Chapter 62
Ralph never hid his fondness for Ruan.
Of course, it wasn’t that Ralph didn’t like other people.
From what Ruan had experienced so far, Ralph was a dog-person who quite liked people.
It was as if his default emotional state when meeting people was fondness. Ralph always approached people with pure and clear goodwill.
Perhaps that’s why everyone who met him came to feel not just simple fondness, but affection for him.
Ralph’s transparent goodwill made others unconsciously bring out their kindest and gentlest selves. When faced with Ralph looking at them with eyes full of sincere, uncalculating fondness, anyone would end up wearing a soft, warm expression and speaking kind words.
Time spent with this harmless young man who saw you as a good person, existing as nothing but a good person. How could anyone not like someone who created such moments?
Ruan thought this was one of Ralph’s great strengths in his work dealing with people.
Anyone who met Ralph even once would develop some degree of affection for him, and that would greatly influence their choices.
‘And the repetition of such encounters probably made Ralph like people even more. Most of the people he meets would be ‘good people’ who like him.’
But even though Ralph liked people so much, he didn’t approach just anyone like a bulldozer.
He was a dog-person trained not to demand petting from every human he encountered on walks. Ralph liked most people, but he distinguished between those he could shower with affection and those he needed to maintain etiquette with.
And here is where the difference arose between Ruan and other people Ralph liked.
Ruan…
From the first day they met, sharing potatoes and petting Ralph in his dog form, he was unquestionably classified as someone Ralph could shower with affection and demand it from.
Ruan recalled Ralph’s behavior since the day after they shared a late-night snack.
While Ralph usually maintained a somewhat gentlemanly dog demeanor, in front of Ruan he became just an affection-filled dog, minus the ‘gentlemanly’ part.
Whenever he saw Ruan, no matter where or when—even if Ruan had just been away for a few minutes—he would run over exuding joy with his whole body, want to sit right next to Ruan when he sat down, always look at Ruan with honey-dripping eyes as if licking him, and frequently desire to be petted.
These behaviors might seem perfectly natural for a people-loving dog, but… Ralph’s outer appearance was that of an adult man.
If you saw an adult man acting like that towards another adult man… And if on top of that, there were widespread rumors that this ‘other adult man’ was already in a relationship with a man…
It’s quite possible for claims like “Oh, isn’t that unrequited love, a love triangle?” to emerge.
‘I can’t believe I’m only realizing this now.’
Ruan, who had thought it would be enough to just refrain from physical contact while thinking of the Grand Duke who maintained a stern face no matter who he saw or where, felt dismayed.
How much effort he had put into deflecting Ralph’s bulldozer-like attempts at physical contact without hurting his feelings…
‘How did it come to this…’
Ruan looked at the monster product workshop buzzing with activity, feeling bitter.
“After all, unrequited love is best when it’s pure. Even if it’s not reciprocated, even if you know it can’t be! Still, purely gazing at the other person!”
“Actually, that kind of non-aggressive pure love is the scariest, you know. At some point, whether you realize it or not, when you suddenly understand that their feelings for you have always been there! That’s just the end of it!”
“When you add pure love to this love triangle relationship, it becomes…”
On one side, dwarves who had become overly invested otaku were debating about love triangles and pure love, spitting as they spoke. And if someone seemed to disappear for a moment…
Ruan’s gaze shifted from the loudly arguing dwarves to those a bit further away, with bloodshot eyes, frantically producing works themed around love triangles and passionate pure love.
‘What’s this? Why are their hands so fast? And the quality, why is it like that? Scary.’
Ruan was slightly intimidated by the dwarves churning out works of terrifying quality at a terrifying speed.
From the perspective of someone about to start a business, having lots of high-quality goods pouring out was good news, but… still, this was a bit…
‘Come to think of it, when I ran into Ulrik earlier, he didn’t even greet me before shouting about love triangles. Is it at the level where that’s all they can talk about?’
Ruan pressed his fingers between his eyebrows, feeling conflicted.
‘It’s better than those affair rumors, but… still, I can’t just leave things like this.’
The Grand Duke might not care a whisker about rumors among humans, but the protagonist of this rumor was Ralph.
He had just been friendly because he thought Ralph was a good person as a dog-person, but now there were sudden rumors of unrequited love. And with a man, no less. How embarrassed must Ralph feel?
