Chapter 88
It wasn’t Churu, but he had diligently made and fed him jerky.
He once said Ruan was a member of his group. He said who else would he tell his secrets to. After giving such touching moments, how could he do this now?
Momentarily unable to gather his thoughts due to the shock, Ruan took a deep breath and tried to think rationally.
The scene of him sleeping in front of Ruan with his soft belly exposed was still vivid. The memory of him being so entranced by the fishing rod Ruan was shaking was still fresh. Although he felt betrayed and sad that he could create secrets with another human… In fact, this was a very positive situation when you think about it.
It meant that enough trust had built up between the Grand Duke and Joachim to create secrets.
Building bonds and understanding beyond reverence between the Grand Duke and the people of Reinke was one of Ruan’s recent goals. This wasn’t simply because it was painful to see people misunderstanding the Grand Duke, or because he felt sorry for the Grand Duke receiving strange misunderstandings.
The biggest reason Ruan was trying to change the relationship between the Grand Duke and the people of Reinke was to guard against Louise, who would try to wedge herself between them.
‘In the “Tales of the Sirah Empire,” Louise was able to disrupt Reinke because there was an unbridgeable valley between the Grand Duke and the people of Reinke.’
Having failed to persuade the Grand Duke, Louise uses spies within Reinke to sway public opinion and cause internal strife.
Humans waging a public opinion war against a cat… How could that be a fair fight?
This worked most fatally against the Grand Duke, who didn’t communicate or explain, and wasn’t used to fights using public opinion.
Moreover, there was an enormous misunderstanding built up between the Grand Duke and the people of Reinke. Reinke was shaken as if hit by a storm due to Louise’s machinations, and the Grand Duke had no way to correct this. That was why the Grand Duke had no choice but to move as Louise wished.
So Ruan was planning to work on preventing this alienation until the point when Louise would come to Reinke. But now they were getting along well on their own. Honestly, he should be applauding and welcoming this, but…
Seeing the Grand Duke whispering with someone else excluding him made his heart feel really…
‘Hmm.’
Ruan pressed his hand hard against his restless chest.
He thought he was fully aware that he wasn’t the only person who could solve the Grand Duke’s problems, but maybe it was because he had been living as if only he and the Grand Duke existed until now. His feelings were much more complicated than he thought.
Looking at the Grand Duke eagerly wagging his tail across from him, Ruan swallowed a sigh while removing cat hair from his mouth.
Ruan finally stopped thinking and just readjusted the curtains he had carefully drawn so the Grand Duke wouldn’t get upset by seeing outside.
‘Well… I’ll find out what they were talking about so earnestly when the time comes…’
* * *
After quite a few repeated failures, or rather, near-misses in courtship, the Grand Duke was fed up.
How could he succeed in courtship without any more missteps? Why did all his courtship attempts so far end in failure?
The Grand Duke, who had lived his whole life as a capable hunter, came to a conclusion after serious contemplation.
If you impulsively swing your front paws first, the success rate of hunting is bound to be low. For successful and stable hunting, you should pounce on the prey in one go after calculating and adjusting the most perfect movement, angle, and distance.
The Grand Duke decided. Instead of courtship that seemed like swinging his front paws on impulse, he would now court with thorough preparation.
For this, simply knowing the method of courtship was insufficient.
Even though he already knew that rubbing lips was a courtship expression, he didn’t know exactly what to do, so he had spent time several times wondering how long and with what intensity he should rub lips, only to be interrupted by the bell.
So the Grand Duke thought he should find out in great detail about the human courtship expressions he would perform.
Coincidentally, the human who had informed him about the courtship method of proposing was also included in the entourage. Full of desire for successful courtship, the Grand Duke began to frequently summon his informant to inquire about proposals.
The problem here was… that the informant also had no proper knowledge, only overflowing with dreams and hopes.
Of course, being human, he knew more about human courtship than a cat. But Joachim Daen’s knowledge about romance was limited to the level of oral fairy tales that Hans had told him before bed when he was young, as he had been busy fighting monsters and being pushed around by senior knights every day.
He was overjoyed at the fact that his beloved younger brother would receive a proposal from the person he loved. He was also touched that His Grace, who was so great, was sincere enough about the proposal to call out a low-ranking knight like Joachim several times for opinions, and he was overflowing with responsibility as a counselor for his brother’s happiness… But that didn’t mean he had more answers for the Grand Duke, who was overflowing with curiosity like a two-month-old kitten.
