Chapter 4.1

As the puppy seemed about to fall to the floor, I swiftly caught its body. The prince-turned-puppy—or should I say, the puppy-turned-prince—struggled frantically, trying to escape my embrace with all its might.

However, it was just a feeble attempt. The puppy barked incessantly, attacking my eardrums with its persistent yelps.

During this time, I hurriedly left the bedroom and descended the stairs. Although there was no real danger of running into anyone along the way, I almost ran down in case the puppy managed to escape from my arms, fearing a potential disaster.

I eventually arrived at my own room. I shut the door hastily and gently placed the puppy on the floor.

“Now, what should we do, Prince? It seems this is the first time you’ve ventured outside your bedroom.”

“….”

Stumbling, the puppy sat down on the floor and remained quiet. Even without words, it was clear that it was grappling with an immense shock.

With its tail drooping, the puppy lowered its body to the ground and rolled over. Afterward, as if to say, ‘If you don’t see me, I won’t see you,’ it lowered its head and avoided showing its cute face to me any longer.

“If you keep acting like that, I’ll pick you up again. No, what am I saying? I might even give you a kiss.”

“Woof!”

The puppy abruptly stood up. The bundle of white fur was protesting something fiercely, its black nose twitching as it growled and grumbled.

Back when he was human, he barely spoke, but now as a puppy, he was quite the chatterbox. I sat down in front of the puppy and began gently petting its tangled hair, which I had never untangled myself.

“You’re so adorable. A good puppy, right?”

“Woof! Woof!”

“Does that mean ‘no’? But you were cute before too, Prince.”

The puppy gritted its teeth and puffed its cheeks at me, as if to retort. His temperament was no joke.

Let me emphasize once again: he was incapable of aiming his gaze properly when he was human, but now that he’s a puppy, he has an air of assertiveness.

“Woof! Growl!”

Now, he was even showing his teeth, going so far as to threaten me. I can’t have this. I need to find a way to calm him down.

Deep in thought, I pulled out a pair of stockings I had left untouched in a corner last night and quickly fashioned them into a ball. I held the stocking ball up to the puppy, and he suddenly widened his eyes, as if to say, ‘What is that?’

“Do you want me to throw this? Has anyone ever thrown something like this for you?”

The puppy didn’t react at all to the hastily made stocking ball in just three seconds. So, I sent the ball rolling toward the wall.

The ball hit the wall and bounced back toward the floor, the puppy quickly dashed after it. Then, he pounced on the ball and returned, carrying it in his mouth. Finally, he looked at me with his purple eyes glistening, as if expecting something.

“Are you having fun? Have you already forgotten that you stepped outside the bedroom?”

“….”

The shocked puppy dropped the ball to the ground. I was undoubtedly right; my hit was accurate.

Perhaps I should have thrown a few more. Feeling a bit silly, I threw the ball toward the wall again.

As the ball rebounded off the wall and rolled on the floor, the puppy sprinted after it. After catching the ball, he immediately turned around and came bounding back, looking at me with his violet eyes as if to say, ‘Again!’

“Does this amuse you? Please hold back from coming to your bedroom again. Seriously, it’s not exactly a hygienic place there.”

“Woof. Whine.”

“No, please stop whimpering and speak. I can’t understand you through those whines.”

The puppy let out a mournful sound. Amidst it all, its gaze remained fixed on the door, making me feel as if I had somehow become a villain who had kidnapped someone else’s puppy.

“No, seriously, why do you want to go back so badly? Did you smear honey on the top floor or something?”

“Well, not exactly that, but I can’t go out.”

“Gasp!”

The prince always returned to human form without minding the lights. I hadn’t realized that the room was not as dark as the prince’s bedroom and that the smoke wasn’t coming from the fireplace.

Just in case my eyes were being disrespectful, I quickly closed them and extended the apron toward the prince. He didn’t say anything, but when I saw that my hands were empty in no time; I was sure he understood my intention.

“Wh- why did you bring me to a place like this? Why…?”

When I opened my eyes again, the prince was standing there with his bare upper body, barely covering himself with the apron. His eyes, with their slightly lifted corners, and his ear partially covered by his silver hair, were tinged with red.

As he questioned me, he gazed at me near my shoulders, not as angry as before. Other than that, his long and straight black eyelashes were just as I had seen in my dreams.

“I already told you. It’s too dirty there.”

“It’s not that dirty…! I’ve tidied up in my own way…”

“Is flipping a table over and piling clothes on the bed considered tidying up?”

“I-I take a bath every day…! Father said that I can’t smell like an animal, so I wash my hair and body every day…”

“With that bathtub over there? It’s fine if only the prince is clean. But you were coexisting with spiders…”

There was no point in making excuses anymore, and the prince fell silent with a sullen expression. The bathtub placed in the center of the room didn’t look particularly clean either. By the way, he mentioned the smell of an animal; of course, when he was in his puppy state, he had a distinct puppy smell, but it wasn’t particularly unpleasant.