I’m tearing away at the bandages with real dedication when suddenly my scalp stings. Still holding the loosened end of the bandage in my mouth, I slowly lift my head.
“……”
“……”
The golden eyes I meet narrow bit by bit. I spit the bandage out—but the saliva-soaked strip stubbornly clings on. So I start shoving it out with my tongue, aggressively pushing it away.
After finally spitting all of it out, I stare back with wide, innocent eyes. The golden eyes are still narrowed. This won’t do. I tilt my head cutely.
“N-Nabi…”
Julia calls me in a trembling voice, then lets out a soft snort of laughter. I shoot her a sulky glare, then whip my head away. A crushing sense of humiliation makes my entire body tremble.
You bastard. How could you do this to me?!
“Oh no, he’s way too cute!”
Julia cries out in a high-pitched voice, clasping both hands in front of her bouncy chest. I completely give up on life and go limp.
Right now, I have a cast on my front leg.
This damned cast wraps my entire leg, making it hard to move at all. If that were all, I wouldn’t be saying anything. But around my neck is a white funnel suspiciously similar to the one worn by Queen Elizabeth. Putting a white funnel on an all-black, chic, cold city cat—this is absolute humiliation.
I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge.
Lying limply on my side, I mutter it endlessly to myself.
The one responsible for this atrocity is none other than my patron bastard.
You rotten lunatic. Isn’t he supposed to be my thing? How could he do something this horrific between us, of all people? This is unforgivable.
He caught me secretly tearing off my cast in the conference room and committed this crime. Even after I unleashed my ultimate head tilt!
He enjoyed my adorable head tilt, then immediately called the palace physician. And ordered him to make sure I could never tear off the bandages again. The palace physician—who only listens to my patron—ignored my fierce resistance and shoved the funnel onto my neck.
My patron looked utterly satisfied as he admired my humiliating appearance. I had no choice but to tremble with shame and fury as the meeting resumed with me like this.
While I was sitting on his lap, quivering in humiliation, something suddenly caught my eye—and I smiled with vicious satisfaction.
What lies between a human’s knees? Especially between the legs of a seated adult man?
Pouring every ounce of my rage into it, I chomped down hard between my patron’s legs.
To summarize the outcome—unfortunately, my patron’s thing survived. I accidentally bit only his clothes. Still, it worked. Rare as it is, my patron actually looked flustered. He lifted me up awkwardly and muttered, “This little—,” and I bared my sharp canines at him in full, unmistakable warning.
Remove this funnel right now, or I’ll tear your thing off.
My patron did not remove the funnel.
Instead, he sent me back to the bedroom. He whispered that he’d come get me again once the meeting was over, but all I heard was that he wanted to protect his thing. Looks like getting his thing bitten really does scare him.
I lay limp on the bed, blinking stupidly.
I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge. I’ll get revenge.
Muttering it over and over, I start feeling sleepy. I force my eyes open with all my might. Falling asleep like this is unacceptable. No matter what, I have to get this thing off first. But my eyes slowly slide shut again. That damned palace physician must’ve mixed sleeping pills into the medicine. I swear I’ll get revenge on that guy someday too.
So… let’s sleep for now. Then I’ll get my revenge.
***
“K.”
I call out, but as expected, there’s no answer.
The boy lies on the bed, stubbornly staring straight ahead. Until the protective collar around his neck is removed, he clearly has no intention of even meeting my eyes. Calyx clicks his tongue inwardly, deep in thought. If he removes the collar, the boy will obviously tear off the bandages again. But if he leaves it on, he’ll just keep sulking like this.
He’d hoped the boy would calm down with a little time, since it was done for his own good—but that hope was completely misplaced. From the morning the collar was put on until now, long after sunset, the boy has remained stubbornly defiant. He’s always been willful, but this time he seems truly furious.
Calyx mutters, “Can’t be helped,” and lowers himself to the boy’s eye level.
“Should I take the collar off?”
The boy snaps his head up. Seeing the light glitter in his eyes, Calyx adds,
“But you have to promise not to chew off the bandages.”
The black ears twitch sharply. Then the boy snorts and immediately returns to his original stance. Now he wants not only the collar removed, but the leg bandages too. Calyx understands the frustration, but this isn’t a simple sprain—his bone is broken. There’s no way he can remove the splint holding it firmly in place.
Calyx studies the boy quietly for a moment.
He’s a clever one. He probably doesn’t truly want the splint on the broken leg removed. It’s uncomfortable, yes—but there must be another reason…
As he looks more closely, Calyx notices the black fur. Just a little—but it’s clumped. The fur that usually gleams so flawlessly.
…So that’s it.
Calyx lets out a silent chuckle.
The boy is obsessively clean. With bathing forbidden due to the broken leg, he must be unable to tolerate how grimy he feels. That’s why he’s being this stubborn.
“If I bathe you, will you promise not to chew off the bandages?”
The boy jerks his head up, ears twitching rapidly. His tail swishes back and forth in quick, excited beats. Looks like Calyx nailed it.
“Promise you won’t chew off the banda—”
Meow!
A spirited answer cuts him off before he can finish. Calyx pats the boy’s butt gently and calls for the attendants.
Splash— splash—
The boy gleefully splashes the water. Calyx supports his belly with one hand and watches.
They cover the broken leg with oil-treated leather, tie it tightly to prevent water from seeping in, then seal the gaps with wax. They’re careful to wrap it thoroughly with cloth so the wax doesn’t touch the boy’s fur directly. Preparing all this just for a bath takes the attendants quite some time, but the effort proves worthwhile.
Resting his belly on Calyx’s palm, the boy happily paddles through the water as if he’d never been angry at all. The injured leg is heavy and hard to move, but he works the other three enthusiastically beneath the surface. His eyes practically sparkle with joy at being in the bath for the first time in days.
As Calyx moves his hand along with the direction of the boy’s paddling, it almost looks like he’s swimming on his own. The boy splashes enthusiastically, occasionally meeting Calyx’s gaze and letting out sweet cries of “Nyaang— nyang—.” Seeing him this happy despite his injury is new—and Calyx feels quietly proud.
If he’d known the boy would enjoy it this much, he would’ve done it sooner.
“Let’s bathe every day from now on.”
Nyanyang!
The boy answers energetically. For the first time since the injury, Calyx smiles with genuine ease.
***
Simon! Hey, you bastard! Why are you only showing up now?!
Seeing Simon for the first time in days, I cry out “Meow meow!” in greeting, practically shouting long time no see. Simon approaches and crouches down.
“Feeling any better?”
I wave my casted front leg around dramatically to prove how alive and well I am. What kind of man makes a fuss over breaking just one leg?
Simon nods in relief. Then he scratches the bridge of his nose and whispers awkwardly,
“Uh… sorry about that.”
Huh?
I widen my eyes at the sudden apology, then tap his nose a couple times with my good front paw.
Idiot. What kind of man apologizes over something like that between bros? Don’t be so timid.
As if he understands my meaning, Simon grins. I grin back at him. If my patron gives Simon a hard time again, I’ll just go bite his thing for real next time.
Nyaang—
Simon. Once I’m fully healed, I’ll show you what a real drift looks like.
Simon nods without having a clue what I mean. I snicker to myself, imagining the glorious day I successfully pull off a perfect drift with Simon watching. There’s no such word as “giving up” in a man’s dictionary.
…Well, my patron will probably lose his mind.
