Chapter 3

When Sabina offered a sweet smile and shook her head, Maybel shot her a suspicious look before glaring right back at her food bowl.

“Mwauuu. (Sigh.)”

She scrunched up her face and let out a deep sigh. Then, burying her head right into the bowl, she began to sensibly munch on Sabina’s special kibble without another word of complaint.

Crunch, crunch-crunch-crunch.

Granted, it was a rather combative display of eating, but well……

‘To be honest, that kibble must taste awful.’

Sabina couldn’t help but click her tongue inwardly. It was a kibble made by blending various meats and a small amount of grain with healthy, carefully selected herbal powders of her own choosing. True to the saying that good medicine tastes bitter, the kibble carried a subtly bitter flavor.

Just then, Maybel shuddered through her shoulders and backed away from the empty food bowl. After taking a sip of water to rinse her mouth, she thoroughly licked her front paws to tidy up her face and even behind her ears.

‘Oh my goodness, she actually ate all of it?’

Sabina stared blankly at Maybel with a highly skeptical expression.

‘This is exactly what I mean by strange!’

She had fully expected Maybel to flip the bowl over with her front paw. For her to quietly finish every last bit of the kibble like that?

Sabina knew all too well that her cooking skills weren’t the best. Whenever Maybel let out deep sighs while eating her special kibble, Sabina would find it cute while also feeling a tiny bit sorry. But now?

“Myaao, mya, myang! (Well, it’s edible!)”

……Just who on earth was this incredibly gentle little lamb?

Sabina narrowed her eyes. There was definitely something going on. A massive blunder that she hadn’t caught wind of just yet……

“May, if you speak up now, I’ll grant you a lighter punishment,” Sabina said, crossing her arms.

Maybel tilted her head to the side.

“Mya? (What?)”

“Did you break something?”

In an instant, Maybel’s eyes widened. She looked utterly dumbfounded.

But Sabina wasn’t fooled. She vividly remembered all the reagents Maybel had spilled and the flasks that had shattered into pieces in the past. Sabina added in a strict voice, “If you tell me the truth……”

But before Sabina could even finish her sentence, Maybel’s eyes began to narrow.

“Kiyaung!! (Sister is a dummy!!)”

Yelling at the top of her lungs, she dashed right out of the dining room.

“Oh? Was that not it?”

Left alone, Sabina watched Maybel’s receding figure with a look of realization. It seemed she had guessed wrong.

“Hmm. Still, there’s definitely something going on……” Sabina muttered in a serious tone, resting her chin on one hand.

***

‘Sister is a dummy.’

Huffing and puffing, I plopped down in the garden.

‘Sister’s special kibble tastes so bad! She doesn’t even appreciate my heart for forcing it down on purpose!’

Only after taking out my frustration by digging at the ground frantically for a good while did I manage to calm down a bit.

‘……Even so.’

Glancing around the area, I neatly gathered my front paws and rested my chin right on top of them as I drifted into thought.

‘To think I can see this view again.’

The tip of my nose grew tingly.

‘……I love it so much.’

The single-story house built from rosy bricks. The red roof where my tiny, crowded paw prints still remained from wandering around before the paint had fully dried. The flowerbed personally tended to by my sister, where all sorts of flowers bloomed with each passing season. The pure white fence surrounding the cottage, looking a bit patchy due to a botched paint job.

My sister’s and my sanctuary. The home I loved with all my heart.

‘This time…… I will protect it, no matter what.’

Ever since returning to the past, I had thought about it over and over again. How could I prevent my sister’s death? And I had finally reached a conclusion.

‘Sister needs someone to protect her.’

For some reason, my sister avoided interacting with people. Because of that, many disliked her. There was only one exception.

‘Only Adrian was somewhat kind to her.’

Whether it was because he was the one who brought us to the capital or because my sister was treating him, I wasn’t entirely sure. But either way, he was a Hero and carried the backing of a ducal family. He would be more than capable of protecting her!

