I kept scratching at the ear where voices kept flickering in and out with my hind paw, pa-ba-bak. Then I snorted sharply toward the sleeping face of my patron.
No big, firm chest to speak of, and yet he dares try to make a move on me just by saying he likes me—what a guy who doesn’t know his place. Pathetic. Pathetic!
Well, whatever. I got an apology, and I got a promise that he wouldn’t do it again, so I guess I have no choice but to let it slide this time. If he does it one more time, though, I won’t just kick his shin—I’ll smash his thing for real. Seriously. For real.
……But still….
I said I’d think about it. And now I have no idea what I’m supposed to do about that. I don’t even know why I said something like that in the first place. Ever since that idiot blurted out that he liked me that evening—without even realizing I was K—I’ve thought and thought about it, but no matter how much I do, I can’t reach a conclusion. The moment I try to think seriously, my head turns into a complete mess.
He says he fell head over heels the moment he saw me…. He’s a total loner with no one else to play with…. If I reject him, he might even cry….
Well, to be honest, my patron may not have a firm chest, but he is kind and capable. The fact that he likes me means he’s got a decent eye. His eye-smile is pretty. He smells nice. He’s got a strong sense of service. He works hard. He’s handsome. He’s tall. Solid muscles. He’s good at feather play. Good at tail-catching games. He understands my cat language really well, pets me properly, reads the room fast, has a nice voice, does anything I ask, his chest-bed is amazing, his body temperature’s warm, and, and, and….
Anyway. Yeah. He’s… a pretty decent guy.
Fine. Since I already said it like that, I’ll just keep thinking it through—slowly. I never said how long I’d think about it, so it doesn’t matter.
I deliberately pushed thoughts of my patron aside and turned my mind to the party tomorrow.
I’d been worried about how I was supposed to transform if my patron went to the banquet, but that problem got solved easily enough. He said he’d stop by the banquet for a bit, then come back late at night and rest for a while—so I can just do the lip smack then. Easy. Clothes aren’t an issue either; my patron will come dress me himself. That settles that.
It’s definitely going to be insanely fun. Tons of delicious food, tons of pretty women. And on top of that, the dresses here plunge deep at the chest, so it’s a given that my eyes will have a good time. I’ve gotta dance my fill with beautiful women.
Hmm. Speaking of beautiful women, that reminds me.
In a dream before, my patron was rubbing his snout against some woman’s. No matter how much I called him, he didn’t answer. He wouldn’t seriously get hooked on some pretty woman at tomorrow’s party and go rubbing that stupid snout of his on her, right? After saying he likes me, there’s no way he’d do something like that. But if he does—just wait. This time, I’ll really tear into that loose snout of his. Hmph.
……
……
If that happens, I really won’t let it slide!
***
“Lyx—!”
The boy waves with a face full of smiles. Calyx lifts his hand and waves back at the boy.
People are packed tightly around the boy, leaving no gaps. Every single one of them listens closely to each word the boy says, bursting into laughter again and again. They all look completely captivated.
Those sparkling black eyes are brimming with life. The boy is enjoying the banquet—not just enough, but to the fullest. Calyx finds the sight satisfying, yet at the same time, oddly irritating.
Up until now, the boy had always been his alone. No one but Calyx himself had ever received the boy’s gaze or exchanged words with him. They spent late nights together, just the two of them—so of course it had been that way. But here, in the banquet hall, there are countless people speaking to the boy, catching his eye, making him laugh. The fact that merely seeing the boy mingle with others makes him feel this uncomfortable must mean that he’s fallen for the boy far more deeply than he realized.
Introduced as royalty from a distant foreign land, the boy had seized everyone’s attention from the very start.
The initial reason all eyes turned toward him was because he entered together with Calyx.
There had already been discreetly circulating rumors—the Crown Prince keeping a black-haired boy within his palace—so people’s curiosity was naturally piqued. But the gazes currently directed at the boy are different from that sort of interest. The eyes watching him are filled with fondness and delight. Even those standing farther away keep glancing over, clearly itching to approach.
When the boy says something, the people around him erupt into laughter.
