The beastly people of the territory.
Although there was a temporary agent, it was originally a territory ruled by Roxanne.
Sepia comforted him.
“You must be worried.”
“It’s my territory and where I grew up.”
Although it was infamous, Leopold was his territory and a place that contained his precious past.
Roxanne's eyes darkened as if recalling old memories.
“Leopold is a territory with both forests and coasts. It has beautiful and fertile soil.”
A vast forest stretched out inward to the continent, and a pure white sandy beach stretched behind a rocky cliff.
It was rare for a territory to have both a forest and a sea.
Leopold’s people cultivated and harvested crops in the forest, while those close to the sea engaged in fishing.
“I want to go with Sepia someday. I wish I could be the one next to Sepia when you first walk along the coast.”
Sand tickled between her toes.
The endless sea would welcome her with the song of the waves and the wind.
The cries of seabirds seemed to ring in her ears.
How could she feel better just from an invitation without any promise?
It was a strange and unfamiliar experience.
“I really want to visit there too.”
“I’m sure you’ll like it.”
Roxanne smiled refreshingly.
Looking at that smile, Sepia imagined that the territory called Leopold might resemble him. She wanted to see the sea, but it was around the time when she wanted to see the place where he was born and raised with her own eyes.
‘Wait.’
A question suddenly caught Sepia’s attention.
‘...Did I ever tell him that I hadn’t seen the sea?’
She thought about it quietly, but this was the first time she had had a conversation about the sea with Roxanne.
The suspicion that suddenly arose was a story of the past. The first time she became interested in the sea was a story from the past.
‘I heard about the sea from Demios.’
Demios had said it back in the days of Huron.
The place where he lived as a child was where the sea and the forest coexisted.
The words that they would go together someday were still vivid in her mind. But.
Did he ever go on a vacation to the sea?
She heard that Demios was weak when he was young.
But such illness was rare for divine beings.
It was only after coming to the Beastkin Empire that she found out that he suffered from frequent fevers. Was it because he was young that he had mistaken his memory?
Or was her memory faulty?
Sepia’s gaze turned to the robe that Roxanne was wearing.
An afterimage on his skin that was now invisible.
In fact, her continued suspicions had started from Roxanne’s scar.
No.
In fact, from much earlier.
Roxanne asked, sensing her gaze.
“Why is that?”
“Actually, I remember the scar I saw earlier. It’s around your left waist.”
Their gazes turned to the same spot.
“...It’s an old scar, so it should be blurry.”
“Still. It feels like a scar I’ve seen somewhere.”
The scar had now become a faded scar.
Long ago, Sepia had encountered barbarians.
It was the winter of her fourteenth year.
The intensity of the abuse-based lessons varied depending on the Empress’s mood.
That day was the day the Empress witnessed the Duchess and the Emperor kissing each other.
The Emperor’s affair was already a done deal, but for some reason, he had been aware of it step by step, and from that winter onwards, he had been doing it regardless of time or place.
The enraged Empress began her lessons as soon as she returned to the Empress’s palace.
She usually only spanked places that were invisible or hidden, but that day was different.
A slap, an unpleasant frictional sound that cut through the flesh.
The Empress slapped Sepia’s cheek hard enough to make her neck spin and then repeatedly struck her delicate flesh in anger.
‘...Lesson is over.’
The Empress left, but none of the palace maids helped Sepia.
In fact, Sepia also knew.
She was not the next Empress, but the target of the Empress’s anger.
However, this was the first time she had been treated so blatantly. She had no choice but to face the reality that she had been secretly ignoring.
At that moment, even Demios, who had been her only support, did not come to mind.
She left the Empress's Palace without a plan.
The winter forest in the Imperial Palace, where snow had fallen for a rare time, was completely white and quiet.
Small footprints were left on the pure white snow.
The barbarians were seen in the forest beyond the Empress's Palace.
'...Monster?'
A human figure with the head of an unknown beast.
No, that figure wasn't exactly human, either.
They rushed toward the terrified Sepia.
When she closed her eyes tightly, she heard a sharp scream.
The sound of a monster that wasn't hers.
When she opened her eyes again, a gray wolf was standing in front of her.
Sepia intuitively knew that the wolf was Demios.
Soon, the wolf turned its head and approached the girl.
Along with a sharp scar on its left waist.
The blood flowing from the unique wound, like a saw blade, reddened the pure white snow.
The girl cried and didn't know what to do, but the wolf comforted Sepia instead.
"It's okay."
The bleeding will stop soon.
The wolf licked Sepia's swollen cheek.
The night was dark.
Sepia stayed in a cave in the forest with Demios.
She said she would call someone, but for some reason, Demios refused.
The fact that Sepia and the Crown Prince of the Beastkin Empire were meeting should not have been known.
Fortunately, as he said, the wolf's wounds seemed to be healing little by little.
