Ask Away, Your Majesty - Chapter 9
Lorienne hastily picked up her glasses and approached the door. She opened the peephole first and saw Pico standing outside.
“Hello, sorceress!”
Pico cheerfully greeted as Lorienne opened the door for him. Following behind him, Kyle, with his head bowed like a looming shadow, entered swiftly. His stature seemed larger than the door itself.
“Is the potion ready?”
“Yes.”
Her face bore a slight smirk, hinting at a sarcastic thought, ‘Shall we see how much he loves money?’
Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “…You’re bleeding.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Kyle pointed at Lorienne’s lips. Unaware that her lip had been bleeding from biting it, she nonchalantly sucked the blood away. Turning to retrieve the potion she had made, Lorienne was stopped in her tracks by a voice from behind her.
“It’s hard to believe you don’t feel weak from losing blood.”
“You… heard that?”
It seemed like her loud outburst had been heard from outside the door.
Kyle crossed his arms and shrugged. “Well, you call yourself an archmage, so I’m looking forward to the potion.”
He was smirking somewhat. Lorienne paid him no mind, but she couldn’t help but blush with embarrassment.
She worried she looked like someone who thought too highly of herself. “Archmage” was a phrase her older brother used to tease her with constantly when she was young. So, it was just something she would habitually evoked when she wanted to gather her courage.
He heard everything! He heard it all!
Lorienne spun on her heel and stalked over to the crafting table, knowing it would be even more embarrassing if he saw her blushing face. Unbeknownst to Lorienne, Kyle had already noticed her white cheeks turning red and involuntarily let out a snicker.
She returned with labeled vials of the potion and placed them in front of Kyle and Pico. “When you drink this potion, you’ll immediately transform into a dog. As I mentioned, you’ll return to your original form after 30 minutes, but you’ll be naked then, so be careful. Also, since you’ll be a real dog, some canine instincts might take over. It’s better to maintain control as much as possible.”
“Alright then. I’ll try it first.” Nodding, Pico made a determined face and gulped down the potion.
It was only a matter of moments before Pico’s body shrunk, his clothes falling to the floor, and something inside them gurgled.
As Kyle and Lorienne looked down, a small chihuahua’s face peeked from inside Pico’s clothes.
“Yip!”
“Eek!”
The high-pitched barking made Lorienne laugh in spite of herself. Though smaller than Kyle, Pico seemed to have a sturdy body. She had anticipated a medium-sized dog, not this tiny chihuahua.
“Hmm, you really do turn into a dog, but does it turn into a different dog every time you drink?”
“No. It transforms into the breed that suits you the best.”
“A suitable breed, huh?”
Pico, now a chihuahua, kicked back his hind paws repeatedly and squeaked loudly. He was pacing frantically around Kyle, sniffing the air and rubbing his nose here and there as if exploring the Loftis shop.
“Pico does seem utterly frantic.”
“Would his fake Highness try it right away?”
“What? Fake?”
Kyle’s bright green eyes turned chillingly cold as he glared sharply at Lorienne. However, despite that piercing gaze, she seemed unperturbed.
“I thought you said you were Kyle Astum.”
“But why am I being called a fake?”
“Oh, so you mean to tell me that the real Kyle Astum, with all those palace mages, would come all this way?”
Lorienne’s retort left Kyle momentarily at a loss for words.Only Pico knew about his desire to transform into a dog in order to uncover the truth behind that scent. He knew that was best kept a secret from everyone else.
“Huh, truly unbelievable.”
A bitter laugh escaped Kyle. After muttering something about being a fake duke, he watched intently as Lorienne returned to her brewing table.
She’s the first woman I’ve encountered who’s so boldly defiant in front of me. Oddly… irritating.
Throughout his life, the women he had encountered were pretty much the same. They could barely make eye contact with him, they blushed at the mere sight of her, and they could barely breathe as he tried to appear distant.
However, Lorienne was different from those women. When she looked at him, she didn’t appear to be interested in him at all.
