Feeling a bit nervous, I tried negotiating to see if we could enter a café, but as it turned out, my worries were unfounded. The very first place we tried had no problem letting us dine.

The café we chose was a slightly stylish one with a terrace.

Inside the terrace, where the trees provided a slight screen from view, we decided to satisfy our hunger.

“Phew… I feel like today has completely drained me…”

As I took a bite of my parfait, a smile involuntarily spread across my face.

The intense sweetness felt like it was purging the accumulated toxins from my body.

“Mii mii.”

Across from me, Ivy was floating leisurely while skillfully cutting her ordered pancakes with magic.

She generally eats anything without being picky, but today, she had gone all out, drenching her pancakes in a generous amount of chocolate sauce and even topping them with ice cream.

‘This is delicious!’

As for Sanshita, he was completely engrossed in devouring the roast bird served to him in the space beside the table.

Rather than quality, he prioritizes quantity and doesn’t particularly care about seasoning. However, he does prefer his meat to have the taste of blood. So, as usual, he was biting into the nearly raw meat, crushing both flesh and bone as he devoured it, his mouth getting messily stained in the process.

Seeing his blood-red mouth, I couldn’t help but think that a refined lady might faint at the sight.

“Hiiiieeee!!”

Just as that thought crossed my mind, a scream rang out from outside the shop.

See? Just as I predicted…

“Wait, could that be… the griffon Sanshita?!”

Before I knew it, people had started gathering around the terrace. A crowd of onlookers formed a semicircle around us, and for some reason, a flood of customers rushed into the café.

Seeing this, the café owner gave me a firm thumbs-up.

Ah, I see… He let us in because he realized we’d attract customers…

Understanding the reasoning behind our smooth entry, I felt slightly conflicted as I finished my snack.

While getting a refill of water, I kept sensing glances from all around, making it impossible to relax.

Ivy didn’t seem to care about the attention at all, and Sanshita was simply looking around for seconds, but I couldn’t shake off my discomfort, so we decided to leave.

The café owner looked a bit apologetic and even said we didn’t need to pay, but I made sure to settle the bill properly before heading back to the mansion.

Once again, I felt distant gazes and watched as people parted before us.

I couldn’t help but feel a little down.

The way people in the royal capital looked at us felt different from the way they did in Akoup.

It wasn’t like they had a bad impression of us, but… as someone who prefers a quiet life, just having so many eyes on me made me feel uneasy.

Getting suddenly summoned by the king probably didn’t help either. I might have developed a bit of a complex about the capital.

Akoup still feels like the most comfortable place for me.

There, Ivy and Sanshita have already become beloved mascots. We also have Rey, Maria, and Icicle, so we’re not constantly bombarded by curious stares.

When we arrived back at the mansion, Katya still hadn’t returned.

It seemed she really did have a lot to take care of, and it would still be a while before she got back.

“With so many eyes on us, I don’t think I can enjoy sightseeing in the capital properly.”

“Mii.”

I wanted to explore the city, but Sanshita was just too conspicuous.

At the same time, it wouldn’t be fair to leave him cooped up in the stable the whole time.

He looked so lonely when we left him behind in Célie too.

There has to be a way to take him with us…

“Ivy, do you think you could use magic to do something about it?”

“Mii—!”

After closing her eyes for a moment, as if deep in thought, Ivy nodded confidently as if to say, “Leave it to me!”

Trusting in her, I decided to sleep and prepare for tomorrow—