Whether you’re a child or an adult, nobody likes being scolded. That held true even for a Beastkin wrapped in a cat’s outer shell.
Ears flattened completely backward, eyes darting around nervously. Despite being the one to call Ries by name, Justyn had remained utterly silent the entire time.
…Just how bad is this scolding going to be?
The fear of what was soon to come made his body instinctively curl up. Even Ketir, who would normally chime in with something by now, had his lips clamped shut—clearly waiting for a chance to slip out unnoticed.
Ries swallowed dryly. As his head trembled, the whiskers at both sides of his mouth quivered along with it.
This won’t do.
He couldn’t take the weighty, solemn atmosphere any longer. Determined to at least reduce his own guilt, Ries decided to take action himself.
With a light bound, he leapt onto the desk and began circling around it. The two humans’ eyes followed the yellow body’s swishing tail like they were hypnotized.
He’d been working his tiny head for this exact moment.
Approaching the spot he’d memorized in advance, he pressed down with his paw. Pop—out came his claws, which he gently ran across the desk’s surface.
The expensive hardwood was helpless beneath the sharp feline claws, but Ries managed to carve the X mark just as he intended.
“Myaoowrk!”
He turned back proudly. His earlier attempts at writing had earned him some unflattering reviews, but this time, he was confident.
“…An X?”
As expected, Ketir quickly recognized the mark. To aid comprehension, Ries gave the X a few deliberate taps and followed it with a hiss.
“HISSS!”
Then, hastening his pace, he made his way to his second target. Precisely three seats away from the first X mark.
Once again, he focused on carving the symbol.
Next. And then next. And again, and again. When he’d repeated the process five times, Ries finally turned to face the ever-silent audience.
Five marked spots. Hissing at only those specific locations in succession finally sparked something in Ketir’s eyes—a glint of realization.
“…Don’t tell me, the people sitting there were with the Count?”
“Nyaaow!”
Even as he voiced the words, his tone was laced with doubt. Ries nodded his head up and down with fervor, letting out a strong cry.
Telling who was hiding a rotten core was easy. The real challenge was figuring out how to convey that information.
He hadn’t memorized their faces. Didn’t even know their names. So he’d come up with a workaround: If I can’t identify the people, I’ll memorize the seats they sat in instead.
Judging by how things had turned out, it seemed the method had worked. Though, the person on the receiving end looked like he had more than a few thoughts running through his head.
A Spirit Beast can do stuff like this? That sort of suspicion was no doubt filling his mind.
“Duke, what shall we do?”
Even so, Ketir deferred to his master’s judgment. Ries’s tiny, bean-sized heart thumped along with anticipation.
And Justyn said—
“Investigate the five people who sat there.”
With that, he readily gave weight to his partner cat’s efforts. Ketir couldn’t hide the ripple of surprise on his face, but nodded nonetheless.
Among the five spots Ries had marked, some were occupied by those who’d constantly interfered and opposed Justyn’s return throughout the meeting, while others had barely spoken, seemingly trying to avoid attention.
It wasn’t without concern, of course.
But we’ve got no choice but to trust him.
Some of those individuals had already caught his eye earlier, and more importantly, without any solid evidence, narrowing down a few suspects for investigation wouldn’t hurt.
Not to mention—the source of this intel.
A Spirit Beast cat who could see things humans couldn’t, and was believed to have even cured the Duke’s curse.
So, Ketir resolved to support Ries’s lead without hesitation.
Now the next step was obvious. Head back and start the investigation immediately. It wouldn’t take too long.
Between dredging up a buried clue from the depths of the sea and fitting together floating pieces of evidence after already determining the outcome—it was clear which approach would be faster.
However, before that—
“It seems he came here to help you, Duke… Are you still planning to scold him?”
“……”
If everything he’d done was true, then Ries was essentially a savior who had cut their workload down to a quarter of what it would’ve been. So Ketir decided to offer him a little protection.
“Isn’t worry just another measure of affection? Since this was all done for your sake, Duke, being too harsh on him might really hurt his feelings.”
“…I’ll take that into consideration.”
He’d subtly taken Ries’s side. Fortunately, the reaction was positive, but that was as far as Ketir could intervene.
Even though the workload had been reduced to a mere fraction, it was still a mountain. In order to get ahead on the looming schedule by even a second, he gave Ries a brief eye signal and slipped out of the meeting room in a flash.
“……”
“……”
A heavy silence settled in.
Only one person had left, yet the conference room felt even quieter than before.
Just as Ries’s throat began to dry up with anxiety, a sudden realization struck him.
Wait… did he just take my side?
