Became the Imperial-Certified Mad Dog

The Ambitious Hawk Eyes the Forest

“Damn, I’m dying.”

After immediately resuming my role as Perry’s escort upon waking up, I ended up becoming like a flattened dough on the sofa in Karma’s office right after Perry fell asleep.

Unable to lie face down to prevent tearing the wound in my lungs, I just stared blankly at the ceiling, and Karma clicked his tongue watching this.

“Didn’t I tell you to rest for a while?”

“You haven’t checked your daughter’s room, have you?”

After breaking down the door, I was anxious about not finding the child under the blanket, but rather under the bathtub or ceiling – how could you say that?

Although you just said that, seeing how you never actually declined shows that you’re only pretending to be considerate now that your daughter’s condition has improved, you bastard.

“Hey, ground your daughter for this week. If she goes out like this, I’ll really stop breathing.”

“…If it’s really that hard, we could assign other servants or kids when she goes out.”

“Ah shit, what if others try to kidnap her again!?”

After barely saving her while getting stabbed in the chest, what if she dies while I briefly look away to catch my breath?

I’ll follow her to the grave, not from injury but from stress.

“Oh come on, I suffered getting stabbed in the chest at the young age of 11, how can you wipe your mouth clean with just one apple? I heard even thugs have something called dignity or whatever, but I guess the mafia doesn’t have even that.”

“How are you supposedly 11 years old when you talk like that… Even your parents wouldn’t talk like that at that age – did you learn that from your grandfather or whoever?”

“…I don’t care about that, but don’t I deserve a reward for suffering like this?”

“…What do you want? I already bought you lots of books. Do you want pocket money or something?”

“Pocket money… That’s tempting, but more than that, let me exchange letters with mom and dad.”

“…Letters?”

“Yeah, I need to know if they’re eating well, if they’re not sick somewhere – just checking on them. Come to think of it, are you feeding them properly?”

“…You don’t think we’d neglect even that, do you? I’ll tell the people at the worksite.”

Clop, clop.

“Halt!”

Neigh. A carriage drawn by two horses traveling on the brick-paved road stopped at the entrance of Duke Lung’s territory at the guards’ command.

“What business do you have at the Duke’s estate!?”

“Can’t you see the imperial seal carved on the carriage? This is state business.”

The soldier in officer’s uniform sitting in the driver’s seat pointed incredulously at the empire’s mark carved on the carriage wall.

“…This is real.”

“My apologies, but what business does an imperial official have…”

“It’s a confidential matter that cannot be disclosed, and the person inside cannot show themselves either. Open the gate.”

“…”

The guards looked at each other hesitantly at the demands of the soldier sitting in plain view on the driver’s seat.

“What are you doing? Step aside already!”

“But…”

“Even if you’re from the imperial palace, this is Duke Lung’s territory…”

“We’ll call the gate supervisor first, so please wait here for a moment…”

“You…!”

Just as the officer was about to raise his voice in anger at the guards’ reluctance to open the gate despite invoking the imperial name.

Knock, knock.

A light knocking sound from inside the carriage made both the driver and guards stop their argument as attention turned to the carriage.

“Don’t be too harsh with them, they are only doing their duty.”

“Ah, yes…!”

The voice from inside the carriage was unexpectedly that of a young woman – elegant yet strict.

“Guards.”

The woman in the carriage addressed the guards directly instead of through the driver, and the guards immediately bowed their heads, realizing from her voice alone that the person inside was someone they shouldn’t even make eye contact with.

“Yes!”

“I understand your concern. You fear what reprimand you might face if you open the gate due to my insistence.”

“We, we are beyond grateful for your understanding!”

“Then bring the Duke himself here, so that no one can object to letting me in.”

“…Pardon?”

The guards were dumbfounded at the woman’s sudden demand to bring the Duke to the gate.

“Even if you call your superiors, they will surely pass it up the chain for the same reason, so it would be better to get permission from the highest authority from the start.”

“But, but how could we possibly… the Duke…”

“One way or another, when I enter, this will reach the Duke’s ears sooner or later, and if he disapproves, he will reprimand those responsible afterward. Isn’t it better to prevent such victims from the beginning?”

The guards finally realized they were dealing with completely the wrong person as the woman made her strange yet somehow logical argument.

‘What should we do…?’

While this would be true of any duke, the head of the Lung family was known as the most prideful and face-conscious among the empire’s five ducal houses.

It wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen to the guards if they called him for something like this.

