Epilogue 8 (End)
Even the music had ceased.
Unaccustomed to such a situation, Coco's eyes darted around frantically.
‘Seriously, Caligo... You just came in way too strong and sudden!’
Caligo gazed at her intently, as if waiting for her answer.
The young lords and ladies surrounding them were the first to notice Coco's state.
“Lady Coco, what is the matter?”
“She doesn't look too well?”
Coco's face eventually turned into a bright red tomato, to the point where everyone around her could tell.
And in her sheer panic, Coco accidentally let go of Caligo's hand.
“Caligo, give me a moment.”
“...You're not going to answer?”
“I'll do it later!”
Like a butterfly fluttering its wings, Coco quickly hurried away from the spot.
As soon as Coco left, the prelude to a cheerful waltz began... and Caligo was left standing there alone.
* * *
I rushed into the balcony right next to the hall.
Perhaps because it was still the beginning of the ball, most of the balconies were empty.
“Ugh, uuu...”
Holding my head, I leaned against the balcony railing.
Jjek-jjeki, who seemed to have followed me after watching the debutante stage, muttered while perched on the railing.
“Coco, you dummy. I saw everything.”
“Saw what?”
“You getting confessed to.”
My cheeks, which had barely cooled down in the night breeze, turned into carrots once again.
“Ah! The mouse saw it too. There was a very pink atmosphere flowing between you two!”
“Don't say things like that...”
I let out a deep sigh while looking at The Father of Emperor of Mice, who was dangling from a tree right next to the balcony.
The mouse climbed the tree excitedly and hopped onto the balcony.
“Coco, you're an adult now. As your friend, I already have several great-great-grandchildren. It's time for you to produce an heir too.”
I muttered while clutching my head.
“What do you mean, an heir...”
As I sighed deeply, Jjek-jjeki asked.
“Don't you like Caligo?”
“...I do.”
“Then, can't you just confess and date him? Caligo likes you too.”
“...I think I like Caligo too. But whenever I actually face him, my heart goes pit-a-pat, and I get so shy that my mind goes completely blank. That's why I keep running away...”
Jjek-jjeki, not understanding my heart, simply pecked at the back of my hand with its beak.
However, the mouse, who already had great-great-grandchildren, was different.
He spoke in a solemn voice, as if he were an expert in romance.
“I was like that when I first met my wife. I was a very foolish mouse.”
“You were?”
“Yes, my wife was a beautiful mouse, unlike me. But listen, Coco. In the end, I started dating her.”
“How did you do it?”
“I was terribly shy, but I still confessed my true feelings to her. That's how I didn't miss the chance—the timing—to confess!”
Beside the proud mouse, Jjek-jjeki muttered seriously.
“Honestly, I've been single for so long that I don't really know. But Arrr, you know well that there aren't many things in life that make your heart race, right?”
They spoke to me in unison.
“So face your feelings and approach Caligo sincerely.”
“Then your romance will begin. Arrr.”
I gained courage from their words.
“Right, okay.”
I'll meet Caligo again and tell him.
That I like him too.
And that I want to get to know him better.
It was just as I was opening the balcony door after organizing my thoughts.
“Hi, Coco.”
“...Caligo?”
Had he been waiting in front of the balcony door?
Caligo looked at me with an oddly unstable gaze.
“Shall we go inside and talk?”
Then, he closed the balcony door and stepped inside.
“Actually, I came to catch you because you ran away.”
“...Eh?”
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
It was true that I ran away at first, but now I had gathered the courage to be with Caligo again.
As proof, I was looking straight into Caligo's eyes. However, unaware of my feelings, Caligo just looked at me as if trying to soothe me.
“I'm not like I was when I was a child.”
“...What do you mean?”
“I mean I'm no longer a child who is too shy to express my feelings even if I like someone.”
Caligo slowly drew closer.
Only then did I realize that Caligo had changed not only in appearance but in other ways as well.
At a distance where the tips of our noses almost touched, he whispered plainly to me.
“I like you.”
“Huh?”
“Coco, I like you. Even if you don't like me, I'll work harder. So that you can feel me as a man.”
...If he works any harder than this, I'm going to faint.
“You don't have to do that.”
“I know you might only have feelings for me as a friend. But if you give me a chance...”
Just as Caligo's expression turned slightly desperate, I took a breath.
“I like Caligo too. Not as a friend, but as a man.”
“...Eh?”
Caligo's eyes gradually widened. I looked straight at him and spoke firmly, as if driving a nail home.
“That's why I want to date Caligo.”
Only then did the face of the straightforward Caligo turn bright red, just as mine had earlier.
“Coco, you... you, why, suddenly...”
