"YOUNG MASTER JEAN! YOUNG MASTER JEAN!!"

Little Jean heard the familiar voice of the guard who often stood in front of his Big brother's door. Jean got excited, thinking of this as a game. Thus he yelled, "Jean is hiding! Find Jean! Hihi~"

Wolf was stunned when he heard Little Jean, who suddenly yelled out loud. Wolf thought that Little Jean was scared of him. That's why he yelled.

But when he saw Little Jean's expression, Little Jean looked so excited.

Little Jean grabbed Wolf's arm and tried to pull him deeper inside the cave. They nestled together, and Little Jean said, "Shush, Big meanie guard is trying to catch us! Let's play hide and seek together with him, hehe~."

"…"

Wolf was still wondering about what Jean was thinking right now. All he needed to do was just screaming louder and louder, just like what the rest of the people caught by his big brother did when they got kidnapped for the first time.

But there was no trace of fear in his eyes. He was so excited and hugged Wolf's arm.

"Young Master… not scared?" Wolf asked.

"Scared? Why?" Little Jean titled his head. "Jean is not scared of anything!"

Wolf tried to see whether Young Master Jean was lying. Because there was no way that Young Master would be so trusting to someone like Wolf.

"Young Master… Wolf is scary…." Wolf said. He realized that he was scared when those men inside the camp were afraid to speak with Wolf.

And they often said that Wolf would be a scary killer in the future, maybe an assassin or some sort.

Wolf didn't know the meaning of assassin, but he didn't want to kill anyone. He wanted to make friends instead. But nobody ever thought that Wolf was a good friend. Everyone saw him as an intimidating small guy.

Wolf was someone with difficulty speaking, he couldn't seem to utter a long sentence, and he also had a low voice. Since he had no one to speak to since he was a kid inside his big brother's group, he just didn't bother to speak.

So it was surprising for Wolf that Young Master Jean could be so intimate and trusting with him.

"Wolf… scary…"

"Eh? Who said Wolf is scary? Jean likes Wolf a lot because Wolf is cute!" Little Jean said. He tightened his hug on Wolf's arm and continued, "Jean feels safe around Wolf!"

…

Wolf still couldn't accept what Young Master Jean said. It was so weird for Wolf, who had never been graced with love, even from his big brother.

Big brother wanted him to be strong and grew up useful. And how he became useful depended on whether Wolf could be a good hunter. That was the reason why Wolf became so good at hunting. Nobody could beat him.

He could also help his brother kill someone or fight against people, but he didn't want to.

Yet, people still feared an eighth years old kid.

Little Jean could feel the sadness in Wolf as if he was really convinced that he was a bad and scary person. Little Jean tilted his head and then said, "Wolf is not scary at all. Jean had met an evil black monster, Jean got scared… but when I'm with Wolf, Jean has no fear!"

"Because Wolf is Jean's knight!"

…

"… Knight?"

"Yes! Un… Knight is a handsome, big man with silver armor! He usually comes to beat the evil and save Jean! Jean wants Wolf to be my knight!" Little Jean declared.

Wolf still had no idea how these knight stuff worked. But if that meant he could stay a little longer with Young Master Jean, then why not?

"Wolf… knight…" Wolf wanted to say that he wanted to be a knight to stay with Young Master Jean. He got embarrassed to speak everything, though, and his voice lowered, "K—Knight… How…"

"Un? Wolf wants to be a knight?" Little Jean asked.

Wolf nodded, he stared at Little Jean earnestly, and Little Jean tried to remember how someone could become a knight.

A knight was different from a regular guard. Knights were well trained, and they serve for one person only.

Little Jean asked Big brother Maximillien about his knight a few months ago, but Maximillien replied with a snort, 'I am my own knight. I don't need someone else to protect me.'

'Wu… but how about Jean?'

'You don't need knight either. All you need is me. I can protect you as long as you stick with your big brother, hahaha!'

Little Jean still remembered the proud laugh of his Big brother Maximillien, and he was somewhat annoyed by it. Because Big brother was obviously too busy to protect him every day, so there was definitely no way for Big brother to be his knight.

Little Jean glanced at Wolf, who looked so serious with that 'becoming the knight' thing.

"Hnn… I don't know if Big brother Maxi will let me take you as a knight… but let's just try! I want Wolf as my knight as well, hehe~."

Little Jean said.

[Pupa: Ding! Wolf Dietrich's Fatemeter increases to 30%.]

[Wolf is so generous and selfless, ehe~ Or maybe I'm just too good for them to handle, what do you think?]

[Pupa: I think he is a gullible idiot, and you're a shameless idiot.]

Jean rested his head on Wolf's arm and then waited until there were no more calls from the palace guard.

Little Jean was the first one to come out of hiding, and he dashed out as fast as he could, "Hehe! Look at me, Wolf! We've fooled the palace guards!"

The edge of Wolf's lips perked up slightly. He was about to leave with Young Master Jean until he saw a big hand suddenly swooped in and grabbed Little Jean's body.

"Young Master! Where have you been? We've been searching for you for so long! How did you get in here? Are you in pain? Young Master, stop struggling!" The guard meant well because they were worried about Little Jean.

But Little Jean disliked getting scolded or when someone spoke to him with an angry tone. Thus he continued struggling.

"Your big brother is furious. If you continue struggling, he might get angry at you as well!" The guard tried to threaten Little Jean, so he would stop struggling.

When he heard that his Big brother would get angry at him, Little Jean was petrified, tears started welling in his eyes, and he bawled his eyes out, "WUAAAAAA!!!! WOLF, SAVE MEEE!"

Wolf, who was hiding since the beginning, thought that Young Master Jean would leave him behind. Because Jean was a Young Master with so many people that could protect him, Wolf had no use anymore.

He kept staring at Young Master Jean from the cave because he thought it would be his last time ever seeing Young Master Jean again. He didn't want to take Jean with him back to the camp because he thought Young Master Jean should've been taken care of delicately, like a spring flower.

But when he heard the scream and Young Master Jean calling his name, begging to be saved, Wolf's eyes lit up. He grabbed his dagger and dashed as fast as he could.

So fast that even the guard didn't realize a man had stabbed his arm and snatched Little Jean away from him.