Chapter 60 : Chapter 60
Volume 1
Chapter 60 : A Dog
“I think that if it were you, Master, you would definitely make him submit completely, both in body and in heart.”
“...Heh.”
Faced with Eluca’s worshipful praise, Ann could not help the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.
It was a good thing she had not said that she had come here to capture the beloved person who had run away, or it would have felt like all the dignity of being a master would have been swept away.
It was all Young Master’s fault.
Why did he have to run?
It seemed her methods really did need to become a little harsher.
Just look at Eluca.
In a mere two days, it already felt as though her beloved had completely surrendered both body and soul.
“Come, shake hands.”
“Woof.”
“Come, lie down.”
“Woof.”
“Come, wag your tail.”
“Woof?”
“Ah, I forgot you can’t do that. Then shake your butt instead.”
“Woof.”
“Good boy, good boy. Ade is such a good boy. I’ll give you some meat later.”
“Woof woof.”
He really was just like a dog.
Ann withdrew her gaze.
Could she really make the Young Master reach this degree as well?
“Ah, right, the tea!”
After showing off her results in front of Ann, Eluca suddenly smacked her forehead, remembering that she still had water boiling on the stove.
So she hurriedly ran out.
“Master, I’m going to make the tea. Look around on your own for a bit.”
Halfway there, Eluca suddenly poked her head back in through the doorway and warned in mock seriousness,
“Don’t do anything naughty while I’m gone~”
“How could I? I already have someone I like.”
“Hehe, I’m joking. How could I ever suspect you, Master?”
Eluca flashed a playful smile and disappeared outside.
With Eluca gone, the room fell quiet all at once.
The man on the floor slowly crawled back into the corner and curled up inside the “doghouse” Eluca had carefully built for him, as though he did not care at all that his mannerisms, even his movements, had become completely identical to a dog’s, or how utterly stripped of dignity he looked to outsiders.
“She’s already trained him to this extent? Eluca seems even more impressive than I imagined.”
Ann sighed softly, then turned her gaze elsewhere.
This room seemed to have originally been the master bedroom.
There were still traces on the floor left behind by a bed that had stood there for many years.
It had been slightly remodeled, with the large bed moved away, leaving only a dressing table and a wardrobe, making the room seem strangely empty.
“This is...”
Ann gently picked up the framed picture on the dressing table.
Inside the frame was a painting.
The painting showed a family of three.
In this world, ordinary families could hardly afford the expensive luxury of a “magic photograph,” so most people, when they wanted to preserve a moment, would hire one of those cheap wandering painters by the roadside and then frame the result like a photograph.
Such paintings were never especially refined, but Ann could still tell at a glance that the cute little girl being led by the middle-aged man and woman in the painting was Eluca as a child.
“Are these Eluca’s parents? She really looks like them.”
“Come to think of it, the portrait hanging on the wall in the living room was also of her parents, wasn’t it? In that case, this house should belong to her parents too. So where did her parents go?”
“That’s strange. Why am I even thinking about something like that?”
If they were not home, then obviously they had gone out to deal with something. What was there to be suspicious about?
It seemed chasing after Young Master for two straight days had left her mind somewhat tired.
Ann laughed at herself, placed the frame back where it had been, and glanced beside it.
There sat a small statue that seemed to be a decorative ornament.
It depicted a young woman hugging a heart, as though she wanted to crush it tightly into her embrace.
Ann did not pay it much attention.
And then, almost absentmindedly... She opened the drawer of the dressing table.
The faint curve of her lips stiffened at once.
“Th-this is...”
Ann’s little mouth parted slightly as she stared at the assorted “toys” inside the drawer, things she had only read about in certain books, but had never actually used.
A rich lady’s happy ball...
A rich lady’s happy whip...
A rich lady’s happy... Well, in short, it was the full rich lady happy series, a dazzling variety with every type one could imagine.
“Th-these things... are you sure nothing would happen if they were used on a human body?”
Even Ann, who had specifically studied human anatomy so she would not accidentally stab Muen to death, felt a shiver of fear at the sight.
Some of those things, though called “toys,” looked more like instruments of torture.
If those things were used on Young Master...
No, this was bad. She was getting excited.
Ann abruptly shoved the drawer closed again.
She rubbed her face, trying hard to press back the faint flush that had escaped by accident.
As a maid, that was far too disgraceful.
At the very least, she should wait until she had actually captured Young Master before getting excited.
...
After wandering around the room, she ultimately wandered back to the man again.
“You—”
Ann crouched down and looked at him, wanting to ask something.
But before the words could leave her mouth, she froze.
The man before her had his beard shaved clean, and his face had clearly been carefully groomed.
But...
His eyes were empty, his expression numb.
His gaze seemed fixed on something, yet there was nothing at all where he was looking.
Even in his pupils, it seemed there was no reflection of Ann’s shadow.
When Ann placed her hand under his chin, he lifted his head in a conditioned reflex.
And then—
“Woof.”
Even though his eyes held nothing but despair and pain so deep it seemed capable of drowning everything.
His bark was incomparably cheerful.
Like an automaton.
Press the switch, and it moves.
It smiles and dances the steps it was assigned, but the soul inside it had long since died.
“A-are you all right?”
Ann’s voice suddenly trembled.
She suddenly thought—
If her beloved Young Master Muen also became like this, would she still be happy?
She had clearly made up her mind that it would be enough even if she only obtained the Young Master’s body, but would she really be happy?
Would she?
“Woof...”
A trace of confusion flashed through the man’s eyes.
It seemed that only now did he realize that the person before him was not the devil who had tormented him all this time.
“Kkh... kkh...”
He suddenly grabbed Ann’s arm, strange meaningless sounds coming from his throat as though he wanted to say something but could not force the words out, like a savage who had survived alone on a deserted island for twenty years and could no longer speak human language in a short span of time.
But counting the time, he had been “trained” for no more than two days at most.
In the end, it took tremendous effort before Ann finally understood the words the man was desperately trying to force out.
“Don’t... don’t go near that room...”
“That room?”
Following his line of sight, Ann discovered that he was pointing at a tightly shut door at the very end of the hallway.
“Why can’t I go near it? What’s inside?”
The man did not answer.
He only suddenly began to tremble all over, as though facing some overwhelming terror, his broad hand clutching Ann’s so hard that it hurt.
Ann knew that this man had once been a powerful warrior capable of facing a tyrant-class magical beast head-on, yet now he was as fragile as a newborn infant.
“Don’t... don’t go near there, wu... wu... wu... there...”
“What’s in there? Why are you crying?”
Ann was bewildered.
She wanted to comfort him and get more accurate information, but the man suddenly flung away her hand and curled back up in his nest once more.
“Woof.”
He lowered his head and turned back into a dog.
...
“I love you.”