“As Caligo knows, I'm originally very brave.”
At those words, he broke into a smile, returning to the image of the clumsy Caligo from long ago.
I smiled back at him and asked.
“So, do you hate it?”
“No, this is the most wonderful day of my life.”
He gripped my hand tightly and whispered.
“Let's date. With the intention of marriage.”
* * *
Caligo and I stood near the open window inside the balcony.
“You can see the garden right here.”
“Yeah, the smell of the grass is so nice...”
It felt just like taking a walk, so I closed my eyes and felt the breeze flowing in from outside.
Suddenly, I wished this moment could last forever.
A cool summer night where the fragrant scent of grass wafted in.
Birds and mice dangling here and there from the trees near the window.
Through the gap in the door and beyond the window, the harmony of the orchestra announcing the start of a new dance piece could be heard.
I looked up at Caligo.
“The weather tonight is so lovely, isn't it?”
I am seventeen.
It was a truly wonderful debutante ball... made even more joyful because I could be with the person I love.
If only my sister were here, everything would be perfect, like a completed puzzle.
Just then, as if reading my thoughts, the balcony door opened with a clicking sound.
“Coco, Caligo was looking for you... Oh.”
“Sister!”
Seeing Caligo and me holding hands tightly, my sister grinned.
“It was a good time, did Sister interrupt?”
“No, Sister! You're definitely not someone who interrupts!”
“Is that so? I wonder if Caligo thinks so too?”
I glanced at the silent Caligo and spoke for him.
“Of course! Sister Chloe is the protagonist of Coco's life.”
As soon as I finished speaking, a lively melody drifted through the open door.
It seemed another new dance had begun in the hall.
Countless people would be dancing joyfully with their new partners, right?
‘I just thought of a pretty good idea.’
I looked at the two of them and laughed happily.
“You know, fortunately, this balcony is on the first floor, right?”
While the two of them were bewildered, not grasping the exact intention of my words.
I smiled brightly, placed my foot on the balcony railing... and jumped quickly into the garden before they could stop me!
“Everyone, follow me! Let's dance just among ourselves!”
“...Sometimes she looks like an adult, but at times like this, she's nothing but my little puppy.”
“Sister, Caligo! Hurry up!”
Under the moonlight, in a place where there were no people.
Right here, where there were only us, away from the people clinking wine glasses in the distance...
In the place where our animal friends, who had come to sightsee the Imperial Palace, were.
“The three of us! Let's hold hands!”
Under the moonlight, I smiled brightly and looked at my sister and Caligo in front of the balcony.
Only then did my dazed sister grin and climb over the balcony.
“You're always so eccentric. Then Coco, take Sister's hand!”
“Sisteerrr!”
“I'll join too, Coco.”
Caligo, who regained his senses after my sister, also easily climbed over the balcony.
I held both of their hands, one in each of mine.
“What kind of dance can three people do?”
“...Hmm, spinning around?”
“Not bad.”
Even while dancing a ridiculous dance like 'spinning around' under the moonlight, I was happy because I was with the people I love.
So, under the moonlight, I laughed happily even while stepping all over the place.
I don't know what trials will come in my life in the future.
But even if all sorts of trials stand before me...
Now I know.
As long as my sister, I, and the ones I love hold hands tightly and move forward, we can overcome any obstacle.
I looked at my sister and Caligo alternately and smiled brightly.
“Please continue to take good care of me in the future!”
The answer to my words came not from my sister or Caligo, but from the sky.
“Have you finally admitted your feelings, Coco?”
“Brave as always!”
It was Jjek-jjeki and the mouse riding on its wing.
No, it wasn't just those two.
Countless bird friends that Jjek-jjeki had brought from somewhere. A puppy I had never seen before that appeared from out of nowhere... animal friends who lived their own lives were all there.
And they were in the middle of an unexpected event that I didn't know they had been planning for so long.
My sister, who was spinning joyfully while holding my hand, asked curiously.
“The animals, what are they holding in their mouths, Coco?”
“...Colored paper?”
Caligo narrowed his eyes and muttered.
“No, I think it's confetti.”
It seemed they had brought the confetti that had been scattered randomly inside the hall.
Each holding confetti in their mouths, they arrived around us.
Soon, hundreds of colorful pieces of confetti fluttered beautifully through the air.
I smiled broadly and spoke to my sister and Caligo.
“Isn't it wonderful? Then let's dance again! This time with our animal friends too!”
The dance under the moonlight was very joyful.
As if blessing a beautiful day spent with loved ones.
<I am the Brave Puppy Who Came to Save My Villainess Sister> Epilogue End
IBP 191
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November 06, 2026
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