How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 39
“Calm down. Brother was just excited to see me. He didn’t mean to startle you.”
Angelina whispered, scratching Pudding’s chin with her nails. At her touch, Pudding’s aggression noticeably subsided, though he still glared at Ante and snorted.
Ante bent slightly at the waist to meet Pudding’s gaze. Then, with a grin, he said,
“So this is the famous Pudding?”
“You know about him?
“Of course. Haley told me a lot.”
“Really?”
“Brother was so worried about Lina’s safety that he couldn’t sleep at all. So I checked every day. That’s why I sent Zeke there too, you know?”
Ante emphasized that he was only concerned for her safety, and by no means trying to secretly track her personal time.
“I’m glad. I was worried you might be surprised when you saw him.”
Angelina smiled as if she understood.
But that smile was a bit different from usual. Uncharacteristically, it had a somewhat sly edge to it.
Ante, who couldn’t possibly miss such a small difference, felt puzzled. But he didn’t have the leisure to confirm it.
“Well then, I’ll go up and rest now.”
Angelina said, wiping the expression from her face.
“If it’s okay with you, shall we have dinner together later?”
“Dinner with Lina is always welcome.”
Ante accepted the dinner invitation for now, though he felt uneasy about her enigmatic smile.
But Jacob intervened between them.
“Your Grace, I apologize for the interruption. But you’re already quite behind schedule. If you’re going to finish preparing…”
Ante’s brow furrowed slightly at his interference.
Thinking that expression didn’t suit her handsome brother’s face, Angelina pressed her thumb between his brows to smooth them out
“Don’t push yourself if you’re busy. You must have spent a lot of time coming out to greet me.”
“There’s nothing more important than Lina.”
Ante said in a sulky voice, taking Angelina’s hand and pressing it to his cheek.
Angelina stroked his cheek and calmly soothed him.
“There’s nothing more important to me than you either. But we can’t just put off everything that needs to be done.
“If we don’t have dinner together today, I won’t be able to see my Lina for a while again.”
At his words, Angelina gently caressed his face and asked,
“Where are you going?”
“Mmh. I have some business.”
“The Imperial Palace?”
She guessed it was the Imperial Palace since his business was usually in the capital, but Ante shook his head.
“No, a bit far from here. The frontier.”
Ante usually didn’t talk much about work-related matters, so he said just that this time too.
But this time, Angelina’s heart was different in receiving those words.
As trade was their main income, the Flaubert Marquis family’s business was spread widely throughout the empire. Especially, they had many affairs in major cities with ports or shopping districts in the frontier.
If it were the usual Angelina, she would have thought Ante was going to handle such business this time too.
But today was a bit different.
She seemed to know a little that where he was trying to go this time wasn’t such a simple place.
“Take him with you.”
Angelina held out Pudding to him.
“You want me to take him?”
“Yes, I brought him to give to you.”
She was about to tell him it was a gift earlier too.
“It’s okay. He’s grown bigger and can even turn invisible now, right? It’s much better for him to protect Lina.”
“I’ll just be staying at home, what danger could there be?”
“It’s dangerous because brother won’t be at home with you.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Don’t worry about your brother. ”
“When you say that, it makes me worry more.”
Angelina forcibly placed Pudding in his arms. Both Ante and Pudding looked bewildered.
“According to your argument, the safest place is by your side, so before I say I’ll come along too, just take him with you.”
Faced with her threat to be just as stubborn if he insisted, Ante raised the white flag. There was no way he could win against Angelina.
“Sigh, alright. Since Lina insists so much, I’ll take him with me.”
Ante held Pudding with one hand, lifting him as if he were holding a tray. Pudding glared at Ante while hanging limply
“I guess this is a chance to see if he’s reliable enough to entrust our Lina to.”
Angelina chuckled at Ante’s playful words.
‘That’s my line.’
She couldn’t bring herself to voice this thought.
***
After returning to her room, Angelina entrusted Lora with unpacking her luggage and asked Haley to prepare her bath water.
