Character Information - Who is who?

Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven't. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!)

Scarlett J. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* Known Position

* Former Lady of the Leonandra household

* Specialization(-s)

* Martial Arts, Administration, and Manipulation of Energy

* Eyecolor

* Golden Colored

* Hair (Fur-) Color

* Crimson-Red Colored

* Miscellaneous

* A user of the Wild Demon Energy

* Grandmother of the MC

* Incredibly ambitious

* Likes hazelnut cookies

(Close-)Retainers

* None mentioned

Fiorello P. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin)

* Known Position

* Child of the Nine-Fire family

* Specialization(-s)

* Manipulation and Socialization

* Eyecolor

* Green Colored

* Hair (Fur-) Color

* Black Colored

* Miscellaneous

* Incredibly beautiful

* Incredibly sadistic

* In cahoots with Klepto and the Asylum camp in Kratikal

(Close-)Retainers

* Strawberry N. (Personal Maid (?))

Linuel O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin)

* Known Position

* A child of the current Nine-Fire household

* Specialization(-s)

* Hunting, Scouting, and Tracking

* Eyecolor

* Scarlett-Red Colored

* Hair (Fur-) Color

* Charcoal-Black Colored

* Miscellaneous

* A little rough around the edges

* Bad luck in finding a spouse

(Close-)Retainers

* None mentioned

Patricia O. Nine-Fire (Fox-kin)

* Known Position

* The youngest child of the current Nine-Fire household

* Specialization(-s)

* Fine Arts, Spear Arts, and Riding

* Eyecolor

* Ruby-Red Colored

* Hair (Fur-) Color

* Charcoal-Black Colored

* Miscellaneous

* Very intelligent and talented

* Obsessed with Alexander

(Close-)Retainers

* None mentioned

...

Linuel's guest room

"Why are you smiling like a moron?!"

Linuel was lying on the bed, hugging a pillow and having the time of her life. With a smirk, she looked at the annoyed Patricia and snorted at her, which enraged her even more, "Stop it! You can't possibly like one of those arrogant bastards!"

She looked around and stomped, "By the way, where is Fio? I didn't see him after the rendezvous?"

Linuel turned around, rolling to one side, and leisurely said, "Well, he is right now getting reprimanded by Scarlett. In the end, she is the one who took responsibility for us..." She turned back and looked at her little sister with a smirk, "...well, you will be next."

Patricia walked around the room, waving her arms in annoyance, "But I didn't do anything he didn't deserve!"

Linuel chuckled, "Hehe, well, he beat you in the test, and as revenge, you sucker-punched him. I wouldn't say that he deserved it, to be honest."

Patricia stopped and squinted at her sister, "Who knew he was that weak?!"

When Linuel first heard that they got into a fight, she thought that the next time she saw her little sister, she would be a mangled-up mess, but to her surprise, the wolf-kin puppy restrained himself.

She sat upright on the bed and looked earnestly at her little sister, wanting to take the self-esteem boost she got from punching Alexander away. The last thing she wanted was that she would get violent, and at this point, she wouldn't know what would happen.

"Alexander could kill you immediately if he wants to. Do not start under any circumstances a serious fight with him. Do you understand?"

Patricia felt even more humiliated, "What do you mean? He couldn't even defend himself!"

Linuel tapped the bed so Patricia would come, which she did, and was getting patted. Linuel wanted her to relax and explain why she shouldn't get too big of a head from this fluke. She would lose if she did something foolish, like challenging Alexander to a fight, but this did not worry her.

Alexander was young and probably heavily trained by his sisters, who were strong for their age, which meant he had zero awareness of what someone his age could or couldn't do. A little too strong spell and her little sister's head would fly right off.

She softly said, "Promise me not to challenge him. I can smell dangerous beings, and Alexander gave off a weird smell I can't describe. It felt like that of someone who was barely holding themselves together and could explode every moment, doing incredible harm to anyone."

Patricia frowned and cuddled deeper toward her sister, "I don't like him. He is arrogant and mean."

Linuel hummed, "Then just endure the week or two, and you don't need to see him anymore. No need to go apart on bad terms, right?"

Patricia frowned even more and looked at her sister, "How was Narsiz? You seem overly happy."

Linuel became overly jitty and started to tousle Patricia's hair, which she endured, and started to tell about what they did and talked about.

Linuel talked like it was a wonderful dream. He was friendly and forthcoming as he tried his best to let her feel not stupid at what they did. She understood that all they did was accommodate her as he chose only the topics she could discuss and find interesting.