There was no progress in discussing human courtship between a cat and a person who had never dated, and Joachim was strongly feeling his inadequacy, even more than when facing a strong monster recently.
‘What if I ruin the proposal because of me…’
As he was walking dejectedly…
“Joachim. I have something I’m curious about.”
Joachim turned his head at the sudden call. It was Benno, the deputy commander of the knights and the person in charge of guarding this trip to the capital, who had spoken to him.
“Yes. What are you curious about? Please feel free to ask.”
Benno took a step closer to Joachim, who answered in a subdued voice, and asked in a quiet voice.
“You… are you really okay?”
Faced with this unexpected question, Joachim unknowingly replied in a dumb voice.
“Pardon?”
Benno quickly looked around and whispered, lowering his voice even more.
“His Grace doesn’t usually call for anyone separately unless he’s about to behead someone who’s done wrong. But suddenly…”
Benno’s face became complicated as he recalled recent events.
When that fearsome His Grace suddenly first summoned his gentle subordinate. Honestly, Benno thought his heart would stop.
Our boy isn’t one to do anything wrong. He’s too timid for that. Why is His Grace suddenly calling for him? Am I going to lose this cute and precious subordinate who’s a bit slow but that’s what makes him fun to tease?
In the short time watching Joachim go to the Grand Duke, Benno’s mind quickly went through the growth process of his subordinate, who was practically his nephew even if not blood-related, from the image of young Joachim crying sadly after stumbling while walking with a sword, to the knightly Joachim who had performed well in this recent monster wave.
Our boy is too precious to go like this. He hasn’t even dated once yet…
Since other knights had also watched Joachim grow up since he was young, the thoughts that crossed the knights’ minds at that moment were generally similar.
As the knights were mourning Joachim’s funeral in their hearts…
‘Everyone… why do you all look like that?’
Miraculously, Joachim returned to them with his head still in place. Joachim, worrying about the knights’ complexions with his usual innocent face, looked perfectly fine, unlike someone who had been summoned by the Grand Duke.
The knights, who had been sad in advance, welcomed him joyfully as if Joachim had come back from the dead. They were so happy about Joachim’s safe return that no one even thought to ask why the Grand Duke had summoned him.
They started to question the reason for this summoning when Joachim was called by the Grand Duke again, and again returned unharmed.
Why does His Grace keep calling for Joachim, and how does Joachim return unharmed every time after being summoned by His Grace?
One of the knights suggested that Joachim might have received a separate mission from the Grand Duke, but it didn’t seem like Joachim was doing anything special.
It was a situation that didn’t make sense no matter how much they thought about it. Finally, out of worry, Benno asked about the circumstances on behalf of everyone.
Only after seeing the eyes looking at him with worry and anxiety did Joachim understand Benno’s meaning. Joachim, with clear eyes, hurriedly waved his hands and said,
“It’s not that His Grace is looking for me to punish me for doing something wrong.”
At Joachim’s honest answer, who didn’t know how to hide anything, Benno finally sighed as if relieved.
“I know you’re not the type to do anything wrong. But my heart was pounding because His Grace keeps calling you out whenever he has a chance.”
Benno, feeling a bit lighter, asked what he had been curious about.
“So why does His Grace keep calling you? Is something going on?”
And Joachim, who was about to answer anything to ease Benno’s worry, couldn’t help but pause at that question.
If asked if something was going on… There was indeed something happening. The Grand Duke’s proposal was in trouble.
But as far as Joachim knew, proposals were supposed to be a surprise. So he couldn’t talk about these circumstances…
‘Oh?’
Joachim suddenly had a realization.
It should be a surprise, but… it only needed to be a surprise for Ruan, who was the person involved. It didn’t need to be a surprise for the deputy commander, did it?
Joachim looked at Benno, who was flustered seeing his subordinate suddenly become dejected at the question of whether something was going on.
As far as Joachim knew, Benno was… married.
So, whether he had proposed or been proposed to! Anyway, it meant he was someone who had experienced not only a proposal but also the subsequent marriage.
Joachim’s eyes, which had been drooping due to the recent difficult situation, began to sparkle.
“Deputy Commander. You see…”
Before long, the Grand Duke found himself surrounded by knights with shining eyes.