‘The fact that rumors have spread this far despite the other party being a man is partly because there are already rumors that I’m in a relationship with the Grand Duke… I should go find Ralph and talk about how to resolve this.’
Ruan decided to speak with Ralph as soon as possible.
* * *
However… it wasn’t possible to have such a conversation with Ralph just anytime, anywhere.
If they were seen meeting privately outside of work hours, it would spark more rumors.
Ruan had to find a place and time where he could meet Ralph alone, away from others’ eyes.
And as a result.
‘I understand that meeting in the library when the Grand Duke is out on patrol would be perfect, but…’
Ruan glanced at the Grand Duke while handing over the documents he had brought for reporting.
The problem was that Ruan was already guilty of having met Ralph while the Grand Duke was out on patrol recently, leaving the Grand Duke waiting.
‘He’s already wary of Ralph, and if he finds out I met with Ralph again without saying anything while he was gone on patrol… The Grand Duke… might be displeased.’
But he couldn’t hide the meeting either. The Grand Duke would quickly notice just by smell.
However, he couldn’t avoid meeting Ralph either, as he needed to pass on the treatment method for the wasting disease that he hadn’t been able to deliver due to scheduling conflicts.
It seemed better to honestly report the outing time and reason in advance and meet proudly.
Fortunately, the Grand Duke was in high spirits as usual these days. Thinking he might allow it without much fuss in this state, Ruan approached the Grand Duke and spoke carefully.
“Your Grace. Would it be alright if I briefly meet with the head of the Steiner merchant group while you are on patrol?”
At Ruan’s question, the Grand Duke’s gaze shifted from the documents he was examining to Ruan.
And then.
The Grand Duke’s relaxed, half-open eyes sharpened…
His tail, which had been loosely hanging, began to thump the floor roughly…
His perked ears flattened.
‘His mood… has worsened.’
He had seemed to be in such a good mood, so Ruan thought it would be fine, but was the Grand Duke that averse to him meeting Ralph separately?
Witnessing the Grand Duke’s mood worsen in real-time, Ruan carefully added more words.
“I have something to deliver personally, so I think I need to meet the head merchant outside of work hours… I thought if I had to make time outside of work hours, meeting then would also not interfere with the time I spend with Your Grace.”
The Grand Duke was still staring at Ruan, swishing his tail.
Ruan, who had tried not to upset the Grand Duke’s mood but instead risked offending him, hastily continued.
“This time, I will truly return quickly. I absolutely won’t let myself get distracted by other matters and keep Your Grace waiting again. Please trust me.”
As Ruan finished speaking in a resolute tone.
The Grand Duke’s tail, which had been thumping the floor, gradually slowed down…
“You’d better. The situation is different from last time, isn’t it?”
Along with a calm voice, it slightly wrapped around Ruan’s leg.
Relieved by the physical contact that conveyed affection rather than negative emotion, Ruan finally felt at ease.
‘Thank goodness. It seems he’s decided to let it go.’
Although he wasn’t sure how the situation was different from last time… At least the Grand Duke’s mood seemed to have improved, so Ruan relaxed and began to consider how best to arrange the meeting with Ralph.
And then. While still keeping his tail wrapped around Ruan’s leg, the Grand Duke suddenly said something unexpected.
“I’ve heard that when humans find a mate, they can’t mate with other individuals and must prioritize their own mate.”
Confused by this statement that seemed to lack context, Ruan became perplexed.
Mate…? Was he talking about marriage?
Was there something related to marriage among the matters the Grand Duke was currently dealing with?
Although Ruan didn’t understand why the Grand Duke was suddenly talking about this, as far as he knew, marriage in the Sirah Empire was indeed monogamous.
“That’s… right?”
Ruan affirmed with a dubious voice.
The Grand Duke’s eyes narrowed leisurely.
For some reason looking very satisfied, the Grand Duke said,
“It’s a good rule.”
The cat suddenly expressed his opinion on human marriage customs, then became extremely dignified.
‘What’s going on?’
As Ruan was staring wide-eyed at the Grand Duke’s now straighter neck and puffed-out chest, the Grand Duke, with his tail held vertically, said,
“I’ll trust you. Go ahead.”