Even though they had little in common, she loved his aura, which was hard to describe. At first, she thought it was an aura akin to a still lake surrounded by monsters, but after she spent hours with him, it was like the lake became bottomless. It was fascinating to her.

From all the young nobles she met at all the gatherings, Narsiz was a genuine aristocrat. All others were like commoners who tried to be noble but came across as arrogant and prideful.

He was like the ones she knew from the picture books. He didn't look down on anyone, which was also shown how he interacted with their servants. He always appeared nice but firm while having authority, which oozed out softly.

She couldn't get enough of him. He also reminded her of her oldest sister, who had the same personality but was much more stoic, 'Probably should've let my sister come. They would truly be a great couple... too bad! Hehe, he is mine now!'

"He sounds nice."

Linuel thought aloud, wanting to share her experience, "He was reserved, though. I blame Scarlett and Clara, who wanted to force him years ago. However, I could feel it, and I could feel that he felt it too."

Patricia nodded and remembered something, "Isn't he very introverted? I heard it from Scarlett while she tried to sell him to us."

Linuel agreed, "Yeah, he is, or rather was. I don't blame him, though, as he was apparently poisoned as a pup by his close servant and barely survived."

Patricia's voice became slightly more rough, "That's sad..." However, she suddenly became a little confused, "...aren't you a social butterfly? I remember you walking around at social gatherings and talking to everyone you could find. How can you like him?"

Linuel cringed as she remembered all those gatherings, "I hated every second I was there. All those lies and untruths were so disgusting. Narsi, on the other hand, is just careful but honest."

Patricia sighed, "Why even use the skill in the first place if you only get annoyed?"

She shrugged, "I like to be in control. By the way, you know what was weird?"

"What?"

Linuel waggled her tail a little, "He was sometimes overly focused on..."

Clank

Before she could end the sentence, the door opened, and Scarlett came in, annoyed and looking out for blood. She stood still and banged the door closed while looking at Patricia with a menacing gaze, "You know, if you were my puppy, I would put you through hellish training till your legacy to get all the stupidity out of you."

Patricia shivered slightly and wanted to defend herself, but Linuel put her hand over her sister's mouth, feeling that what Scarlett said was the very mild version of what she actually wanted to say.

Scarlett nodded toward Linuel, "Good choice..." She walked toward a chair and sat down, putting one leg over the other, "...tell me, you little... scoundrel. Why did you punch my grandson? I want to know your side of the story."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

...

20 minutes later

Scarlett constantly looked at her while she talked and could decipher by pure experience when she tried to fluff things out and when she told the truth. She respected that Patricia told everything truthfully, even though it made her look bad. This behavior made her more sympathetic, and Scarlett considered her even more fitting to be Alexander's partner.

Yet, by the end of Patricia's story, Scarlett read between the lines of why the fox-kin puppy did what she did, 'Alexander is too talented for her? This is a first for me.'

Usually, the problem in noble circles was that someone had too little talent or ambitions to be considered a spouse. This time, Patricia broke her common sense by sucker-punching her grandson because he was too talented, which hurt her ego.

First, Scarlett was elated that Alexander didn't just scorch her after listening to her daughter's and Linuel's analysis of his fighting prowess. Second, she saw that this little moron liked Alexander but had an inflated ego which she probably got by getting told day and night how talented she was, 'Was it Ori or Peter?'

To say it nicely, the Lady and Lord of the Nine-Fire estate were insane. However, they were also very doting parents, and Patricia was a perfect example of their education. All their puppies were either spoiled brats without any sense of responsibility like Fiorello or were groomed well, like the oldest daughter, Nila. It was a weird dichotomy.

Patricia was also a great talent but the youngest, which meant she was most pampered. There was also the problem that the rulers of the Nine-Fire household didn't decide on an heir, even though the Count had already pressured them for some time. They waited for the perfect pup, so they put a lot of resources into Patricia as their last chance, which inflated her ego even more.

However, she liked her as she could be groomed for Alexander, but for this, she needed to be brutally honest with her, "Do you like Alexander?"

Patricia blushed a little and wanted to rebuke it, but Linuel answered for her, "She does."

Scarlett nodded and became stern, "Listen here, Alexander probably has now a grudge against you, so..." She held two fingers up, "...two possibilities: Either you stay and try to somehow salvage the situation by being the most perfect and forthcoming little lady he ever saw, or you just relax for the next two weeks while Linuel and Narsiz bond with each other."

Scarlett was at least elated that it worked out well with Linuel and Narsiz. Otherwise, if everything became a catastrophe on the first day, she would send them back home immediately and call it a failure.

Patricia became nervous, "You... are fine with me just relaxing? I thought you wanted to find for your grandsons someone who is similarly... talented and ambitious."