'That was when.'
Beastkin have imprints.
It didn't apply to Sepia, but Demios' words that his imprint would be a girl no matter what strangely comforted her.
It was like a miracle that she wanted to believe in even though she knew it wouldn't happen.
That morning, Sepia returned to the Empress's Palace with those who had come to find her.
Leaving the wolf in the cave.
And she didn't tell anyone in the palace what happened that day.
They wouldn't believe her anyway, and there was no one there to talk to about it openly.
The strange thing was that there was not even any news of a monster being discovered in the forest within the palace.
It was the same when she visited the forest again one day.
As if everything Sepia had experienced that day was an illusion.
The Huron Empire.
And she didn't know why the barbarians had appeared in the forest of the palace.
However, the scar from that day remained intact on Demios' left waist when he had turned back into a beastkin.
Demios habitually wore long clothes.
That was why it was even more memorable.
She had seen his naked body once, at the lakeside.
“...There were a lot of battles.”
He turned his head.
As if he was avoiding the question.
“...You must be busy with the investigation today. I will go to the charity department alone.”
“I was planning to go to work in the afternoon.”
Sepia shook her head at Roxanne’s answer.
She looked a little stern.
“No. It’s a two-day vacation. This is an order from your superior.”
With the knights absent, there would be a lot to worry about if he were to conduct an investigation related to the territory.
Roxanne looked a little surprised at the firm answer, then smiled.
“I will follow your orders.”
“Please let me know if you have any news. I will go now.”
Sepia smiled and turned her back.
Her expression was stiff in a place Roxanne couldn’t see.
As they left the building, Betty was just turning the corner.
“Did you count all the numbers?”
“Yes. Because they’re all beasts, they all ran well. The ones who fell behind weren’t so lucky.”
Betty, who had come running, laughed heartily.
“Thank goodness no one was seriously injured.”
“Where are you going now?”
“We’re going to work at the department.”
“Yes. I’ll take you.”
Sepia got into the carriage with Betty.
Betty was humming as she looked out the window, excited that she might run into the captain of the guard.
On the contrary, Sepia’s expression was stiff.
Sepia went to work at her office.
There, Viscount Elon was waiting for her.
“We don’t have enough staff to handle the guests. I think it would be better to hire a few more nobles.”
As the number of people interested in donating increased, there was a shortage of staff to handle them.
Up until now, Elon had been handling them, but it seemed that he was having a hard time dealing with the high-ranking nobles.
“Understood. I’ll look into it right away.”
They had to consider increasing staff anyway.
That was when Sepia’s eyes were fixed on the documents.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes?”
When she raised his head, it seemed that the report was not finished yet.
“Thank you for accepting the Deer Tribe.”
Elon bowed his head in gratitude.
He was referring to the time when the Deer Tribe was accepted into the poorhouse during the winter and returned to the forest in early spring.
The empire tended to reject the beast tribes living outside the territory.
The reason was that they did not pay taxes to the territory and did not obey the law.
However, the tribes exchanged with each territory in exchange for the plants and animals that grew on their territory, and they were not people who disrupted the order of the empire.
Roxanne looked a little surprised at the firm answer, then smiled.
“I will follow your orders.”
“Please let me know if you have any news. I will go now.”
Sepia smiled and turned her back.
Her expression was stiff in a place Roxanne couldn’t see.
As they left the building, Betty was just turning the corner.
“Did you count all the numbers?”
“Yes. Because they’re all beasts, they all ran well. The ones who fell behind weren’t so lucky.”
Betty, who had come running, laughed heartily.
“Thank goodness no one was seriously injured.”
“Where are you going now?”
“We’re going to work at the department.”
“Yes. I’ll take you.”
Sepia got into the carriage with Betty.
Betty was humming as she looked out the window, excited that she might run into the captain of the guard.
On the contrary, Sepia’s expression was stiff.
Sepia went to work at her office.
There, Viscount Elon was waiting for her.
“We don’t have enough staff to handle the guests. I think it would be better to hire a few more nobles.”
As the number of people interested in donating increased, there was a shortage of staff to handle them.
Up until now, Elon had been handling them, but it seemed that he was having a hard time dealing with the high-ranking nobles.
“Understood. I’ll look into it right away.”
They had to consider increasing staff anyway.
That was when Sepia’s eyes were fixed on the documents.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes?”
When she raised his head, it seemed that the report was not finished yet.
“Thank you for accepting the Deer Tribe.”
Elon bowed his head in gratitude.
He was referring to the time when the Deer Tribe was accepted into the poorhouse during the winter and returned to the forest in early spring.
The empire tended to reject the beast tribes living outside the territory.
The reason was that they did not pay taxes to the territory and did not obey the law.
However, the tribes exchanged with each territory in exchange for the plants and animals that grew on their territory, and they were not people who disrupted the order of the empire.
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