The Northern Mad Dog Wags It’s Tail

Thus, the root of all this was the battle between a timid nephew, who was afraid of strangers and reluctant to engage in social circles and his aunt who was determined to somehow send him into society.

There were various speculations and rumours as to why Sig appeared at Lockheart’s party. In reality, Sig Turas simply didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity.

“It would be interesting to see the expressions on the faces of those who claim that Sig Turas was given a large sum of money by Lockheart, who is trying to gain favour with the royal family, and invited to the party.”

Amidst the laughter and amusement of the Earl, Sig revealed one more fact.

“At the time, I accepted the invitation without knowing Lockheart’s name, but now I think it was fortunate.”

“Why? Because you ended up meeting Tua?”

“Meeting Britia-nim was a great shock to my life, which had been filled with arrogance thinking there was no one who could defeat me.”

As the story of Britia emerged, Sig clenched his fists and exhaled deeply, as if filled with anger. His reaction was quite different from what Crave had expected, considering Sig’s embarrassment at the thought of his beloved woman.

“Why are you making such a scary face?”

“Is my face scary?”

“Yes, it is. It’s a face that says you could kill someone.”

Unaware of himself, Sig tried to relax his grip while massaging his face.

“To be honest, I don’t have the strength to stop you, so it doesn’t matter who you harm.”

Crave was confident that he would not lose in a verbal argument, but he knew very well that he would not win against anyone in a physical fight. Moreover, if the opponent was Sig Turas, there was nothing more to say.

There was no point in provoking him and ending up in a fight. He would never allow that to happen.

“But it does concern me to see you making such a scary face while thinking about Tia. You don’t actually want to fight with her, do you?”

Why would Sig do such a thing? But if not, then why did he ignite such determination?

“I cannot fight against her.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Not ‘I choose not to fight,’ but ‘I cannot fight.’

Crave became concerned.

“It’s because I cannot keep up with her strength, not even with the tip of my toe.”

“…Tia’s strength?”

“From observing my tail and manipulating time freely, to gazing directly into my heart, a fight between us would never be possible from the start.”

‘What does time and the heart have to do with it?’

Crave narrowed his eyes, wondering if he had misheard, and observed Sig seriously.

“It’s pathetic to pass judgment on the outcome of a fight even before it begins. But no matter how hard I try, it’s impossible. I can’t imagine a version of myself that could defeat her.”

Already at this point, he had lost. How could he possibly fight?

Sig clenched his fist tightly with a pained expression on his face.

“Sorry for looking troubled, but I’m curious about one thing. What do you mean by Tia manipulating time? Did she say that?”

“She often used it as if testing me. So the air around her would become strangely gentle, and everything would flow in slow motion.”

Even trying to recall that sensation, he was affected by the side effects of her abilities and his heart raced.

“Before you know it, everything can just flow by so quickly that you can’t keep up and end up feeling helpless. If you try to laugh it off, you’ll be left with no choice.”

While looking at Sig, who muttered that it was truly a frightening ability, Crave barely managed to suppress a burst of laughter.

‘Britia Lockheart, that guilty fellow. Because of you, this innocent man is tormented by such thoughts.’

“I didn’t know she had abilities as well.”

‘And I, the bad friend who teases that pitiful man.’

When Crave nodded and tried to stifle his laughter, Sig sighed.

“Someday, I want to at least keep up with her footsteps.”

“Yeah. You can do it. Gather your strength and try to captivate her.”

“But it feels like that future isn’t coming anytime soon.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Crave smiled warmly at Sig, trying to comfort him.

“It’s not like you have no chance at all.”

“You may be weak, but your heart is broad.”

“Leave out the part about being weak.”

Crave opened his eyes wide and glared at Sig. Then, suddenly, he chuckled as if he had a good idea.

“By the way, is the preparation for the banquet going well?”

“It’s going fine. Everyone is putting in effort all around.”

“Tia loves banquets so much that if a tea she doesn’t like is served at the grand event, she might get angry.”

Crave muttered hesitantly.

“Do you know what she likes?”

“Of course. We’re family, and I don’t even know that much?”

There was no need to ask if Sig wanted to know. He widened his eyes and waited for Crave’s response.

“Ginger tea.”

“Ginger tea.”

“Yeah. So prepare ginger tea, nothing else.”

“Fortunately, I think we had it among the preparations of the 40 varieties.”

Crave chuckled and stopped laughing, his head tilted.

“Did I hear it wrong? Among the preparations of 40 varieties? Were you preparing 40 types of tea?”

“Until yesterday, it was 40. We’re still looking for different types of tea, so there are probably more now. We had about 60 varieties of desserts.”

“And what’s the point of collecting them all like that?”

Sig and Crave blinked at each other.

“To treat Britia one by one.”

