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Episode 12
"Grandpa!"
Startled, Letty rushed forward.
The baby red panda anxiously stomped her little feet while holding onto Brunhardt, who was clutching his clothes near his chest.
"Grandpa, are you okay?"
"Ugh…ugh…"
Despite Letty's worried question, Brunhardt couldn’t immediately respond. The elderly man, barely able to take intermittent breaths, finally collapsed to the floor as if he could no longer endure.
"Is Letty that strong?!"
Letty, looking down at the fallen Brunhardt, pulled at her cheek fur in shock.
'Mom told me not to use it recklessly! Is Letty really this strong?!'
“…Ha. I see, even I find it terrifying."
Letty's ultimate skill was incredibly dangerous, too dangerous.
The legendary Iron Heart of the Empire, Brunhardt, who hadn’t even flinched before an army of thousands, placed his hand on his chest and shook his head.
"I might die from a heart attack. This is a skill that could cause serious trouble if misused."
Brunhardt glanced at Letty, who was looking at him with apologetic, teary eyes, then grabbed his chest again.
"Ugh."
The aftermath of a near heart attack.
"Elder, are you alright?"
Seeing Brunhardt lying down, some staff, who had removed the tapestry, approached in shock.
"Could it be…did this baby make the esteemed elder, Brunhardt, collapse?"
"Yes. With just one technique, I was defeated…"
It was a day when rumors began to spread that a ferocious and formidable daughter-in-law had entered the brutal Grizzly Grand Duchy.
✦ ✦ ✦
Liliane Mihort de Syna.
A maid of the Grizzly Grand Duchy, she belonged to the gray bear clan and was larger than most beastfolk.
‘What if the young lady is scared of me?’
Liliane, who was crazy about anything cute, immediately volunteered when asked for a maid to take care of the baby panda girl. But now, standing in front of the door, she hesitated.
‘Children cry and faint just at the sight of me…’
Although Liliane liked children, the feeling was not mutual.
Her massive frame and fierce appearance, coupled with a large scar from her previous job, made her look even more intimidating.
"Haaa."
Snap.
As she worried and gripped the doorknob tightly, it began to crumble into powder, even though it had been designed to withstand the strength of grizzly beastfolk.
"Ugh!"
"Lilia! Did you break something again?"
Suzanne, the head maid, who happened to pass by, gasped and ran over, hitting Liliane's shoulder.
"Even if you hold it with your fingertips, you’re breaking things! At this rate, there won’t be any doors left in the Grand Duke’s residence!"
Shaking her head in exasperation, Suzanne pushed the intimidated Liliane aside and knocked on Letty's door.
"Miss Letty, this is Head Maid Suzanne. May I come in for a moment?"
"Yes!"
Hearing the energetic response from inside, Suzanne opened the door.
Though she hadn’t yet been assigned a personal maid, Letty was never alone.
“Oh my, how adorable!”
Crunch. Crunch, crunch.
“Goodness… How can someone eating look so blissful and cute?”
Crunch. Crunch, crunch.
Sitting on a round stool in the middle of the room, Letty was enjoying fresh bamboo leaves and shoots. Surrounding her were maids, who had abandoned their tasks to gather in her room, showering her with over-the-top praises.
“Why is everyone here instead of working?”
Suzanne, the head maid, shot them a sharp glare, but Letty secretly welcomed her arrival.
‘Letty might get indigestion at this rate.’
The tender bamboo shoots were indeed delicious, but the maids’ constant encouragement to try different foods was starting to feel uncomfortable.
Letty, feeling like a rare, fascinating creature—although, as a red panda, she technically was—was growing uneasy under their unrelenting gazes. It was hard to focus on eating bamboo leaves while their eyes followed her every move, making her glance around nervously.
“Miss, do you need anything else? You seem a bit uneasy.”
Suzanne, noticing Letty's discomfort, asked gently.
“Oh dear! Miss, is something bothering you?”
“Shall we bring more bamboo shoots? Water? Snacks? Cake?”
The moment Suzanne mentioned Letty's unease, the maids’ attention zeroed in on her.
“Ah, n-no…”
Startled, Letty quickly transformed to hide her expression.
As she lowered her head to escape their relentless stares, her small, round red panda head was fully revealed.
“Ah… So adorable.”
The maids, unable to resist the fluffy sight of her head, made soft groaning noises and clenched their fists.
“This cuteness… It makes me feel like I must do something!”
One maid finally gave in, standing up abruptly and wrapping her arms around a bedpost.
“Should I pull out this post?”
“Hey, stop it! What if the young miss gets hurt?”
Another maid, horrified, tried to stop her colleague.
‘…Pull out a post?’
Hearing the maids’ conversation, Letty noticed the marble pillar dented by the maid’s fingertips and shivered.
While Letty had been strong enough to knock down Brunhardt with a single roar, the maids of the grizzly clan were no pushovers either.
‘I might lose if we fight.’
It was no time to grow overconfident just because she had managed to take down one old man.
‘Letty needs to train.’
While Letty internally calculated her odds against the maids, a slim, curly-haired maid—who had been trying to stop her colleagues from scratching and damaging the furniture—picked Letty up.
“Did you enjoy your meal, young miss?”
“Yes, it was delicious.”
Letty nodded quickly as she swallowed her last bite of bamboo shoot. The maid, who had been gazing at Letty as if lost for words, suddenly opened her mouth in awe.
“Even though you’re also a bear, how can you be so different from us? I just want to gobble you up, bite after bite!”
‘What! She wants to eat Letty?’
Being omnivorous, it wouldn’t have been unusual for a bear to eat a red panda. Upon hearing the maid’s murmuring, Letty instinctively fluffed up her tail.
“Rawr!”
Raising both arms high and baring her sharp fangs, Letty attempted to look fierce. The curly-haired maid, with a mesmerizing tear mole under her eye, panicked and began stomping her feet in disarray.
“Ahh! Someone, please take the young miss from me!”
At her urgent plea, another maid quickly took Letty into her arms.
Thud!
The curly-haired maid collapsed forward, clutching her chest as if waiting for this moment.
‘Oh no. Grandpa told me not to use that skill recklessly.’
Frightened, Letty had activated her skill reflexively. Panicked, she flailed her arms and legs, trying to approach the fallen maid.
“M-maid sister, I’m sorry.”
Whimper.
After finally reaching the floor, Letty gently patted the back of the maid’s head. The maid, trembling as though struck by lightning, slowly turned her head.
“Soft… so soft… sniff.”
Fluffy and squishy!
Dolores, who had volunteered to be Letty's personal maid just like Lilia, raised her trembling hands and held Letty's cheeks.
“This cuteness is overwhelming. If the young miss gives me a kiss, I might survive…”
‘A k-kiss?!’
Mom said kisses were only for her!
The introverted Letty gasped and backed away from Dolores’s bold request. Glancing nervously around the room, the baby red panda eventually chose the only maid who hadn’t approached her—Lilia—and hid behind her legs.
“Gasp!”
Crash!
In doing so, Lilia accidentally tore off the door that the head maid Suzanne had worked hard to protect.
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