Chapter 17
‘Ah. Did I hurt the cat’s pride?’
Come to think of it, wasn’t he some kind of mystical being from the fantasy world? So suggesting to run away from another cat might have been enough to offend him.
Ruan carefully spoke, trying not to upset the cat:
“Of course, you’re also an incredibly awesome, huge, and strong cat!”
The cat’s ears seemed to twitch slightly at Ruan’s elaborate praise, but…
“Still, if there’s even the slightest, tiniest chance that you might get hurt, I’d be incredibly upset…”
The cat showed clear displeasure at these additional words.
‘Right. Come to think of it, he’s a fantasy mystical being who can randomly turn humans into cats… He probably has his own methods.’
Ruan decided to give up on excessive meddling and focus on improving the cat’s mood for the rest of the time.
Though he had to suffer from muscle pain the next day as a result of enthusiastically waving the quill pen to change the tireless cat’s mind.
* * *
After starting to live in the Grand Duke’s castle, Ruan naturally came to know about the Grand Duke’s daily routine.
Whether it was due to becoming a cat or if he had always been this way, the Grand Duke tended to follow his daily routine with precise timing.
For instance, he would go to the training ground at five in the morning to supervise the knights’ training for two hours. After breakfast, he would always sit in his spot in the office and take a short nap for about an hour.
The Grand Duke had many times when he took short naps, and these times and places were consistently set. It was as if he had to be in a specific place when napping at a specific time.
‘This seems to be because he’s a cat…’
In any case.
The Grand Duke, who spent such an extremely regular day, would completely disappear at seven o’clock in the evening.
In fact, this was the part Ruan found most surprising.
Given the reason he moved to the Grand Duke’s castle, Ruan had thought the Grand Duke would come to sleep together every day. But since Ruan started staying at the Grand Duke’s castle, the Grand Duke had not visited Ruan’s room even once.
‘Honestly, it’s fortunate from my perspective…’
Was it because he had suddenly witnessed the naked Grand Duke, and seen the Grand Duke leave the house without caring about his state? Ruan had only thought about how to prevent others from seeing that sight, without thinking in detail about what would happen afterward.
In other words… he hadn’t considered specific situations like having to sleep in the same bed with the naked Grand Duke who would visit Ruan more frequently now that it was much more convenient…
‘Even if the core is a cat, sleeping in the same bed every day with a naked man, and moreover, that man being my work superior no matter what, is really…’
Isn’t it distressing just to imagine?
Anyway, although it was unexpected… it was a welcome situation that the Grand Duke didn’t come.
There was also a guest who visited Ruan’s bedroom every night instead of the naked Grand Duke.
‘That is…’
Ruan turned his gaze towards the door at the timely sound of it opening.
There was…
A pitch-black, soft, fluffy, and lovable…
Giant cat.
“Did the cat come?”
The cat, who glanced at Ruan in response to his enthusiastic welcome, pushed the door closed with its body before approaching the bed.
“A cat that even closes the door… truly a genius cat…”
Ruan was busy applauding in admiration at the sight. He had completely forgotten that he once criticized that cat as a “furball that only knows how to cause trouble but can’t clean up.”
As if responding to Ruan’s applause, the cat jumped onto the bed with graceful movements. Then it sprawled comfortably in its familiar spot next to Ruan.
Since Ruan moved into the Grand Duke’s castle.
The mystical giant cat had been coming to Ruan’s room every night to sleep. Although it was gone by the time Ruan woke up, it always fell asleep touching some part of Ruan’s body.
Thanks to this, Ruan had been spending extremely satisfying and fulfilling days recently.
At first, he worried a bit that the Grand Duke, being a cat, might show a typical cat reaction to having his territory invaded… But the Grand Duke, who disappeared every night, didn’t seem to encounter the cat at all.
Being a cat, he would leave traces through scent even without direct encounters. However, the Grand Duke didn’t seem to mind the traces left by the cat coming and going in his territory, or the cat’s scent that must have rubbed off on Ruan from sleeping close to it all night.