“One by one? Does that mean you intended to feed all of that to my sister?”

Crave’s mouth hung open.

“I won’t do such a thing!”

“Then?”

“Well, since we don’t know what she likes. It’s for various reasons.”

Sig found it challenging to express his plan of using his wealth and youthful charm to win Britia over, given the age difference between them.

“I don’t know what those various reasons are, but stop it right now.”

At the words “stop it,” Sig remained silent and closed his mouth.

“Otherwise, my sister won’t be able to handle the banquet.”

When Crave threatened him, Sig’s lips parted.

*****

“Your Grave, you seem distracted.”

Inside the reception room, Evely spoke a word to Sig, who was wandering around. He hadn’t been able to remain calm since morning, and as 3 o’clock approached, he couldn’t even sit still.

“Evely.”

Sig called Evely in a serious voice.

“What if she doesn’t come?”

“She promised to come, so she’ll come.”

Evely tried to soothe him, thinking he might be the one to break the appointment, but it was in vain.

“Crave-nim even mentioned that he can’t send her.”

“That was just a conversation when he heard that we were doing something absurd.”

Now, thinking back, Evely regretted the absurdity of their actions. It was fortunate that Lord Lockheart had intervened before they could force their excessive hospitality of endless tea and desserts on Britia.

“We reached an agreement with Ginger Tea and two or three desserts, so it should be fine.”

“She might have changed her mind in the meantime.”

“Just trust your friend. Although our time together has been short, we now have someone we can call a ‘friend’.”

Evely had always thought of Lord Lockheart as someone who talked a lot but was a weak man. However, through this incident, Evely saw him in a new light. He was quite considerate, and logical, and offered sound advice.

“I just realized, what if she gets attacked by monsters on the way?”

“Your Grace, this is not the northern region.”

“But there is still a considerable distance from the capital.”

Evely sighed as they continued to worry unnecessarily. “Please calm your mind and sit down.”

In such an excited state, Evely seemed likely to make a mistake when she arrived. Evely felt extremely uneasy.

“Even if it’s just wild beasts or bandits, the probability of encountering them is almost nonexistent, so please relax.”

Those words had the opposite effect. The mention of wild beasts and bandits widened Sig’s eyes.

“I knew inviting her here was a bad idea!”

Sig rushed out of the room.

“Your Grace!”

Evely immediately followed, but Sig was too fast.

As Sig forcefully swung open the mansion’s front door, he coincidentally encountered Britia, who had just arrived. However, due to the momentum of his rush, he was on the verge of colliding with her. Even if he tried to stop, his feet were already suspended in the air.

“Uh?”

In that brief moment, Sig saw Britia and was surprised. He clenched his teeth and twisted his body in mid-air to narrowly avoid colliding with her.

“Eek!”

While he narrowly avoided her, Sig ended up falling to the ground.

“Oh my goodness, Your Grace!”

As Britia approached him, Sig raised his head.

“Are you alright?”

A man with blood trickling from his cheek asked.

“I’m fine.”

Sig reassured her, but as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he stiffened. Britia’s hand was gradually approaching him.

“However, there’s blood on your face, Your Grace.”

Sig swiftly wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. Although blood did come off, it wasn’t a big deal.

“I’m fine.”

It didn’t hurt much. But his cheek felt warm. It must be because it had been scraped against the floor.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

But why did he feel a tingling sensation on the side that hadn’t touched the ground?

Sig was perplexed, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Britia, who was looking down at him.

“Yes, it seems so. Seeing you welcome me like this.”

Britia said while observing his tail, which was vigorously wagging from side to side. At first, she thought it was simply a polite gesture from someone amidst unfamiliar faces. However, by now, she believed that she could consider it a genuine welcome.

“What condition is my tail in right now?”

Sig couldn’t see it, so he couldn’t confirm. It was frustrating. Why was Britia smiling so confidently, considering what state his tail might be in? The thought made him extremely uneasy.

“Hmm.”

“Is it in a serious condition?”

Sig’s face, asking such a question, looked so serious that it made Britia mischievously inclined to play a prank. It wasn’t as if he had become comfortable enough to let his guard down, but seeing that tail unable to hide its joy, she wanted to tease him.

“Are you curious?”

Before, she wouldn’t have had thoughts like this because his distorted, menacing face was too terrifying. Strangely enough, she wasn’t afraid even though she knew it was a frightening face.

Was it because she knew he was younger? Or was it because of that fluttering, pleasant tail?

“Will you not regret hearing it?”

Britia asked with a meaningful, teasing voice. Sig swallowed dryly. He felt tense at the thought that the situation might be so serious that she warned him so earnestly.

“Please tell me.”

As Sig nodded his head in a somewhat determined manner, Britia could no longer hold back.

“It’s a secret.”

Her eyes softened and half-closed as she said it.