Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 31.2

Chapter 31.2

“Hi, Toma. And Sonia is here too? What are you doing here?”

“We were talking about what to look like at the upcoming guild banquet.”

“Don’t you have a set outfit to wear for official occasions?”

Christine had been to the main building of the Black Fang Guild several times and had seen the low-ranking members in uniform. As an elite member of the Golden Horseshoe Guild who didn’t have to wear a uniform nor had the means to afford one, she was secretly jealous.

Toma responded seriously to Christine’s question.

“The clothes are set. The hairstyle is the problem.”

“Hairstyle?”

Christine quickly scanned the hairstyles of the children gathered there. Even if they didn’t have a standard hairstyle like those who belonged to the knights, they didn’t seem too fancy.

‘Are they paying attention to it because the banquet is a special day?’

To be fair, the banquet might be a difficult occasion for the guild’s executives and adult members, but for the children, it would be just like a party with lots of delicious food.

Even so, Christine was already feeling bored without Edgar, so she was willing to show her talents to the children. There was no harm in winning over the children she met so often, after all.

“Then would you like to come over to the house where I’m staying after dinner? I’m confident in my hairstyling skills.”

Christine swept away her silky hair as if showing off. The eyes of the girls as well as the boys sparkled at her suggestion.

“Then we’ll eat right away!”

Toma led the children to the dining room.

Christine smiled fuzzily at Toma, who seemed to secretly care about his appearance.

‘I guess he’s at that age. I wonder what kind of hairstyle he wants.’

She filled her stomach with the food she had prepared in the morning and headed to the dressing room. There was a large mirror, a dressing table, and a chair, so it seemed to be perfect for doing the children’s hair.

Just as she was finishing her preparations, there was a knock on the door. It seemed like everyone was excited and finished their meal early.

“I left the door open. Will you come up to the second floor?”

“Yes!”

The children climbed dozens of stairs in seconds using the unique motor skills of the chimeras.

Toma, who was standing at the front, held out a basket full of muffins to Christine.

“I’ll be in your care, Miss Christine.”

“Oh my, thank you. Since I took the bribe, I’ll do your hair first. What kind of hairstyle do you want?”

Christine asked, placing Toma in the chair in front of the mirror.

Then, for some reason, Toma avoided looking at her as he firmly told her what he liked.

“Well, can you make it like… carelessly messy but my face can still be clearly seen, and like I didn’t put much effort into it, but my hair still looks cool?”

Christine seemed to know who the embarrassed Toma wanted to imitate.

“So, like Edgar’s?”

“No, it’s not like I want to copy Mr. Edgar’s hairstyle…”

“I can do it. Like Edgar’s.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Will you look in the mirror?”

Toma stiffly looked forward, his face flushed with embarrassment.

‘How much does he admire Edgar that he wants to copy his hairstyle?’

Christine held back from laughing at how cute Toma was. For some reason, her room was filled with a lot of consumables that men might use, including hair oil for styling their hair.

She took a little bit of it in the palm of her hand and skillfully touched Toma’s hair. She had worn a wig and dressed as a man a few times while carrying out commissions, so her hands were quick and precise.

‘Edgar’s hair seems a bit curly. Like he just shook it off and dried it.’

The man had such an atmosphere that it made others want to copy his unkept hair, and his hair was quite thick. Grand Duke Richard really had everything.

She suddenly came to her senses as she recalled the scene where she moaned excitedly while her hand wandered through his hair without realizing it.

“Done. What do you think?”

“Wow… Miss Christine!”

Toma trembled as if he felt very satisfied that it came out similar to Edgar’s hairstyle. His look of authority like he was the leader of an alley gang was nowhere to be seen.

“How did you do it? You made it like this in an instant.”

Instead of giving a detailed explanation, Christine shrugged.

“I inherited a little bit of mage blood, so I know how to use magic like this.”

Now that very few mages were left in the empire, inheriting their blood was actually a lie told by those who held to mysticism. However, when Toma heard that, he reacted differently from Christine’s expectations.

“Really? I hope it’s not true. I’ve heard somewhere that the chimera’s blood can cause pain to mages.”

“… Where?”

Christine couldn’t ignore Toma’s words.