Chapter 35: My Secret Admirer’s Dowry

Much to Lydia’s request—no, insistence—they moved somewhere more private! She needed it so much after his dowry bombshell.

Zachary had rented out the entire Coronet, the best restaurant in Illisa, the capital of the Adelstein Empire.

Even as a daughter of House Valendorf, she would normally have to make a reservation at least three days in advance to secure a table here. Yet Zachary had managed to rent the entire establishment right away!

He had even paid the bills for every customer dining there during the busy lunch rush, sending them away so the two of them could have the place to themselves.

Good grief, was House Ludenberg swimming in money?! At this rate, Senior Zachary could probably buy the entire street just to avoid waiting for a table.

"Now, where were we?" Zachary asked, resting his chin on one hand. "Ah, right. My dowry!"

"Don’t say it so loudly!" Lydia hissed, glancing around despite the empty restaurant. Not even a single soul—or robots—around them.

"And don’t say it as your dowry! Could you rephrase it into something less scandalous? Why would you even send one to me when I’m already engaged to Ephraim?"

"I have sent some gifts to your house. Are you sure you didn’t receive any of them?" Zachary frowned thoughtfully before tapping his bracelet. "That’s strange. I specifically asked my butler to deliver them. Perhaps I should ask him what happened..."

Before he could contact anyone, however, Lydia’s bracelet suddenly glowed. A familiar pouch popped out, bounced onto the table, and sprang straight at Zachary.

"Mrooow!"

Zachary barely had time to react before the pouch rubbed itself against his chest, purring loudly. It stretched like a lazy cat waking from a nap, then meowed again, apparently delighted to have found him.

The pouch suddenly shifted into a chubby cat with soft pink fur covered in purple stripes. Its pointed ears and mischievous smile reminded Lydia of the Cheshire Cat in that famous book she used to read in her childhood.

Wasn’t this supposed to be Angel’s Bag? The thing was alive?!

The pink cat jumped onto Zachary’s lap and rolled over, offering him its belly with absolutely no shame. It even stretched its paws toward him, demanding attention like a spoiled pet.

"Ah, there you are, Maron!" Zachary laughed, scratching her belly. "You must have missed me, huh?"

"Meeow!"

"Good girl!"

Who would’ve thought that Angel’s Bag’s real form was a pink cat?

This was the first time Lydia had seen its true form, and she couldn’t decide whether to be amazed or question what kind of person created a cat that behaved like this.

"Let me introduce you to my special creation, Angel’s Bag. The one and only for you!" Zachary announced proudly. "Her name is Maron."

"Your creation?"

"Yep! I’m sure this little greedy girl is hungry. That’s why she woke up and snuggled against me. Hold on."

Zachary tapped his bracelet again and a huge burst of red light materialized into a red Mana Stone. The gigantic stone was floating listlessly before he tossed it to Maron without any hesitation.

Maron quickly abandoned her belly rubs to pounce and chomp on the crystal with gusto.

"Wait. If you feed her, that Mana Stone will go straight into my storage. You sure okay with that, Senior?"

"Why not?"

That was a massive Mana Stone! Judging by its size and the amount of mana radiating from it, it might have come from an SSS-Rank rift monster!

And he was basically giving it to me by feeding Maron? Talk about being generous! A pure Mana Stone of that size could easily buy me one or two star fleets.

"I thought Angel’s Bag was just a bag that could be used to store things..."

"A bag? Sure, she can help you store things." Zachary scratched Maron’s ears as she continued eating. "But Maron is my favorite creation. I sent her to your house a few months ago, along with the other gifts."

Ah.

So he was the secret admirer her brother had mentioned. Lydia remembered Brother Sylvain’s furious expression when he had interrogated her for an entire day about the mysterious gifts.

At the time, Lydia hadn’t understood what he was talking about. She had no idea who had sent anything to their house, much less a dowry.

Lydia pouted at the memory, but her annoyance quickly faded when Maron finished eating and waddled over to her.

The pink cat climbed onto her lap, circled once, and settled comfortably against her stomach before rubbing her soft fur against Lydia’s hand.

"It’s ticklish!" Lydia giggled, instinctively stroking her. "Awww... isn’t she adorable?"

Maron purred louder.

For a moment, Lydia forgot about the suspicious man sitting across from her. How could she not? Maron was soft and affectionate.

However, the memory of the dowry soon returned to haunt her.

"But why a dowry? You’re aware that I’m already engaged to Ephraim, aren’t you?"

"Aw... you’re no fun." Zachary pouted and folded his arms. "Think of Maron as my token of friendship."

"Bribery. But she’s adorable. So I’ll take her."

"If things ever go south, you could easily sell this pink Felion to buy an island or two. Convenient, huh? Yup. That extinct cat race. Put her on the auction and watch them go into an uproar. Ka-ching! Easy money."

A loud gasp from Lydia made Zachary laugh. She never thought that her bag–no, a Felion—was worth that much.

"We can start as friends, then." Lydia gulped.

This man sure puts a new definition to the word persistent. He’s on the borderline of desperate, even.

Not that Lydia is complaining. Ever.

Still, Lydia couldn’t deny that Zachary had excellent taste in gifts. Maron was adorable, and that Mana Stone alone was enough to make her purs—ahem, no, heart ache.

Unfortunately, Lydia couldn’t simply accept a dowry from another man while she was still engaged to the Crown Prince.

Even if Ephraim’s behavior had given her plenty of reasons to wish she could choke some sanity into him, she wasn’t foolish enough to invite an unnecessary scandal into her life.

But if Zachary insisted on being generous, who would she refuse? He had even corrected it as a friendship gift. So there wouldn’t be a problem, right?

Before Lydia could continue questioning Zachary, Maron suddenly lifted her head.

The pink cat slipped from Lydia’s lap and landed on the floor. Instead of returning to them, she began circling the empty restaurant.

A low hiss escaped the cat’s mouth as her fluffy tail swishing from side to side.

"Maron?" Zachary called.

Her body abruptly expanded, pink fur puffing up until she resembled a chonky ball of fluff. Then her mouth opened, revealing rows of terrifying, spiky teeth.

"What’s wrong with Maron, Senior Zach?!"

"Stay behind me, Lydia." His playfulness was gone in an instant

He rose from his seat and tapped Maron back into Lydia’s barcelet. She nearly stumbled beneath the sudden pressure from Zachary as his oppressive Resonance swept through the whole Coronet.

The air grew heavy, making it difficult to breathe as Zachary’s black panther ears emerged from his hair and a long black tail appeared behind him.

Large dark energy gathered around both his hands, crackling like charged lightning.

So this was the power of an SSS-Rank Sentinel.

Before Lydia could gather her thoughts, the space in the middle of the vast restaurant hall suddenly twisted.

A sharp crack split the air. Then, with a deafening tear, a Dimensional Rift ripped open out of nowhere.

Two long white ears emerged first, followed by a gigantic rabbit with bloodshot red eyes. Its body looked like a broken doll that had been torn apart and stitched back together.

Cotton-like material protruded between the gruesome stitches, and something resembling an eyeball was embedded in its patchwork body.

[Dimensional Rift Level: S-Rank]

[Please remain alert and seek assistance from a Sentinel.]

Zachary rolled his shoulders as more dark energy spheres swirling around him as he faced the monstrous rabbit.

He flashed Lydia a wide grin.

"Time to waltz, darling~"