The only problem was……

“Sabina, good morning!”

“…….”

“Oh, are you going to gather herbs? Shall I help you?”

“……Sir Hero. If you’re bored, why don’t you find someone else to play with?”

“Huh? No, I mean.”

“Don’t bother someone who’s busy.”

My sister’s trademark ‘I hate humans’ glare. In the face of that icy gaze, even the incredibly affectionate Adrian hadn’t been able to stand his ground……

‘Of course, they did become friends later on……’

The only person my sister had ever let inside her circle throughout her entire life was Adrian. No one else had ever managed to cross the wall she built.

‘Still.’

I clenched both my fists tightly.

‘They can become friends anyway, right?’

If I could pull that timeline forward a bit and show other people that the two of them were close, then out of fear of crossing Adrian, people wouldn’t dare mistreat my sister, would they? That way, I could steadily gather more allies on her side!

The other thing to watch out for was……

‘The Grand Monster Subjugation!’

Adrian had gone missing during the Grand Monster Subjugation. This time, I had to somehow stop him from setting out for that campaign altogether!

Right as my eyes flashed with fierce determination—

Sniff, sniff.

At the acrid smoke wafting in from somewhere, my nose twitched involuntarily.

‘Wait, this smell is……’

Something was burning. The suffocating scent of embers consuming wood……

In an instant, I froze stiff. Turning my head reflexively, I saw gray smoke gently curling out from the kitchen window. At the same time, my mind went completely blank.

‘Sister.’

The blazing fire that seemed to burn all the way up to the heavens. My sister, who had endured all that agony with dignity and smiled at me until the very end……

“Myaaak!!”

Screaming at the top of my lungs, I sprinted toward the house.

***

I was completely out of breath. My heart was pounding so wildly that it felt like it would burst at any moment.

Scrambling over the window sill, I saw the house filling with acrid, gray smoke.

“Myaaa!!”

Shouting until my throat was raw, I immediately bolted into the kitchen.

‘Where is my sister?!’

Because the air was so hazy, I couldn’t see exactly where she was. As I frantically looked around, desperately searching for her—

“Oh dear, this is a bit troubling.”

I heard my sister’s perplexed voice. At that exact moment, the sound of a finger snapping echoed……

A surge of mana rolled in like the tide, gently pushing the gray smoke right out of the house. It was a familiar mana.

‘It’s Sister.’

I blinked a few times, shaking away the tears that had welled up from the smoke. My sister’s figure came into view within my cleared vision. I hurriedly lunged forward and clung to her leg.

“Myaak, myak!!”

‘I hate fire! I hate it!!’

I clamped down on the hem of her skirt with my teeth and tugged backward with all my might. Startled, she quickly leaned down.

“Ah, May. I’m sorry, you must have been so scar…… Maybel?”

She called out to me in a flustered voice. But I kept my teeth locked onto her skirt, absolutely refusing to let go. We had barely managed to reunite. But to think I might lose her again……

‘What should I do? If my sister leaves me again……’

I gasped heavily for air. Beyond just being terrified, I couldn’t even breathe properly. Cold sweat broke out all over my pink paw pads.

Right then.

“My goodness, were you that frightened?”

Squatting down on the floor, my sister quickly gathered me into her arms. I immediately buried my face deep into her chest. My entire body trembled uncontrollably on its own accord.

“Oh dear.”

She let out a soft sigh, and her gentle hand began to steadily stroke my back. Only then did the trembling start to subside.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it would scare you this much,” she soothed me again, her voice laced with worry. “Since you succeeded in humanizing yesterday, I wanted to bake some pancakes to celebrate.”

……Pancakes?

I subtly turned my head to the side. On the counter sat a blackened frying pan. And resting on top of it was a charred, dark, and unidentifiable lump……

“I failed to control the heat, and it ended up burning completely.”