She shook her head, "You are partly right since I also want my grandsons to be happy. While Narsiz found someone in Linuel, hopefully..." She nodded at Linuel and looked back at Patricia, "... Alexander is very young and is so ridiculously skilled that I am even fine if he finds someone mediocre who at least would be able to maneuver through the noble circles so he wouldn't get embarrassed."

Scarlett was intentionally mean and provocative to get her more riled up. She wanted to have Patricia much more motivated as she saw her already as a perfect fit. She would bring her back to her place and groom her if it worked with her grandson.

Patricia argued back, "What do you mean?! Shouldn't spouses be on the same level? Isn't it like cutting his arm off if he marries someone lowly?!"

An uncomfortable silence went through the room till Linuel broke it, "What Scarlett wants to say is... well, even if he marries a prostitute, he would probably just kill anyone who says something in the wrong tone about her..." She turned to Scarlett, and her voice showed that she was slightly unsure, "...am I right?"

Scarlett sighed and nodded, "Yes, and by the way, your analysis was on point after hearing from my daughter about Alex."

While Scarlett cringed inwardly, even imagining that her grandson could marry someone so lowly as a whore, Linuel was right. He could find a beggar and marry her. Anyone who would be against him because of his spouse wouldn't matter when he took one of the four seats at the council, which she imagined would be a given already.

She remembered such a case: Merlin. There was no council then, but he was highly regarded even though he built a weird harem out of nobles, princesses, thieves, orphans, etc. Nobody even dared to say anything to him as he could bring the Outer Circle upon them.

Scarlett was brought out of her thoughts when Patricia suddenly started to sob and tried to wipe away her tears quickly. This action made Linuel realize something, "Wait? You really like him?!"

She nodded while crying, unable to speak a word. Scarlett observed her silently while thinking through if she truly wanted to have her groomed for Alexander, as her reaction was too immature for her taste.

The concept of love was new to Patricia, and there was a chance it would be over after some time, which happened a lot with young beast-kin. The last thing she wanted to do was to bring her grandson a wife who would reject him after some years.

'It will be a lot of work to find out if it is true love or something fleeting.'

She also thought about grooming her grandson, but from what she heard, it would be impossible. He was apparently incredibly stubborn and even almost killed himself because he couldn't wait for a couple of years to be close to her son-in-law.

She also remembered all his achievements and visions for the future she was told about. Someone with such grand ideas was barely malleable, especially not for something he would probably consider trivial, like a relationship.

Worse, he had a good example of a working and loving marriage by looking at her daughter and Kairoso, a commoner. She feared he would assume that a loving relationship was only possible with commoners after what Patricia did.

She decided to risk it since the last thing she wanted was for her grandson to marry some commoner. If nothing worked, he could have at least some good memories that noble ladies could be as lovingly as commoners, and that would open more doors to other possible spouses she could imagine for him.

Scarlett sighed, "Stop crying, and if you want him to start liking you, we need a plan."

For the following hours, she sat down with the girls and tried to help them, but mostly Patricia since Linuel had her prize in the bag.

While they talked, she started to like Patricia more and more, not only because of her origin but also because she was a diligent young puppy. She saw a little of herself in her and knew she would be highly loyal and treat her grandson excellently if her feelings weren't just momentarily.

...

Fiorello's room before Scarlett visited Patricia & Linuel

Fiorello was tense because of what happened in the garden. On the one hand, it was a great success as he could find weaknesses, but on the other one, he went too far too quickly.

He walked in circles in his room, thinking, 'What a mess.'

First, the whole estate had already talked about his little fiasco, and now they had, even more, to gossip about after the altercation he had in their garden.

So, his next steps needed to be well thought out. Usually, his natural aura, which exuded a potent charm, was enough to make him appear friendly and manipulate others.

Yet, it was almost impossible for him to do his usual spiel, as the Leonandra youth were like the Nine-Fire ones. For their age, they had exceptional mental fortitude skills like the [Lust Control] one, which was almost mandatory for every pup inside the guard households.

Thus, he was forced to use skills, and with this came his next problem: Like some of his sisters, Lorient had good instincts and could feel them out after the first use. Then there was Sarah, who had, what looked to him, very dangerous [Mystic Skills] which were similar to his and, therefore, could quickly notice anything he would do.

'I hope my spontaneous idea is working by telling them that I have problems controlling a mystic skill.'

He sighed since it didn't matter anymore as he was already done with his part of the scheme and would get the reward from the broker. On the other hand, he wanted the additional bonus he would get if he finished some other tasks.