The oddly dull and innocent boy he’d known around himself is nowhere to be found at this moment. Instead, all that remains is the sharp-nosed, aloof, and cunning figure from when they first met. The boy knows exactly how to draw people’s attention and interest—and how to be properly treated by them.
After playing around for quite a while, the boy sends his gaze over again. When their eyes meet, he beams brightly at Calyx. Those who’d been focused on the boy follow his line of sight, see Calyx returning the smile, and then turn their attention back to the boy’s words.
Well, I’ll be….
Seated in his chair, Calyx mutters with a faintly amused voice.
Seeing him today, the boy is far more shrewd than Calyx had thought. In a banquet hall filled with the empire’s most prominent nobles, he’s using Calyx without hesitation to secure a more advantageous position. After abandoning him at the entrance in his excitement to go play, he sends smiles his way at intervals—both to flaunt his connection to the Crown Prince and to keep an eye on him.
Had anyone else done this, Calyx would never have let it pass so lightly. But perhaps because he’s so taken with the boy, even this behavior looks adorable and lovable. That’s why he sits there calmly, waiting for the boy to wave again—and immediately responding when he does.
How long will it be this time before he smiles this way again?
Calyx takes a sip of the low-proof liquor and lets out a soft laugh.
When they first entered the banquet hall, the boy had looked a little flustered. As he glanced around, he muttered to himself, “What is this? A land of giants?” And it made sense—this was likely his first time seeing everyone here in human form, and he hadn’t realized just how big the difference in build would be. He was a boy who sometimes grumbled about how Calyx’s greater height bruised his pride. Faced with women in the hall who weren’t much different from him in stature, he must have been even more bewildered.
In any case, that flustered boy quickly regained his composure and soon began to roam the banquet hall as if it were his own playground.
It truly didn’t take long for the boy—bearing black hair and black eyes rarely seen here, and even when seen, never with quite the same impression, paired with a small frame—to captivate everyone. More than anything, those black eyes. Reflecting the glittering lights, it’s impossible to easily look away from them.
He’s been left to his own devices long enough—he should come back soon now.
As a familiar restlessness begins to well up again, Calyx taps lightly against the armrest of his chair. Since it’s widely known that the boy is his, no one would dare approach him too boldly—but he can’t help worrying that someone might develop unnecessary feelings and latch onto him.
The boy, oblivious to all of Calyx’s anxiety and unease, is too busy enjoying himself with the others.
Calyx considers whether now might be the right time to step in and retrieve the boy—but he doesn’t act. It’s just a vague feeling, but he has the sense that the boy is testing him right now. Or perhaps… punishing him.
If he had to interpret it, maybe it’s something like: I accepted your apology, but I haven’t forgiven you completely yet. So sit there and wait quietly.
The smiles sent at regular intervals seem to serve not only as a way to flaunt their relationship, but also as observation—or surveillance.
I really must make sure never to upset him again.
Calyx clicks his tongue inwardly and resolves himself.
Normally, the boy was always so affectionate. Even when Calyx made clumsy excuses and touched his body, the boy would just nod like it was nothing. And yet the moment Calyx crossed a line in the boy’s mind, things turned into this. All over a single, fleeting, feather-light kiss—nothing more than their lips touching. Even after receiving forgiveness yesterday, the aftermath still hasn’t faded. If he were to incur the boy’s displeasure again, he might truly never be allowed to see his face again.
“Brother.”
Calyx turns his gaze to his young sister approaching him.
“Rosemary.”
When he calls her name, both her cheeks flush red. Dressed up with care, she looks properly ladylike. After hesitating uncharacteristically for a moment, Rosemary opens her mouth—
“Lyx.”
The boy has already come up beside them, placing a hand on Calyx’s shoulder as he calls out. Finally, Calyx thinks, wrapping an arm around the boy’s waist.
“Hello.”
The boy greets Rosemary first. But his expression is strange. Sensing it, Rosemary’s expression also shifts. After staring at Rosemary for a moment, the boy smiles oddly—and then suddenly reaches out and grabs Calyx’s hand.
“Lyx. I wanna change into different clothes.”
The stubbornness in the boy’s eyes as he tugs on Calyx’s hand is unmistakable. Calyx has been waiting for the boy this whole time. There’s no reason to refuse that request.
