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“Your role is to die!”

To die and give Silvanus an excuse to break the cease-fire agreement. That was Aristine’s duty.

“Now that you understand, you better—.”

“You are misunderstanding something.”

Aristine’s flat voice cut Rosalyn off.

“This is Irugo. Not Silvanus.”

Rosalyn flinched at those words. She stood stock still with shock written all over her face like someone who had been hit with a hammer. When Rosalyn remained silent, another maid stepped forward.

“Hah! So you’re feeling triumphant just because that.”

“I had a feeling this might happen; she really doesn’t know her place anymore.”

“Even if this is Irugo—.”

“You guys are definitely worse than dogs. You can’t even figure out how you should behave from now on.”

An emotionless voice cut the maid off.

Aristine buried her cheeks in her palms as her eyes swept over the maids.

“I wonder what to do. My house can only raise obedient dogs.”

The maids who met her vivid, purple eyes flinched and trembled. Was the Princess’ gaze always like this?

They couldn’t tell even after combing through their memory. They had never looked into the princess’ eyes before in the first place. The maids were suppressed by an invisible pressure and glanced at each other.

“Let’s see, what usually happens to wild animals that can’t be raised…”

Aristine spoke leisurely and her face was void of any expression. No anger or annoyance or enjoyment and that frightened the maids even more.

“They’re either hunted down or eaten by a predator.”

Either way, their ending was the same.

“Princess!”

The maids couldn’t bear the fear and pressure and yelled even loiuder..

“I will report this to His Imperial Majesty!”

“You better think hard about what will happen then!”

“Did you not see the reactions of the Irugo royals earlier? Don’t deceive yourself, do you think the people here will like you?”

“You are so dumb.”

Aristine mumbled, feeling exhausted.

It seemed their ability to judge a situation had declined after having it so easy for so long. They weren’t looking at the future, instead they were just focusing on the fact that the person they looked down on was defying them.

‘Well, forget it.’

Aristine had gained a strong partner by the name of Tarkan. That meant that in this palace, she could act as freely as she wanted. At this point, it was too annoying to deal with these maids.

Let reality speak for these fools who cannot understand with their ears.

But right then…

“Wo, Woof!”

Rosalyn, who suddenly fell silent a while ago, knelt down at Aristine’s feet. And she did so while barking like a dog.

“Lady Rosalyn?!”

“What are you doing?”

The horrified voices of the other maids rang out sharply in the room. Rosalyn’s face was bright-red with shame as she remained on her knees. Despite that, she looked up at Aristine with eyes as meek as possible.

Like a dog looking at its owner.

“Oh my.”

Aristine’s eyes widened slightly. But soon enough, she smiled. From her Monarch’s Sight, she knew that she had to be relaxed in situations like this and not show any surprise.

Besides, Aristine was surprised by Rosalyn’s sudden change in attitude, not her imitation of a dog. Most of Aristine’s character was formed in isolation so her thinking process was somewhat unusual.

She simply thought since ‘people can eat dirt if they are hungry enough’ then surely, ‘people can act like a dog if they desperately want to appeal to someone.’

“How cute.”

Aristine purposefully scratched Rosalyn’s chin. Rosalyn’s face flushed even more but she obediently received the touch.

“So there was a dog mixed in with the group.”

Her voice was soft and gentle, as though she was an indulgent owner who cared for her dog.

* * *

Rosalyn felt ashamed but she did not rise from her knees. She could feel the other maids looking at her like she was crazy, but she didn’t care.

Because her life was more important.

This place is not Silvanus. It is Irugo.

The moment she heard those words, her mind was suddenly opened.

Aristine had been docile the entire time as if she couldn’t even fathom resisting so she thought she could control Aristine as much as she wanted, even after they came to Irugo.

‘But if the princess had just been hiding her claws while acting obedient then…’

The maids did not have any connection to anyone in Irugo. Although they disregarded Aristine and laughed at her, their circumstances were not very good. They were sent to an enemy nation as surveillance for an abandoned princess who was sent to die.

All the young ladies from distinguished families avoided this position. In reality, there were all insignificant people from insignificant families in the Empire.

The best their families could do was feel ecstatic when they took away the budget put aside for the princess by the palace manager.

The reason she harassed and disregarded the princess was because it made her forget her anxiety and she felt happy when she looked down on someone who was worse off than herself.

But now, things had changed.

‘They said a knight was beaten by Prince Tarkan and dragged out.’

While stating that they don’t need a dog that bites its owner.

Aristine said she was not the type to raise disobedient dogs. What would become of her if she was thrown out by Aristine who had revealed her claws?

‘If so, then I can only become a dog.’

Rosalyn was the one who tormented Aristine the most all this time. Insults and derision were a daily occurrence, sometimes she would mix gravel in her food, or give her clothes only after trampling them in the ground.

And even earlier, she screamed that the princess’ duty was to die. At this point, she wouldn’t lose anything by behaving nicely.

‘Since I’m doing this, it must be done correctly.’

“Woof, woof.”

Rosalyn barked obediently while Aristine touched her.

“You can act cute too; what an adorable puppy.”

Aristine looked down at Rosalyn with satisfaction in her eyes.

Until yesterday, no, even this morning, Rosalyn had looked down at Aristine in this manner. But how did she look now? Could she still say she was better than the rat-like princess?

Rosalyn clenched her teeth in humiliation. But she tried her hardest to relax her jaw.

Aristine was currently scratching her chin. So she would notice Rosalyn’s behavior before even hearing the sound of Rosalyn grinding her teeth.

If that happened, then this humiliating dog act would be all for nothing.

‘I can’t let that happen!’

Rosalyn made her gaze as meek as possible and rubbed her face against Aristine’s leg which was covered in a soft cloth.

“Y-You’ve lost your mind…”

“Gasp…”

The shocked maids stepped away from Rosalyn.

Rosalyn thought she wouldn’t care no matter how they looked at her but when she saw them avoid her like she was feces, sparks flew from her eyes.

The anger she couldn’t direct at Aristine was directed to them.

As though she could read those thoughts, the dog owner ordered in a sonorous voice.

“You should grow up to be a hunting dog.”

Rosalyn’s dark-green eyes flashed.

A hunting dog.

That sounded very good.

“Woof!”

‘Right, since I’m becoming a dog anyway, I might as well be a hunting dog that rips out the throat of its prey.’

Her first prey were the maids in front of her right now. These were the people who were laughing and gossiping with her just some moments ago.

But the look in Rosalyn’s eyes was only cruel as she looked at them.

‘How dare you look at me like that when you can’t even figure out the situation?!’

She ground her teeth fiercely. Almost like a growling dog.

Rosalyn no longer hid her clenched teeth.

This hunting hound will hunt as its owner desired. She would tear down the prey one after the other till there was only one person left.

Aristine.

‘My last prey will be you.’

Rosaline smiled at Aristine submissively. Acting like a dog was nothing, she could do it as much as Aristine wanted.

But she could imagine the look on Aristine’s face when she was bitten by her own dog at the last moment. The imagery of Aristine begging to be spared was drawn out before her eyes.

Even she begged, even if she barked and crawled on her feet, even if she ate dog food—!

‘I will never forget what happened today…!’

Aristine stopped stroking Rosalyn and took her hand away. Rosalyn flinched, wondering if her inner thoughts were discovered but Aristine only looked at Rosalyn and spoke carefreely.

“Alright then, let me see your hunting skills.”