, since the physical structures of humans and animals are completely different.

When Laria shook her head, Herdin let out a sigh of relief.

‘I should tell them now.’

It was time for the conversation she had been putting off.

Above all, she didn’t want to lie to her family anymore.

After looking around at her family carefully, Laria spoke with difficulty:

“Actually… I never lost my memories.”

Silence fell over the reception room at Laria’s words.

As she nervously clutched the hem of her dress, Herdin responded nonchalantly:

“I thought so.”

“…What?”

“You’re not good at lying.”

At first, they thought Laria had lost her memories from the shock of being severely injured.

But after observing her for a few years, they noticed Laria would evade or gloss over whenever that time was mentioned.

Seeing this, they realized she hadn’t lost her memories, but was hiding something.

“We didn’t ask on purpose, thinking it might be unpleasant memories.”

Laria was dazed at Herdin’s response.

‘They knew?’

Zenox also said he knew Laria’s identity…

It turns out she was the only one who didn’t know anything.

As she blinked in a daze, Theodore spoke:

“If you’re alright with it, we’re curious about what happened.”

Laria, finally coming to her senses, began telling the story they didn’t know.

To recount the half-year, she had to omit many details.

Still, she didn’t leave out how well Zenox and the people at the Grand Duke’s residence had treated her. Not realizing that she smiled unconsciously every time she mentioned this.

“An intruder after the fox orb entered the Grand Duke’s residence and fled. I was severely injured in the process, and returned home with the help of a passerby.”

As Laria finished speaking, her family’s faces hardened terribly.

They looked like they wanted to find and tear apart the intruder right away.

“I missed you all so much.”

At her softly added words, they let out long sighs.

Semela and Theodore rose from their seats and embraced Laria.

“We missed you every day too.”

“We’re so glad you came back.”

It was practically a miracle that Laria had returned home.

It’s no exaggeration to say she had been in tatters.

Laria smiled faintly.

Though that day had been taboo, properly reuniting made her heart feel much lighter.

Laria thought of Zenox, who had deliberately given them space.

She was still bothered by her family treating him like a kidnapper.

“If His Excellency hadn’t found me, something terrible might have happened.”

It would have been impossible for Laria, suddenly transformed into a baby fox, to make it to the Rohan mansion.

She would have been attacked by other animals or caught by hunters before that.

Even if she had luckily made it home, there was no guarantee her family would have recognized her.

At Laria’s words, her family nodded as if in agreement.

“…We should apologize.”

At Semela’s words, Laria finally smiled brightly.

* * *

It was a later dinner than usual.

The family invited Zenox to the meal and politely apologized to him.

They said they were sorry for misunderstanding until now, and thanked him for taking care of Laria.

Zenox shook his head with an impassive face.

“Rather… I was the one who was saved.”

His world had completely changed because of the white fox he had picked up by chance in the forest.

If he hadn’t met Whitie, he would probably still be wandering battlefields as Rubenta’s puppet.

“Now that Laria has returned to her original form, I plan to leave the mansion tomorrow.”

“You’re welcome to stay longer.”

“I appreciate your words, but I have matters to attend to.”

With Rubenta’s death, Zenox had been incredibly busy.

He had been pushing himself to stay at the Rohan mansion all this time, but now it was really time to return.

‘So today is the last day?’

She had gotten used to having Zenox by her side, so it felt oddly disappointing that he was leaving.

As she glanced at Zenox, trying not to be obvious, their eyes suddenly met.

Laria’s cheeks flushed red.

At this sight, Zenox’s eyes also wavered briefly.

Afraid her ears or tail might pop out in front of her family, Laria turned her head away.

But this was just the beginning.

Throughout the meal, the two were awkward.

They would startle at the slightest touch of hands, or call each other awkwardly.

It might have been better if it was just Laria acting this way.

The problem was that Zenox was no different from Laria. His usual relaxed and shameless demeanor was nowhere to be seen, and he looked flustered.

Seeing the two of them so obviously excited, Herdin muttered to himself:

“…Why are they like that? Like people who just started dating.”

Inwardly flinching, Laria poked at her innocent tomato with her fork.

‘Until now, we were just pretending to date.’

Come to think of it, she hadn’t told her family about the fake relationship with Zenox.

She had resolved not to lie anymore, so she should tell them about this too…

But today wasn’t the right time.

‘Wait, are we actually dating now?’

They had confessed, understood each other’s feelings… and even kissed, so they had done everything.

But having never properly dated before, she wondered if this was right.

Once she started worrying about it, she couldn’t focus on the meal at all.

After finishing dinner and leaving the dining room, Zenox followed her.

“Shall we take a walk?”

Without hesitation, Laria nodded.

The two left the building and headed for the garden.

Though autumn had fully arrived, the sunflowers Zenox had planted still had petals remaining.

As they walked through the flower garden, neither spoke. Rather than awkwardness, it was because they were too conscious of each other and lost in thought.

‘What should I ask?’

As she wondered how to naturally start a conversation, the wind blew, tousling her hair.

Perhaps because it was an autumn night breeze, there was a cool feeling in the air.

When Laria, sensitive to cold, shrank her body, something heavy fell onto her shoulders.

It was the coat Zenox had been wearing until just now.

She was about to refuse out of guilt, but he beat her to it.

“It’s because I’m hot.”

Zenox added that she knew he naturally ran hot.

At those words, Laria nodded unconsciously.

Certainly, she had been surprised by how hot he was when they kissed earlier.

She didn’t know his lips would be so warm, not just his hands.

Laria stared at Zenox’s lips as if entranced.

Then his lips gradually drew closer, lightly touching Laria’s before pulling away.

As Laria froze, Zenox hesitated in an unusual manner.

“This is my first time dating, so I’m not sure what to do.”

He whispered that she should tell him if she disliked anything.

But Zenox’s words no longer reached Laria’s ears.

‘So we really are dating!’

She finally felt relieved.

It wasn’t pretending to be lovers anymore, but becoming real lovers.

“I want to hold hands.”

Zenox quickly took Laria’s hand.

Though it wasn’t the first time, she even felt an illusion of a pulse in their joined hands.

The two walked slowly through the garden, hand in hand.

They talked about various things until their body temperatures became the same.

At some point, Laria realized he wasn’t wearing his armor and spoke up:

“I’ve figured out how to separate the fox orb.”

Though it would take some time to accumulate magical power again, she was glad there was a method.

As she was about to explain to Zenox step by step, an unexpected answer came back:

“You don’t need to return the fox orb.”

“…What?”

Perhaps he was being considerate, telling her not to feel guilty.

As Laria looked confused, Zenox revealed a fact he hadn’t mentioned until now.

“My mana overload disappears when I’m in contact with you, Laria.”

Laria’s eyes widened.

“It seems you gained that ability after swallowing the fox orb.”

Zenox had also learned about the origin of the fox orb through the memories in the music box.

The fox orb Lumena Rohan made was incomplete, but the final piece fell into place when Laria swallowed it.

For this reason, contact with Laria was much more effective than the fox orb.

Zenox’s mana overload had improved much more than before while staying close to Laria…

And he realized after kissing Laria this time.

That he could now live normally without the fox orb.

However, Zenox decided to keep one fact to himself.

“So I can’t live without you.”