"Your dad is such a fool, isn't he? I treated him so badly... but he must have been worried about me even as he was leaving."
Seeing clear tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, he hurriedly pressed himself against her side. Her sorrow-filled eyes came down toward him.
"Someday, I'll let you meet him too."
He stiffened at the pain that felt like it was digging into his chest.
"I am here, Thalia. I am by your side right now." He wanted to tell her that, but only a faint howl came from the beast's vocal cords.
"What's wrong, Khan? Are you sick?"
Perhaps surprised by his suddenly unstable demeanor, she picked him up and stroked his back. Then, a sweet scent that felt like it would melt the brain filled his nostrils.
His sense of smell, which had become dozens of times more sensitive than when he was human, occasionally pushed him into unbearable confusion.
Perhaps all of this is just a hallucination encountered right before breathing its last.
At the thought of that, an unbearable fear overwhelmed him.
"It's okay, Khan. I'll take good care of you."
Thalia tightly wrapped her arms around him as he trembled and began to walk back the way they had come. The head maid, who had been waiting at a distance, approached with a puzzled look.
"Are you finishing your walk already?"
"Khan is acting a bit strange. I need to call a healer to check on him."
The head maid's gaze fell toward him. The woman, who had three children and experience raising various livestock, seemed to have noticed immediately that there was nothing wrong with him.
However, the head maid, well aware of the Grand Duchess's sensitive nature, quietly nodded.
"I will bring them right away."
"I'll be sitting in the pavilion, so bring her there."
Thalia headed toward the marble pavilion located on one side of the garden without waiting for an answer.
A moment later, a healer wearing a flowing robe came across the garden. He stared up at the middle-aged woman with an expressionless face.
She was clearly the woman who had lost her life in an unexpected accident last year. However, the healer was bowing before her with a perfectly fine face, as if nothing had happened.
"I heard you called me. Did the pain in your leg return?"
"I called you because of Khan, not me. Please check on him."
For a moment, the healer's brow furrowed slightly. She looked utterly displeased that she had been summoned for such a trivial monster. However, Thalia, preoccupied with observing him, failed to notice the disgruntled look in her eyes.
"I fed him raw meat for the first time today. Could that be why he is sweating?"
"I am a layman when it comes to monsters."
The healer answered in a sighing tone.
"However, I am well aware that they possess an incredibly strong life force. You do not need to worry."
"You never know! Stop talking nonsense and just get on with the examination."
When Thalia snapped at her sharply, the healer placed a hand on his head with a reluctant expression. He quietly endured the unpleasant touch. Soon, a warm energy seeped into his body. It seemed as though the healer was infusing magic to check his physical condition.
"This wolf is in excellent health. It has weakened somewhat, but not to the point of being a problem."
“He's weak?”
"It is only natural that his body has weakened since he hasn't eaten properly and has only slept for nearly ten days. Please do not worry; he will recover quickly if you provide him with sufficient food and gradually increase his activity level."
Only after hearing the healer's calm answer did Thalia's expression soften. It was then that he realized Thalia was acting oversensitively because of the memory of losing her child.
The woman who pulled him by the nape of the neck whispered apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Khan. I'll make sure to take better care of your meals from now on."
"I am more worried about Your Highness's health than that wolf."
The healer spat out a harsh remark and knelt down in front of her. Then, reaching out a hand toward Thalia, she asked a question.
"How are you feeling today?"
"It's gotten much better."
Thalia, who had naturally placed her hand on it, replied half-heartedly.
"Even though I toss and turn every night because of my leg, the excruciating pain I used to suffer from has noticeably decreased. It seems the ointment you made is working."
"Did you apply the medicine this morning as well?"
Thalia nodded. After observing her condition for quite a while, the woman took out a small glass bottle from the bag tucked under her arm.
"If the pain worsens at night, please take this."
She looked at the transparent glass bottle with a suspicious gaze.
“What kind of medicine is it?”
"This is a newly manufactured painkiller. Its effects will last longer than what you were previously taking."
Thalia took the bottle, opened the lid, and sniffed it, but finding nothing unusual, she closed the stopper again.
"I'll try taking it before bed."
The healer stood up from her seat with a satisfied look on her face.
She put him back down on the ground and began walking along the garden path. He followed closely behind on all four legs, lifting his head high.
Her golden hair, swaying in the breeze, beautifully colored his vision. Imprinting that sight deep into his retina, he once again murmured the prayer he had repeated thousands of times.
Oh my god.
If all of this is a dream... please take my breath away while I sleep, and let me never open my eyes again.
As long as she can remain in the living, breathing reality, it does not matter if he is trapped inside the body of a helpless beast for the rest of his life.
He earnestly prayed that this strange dream would continue.
***
As dusk approached, drowsiness inevitably washed over him.
He tried his best to throw it away, but there was absolutely no way to stop his eyelids from slowly drooping. He stared intently at her as she read a book while leaning against the headboard of the bed, and at one point, he collapsed as if he had fainted.
By the time he regained consciousness, the surroundings were already engulfed in deep darkness.
Opening his eyes with a clearer mind, he immediately shifted his gaze to her. As if she had fallen asleep while reading, she was breathing evenly with her back against the pillow, still in the same position.
He stared at the sight as if nailed to the spot, then pulled the blanket with his short teeth to cover the legs that were clearly exposed beneath the rolled-up skirt.
Even doing such trivial things was too much effort, and he became short of breath.
He barely managed to pull the blanket up to her shoulders, caught his breath for a moment, then jumped out of bed and walked to the fireplace.
Flames were burning inside the partition, perhaps lit by the maids while they were asleep. He pushed his front paw through the gap. An intense pain immediately struck him.
He hurriedly pulled his foot away and examined the burning area. The soft flesh of the sole was burned bright red.
He rubbed the blistered area against the floor as if to confirm the stinging pain again, then walked behind the screen placed on one side of the room.
As he approached the slanted mirror, the image of a young animal covered in grayish downy fur was reflected.
After standing motionless for a while and staring at the scene, he finally calmly assessed the reality he was facing.
If all of this is not a delusion or a hallucination, then he has returned to the past before she died. And he did so by borrowing the body of the beast she cherished.
How is this possible?
He glared at the wolf in the mirror as if seeking an answer. Suddenly, he recalled the earnest gaze of the beast he had faced just before his last breath.
Could it be that the wolf sent himself to the past to save her?
It was a preposterous hypothesis, but no other explanation came to mind.
Wasn't the situation itself far beyond the realm of logic to begin with, or was it meaningless to examine the principle behind how this happened?
What mattered was what was to come.
Unless he had completely lost his mind and was lost in delusion, it was as if he had been given a miraculous opportunity to save her.
But what on earth am I supposed to do?
He slowly scanned his own reflection with blank eyes. Although he had grown a little since he first opened his eyes, the fact that he was nothing more than a helpless beast remained unchanged.
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