Chapter 93

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First things first… I carefully checked on my animal friends—the horses and the rabbit—to make sure none of them were hurt.

Then I brought Ninabel out of the subspace with me.

If she stayed cooped up in there alone, she’d probably get lonely.

After that, I introduced Ninabel to Marian and Chelsea.

“Hi…! I’m a water spirit. My name’s Ninabel!”

“Gasp—a spirit?!”

“Oh my goodness…!”

As expected, the two women and one little droplet got along perfectly.

Leaving the three of them to play, I quietly pulled the Hidden Shop membership card from my inventory and examined it.

‘If I use this, I can enter the Hidden Shop right now….’

The problem was whether I had enough coins.

I had saved up quite a bit.

‘The Glasir sapling and whatever that Savior’s Blood Drop is… they’re probably expensive, right? It’s the Hidden Shop, after all.’

In that case…

I should exchange the money I have into coins.

I pulled out a heavy pouch from my inventory.

The 3,200 rubels Dante had given me before were still untouched.

‘3,200 rubels. All cash.’

Ah, obviously! Hurry up already!

Impatient, I tapped YES repeatedly.

After the bright clatter of coins pouring out—

Nice. That’s a lot of coins.

This should be enough, right? They can’t possibly cost as much as that scam-level item called ‘Fate Distortion.’

‘Though I am a little concerned about this “owner” of the shop….’

From the system’s tone, the shop’s owner didn’t seem to be the same being as the god who had granted me a blessing.

If I had to guess, maybe they were neighbors(?) or partners of some kind.

‘Whimsical and cruel, huh….’

I had enough coins, but just in case, I should prepare thoroughly before going.

And I needed to tell Lycian in advance.

‘Time flows differently in the Hidden Shop….’

If I left without saying anything, we might end up with a ‘Muriel Missing Incident.’

‘Before that.’

I turned to Marian and Chelsea.

“There’s a stable in Epherne Castle, right?”

“Oh my, of course!”

Ahem. Right. That was a painfully obvious question.

Straight to the point.

“I have something to take care of at the stable. Could you show me the way?”

About ten minutes later.

Marian introduced the place in her lively voice.

“This is the stable of Epherne Castle! And over here is Mr. Joseph, the stablemaster!”

“Ah, h-hello…!”

A burly man bowed deeply to me—at a full ninety degrees—looking thoroughly nervous.

No, really, that’s not necessary.

I hurried to stop him.

“You don’t need to be so formal. I’m just—”

“But! You’re to become the Grand Duchess! The whole castle is buzzing with the rumor!”

“…….”

These people… they really love jumping the gun.

If they’re going to gulp down kimchi soup like that, I might as well hand them a sweet potato too.

“That’s not true. His Grace and I are just dating.”

But Stablemaster Joseph swallowed that sweet potato just fine too.

“My goodness, you’re lovers?! His Grace is in a relationship?! I thought the sky would fall before that ever happened!”

“…….”

Lycian, what kind of life have you been living?

“Lady Muriel…! You’re incredible! I respect you!”

That much…?

I subtly avoided Joseph’s sparkling eyes.

Clearing my throat, I changed the subject.

“The reason I came to the stable today is that I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it? Just say the word! I’ll help with anything!”

“Well….”

A short while later…

I brought out two horses and one rabbit from the subspace.

The three of them nearly fainted after witnessing my ability.

“Th-that white door—? Gasp, it disappeared!”

“So the rumors about your special ability were true!”

“Th-those animals… they’re not divine beasts, are they…?!”

“No, just ordinary animals.”

At my calm reply, Joseph seemed to lose his words for a moment.

His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish before he stammered,

“I-I see! In any case, it’s truly an amazing ability…!”

He didn’t even know what the ability actually was and was just saying whatever came to mind….

Out of pity, I gave them a rough explanation about the subspace.

Then I handed the reins of the two horses to Joseph.

“If they stay in that space all the time, they’ll get bored and restless. Could you take care of them here in the stable?”

“Of course! Leave it to me! I, Joseph, have over twenty years of experience caring for horses!”

Thumping his chest with his fist, he looked genuinely reliable.

I nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Then I’m counting on you.”

I left the rabbit with Chelsea.

She seemed to have a soft spot for small, cute animals.

“Lady Muriel, what’s this rabbit’s name?”

“Uh….”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t given the rabbit a name yet.

S-sorry, little rabbit….

It wasn’t intentional!

I hurriedly racked my brain and came up with something that sounded decent.

“Binky.”

“That’s such a cute name!”

Ding!

‘…When did it level up? It’s already level 3.’

Becoming the strongest being in the universe at level three might be a stretch, though.

Since the rabbit itself liked the description, I’d call it a successful naming.

‘Chelsea will take good care of the rabbit….’

Now I needed to go see Lycian.

If I explained properly that I’d be briefly visiting ‘that place where time flows differently,’ it should be fine….

…Or so I naïvely thought.

“No. Not alone. I absolutely won’t let you go by yourself.”

The moment I brought it up, I ran headfirst into Lycian’s firm refusal.

Over his shoulder, I glanced at the desk he had been sitting at earlier.

When I’d seen it before, the documents had been stacked only on top of the desk. Now they were piled high on the floor as well, like towers.

It looked like it would take more than two days to review all that….

Wouldn’t it be fine if I just slipped away to the Hidden Shop while he was busy working?

I frowned slightly and muttered,

“Why are you being so overprotective? It’s not like I’m going somewhere dangerous.”

“It’s a place where time flows differently. I can’t let you go alone, Muriel. And….”

Suddenly, he reached out his hand to me. I tilted my head, unsure what he wanted, and he put on a pitiful expression.

“Muriel, recharge me a bit. I’m exhausted from working.”

“…….”

Exhausted, my foot. He was obviously exaggerating—trying to soften me up.

Honestly, he’s like a thousand-year-old fox. Even so, I shot him a look but obediently took his hand.

Lycian immediately intertwined our fingers and stepped closer.

“Ha… I can breathe again. I thought I’d go crazy wanting to touch you.”

“What am I, your comfort doll?”

“What are you saying? You’re far more precious than some doll.”

Lowering his head, he buried his face against my shoulder.

…It seemed impossible to pry him off and leave.

I let out a deep sigh.

“Fine. Then we’ll go together once you’re done with your work.”

Dragging the clingy Lycian back to his desk, I sat him down.

Then I placed a fountain pen in his hand and coaxed him gently.

“Hurry up and work. I’ll get going now.”

“…Can’t I sit you on my lap while I work?”

“Keep talking nonsense and there’s no reward.”

“Reward?”

The word slipped out before I could stop it, and Lycian’s golden eyes lit up.

‘Damn it, that was a slip.’

I blinked rapidly and scrambled to cover it up.

“I—I meant I’ll cook you something tasty! Don’t get weird ideas!”

“Weird ideas? When did I? I didn’t think anything. Didn’t you?”

“…!”

He grinned as I floundered in embarrassment.

This damn fox….

I shot him a sharp glare, then turned on my heel and strode toward the door.

From behind me, his voice came in a low, almost whispering murmur.

“Muriel, I’m sorry. I was having weird thoughts too.”

“W-what am I supposed to do with that?! I don’t want to know!”

I clamped my hands over my ears and bolted out of the room.

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Two days later.

After finishing his work at insane speed, Lycian came to find me and collapsed into my arms as if he’d been waiting for this moment.

“I did well, didn’t I? I didn’t even sleep.”

“You need to sleep…!”

Rubbing his cheek against my shoulder, he whined in a coaxing tone,

“Hurry and give me my reward, Master. Hmm?”