“Your brothers probably won’t allow it.”
-What do you mean? If it’s my brothers, they’ll definitely approve. Humanization practice is supposed to be easy…
Suddenly, I was at a loss for words.
“Why is that?”
Mrs. Cream Sude’s mention of ‘humanization practice’ was too vague. I hesitantly spoke, rubbing my front paws.
-Actually, I don’t really know how to do the specific humanization practice. Do you know?
“…Tell me? You might regret it.”
At that, Ban leaned his chin with a faint smile.
-Regret? If you’re going to regret, Mrs. Cream Sude probably wouldn’t have told me in the first place.
Ban then closed his lips for a moment. His unreadable gaze scanned me from head to toe, then his lips parted.
“Shapeshifting and humanization are things you have to control your own pheromones for. But right now, you can’t even feel your own pheromones, right?”
-That’s right. I’m overflowing with pheromones right now.
“To let you feel your pheromones, I need to ‘put’ my pheromones directly into your body.”
-Put them in?
“Yes. That way, the flowing pheromones from you will build up, and you’ll be able to feel your own pheromones better.”
Hmm… it sounds like nonsense, but some part of it seems true.
But I still don’t get it. Directly into my body? How?
-Directly into your body? How do you do that?
“Through skin contact.”
-Ah. Skin… contact.
The word made my mouth gradually gape open.
-Why on earth!?
“Because to put pheromones into your body, you have to release them strongly. And that’s during your heat when you ‘seduce’ your partner.”
I was stunned by the bold words. What does this even mean?
“W-woof, woof-woof. Mmmhmhmhm.”
Unlike my flustered self, his crimson eyes remained utterly expressionless, like a health teacher in charge of sex education.
‘Yeah. If I get flustered here, I’ll just look weird, you know?’
Clearing my throat, I nodded confidently.
-So… are you saying that when I do the humanization practice, you seduce me through skin contact?
“I said ‘seduce’ grandly, but it’s just holding hands. Besides, no matter how much pheromones I emit, we’re different species, so we won’t go into heat with each other. So don’t worry.”
-Ba… heat, could you choose your words a little better?
“You were casually using it, so I thought it was okay.”
Ugh, I’m glad there’s no one else here, or it would be a total disaster.
Especially Hailey.
As I stood there blankly, he slowly linked his arms around me.
“That’s why your brothers wouldn’t agree.”
-…
“Of course, you wouldn’t like it either.”
But why does his tone seem to be dripping with displeasure? As if he’s annoyed that I’m avoiding him.
But that can’t be.
‘Who said I dislike it? I was a proper modern woman in Korea in the 21st century, after all.’
Trying to calm my pounding heart, I pushed my belly out again.
-If we’re just holding hands, it’s fine. It’s like a ball, right?
Then I wagged my front paws lightly in front of him.
-Now I’m not human yet… but I can hold your hand as much as I want. Just look at how many young men danced with me at the ball!
Of course, that was a lie too. But I can’t be embarrassed now, can I?
“…”
But he looked even more displeased somehow.
“Woof?”
He didn’t even try to hold my dangling front paw in the air, instead maintaining heavy silence.
Embarrassed, I lowered my paw.
-Well, I’m okay, so if I just get my brothers’ permission, are you also okay?
“…Well.”
Ban nodded slightly.
This much is nothing. I wagged my tail happily.
“Woof woof!”
Now I need to go persuade Fahrenhite. I took a deep breath, then was about to leave the table when I looked back at Ban.
-Ban, can you change me into a human now? I need to show you that I need you to persuade my brothers.
“Are you saying you want me to turn you into a human just like that? That’s way too shameless.”
-I am a little shameless. I learned that if I’m shameless, I’ll do well.
His low, amused laugh was a response to my bold words.
“Fine.”
And before he even finished speaking, a strong atmosphere pressed down. It was as overwhelming and fierce as the feeling I had on Nextrax Mountain.
It was a sense of imminent explosion, urgent but not unpleasant—a swelling that soon spread to the center of my chest.
“Ah…?!”
Suddenly, thick silver hair spilled into my view. Instead of soft pink jelly, human palms also appeared in my sight.
I was back to being human again. I had returned.
In an instant, I found myself sitting on a soft sofa as human Irshilia once more.
“Thank you, Ban!”
