* * *

“Squeak, squeak?”

My clothes were scattered all over the place, and the dried fruit package had been torn open by small teeth.

The thief, who was now nibbling on the finest dried apricots from Nirvan Mountain, was…

“A flying squirrel?”

It was indeed a flying squirrel, with snow-white fur and a plump, petite body—a creature well-suited to living in a region where it snows year-round.

It had tiny, flat ears, no bigger than a fingernail, and eyes as large as saucers.

I had never seen such a fluffy, fist-sized creature in person before, even when I lived in Korea, and it was so adorable that I almost let out a scream.

That is, if I could momentarily forget that it was currently stealing from my bag.

“Squeak-!!”

The squirrel, annoyed at having its meal interrupted, glared at me with its large eyes, bouncing up and down in place. Hey, I’m the one whose snack got stolen, so why is it angry? I replied in disbelief.

“Th-that’s mine. Give it back.”

Moreover, that dried fruit had been processed with sugar, making it unsuitable for animals to eat.

As I reached out to grab the package, the squirrel bit down on the edge of the bag and suddenly leaped toward me.

“Ah…!”

Startled and unsure of what to do, I watched as the squirrel swiftly climbed up to the top of my head, then glided down and squeezed through the gap under the wooden door to escape the room.

As it scurried up my body, I got smacked by the swinging bag in several places, but what stunned me more was not the pain but the blow to my pride as a higher life form.

“You little rascal, stop right there!”

I quickly dashed outside after the squirrel, only to see it darting across the hallway at an astonishing speed, fleeing from me.

“Ugh, what on earth am I doing at this late hour…?”

As I chased the squirrel down the hallway, something suddenly flew at me, hitting my face.

It was the package, flung back by the squirrel, who seemed to realize it would get caught if it kept holding onto it.

The squirrel had abandoned the package and was now stuffing its cheek pouches with the contents.

“Hey, spit it out!”

There’s nothing good for you in that! But, of course, the squirrel didn’t understand what I was saying.

After a long struggle, I finally managed to catch the rowdy squirrel and pried open its cheek pouches, prompting it to cry out in desperate resistance.

“Squeak-! Squeak squeak-! Squeak!”

It sounded like I was torturing the poor thing. Just as I succeeded in retrieving the fourth of the five dried apricots, the now slightly unburdened squirrel bit my hand and sprang free.

“Ouch, ugh…”

Blood welled up in small beads where the squirrel had bitten me.

This is ridiculous.

I took the apricots away because they’re not good for you!

Feeling wronged, I chased after the squirrel to reclaim the last one, only to see it dart into a room with an open door.

Without even checking whose room it was, I rounded the corner and yanked the door handle open.

Inside, the flickering shadows of the fireplace suddenly made me realize I might have just committed a grave intrusion.

Fortunately, the room’s occupant didn’t seem to notice. From the luxurious sofa chair came only the sound of soft, steady breathing—no other noise.

‘Who could it be…?’

On the table, there was one empty bottle of the strong liquor I had grown sick of after my first night in Velon, and another bottle that was half-empty.

With no snacks, just the liquor and glasses left lying around, the squirrel hopped up onto the table.

“You little…!”

It looked like the room’s occupant had fallen asleep after drinking.

The squirrel, with its plump little body, climbed up onto someone’s body, then dropped the dried fruit into their hand.

Finally, I was able to get a good look at who the room’s owner was.

“……”

Hernan Velon Yudenet. He was the protagonist of this world and, according to the original story, should have been my sister’s husband—a young duke.

Now, as if it had never been hostile toward me, the squirrel handed the dried fruit to Hernan, then started nuzzling its soft fur against his shoulder.

Something about this was annoying.

What, is he a Disney prince or something?

Seeing a small-brained creature, who seemed incapable of any emotional exchange with humans, being so affectionate made me feel irritated.

Well… Whatever.

As long as that rodent doesn’t wake him up, it’s none of my business.

Even if the squirrel disturbed the duke’s sleep, it wasn’t my place to intervene.

Although it was unfortunate that I couldn’t eat the snack I had brought, I couldn’t really blame anyone for the fact that an animal had chewed it up.