He found it highly addicting to know that he would be free after this, without any responsibilities weighing him down. It was also pretty risk-free since he had a trump card, so he was ready to leave his safety zone and, therefore, ready to gamble.

Yet, if he made a little mistake, any of his victims could knock him out, thus making his escape impossible, as he needed to be at least conscious.

There were also his danger-sensing skills, always warning him from them, telling him they were dangerous, especially Alexander, for some reason. He thought the skills warned him rather about the insane-looking fox-kin butler than the puppy and that they extended his dangerousness to whom he protected.

'Let's test the waters a little more. Either way, they think I am a wus and will probably not attack me. They also most likely think that I am some gigolo without much talent, hehe.'

Socializing skills were often disregarded by many who were younger and saw only true strength as something they should strive for. It was a big mistake, as he had repeatedly proved it to many muscle-brained individuals.

Yet, seeing that the Leonandra girls had a brother with at least the same intensity of an aura as his, he couldn't rely on them dropping their guard too much as they should know the dangerous aspect of those skills.

'Well, there is also Sarah, who was strong and had such a skill... can't believe this idiot has such sophisticated skills.'

He wanted to plan more, but when he thought about what had happened more thoroughly, he became angry and needed to calm down. His ego was in the way.

Something snapped inside Fiorello as he hated to be ridiculed in front of his servants by others. When this happened, he forgot momentarily about his deal with the spider-kin, as his pride was much more important—a dumb mistake on his part.

He came out of his thoughts when the door suddenly opened, revealing Scarlett, who looked out for blood, 'Well, now I need to bring out my best smile. Should be enough.'

...

One minute later

Bang!

Scarlett slammed Fiorello toward the wall, "Do you really think I can't feel your skills? I was the one who resisted Marquise Lopon, the one who could make everyone into his little puppet. Your skills, on the other hand, are nothing more than sleight of hand."

Fiorello slowly stood up and watched the scene with a grimace. Scarlett held his personal guard by the neck like a toy, and it looked like she could break her neck with a little bit more pressure.

He smiled and tried to be approachable, "As I said, Ms. Scarlett, this is a faulty skill, which I can barely control. However, it would be a shame if my mother found out what you did here, right? So p..."

Before he could end the sentence, an enormous amount of killing intent invaded him, like beasts that encircled him and salivated at the thought of ripping him to shreds, "I would be careful, Fio, what you are about to say. Ori is my cousin, and I know that you are nothing but a drag on the whole household. I am sure she would cut you to pieces when she found out what you tried to do to the girls."

Fiorello grimaced internally, barely able to stay awake as the fierce killing intent invaded his every pore. Only his high-level mental fortitude skills made him stay sane, 'Well, it will surely not be Scarlett who I will use as a pivot point. That much is clear.'

He was confused since he thought Scarlett would be much more approachable, especially since they were family. His parents always tried to protect him, but it seemed to be not the case with this household.

He smiled at her even though he could barely stand straight, "Ms. Scarlett, how can I show my sincerity and show that it was nothing more than a misunderstanding?"

She threw the cat-kin like a rag doll in his direction. She flew past him and crashed against the wall with full force.

Bang!

She strolled toward him, intensifying her killing intent, "You want to show sincerity? Fine. By tomorrow, you and my granddaughters will join Lin and my grandson. While I don't trust you, I trust them."

He opened his arms and wanted to thank her, but the moment he did, he became unconscious as the last wave of killing intent knocked him fully out.

...

One minute later

Scarlett walked over to Patricia to listen to her explanation and hoped she wouldn't need to do the same to her as to Fiorello. She sighed, 'This could actually be a problem.'

Fiorello came to her and almost begged to take him with her so he could find someone. He told her he wanted to find someone and that his escapades were nothing but cries for help. At that moment, he didn't use any skills but had an incredible aura around him, only found in the younger folk from higher noble circles who trained theirs to the extremes.

Her greed immediately flared up at such a sight. Even though Fiorello had a shady past, having someone like this would be like a treasure. She now regretted it but would try it and hoped he didn't lie when telling this to her. All of her deception and lie-detection skills flared up, though. Yet, they always acted up when he talked, but they also flared up when someone told white lies or didn't want to say something too specific. They were, like always, something she couldn't count on when assessing others, and she could only take them with a grain of salt.

There were excellent lie detection skills, but they were mostly [Mystic Skills], which she didn't have but wished at the moment to have. She thought about bringing him to the archivist, who had such skills, but if one had exceptionally high deception skills, one could even muddle them. Socializing was nothing less than a war; one needed to train hard to succeed.

She turned around and went away, her killing intent only momentarily flared up again, 'I hope the little bitch had a good reason to punch my grandson.'