Violet left the yard in a hurry. If she pretends she saw nothing, she can just continue her everyday life.
Cassiel and Ophelia only started to date after reaching adulthood, so she was being careless. Never in the world would she expected to find him transformed in the back of the restaurant.
The previous duke was married twice, his second wife was a princess with a mysterious descendant. Cassiel inherited the ability to transform into a dog, only to be revealed later that it was, in fact, the guardian beast, granting him dream-like abilities. And turning him into a walking catastrophe.
If Violet counted correctly, he should be only 11 or 12 right now. His parents had been dead for several years already and his only remaining family was the current duke of Ashford, his older half-brother. Nathaniel was a kind person who loved his sibling very much, but as the young lord of the territory, the workload was too much for him to handle, and he neglected the little puppy in the process.
Unfortunately, even the new duke will die a few years later due to the same illness as his mother, leaving Cassiel alone which sparked the misfortunes in the story. Ophelia will be able to turn him from madness, after suffering very much, but that was something that will happen much later in the story.
"They say the storm will be coming tonight, don't forget to close your window," the owner of the restaurant told her before leaving for the evening.
Violet was now alone in a previously busy house. Her room was located upstairs, but she could use any facility available in the restaurant until the morning came. Her initial plan to visit the bathhouse was postponed, as half of her mind was occupied by the little puppy she met that afternoon.
"He must have left, right?"
She assured herself. She even tried to convince herself that it was a different kind of dog, but that star-shaped dot was Cassiel's signature birthmark.
Violet was allowed to use the ingredients in the larder to fix her own meal, or she could just reheat any leftovers in the kitchen. However, the chef here wasn't the best one, as she found his stew and soup to be sometimes missing in salt, with too much sugar or the flavour was entirely off. It takes a lot of talent to make the food taste so bad.
"Uck, I thought so… This needs my special collection of spices," she grimaced after tasting the stew. Cooking was like a basic medicine for the body that's why she only wanted a good meal to enter her. It just needs a little tweak, and an ordinary meal will be turned into the most nutritious potion.
As the casserole was simmering on the stove, thunder flashed through the window, followed by a heavy downpour. Just as the proprietress told her earlier, the storm hit the land without any warning. Violet watched the rain flowing down the glass when she finally couldn't hold it on anymore and ran to the backyard.
"There is no way he is still there…"
But just as she worried, the puppy still lay in the same place, his fluffy fur soaked with the rain.
"Why… You are really killing me!"
She bent down and scooped the little body into her arms. Using the silver tray as a cover, she protected him from the storm. The puppy let out a small bark when she took him, but otherwise showed no other sign of protest. Like he was already content with whatever bad might happen to him.
Violet took him into the kitchen and put him into the wide wicker basket next to the stove. Cassiel couldn't control his ability from the start and only transformed when he was feeling a strong emotion, such as fear or anger. He was in the puppy's body for a long time, meaning that he was greatly stressed about something.
There was no towel available, so she took off her apron to wipe the water from him. He was strangely limb and only opened his eyes a few times, but mostly had them closed. At some point, his paw slightly pushed her like he wanted to be left alone.
"Stay still… You will get sick if we don't dry you properly…"
But maybe he was already too weakened as his usual fierce behaviour was nowhere to be seen. His little body trembled due to the cold, so taking him to her bedroom which lacked a heater made no sense. After some thinking, she brought the blankets to the kitchen and set a little comfortable lair on top of the old-fashioned stone oven.
She heard that in the old times, some people preferred to sleep like this, as the heated stone made it into a luxurious bed.
But despite all the efforts, the little puppy keeps on shivering. She tried to feed him some water and a beef stew, but he was showing no interest in anything that could help him become healthy again.
'What should I do?' Violet almost cried out. The story started later, so she had no idea what Cassiel was like as a child. What if he died before he could meet the heroine? A part of ill fate could be erased this way, but what about that poor child? Even if he grew up and became a tyrant, he was still an innocent child right now.
The puppy who trembled due to cold, the one depressed state and has lost his will to live.
Violet took off her outer dress and climbed up to the warm lair. She then put the small body on her almost naked chest, separated by only a thin negligee. Trying to warm him up, she begged him to get well soon.
"Please, Cassiel, you need to get through this… I still want you to be happy."
Unbeknown to her, the little puppy opened its eyes slowly. Something flickered through his dark irises like the thunders hitting the land.
And as the storm was washing over the night, the two fell asleep embracing each other.