Weeping Men: The Innocent Princess's Secret Delight - Chapter 1.4
Judith, hiding her sneer, was about to avoid them by pretending to be oblivious as usual.
Until a certain thought crossed her mind.
‘…Should I use these guys?’
It seemed like it could work. She immediately put her thoughts into action.
“Sparring, you say?”
For this, she’d need to mingle with them a bit first.
Judith opened her eyes wide and clasped her hands together. It was her trademark performance of the ‘innocent, expectant princess’.
***
After returning to the institution, the relentless schedule finally ended. Kaizen was also given a short break.
However, he voluntarily gave up his vacation and inspected the state of weapons by going around the warehouses.
As he was putting a well-sharpened sword back into its scabbard and leaving the warehouse,
“Whimper…”
A pitiful sound came from nearby. Kaizen’s head turned towards the source of the sound.
“Pant, pant.”
The source was a small white-furred puppy. With no owner in sight, its fur was completely unkempt, and it looked a bit thin.
Despite being an unfamiliar human, the puppy showed no signs of wariness. Its tail was wagging, and drool was dripping from its outstretched tongue. It seemed to have been regularly fed by someone among the palace staff.
“…”
Kaizen silently looked down at the puppy. His emotionless gaze seemed as if it would freeze the small life mercilessly.
He slowly approached the puppy. A quiet pressure emanated from him. If someone were to witness this scene, they might think he was about to kick the puppy.
The puppy, unable to grasp the situation, tilted its head. Seeing this, Kaizen, grinned broadly.
“Chu chu chu chu chu.”
Not stopping there, he knelt in front of the puppy and made strange noises. It was the sound that dog lovers make when calling dogs.
The puppy wiggled its bottom and came close to the crouching Kaizen.
Kaizen held out one hand for the puppy to smell while stroking its back with the other. He didn’t mind at all that the fur was dirty due to the puppy being a stray.
“Good boy. Are you hungry? Want some food?”
His manner of speaking to the puppy was very natural. Kaizen rummaged through the pocket bag attached to his knight uniform’s thigh and took out some jerky.
“Pant, pant.”
The puppy’s tail wagged even faster. It snatched the jerky as if fishing it out.
“Fortunately, I’m carrying unsalted jerky. Do you always come here? Did the person who usually feeds you not come because of me? I feel so sorry…”
Having devoured a piece of jerky in an instant, the puppy, seemingly still unsatisfied, circled around Kaizen’s hand and pocket again. Kaizen, unfazed, continued to mutter words.
Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff… Lick.
“Heh, that tickles…”
The puppy, which had been sniffing, licked the tender part between his fingers. Kaizen chuckled softly at the sensation. Just as he was about to pick up the affectionate puppy,
“Captain!”
An adjutant called out to Kaizen from afar, running towards him. Startled by the loud voice, the puppy ran away.
“What is it?”
Kaizen’s face, as he turned to the adjutant, had already become cold and emotionless without a trace of a smile.
The adjutant lowered his eyes before him as if feeling ashamed.
“Well… I went to the Duke’s drawing room, but…”
The adjutant had just returned from the Duke’s residence to handle a personal matter Kaizen had entrusted him with.
As soon as Kaizen heard the adjutant’s voice, he seemed to know the result of the task he had assigned.
“They said there was nothing left to give to you, Captain…”
“…I see.”
I thought as much. That was his first impression. It was strange how he felt no sense of loss or disappointment at all.
After returning to the capital, he had requested his family to move his personal belongings left in the estate’s castle, as he would likely stay at the Imperial Palace for a while to stabilize the knighthood.
When there was no reply to his letter, he had sent the adjutant, who returned with only the answer ‘everything was thrown away’ from the family home.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Return to your duties.”
The adjutant fidgeted uneasily. Kaizen coldly dismissed him. The adjutant bowed at a right angle as he retreated.
“…”
Kaizen was alone again. He kept his eyes on the retreating back of the adjutant. Soon, the back became as small as a dot in the distance.
“…Where are you—?”
Kaizen’s voice rose by several tones again. He immediately lay down on the ground and began crawling around, searching for the puppy. He didn’t care at all that his uniform was getting dirty with dust.
“I won’t be scary. Come out—.”
He could sense its presence. He knew it hadn’t gone far, but the puppy wouldn’t show itself.
Kaizen took out jerky from his pocket again. Only then did he get a response.
“Sniff, sniff…”
A black nose twitched under the bushes. Seeing this, a smile spread across Kaizen’s face.
“Were you there?”
The puppy showed interest in the jerky but quickly pretended not to when Kaizen spoke. It tucked its tail between its legs under the bushes and just stared at Kaizen with big eyes.
Seeing the stiff body, probably from tension, Kaizen’s eyes drooped with sympathy and regret.
“I’m sorry… Did I scare you? I understand. Will you come and just eat this?”
When Kaizen put down the jerky and moved back, the puppy hesitantly revealed itself. Even after coming out of the bushes, it checked several times with sidelong glances to see if Kaizen was still in place before taking the jerky in its mouth and going back into the bushes.
Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp. Only the sound of eating could be heard. Kaizen didn’t move until that sound stopped.
The puppy that finished eating the jerky came out again quietly. With its stomach full, it seemed less tense, its tail raised high again.
“Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff…”
The puppy’s appetite was still strong even after eating something substantial as a meal substitute.
As the puppy kept sniffing his hand, Kaizen carefully picked it up and held it. The puppy didn’t resist.
Kaizen gently scratched the back of the puppy’s neck as he held it. He spoke softly in a voice as gentle as his touch.
“Please understand. Marty still hasn’t adapted to the treatment I receive… He must have raised his voice because he was frustrated.”
“Pant, pant.”
“From now on, I’ll tell them not to be noisy around here since you’re living nearby. Will that be okay?”
“Pant, pant.”
“Thank you. Good boy.”
The puppy twisted its body this way and that, perhaps feeling cramped in his arms. Kaizen held it more tightly, afraid it might fall. Then he quietly asked.
“…Can I come to see you sometimes too?”
His voice was muffled as if filled with moisture.
“Pant, pant.”
Even though it obviously couldn’t understand. Kaizen gazed intently at its side profile with its tongue out.
With its mouth open, it almost looked like it was grinning. Just like that child.
The warmth spreading in his arms was exactly the same temperature as that child’s.
“…Sniff.”
The chest area began to ache. Kaizen quickly buried his nose in the puppy’s back and desperately muttered.
“Don’t cry… This is the Imperial Palace… Wasn’t crying on the day of the banquet enough…”
But it was no use. Soon, moisture gathered in his obsidian-like eyes, and his uncontrolled mind arbitrarily replayed memories from the past.