‘Or maybe he can’t sense it.’
While it remained to be seen which aspects of the Grand Duke were cat-like and which weren’t, this was fortunate. It meant Ruan could fully enjoy his life with this giant furball.
Ruan addressed the cat with an unconsciously raised voice:
“Our kitty. What did you do today? Hm? How was your day? Did you eat something delicious?”
“Is it too much to keep calling you ‘kitty’ when we see each other every day? What’s your name? Hmm. Since cats can’t speak, should we decide on a new name between us? What do you think? You don’t like that? Then how about a nickname?”
“Our kitty, you don’t want to brush your fur today either? How can you dislike brushing so much? If you keep grooming and eating fur, you’ll get hairballs. And if we don’t remove the dead fur, it’s bad for your skin. Let’s allow fur brushing just once. Okay?”
But despite Ruan’s intense affection, the cat only showed an indifferent reaction.
‘I think it used to respond somewhat before… It seems to be in a bad mood recently.’
Ruan carefully examined the cat with its sullen face, just like a certain Grand Duke cat from somewhere.
‘Seeing how it comes every day and sleeps comfortably, it definitely doesn’t dislike me. What’s the problem?’
After examining it from various angles, fortunately, it didn’t seem to be in pain anywhere.
Then was the problem that he came on too strong? Did he act too overbearing? But how do you not come on strong to a cat? Is there even such a way?
As Ruan was pondering, the cat, still with a sullen face looking at Ruan, rolled over to show its belly.
“Gasp, crazy. So cute.”
All the worries from just a moment ago flew away, and Ruan’s mind was filled only with the desire to touch that soft, squishy belly.
‘But touching it… wouldn’t be right, would it…’
A cat showing its belly is easy to misunderstand, but it’s absolutely not a signal that it’s okay to touch the belly. Cats don’t like having their belly, which is close to vital organs, touched.
Yet, showing the belly in front of a human is a sign of trust, indicating that the cat trusts that human enough to do so. Therefore, roughly rubbing the belly that was shown is an act of betraying that trust, and if you end up being caught by the front paws and nibbled while being kicked by the hind legs, you can’t complain…
A cat’s belly is as soft and fluffy as cat jelly.
‘I want to touch it… I want to blow raspberries on it…’
As a cat lover, it was an irresistible temptation.
As Ruan was fighting with his desire.
The black-furred cat lying spread out on the bed was facing the human staring at it with a somewhat perverted expression, as if looking down on him.
* * *
As he spent more time with his aide in cat form, the Grand Duke couldn’t help but realize. His aide’s attitude towards the human Grand Duke and the cat Grand Duke was vastly different.
Of course, his attitude towards the human Grand Duke had changed a lot from when he was just scared all the time… But as the cat who was at the center of the affection and trust that was poured out almost like a waterfall every night, the Grand Duke couldn’t help but know.
The aide was clearly discriminating against the human Grand Duke.
He hadn’t thought this way from the beginning.
After all, since the Grand Duke started showing his cat-like aspects in front of the aide, the aide had been considerate of the Grand Duke, always showing trust without hesitation. Moreover, after the Grand Duke nursed the sick aide, he even relied on and followed the Grand Duke with trust.
That was truly a satisfying change.
If he hadn’t known about the aide’s nighttime behavior towards the cat form, he probably would have continued to think so.
When he visited as a cat at night, the aide greeted him with intense welcome that he had never seen when he was human. Then, in a voice that tickled his ears, he would constantly speak softly, acting like someone desperate to do even one more thing for him.
And then…
The Grand Duke sulkily looked at the aide who was beside himself with the desire to touch him.
The aide was sending longing glances, seeming to want to touch the Grand Duke, waiting only for the Grand Duke’s permission. When the Grand Duke was in human form, the aide would freeze up even when the Grand Duke initiated contact, let alone touching first, but now he was making such a fuss.
‘Insolent fellow.’
How could his attitude towards cats be so different?