“…”
“Honestly, you’re the only one in this world who can change me.”
Having finished speaking, I dashed out of the room.
~·~·* . *^.^* . *·~·~
Ban judged that, since the incident with Zeroth, he had gone slightly mad. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed to participate in the noble’s deal.
He chuckled self-deprecatingly and muttered to himself.
“I’ve truly gone completely mad…”
Of course, he was confident that her two brothers would never permit skin-contact-based humanization practice—that was why he agreed to the bet.
But above all, Ban was a man who normally wouldn’t care about bets unless his heart was truly in it.
So, it meant he had at least some interest in her human form, even if just a tiny bit.
‘…Why?’
Why, exactly? Because she’s a princess? Because she doesn’t tell others about her shapeshifting form? Because she was betrayed by Zeroth and her heart became weak? Or…?
‘Ban! You’re the only one in the world who can humanize me!’
Once again, a deep, intense pain shot from the depths of his chest. He called it pain, but strangely, it wasn’t necessarily bad.
It was like a cool breeze that instantly soothed the frustrating, heavy congestion within him.
But Ban forced himself to stay composed. Turning his back on his crumbling resolve like a sandcastle washed away by waves, he curled his lips in a grimace.
Anyway, helping the princess would never happen. Her elder brothers wouldn’t permit it.
Moreover, it was probably true that she hadn’t seen her shapeshifted form clearly because she was hidden in darkness.
He had boldly said that her form as a shapeshifting beast didn’t matter. But that was probably only because he had seen her silhouette in the dark and said so.
Who in this fractured empire could casually suggest to a dark lion to stay by her side? Not a single person—at least, not in Ban’s life.
What if that tiny princess found out she was a dark ‘lion’ from head to toe, with no light at all?
It was obvious even without looking. She’d probably run away, tail tucked between her legs, with her tail trailing behind.
Most of all, Ban couldn’t trust anyone anymore. Didn’t the person he believed to be his only friend in this world try to kill him?
The brother who promised friendship, trust, and a shared future only behind a smiling mask had only thought of him as a mere pawn on the game board.
‘This princess also thinks she can use me, too. That’s why she’s trying to possess me with sweet words.’
Words, after all, can’t do anything. Just like Zeroth.
He took a deep breath into his chest. The heavy dawn air entering his lungs was unbearably cold.
~·~·* . *^.^* . *·~·~
“Absolutely not.”
Contrary to his confident declaration, Fahrenhite shook his head with a serious face he had never shown before.
“But older brother—”
“Yeah, what’s this…?”
As if he had been waiting, Alek suddenly interrupted him.
Though he didn’t know what he was doing outside, recently he had been going out all the time and just returned from a courtly visit, speaking rapidly with a pallid, pale face.
“You’re saying you want to do humanization practice with that guy? And that the practice is skin contact? Who the hell gave you permission to do skin contact with a guy?”
“Alek, calm down…”
“Do I look like I’m calm right now?”
Alek was usually the ‘older brother who likes his younger sister but doesn’t show it’ type—an overused tsundere trope.
He was probably embarrassed, or felt like he was losing, or some other trivial feeling.
But this time, he clearly could not accept it, dropping all that pretense and wildly flailing.
“Think about your position! You’re a noble lady! And a guy? No way! Especially single guys of the same gender? They should stay at least 1 km away from you. No, even married men are off-limits! No way you’re practicing with them!!”
Honestly, I think tsundere characters are fun to read in novels, but experiencing one firsthand isn’t fun at all. I squinted and snapped back harshly.
“…Well, it’s how I feel.”
“What? What’s how you feel? Are you going to do this? How did I raise you?”
“When did you raise me? Well, unless you’re Ban older brother.”
Alek’s face was horrified as he even grabbed the back of his neck.
‘As expected, he’s such a fool for a younger brother.’
I turned my back easily on Alek, who looked like he might collapse, and approached Fahrenhite.
~·~·*· . ·**##^^##**· . ·*·~·~
Hey there, It’s Green Rose 😉
Since I human I might have make some mistakes while translating so please if you find them let me know here in the comments or in the Discord group so I can correct them and be careful in the future so they do not repeat.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
~~~Next Chapter~~~
Next chapter will be released on September, 10.
See you then!!
Well, you earned it~