Saying she wanted to be alone for a moment, she sent everyone out and immersed herself in the warm bath water.
“Even if it’s hot spring water, home is still the most comfortable.”
For the past few days, she had enjoyed natural hot springs almost daily. It was a satisfying time, but the bath at the mansion was still the best.
Flower petals were scattered, giving off a subtle fragrance, and the enclosed space was good for deep thinking.
But today, Angelina found that silence awkward.
“It feels empty now that he’s gone after spending just a few days together.”
She murmured, looking at the calm water’s surface.
When she bathed in the hot springs at the Dark Forest, Pudding always followed her. It was cute to see him paddling around with his short legs
Feeling a bit lonely, Angelina hugged her knees.
She stared intently at the flower petals floating on the water surface instead of Pudding, then flicked one. The petal absorbed the water from her hand and sank.
Watching this, Angelina muttered to herself.
“It’s strange. I never told anyone that your name was Pudding.”
It was a whisper so faint it could have dissipated with the steam from the bath water. The sound disappeared like the flower petal beneath the water’s surface.
But the heavy atmosphere remained.
Angelina let out a long sigh and rested her chin on her knees. She fiddled with the string anklet wrapped around her ankle out of habit.
In fact, when she asked the magic tower master to name Pudding, she didn’t believe it. She found herself ridiculous for harboring such suspicions.
Nevertheless, thinking it would be best to resolve the nagging doubt, she had conducted what was almost like a gamble.
But then…
“So this is the famous Pudding?”
Throughout the return journey, Angelina hadn’t mentioned that name. Even when alone with Pudding in the carriage, she didn’t call his name.
Every time she caught herself being overly cautious to avoid mistakes, she felt exasperated at what she was doing.
But who would have thought that her worried suspicions would be proven true?
What should she do now?
There were still many parts she couldn’t understand and aspects that were hard to believe due to lack of explanation.
But what happened earlier was undeniable, powerful evidence.
“…Friend, I’ll have to find you again.”
A faint, wistful smile briefly crossed Angelina’s lips as she murmured softly.
***
“I don’t understand.”
Returning to his room, Ante placed Pudding on the desk. He crossed his arms and glared at the unidentifiable creature for a long time.
Pudding, seemingly indifferent to whether Ante glared or not, just groomed himself. He licked every spot where Ante’s hands had touched.
“How long do you plan to ignore me?”
Ante, unable to bear it any longer, spoke first.
Pudding glanced at him briefly, then focused on grooming again. Though he looked like a fox, he acted just like a cat.
And at that moment, Ante’s golden eyes, glaring at Pudding, began to glow. A hint of purple flashed across them, and then…
[You’d better listen while I’m asking nicely.]
His voice was transmitted from somewhere other than his mouth.
Pudding momentarily froze at the voice transmitted like telepathy. But soon he resumed concentrating on washing his face.
“Ha, you’re really infuriating.”
Ante let out a sigh.
Taming ability.
It was Ante’s power.
This was why he, as the magic tower master, could perfectly control and manipulate the monsters of the Dark Forest.
It wasn’t just training them like dogs or horses, but completely turning monsters into his puppets.
Magical beasts were more difficult than monsters. Unlike monsters driven purely by instinct, they had higher intelligence and a clearer sense of self, making it harder.
But it wasn’t impossible.
[Will you continue to pretend not to understand?]
Ante used his ability once more to speak. But it didn’t work this time either.
Judging by how Pudding had flinched earlier, he clearly heard it, but this rascal was playing dumb.
He had dealt with various magical beasts before. There were some with strong wills that resisted his ability and others with high intelligence that were tricky to tame.
But Ante was at a loss, never having encountered one that feigned innocence like this, acting as if it knew nothing and engaging in a battle of wills.
When he first saw the creature in the magic tower’s office, he had used his ability but was completely ignored. It had acted nonchalantly as if it couldn’t hear his voice at all.
“There’s a limit to how much I can overlook because of Lina.”
Ante, starting to get irritated by Pudding’s attitude, spoke in an annoyed voice and reached out his hand.