As I made my way back to my room, the empty liquor bottle the duke had drained kept flashing in my mind.

No matter how strong his tolerance for alcohol was, he hadn’t drunk lightly yesterday either, yet he was drinking like this again today.

Not to mention that he had fallen asleep right on the sofa, not even in a bedroom.

Even though he pretended to be dignified and unaffected for the sake of the estate’s reputation, it was clear that he wasn’t in a good state.

Well… As a young noble who inherited the title without any foundation, I could imagine what people in high society, who value face, honor, and pretentious formalities more than life itself, would think if word of this got out.

The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Looking at it again, the only thing I could do was to do my best to make the tourism development project a success.

It’s not like I would lose anything from it, so once I’ve started, I might as well aim for the best outcome.

“Ugh… This feels unsettling. Let’s go over it by region one more time and then sleep.”

Back in my room, I spread out the documents I had put aside and selected two or three areas that seemed most likely to benefit from a model similar to Nirvan’s.

I spent so much time rummaging through the papers that, before I knew it, dawn was breaking.

‘If this keeps up, I’m going to die of overwork. I should take it easy.’

I needed to get some sleep before a servant came to inform me that the study was ready.

As I snuggled under the covers and rested my head on the pillow, I fell asleep immediately, as if my battery had just barely managed to hold out until then.

Throughout my dream, I stood blankly in an unfamiliar, pale space. It was a strange sensation, as I felt neither cold, nor pain, nor hunger, nor drowsiness.

It was only after some time that I realized I was in a snowy field, a landscape entirely covered in white as if someone had poured white paint everywhere.

The surroundings were silent.

Only the soft, piling sound of snow, like the gentle scratch of a quill on paper, quietly overwhelmed me.

Above the snow-covered ground, the sky, which was just as white, held a shimmering silver scale.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that what I thought was the sky was actually a huge, translucent, glassy structure with a faint wave-like pattern.

‘Scales…?’

Why are there scales in the sky?

Before I could ponder further, the wave-like pattern rapidly moved like a storm, forming a long horizontal line.

The dark gray line had irregular, thorn-like spikes pointing downward.

What is this? Before I could think, “it” opened its eyes.

It was “it.” With vertically elongated pupils, the amber-colored eyes were nothing like those of any ordinary animal.

Even in a dream, the overwhelming presence made it hard to breathe, as if I had violated some taboo that a human should never have dared to break.

My chest tightened, and I collapsed to my knees on the snowy ground.

[Is it you? The one Velon’s child desires?]

The voice was light and playful, with its pitch jumping all over the place, making it difficult to tell whether it was a boy or a young woman speaking.

[Hmm… You’re not from this world, are you?]

I couldn’t open my eyes under the intense gaze that seemed to pierce straight into the deepest parts of my heart.

I had to lie flat on the ground without knowing why, but feeling it was the right thing to do.

[Is it hard to answer? Then I’ll kindly bestow my mercy upon you.]

With a light, bubbling laugh, the burning gaze faded, and a figure, about 150 cm tall with an androgynous appearance, appeared in midair.

When I finally managed to lift my head and look at the being that had spoken to me, I saw a child with eyes that were even larger than the sun from a moment ago, gazing down at me.

The child looked very similar to Hernan but was different.

Unlike Hernan, whose face was handsome but whose muscular build clearly marked him as male, this ‘thing’ had a smooth, slender physique with no bulging muscles at all. Furthermore…

‘A tail…?’

In fact, a tail covered in scales and spines, which was rather plump compared to the child’s slender body, was dangling below its buttocks.

[Did you just think it was plump?]

“Yes? No, I mean…”

I hurried to explain, only then realizing that I was finally able to speak.

“More importantly, who are you? Where exactly am I?”

On top of that, since I wasn’t part of this world, there were countless questions I wanted to ask.

[Tsk tsk, these modern folks. They think they can ask a hundred questions when given just one. I haven’t granted you permission to ask anything. Answer the question I asked.]

The condescension of looking down from above made my face flush with embarrassment.

Despite looking like a child to anyone, it was clear that treating ‘humans’ with such disdain was quite natural for it.

* * *