The Grand Duke’s Fox Princess

Episode 94: Whenever the Attention Blows (IV)

‘How did I end up hiding under the bed?’

Right as Eristella had that thought, Heinricion looked back and reflexively smiled. The space between Eristella’s eyebrows narrowed.

“What. Why are you laughing?”

It was when Eristella strode forward, questioning ferociously.

She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror next to her. Her hair was a mess and her dress was ridiculously wrinkled.

Thus she tried to tidy up in a hurry. However, the more she tried, the more her hair became more and more messed up.

“Why does my hair keep getting tangled up?”

When Eristella grumbled nervously, her face growing redder…

Heinricion drew closer and calmly trimmed Eristella’s hair.

“Is the princess still clumsy?”

He made fun of her as he straightened the creases in her dress with a natural touch.

Having been served from an early age, Eristella unexpectedly lacked basic life skills.

Actually, that was something she only realized after becoming a fox. She really wasn’t even remotely aware of it when she was living as Princess Eristella.

“You can ask Sonia to do it.”

Eristella muttered, brushing off her dress.

“I told Rowen to not allow anyone in, so how can you call Sonia?”

That’s true.

Eristella, who was quickly convinced, had no choice but to rely on Heinricion’s hand.

And it took her longer than the last time to turn into a fox.

It was only after lunch was over that she became small and fluffy.

*******

From then on, the time for Eristella to become a fox changed irregularly.

She was certain that there was a trigger.

“If we don’t find the reason as to why these changes happen, it will be difficult to hide.”

That was the problem.

If it was simply something that Eristella and Heinricion needed to be watchful and careful about, they could handle it, but…

With the timing jagged in this way, they would eventually find themselves in a situation where no matter how careful they were, they could not escape the gaze of others.

Perhaps because of her mood, her physical condition seemed to deteriorate whenever the time of transformation from her original form to that of a fox was arbitrary.

“I have to find a pattern somehow.”

However, there were also things that Eristella knew she needed but couldn’t do.

First of all, she explained the situation to Sonia and they thought about it together, but they still couldn’t come up with an answer as to why the transformation time kept changing. 

Eristella and Heinricion also discussed new possibilities every day, but to no avail.

“Viscount Diaclen will visit tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“He said he wanted to discuss business at the last banquet, and he asked again through a letter to see me tomorrow. There’s something that bothers me.”

What bothered Heinricion was Eristella’s reaction to Viscount Diaclen at the last imperial banquet.

Discomfort appeared on Eristella’s face.

“What do you have with Viscount Diaclen? You were in a strange mood at that time.”

“I’m not sure yet, but I’m a little uncomfortable. He felt like someone I’ve met before.”

Eristella explained that Viscount Diaclen looked both like a boy named Emmet and the black wizard Declen. Although her explanation was confusing as it had not yet been sorted out, Heinricion understood right away.

“I will ask someone to do a search on the boy named Emmett. That way we can check if there’s something in common with Viscount Diaclen.”

Heinricion immediately found a way.

“And if you don’t feel comfortable being with the viscount tomorrow, you don’t have to step out.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Eristella felt it was inevitable for her to meet Viscount Diaclen to figure out his true identity.

Yet, she couldn’t make a decision easily because she kept feeling like he had already recognized her.

Lost in her thoughts, Eristella suddenly trembled and wrapped her arms around herself.

‘Ugh. Why am I getting goosebumps all of a sudden?’

Oddly enough, whenever she thought of Viscount Diaclen, she felt a chill for no real reason. This time, she even sneezed out. Ah, achoo!

“What’s the matter?”

At the sudden sneeze, Heinricion asked if she was okay.

“Nothing. It’s just that I have bad thoughts.”

Eristella didn’t think much of it and passed it off.

*******

Eristella kept pulling on the blanket in her sleep. Her body was doing it automatically.

It was freezing cold, but she was sweating, and her body felt heavier than usual. She really wondered why she was like this.

Achoo!

It wasn’t until she woke up, startled by her own sneeze, that she realized that her condition was a bit odd.

‘What. Did I catch a cold?’

Her body felt like it was floating, yet heavy as if a rock had been placed on it.

Eristella struggled to open her heavy eyelids, and for some time, Heinricion had been staring at her with a serious face.

‘I must be sick.’

Oddly enough, Heinricion seemed upset. That sullen face made Eristella realize it.

At the same time, she was unfamiliar with this situation.

Ever since she was very young, she hadn’t been sick. She was too healthy to even feign an illness.

So the memory of what kind of condition a person would be in when he or she was sick was blurred.

Really. After becoming a fox, she really experienced everything. It was when Eristella thought so and let out an airy laugh.

Heinricion’s forehead narrowed in doubt.

“Are you laughing?”

His tone was sarcastic, but there was concern in his voice.

Eristella was burning up since dawn. Heinricion was surprised to see it, and was shocked when it still hadn’t gone down.

And… It was astounding that the person concerned looked relaxed on the subject of shortness of breath due to high fever.

‘Who stayed up all night?’

But that resentment was short-lived.

When Eristella’s fever rose again, Heinricion quickly wiped her face with a wet towel.

That’s how he took care of her all night.

Eristella realized his care once again. Once she did, it seemed that Heinricion’s nagging overlapped with her mother’s nagging.

Actually, Eristella wasn’t really relaxed. Rather, her head was so blank that she couldn’t think of anything.

It wouldn’t be strange if she fainted like this.

“First, take some medicine.”

Sonia carefully held out the pills that she had just brought.

“How are you feeling? I haven’t called the doctor yet. If it seems to be in bad condition, I will call one somehow.”

“It’s fine. There’s no need to do that. I’ll take some medicine and get some rest, I’ll be fine. Since childhood, my resilience has been extraordinary.”

It was easy to guess why she didn’t want a doctor to be called. She didn’t want to take risks just because of a cold.

Eristella grinned. But when she smiled with a sick face, the ones looking at her only felt more sorry.

“You’ve never been very sick. Don’t pretend to be strong when you’re sick, you don’t know how it’s like since you’ve always been healthy.”

Again, Heinricion nagged at Eristella as if scolding her.

“I was going to call a doctor, but something happened. Before Your Highness…”

“?”

Carefully, Sonia tried to explain, but before that, a sudden change occurred without any signal.

Abruptly, Eristella turned into a fox.

“You’ve changed again.”

Again… again?

Eristella’s eyes alternated between the two in confusion.

But the problem didn’t end there.

Shortly thereafter, the fox changed back to a human form.

What in the world?!

“It stayed like this all night. So she can’t call anyone else.”

This was an unpredictable situation in which she transformed into a fox and back to a human again during the night.

In the end, Heinricion couldn’t help but find an emergency prescription and made Sonia prepare it separately.

“It’s a big deal if anyone sees you like this.”

“Really. I can’t control it at all. It has never happened before…”

It was unbelievable, but since they saw it in person, they had no choice but to believe it. The changes in Eristella’s body was worrying.

When Eristella stared at her own body, distraught, Sonia said,

“It seems that Your Highness’ physical condition affects the magic.”

At that guess, Eristella also nodded her head. Certainly, it seemed that tonight’s change was due to her weak body.

But that alone didn’t explain everything.

“Last time, I didn’t feel weak or anything.”

Eristella was a little surprised the previous two times, but there was nothing wrong with her body and magic.

“That’s a matter for later. Don’t think about anything and rest now. Rest is all you need to do right now.”

Heinricion decisively cut off Eristella’s thoughts.

After that, Heinricion and Sonia continued to take care of Eristella.

Ame: We all know the cause right… hahahahaha those cute idiots