After exchanging glances among themselves, the guards finally

“We-we’ll open the gate!”

Deciding that the lesser evil was better than the worst case, they concluded that getting scolded by their superior and having their wages cut was better than getting on the Duke’s bad side, and finally granted the driver’s initial request.

As the massive gate to the ducal estate opened, the officer on the driver’s seat urged the horses forward, and the carriage that had caused such a brief storm entered the estate smoothly.

“Phew, what were you planning to do if they really called the Duke?”

Once the carriage had entered deep enough that the gatehouse was no longer visible, the officer on the driver’s seat exhaled deeply and asked the carriage.

Unlike him, who had been anxious since the moment the Duke was mentioned despite not showing it, the woman in the carriage laughed leisurely.

“Why so frightened? What authority do they have to wake the Duke at this dawn? At most, a member of the ducal household would have come out to deal with it instead.”

“Well, that’s true, but still, what if by some chance…”

“Well, if the Duke did come out… I’d just face him head-on.”

The Empire – the nation with the largest territory on the continent.

And a Duke – considered to have the most noble blood after the imperial family in this empire, their master being a heavenly existence that only the Emperor and his direct line could look down upon.

Yet the woman in the carriage showed not even a hint of fear at the prospect of facing such a Duke.

“Indeed, they say your caliber is different from the start. Your courage is remarkable despite your young age.”

The officer broke out in cold sweat at her arrogance that went beyond irreverence to the point of being marvelous, yet at the same time understood how she had reached her position at such a young age.

“We’ve arrived.”

The carriage eventually stopped near the slums, a relatively unsafe area within the vast ducal estate.

“Good work.”

Creak.

As the carriage door opened, the woman boldly stepped onto the ducal territory.

The woman’s appearance was even younger than her voice suggested, barely old enough to still be called a girl.

However, her face, naturally imbued with confidence and responsibility, was in no way inferior to any veteran.

And unlike the typical military uniform centered on red for men, her uniform was entirely black, giving off an somehow ominous and intimidating impression.

“Though brief, it was an honor to accompany you, Deputy Commander.”

“Mm. My wolves will arrive as planned?”

“Yes, as I haven’t received any other instructions, they seem to have entered the ducal territory as scheduled.”

“Understood. You’ve worked hard as well, return to the capital.”

The woman, bidding farewell to the driver – officially part of the shadow forces of the empire that handle various matters difficult to process openly and never reveal their existence in the light.

“This is my first solo mission since becoming Deputy Commander, hehe.”

Abel, the Deputy Commander of Cerberus, one of the two pillars among them, silently melted into the darkness of the Lung ducal territory and disappeared without a trace.

Two months have passed since I became Perry’s escort.

Whether the fight with Dorothy served as some kind of vaccination, fortunately, no major problems had occurred since fighting her.

By the way, regarding Dorothy’s disappearance, I told the mansion staff the same excuse I gave Perry – that she suddenly returned to her hometown, and as for the collapsed wall, well, we said a carriage crashed into it at night.

The broken window in the empty room of the annex was explained as unfortunately being hit by a flying brick when the wall collapsed then, and honestly, I thought who would believe such nonsense but.

‘Maybe because it was such a sensational story, they believed it surprisingly easily.’

The servants were rather pleased to have something to talk about with their friends, family, and acquaintances outside the mansion.

“You… have you grown taller?”

As always, Perry, who had been irritable and wouldn’t let me leave a certain distance since Dorothy left, suddenly brought up my height while looking at me.

“My height? Now that you mention it, I think I have grown a bit. I’m still in my growing period after all. Nothing strange about that.”

“Your body seems bigger too…”

“That’s because I use my muscles a lot.”

“Are you saying I’m working you too hard?”

“No, it’s probably thanks to exercising separately in the morning and before bed.”

After nearly dying against Dorothy and barely winning, then getting completely crushed by that mysterious old man, I realized I was still weak and have been dedicating myself to training every day.

Two months – not long if you don’t consider it long, but continuous daily training during my growth period has increased my height by about 5cm and built muscle throughout my body.

Even so, I’m still barely at the level of a three-year-old compared to adults, but at least in Perry’s eyes, who is the same age as me, it seems I’ve achieved remarkable growth.

Though it’s just speculation, seeing how I hadn’t grown this significantly before, I wonder if awakening my aura stimulated my growth.

“…”

The two months of changes must have been quite shocking, as Perry kept examining my body from head to toe as if in a daze before suddenly turning her head away, apparently realizing it was embarrassing.