He wasn’t sure why, but Ketir’s roundabout way of saying “Don’t scold him too harshly” clearly meant he was backing him up. His nose tingled.
Still, that didn’t ease the pressure. If Ketir was going to support him, he could’ve at least stayed instead of leaving him alone like this. Just as Ries’s gaze clung to the spot where Ketir had exited, tinged with a touch of longing and resentment—
“Ries.”
A soft voice, quiet enough to tickle his chest, gently called his name. Ries cautiously lifted his head.
“…Mya! Aeeooong!”
Warm eyes. Arms held slightly open. It looked almost like an invitation to come over for a hug.
Even if Ketir had spoken up for him, Ries had braced himself for a scolding. But Justyn’s reaction was far gentler than expected. Overjoyed, Ries leapt into his arms.
Prrr, prrrr. A purr spilled out instinctively, and the tip of his stiff yellow tail trembled. A gloved hand gently brushed over his forehead.
“…Haa.”
A deep sigh poured out above his head. Ries paused in his nuzzling, rolling his eyes curiously—only to have Justyn suddenly cover them with his palm.
Darkness enveloped him in an instant. And yet, the way the pressure avoided his eyes with such careful tenderness—it was unmistakably Justyn’s touch, and strangely, not at all unsettling.
“Aeowng?”
“I wasn’t angry with you.”
A clarification he hadn’t asked for. But even that alone gave Ries a glimpse into what Justyn was feeling.
That sigh hadn’t sounded like he was blaming anyone. It was more like a breath laced with equal parts regret and relief.
“I…”
Still covering Ries’s eyes, Justyn chewed over his words in silence. Ries’s tail brushed softly, rhythmically across his lap, silently cheering him on.
“I think… that person was right.”
“Nya?”
Who was? What are you talking about?
The sentence came out of nowhere—fragmented, with no context. But Ries didn’t push. Justyn had only recently gotten better at expressing himself, and Ries knew all too well how many years he’d spent in silence while they’d been apart.
So he waited, patiently, for the next words.
“You know what they say: a needle hidden in the pouch will eventually poke through. It’s true—I can’t keep you wrapped up and hidden in my arms forever.”
And there it was.
He’s talking about Baron Embio.
Ries figured it out quickly. But unlike the Baron’s sharp, accusatory tone, Justyn’s voice carried a tinge of… sorrow.
“You wouldn’t want that either, would you?”
Justyn’s other hand gently pulled Ries into a fuller embrace.
An adult man curling himself up completely just to cradle a single cat—definitely not the most dignified sight. But if anyone looked a little closer, they’d see something undeniable.
Could anyone look more desperate?
The words that had clearly been chosen with such care, the heat in his chest reflected in his gaze, the way his touch softened so as not to hurt even a whisker—all of it.
Excessively cautious. Almost painfully tender. It was the kind of gentleness that stirred your heart until it ached.
His voice, imbued with warmth in every syllable, continued like a soft drizzle.
“From the moment I decided to return here… no, maybe even long before that, I knew this would happen.”
“……”
“That just like it happened to me, someone else would eventually be drawn to your light… and begin to covet you.”
The room spun. Ries squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath. The thundering beat of his own heart roared inside his head.
“I just… I only wished that day would come a little later. That’s all. So you’ve done nothing wrong. Not a single thing.”
Something surged up from the bottom of his chest—an emotion he couldn’t clearly name. Anxiety? Guilt? Embarrassment?
His thoughts were scattered, but one thing was certain.
He didn’t hate this feeling.
The soft scent of Justyn’s body in his arms. His voice—calm yet deeply warm. Words that were far too ticklish for any cat to hear without squirming. The steady rhythm of a heartbeat, just a little fast but comforting all the same.
Ries let out the breath he’d been holding. Even if he couldn’t make sense of any of it, all of this was coming from Justyn.
So it’s okay.
At the very least, it wouldn’t harm him. Ries trusted his master.
“And… thank you. It’ll be easier to protect you now, thanks to what you did.”
“Maoww.”
Really now—if you couldn’t trust a man who said things like that, who could you trust? Ries buried his head deeper into Justyn’s embrace and replied with a small sound.
***
After their deep conversation—though it was mostly Justyn’s one-sided monologue—they left the conference room together, with Ries still nestled in his arms. Ries marveled at the familiar feeling of secure transport… only for a voice to shatter the moment:
“……I deeply apologize! As your knight escort, I committed a grave failure in losing sight of you. I will accept any punishment you deem fit!”
And just like that, Ries came face to face with someone he had completely forgotten about.
