Kapitel 6: Survival Doesn’t Come Cheap

Seeing her mother leave, she wished she could run after her and say she wanted to return with her, but her body had far too many restrictions. Worf, worf! She eagerly heard the wolves barking at the Duke's feet, wagging their tails while looking at her.

"It's really true." She heard him say, unable to tell if he were displeased or happy by his tone of voice. Taking her out from under his arm, he awkwardly held her and placed her feet on the floor while kneeling, only for the wolves to immediately begin nuzzling against her.

She has failed to notice earlier, perhaps due to her own temporary fear and confusion of him, but there was one more person in the room. "Duke Argyris, it isn't really normal to place a baby on the floor with flesh eating beasts, even if they are of your bloodline." Hearing this voice, she turned her head up, one of the wolves rubbing its head under her hand jealous that her attention was taken away.

A middle aged man, he seemed to be, with short light brown messy hair and violet eyes. His attire was that of an attendants, but she didn't recall a character like him in the novel ever being mentioned. "I never asked your opinion, bastard." The Duke spat at him before picking her back up, making her slightly sad just looking at the wolves' eyes, as she was taken away.

"You didn't ask, but you still listened," The man laughed as he tried to approach the wolves, only to get barked and snarled at, immediately backing away. "How odd, she doesn't seem scared of them. Even my sons wouldn't stop crying just by seeing them." He commented, staring at her.

"Your sons are cowards, how can they serve the Argyris family without even being able to go near some stray dogs?" He heard the Duke huff, absentmindedly petting the wolf within reach that stood on the Duke's leg just to get her attention.

She couldn't see the eye roll of the other man who was probably the bravest man she'd heard of so far, being able to talk to the villain Duke casually. "Yes yes, stray dogs that consume human flesh, how could someone find that terrifying? But I was sure the young lady had no affinity for magic," that's when he snapped his finger, almost shoving his face in her's. "wind magic, that is."

Once again, one of the wolves tried to attack him only for him to apologize to them as the Duke walked off with her in his arms, trying to mimic the way her mother held her but his arms were far too stiff, and his expressionless face made her feel like he thought he was touching a diseased object.

She was unhappy with how quiet it was, besides the man following at a distance begging the dogs to not bite him, but was even more unhappy as she realized she was now in his office! Instead of bringing her back to her mother once his little hypothesis was was confirmed, he stole her.

The office was quite luxurious, more so than her mother's bedroom. She expected it to be a dark gloomy room where no light reached, but the furthest back walls were glass, overlooking out below, into the garden. The other walls were aligned with bookshelves filled to the brim with large looking books.

In front the back window wall was a large mahogany desk, and intricate carvings. On top laid a bunch on paperwork, from what she could see before she was placed on the floor, surrounded by the dogs. "She's just like Cyrille," He commented, taking a seat on one of the sofas in the middle of the room. "Get me my pipe."

Taking this as a good sign, she begun playing with the dogs the best an infant could, mainly trying to run her fingers through their fur. "Fufu!" was all she could say too call them fluffy, mixed with a few "gobus!" bad habits of telling that to every dog she'd encountered resurfaced.

"No pipes near infants, Duke. Wait until she can walk first." The man scolded while standing behind him, watching her as she decided to ignore their piercing gazes, this may be the last time she'd get to pet them, who knows what the duke wanted with her. "What exactly are you planning this time?" He asked.

Leaning over, the Duke's posture changed from upright to leaned over, arms on his legs, hands inwards and under his chin as he watched her, seemingly observing her behavior. "Have her affinity reassessed, but this time not for wind magic,"

"The next hunt will arrive soon, within two months at the imperial palace. I will bring her out with me." She heard a gasp and audible shout of a no! Thank goodness someone was reasonable, did the Duke really suggest bringing her, an infant, to a royal hunt?

Sensing her feelings, one of the wolves picked her up with its teeth and laid her against the other wolf, already laying down, then proceeded to snuggle against her, surrounding her with two giant walls of fluff and fur to feel better. "There's absolutely no way, even if you are the Duke of Argyris." she heard the man chastise.

"The last holder of the beast tamer title died a few decades ago, I need to be absolutely sure whether she's really a beast tamer, or if she's unfortunate. The royal hunt will show me the truth, with the quickest results." He declared, sitting up and moving towards the chair by his desk.

With a downcast look and a small voice the man sighed. "And if she's not?" He asked, already knowing the answer to his own question. "Then she's of no value, it matters not if she lives or dies."

She gulped, fear enveloping her for a brief moment before resolution. That's right, there's no way the Duke would favor her immediately, she was just something he could assign value to her, and if he found her value to be in the negatives she could kiss her future goodbye.

She had no idea what he meant by a true beast tamer, nor what he want from her, other than something related to taming beasts during the hunt, but her fate rested on it. It she succeeded, this would also be her big chance, Penelope fell out of her little favor during dinner, and she had gained his interest for doing something the original Theia never would of on accident. Now that she had his attention, she would have to squeeze every single bit of it in the future and prove herself to be better than the expectations of any other villain this family had to offer. If he wanted her to tame any beast that looked at her, she would do it far beyond expectations.