He stopped in his tracks. He had been on his way to see Sefiut, but getting held up for a minute didn’t really matter.
The man, looking sheepish, nervously glanced around. After making sure no one else was nearby, he crouched down and leaned in to whisper, his face filled with uncertainty even as he spoke.
“My wife’s due any day now. I’m hoping for a boy, but she wants a girl. What do you think it’ll be?”
“……”
What the hell…?
Ries couldn’t respond right away—he was too dumbfounded.
Did this guy seriously think a Spirit Beast was some kind of talking oracle? Like he could just ask a question and get a magical answer?
The man didn’t seem to notice the deadpan look Ries was giving him, as if he were the most pitiful creature alive. Either that, or he was just that clueless—standing there, blinking those dull eyes of his.
“Pheeeew…”
“Huh? Did you just sigh?”
Bingo. Ries let out a loud, pointed sigh, then decided to just humor him and toss out a random answer.
He walked up slowly and gave the man’s leg a few light taps with his paw. The man paused, then suddenly lit up with excitement.
“You’re saying it’s gonna be a boy? Wow!”
“……”
“Thanks for the tip! I mean, who knows if it’s true, but still!”
And that was the end of it. The man laughed and walked off, clearly having asked just for fun.
What surprised Ries more was how casual the guy had been. Not long ago, people had been actively avoiding him just because he was known to be Justyn Laufe’s cat.
Things have gotten a little better lately…
Still, no one had ever approached him this fearlessly. It seemed the rumors about Spirit Beasts had stirred up enough curiosity to tear down some walls.
And a few days later, Ries saw the man again—with news.
“You were right! It was a boy, just like you said!”
“I can’t believe this Spirit Beast stuff is real! Hey, if I ever have another question, can I ask you again? I mean, may I, oh mighty kitty?”
The sudden switch to formal speech was a bit much, but Ries didn’t bother reacting.
It had been a coin flip. A fifty-fifty shot. Guessing it right wasn’t exactly impressive.
The servants reacted the way he expected. They were amused—but that was about it. Most of them chalked it up to coincidence.
But it wasn’t long before Ries blew all their theories out of the water.
“MROOOW!!!”
He leapt straight into the air in shock after crossing paths with a maid. It wasn’t the woman herself that startled him.
A-a ghost…!
Something was floating around her in circles—if he wasn’t seeing things, it was definitely a ghost!
He trembled violently, eyes fixed on the ground. He had thought Sefiut was the only ghost in the mansion. Was that not the case?
He desperately avoided looking up, but then a gentle voice called out.
—Sweetheart, won’t you lift your head?
It was a soft, kind voice. Enough to snap Ries out of his panic.
“U-uh, kitty? Mister Kitty? What’s wrong? This is bad…”
The maid’s voice was trembling too. Ries slowly, cautiously lifted his head. The first thing he saw was her face—filled with fear.
“A-are you okay? Whew… I thought something terrible had happened.”
“…Mrow.”
Even that half-hearted mewl was enough to bring color back to her face. Being called a Spirit Beast, the Duke’s beloved cat—it clearly made people nervous around him.
The maid quickly excused herself, saying she had to take care of the laundry. And once she left, only the elderly ghost remained.
—That child is my granddaughter. She lost both her parents at a young age, so I took her in and raised her. We’re not related by blood, but never once did I think of her as anything less than family.
Unsolicited backstory came flooding in. But Ries couldn’t bring himself to leave.
—Bibi used to love the muffins I baked. I’d always tell her to let them cool, but she’d sneak bites while they were still steaming hot and end up burning her mouth every time. It was the most precious thing to see…
Her voice trembled with affection. The deep wrinkles on her face, the way her eyes lingered on the maid’s back, overflowing with love—Ries just couldn’t look away.
The old woman looked genuinely happy as she reminisced, but soon, a heavy sorrow settled over her expression.
—But now, I can’t stay by her side anymore…
“…Meow.”
—Just like I heard—you really are a kind little one. Could I ask you for a favor?
Ries half-closed his eyes. Feeling sorry for someone and doing them a favor were two separate things. But even as he drew that line, the old woman simply looked at him with a gentle smile, as if she found him endearing.
—Of course. I understand… Still, if it’s not too much, would you at least hear me out? Whether you accept or not is entirely up to you.
And with that, she made her request.
—Could you take Bibi home? If she comes back and finds my body already rotting… that child will break. I don’t want her to see me like that.
It wasn’t something he could refuse.
Ries didn’t even try to answer. He just stared at the old ghost in silence. Maybe she already knew he wouldn’t turn her down—her colorless face held a bittersweet smile.
In the end, Ries bolted off and sank his teeth into the skirt of the maid the old woman had called Bibi. He clamped on and didn’t let go.
“C-Cat? Mister Kitty? Did I do something wrong? Please, can you let go?”
She didn’t dare push him away or shake him off. Ries was a sacred being in this mansion. If she hurt him even by accident, the Duke himself might fly into a rage.
So Bibi pleaded with tearful eyes, but Ries refused to budge.
Her eyes brimmed with tears when a fellow maid, watching nearby, casually chimed in.
“Maybe he wants something from you? Or maybe he’s trying to tell you something? I heard that cat’s supposed to be magic.”
“All he did was guess a baby’s gender! That was just a coin toss! Even I could’ve gotten it right!”
“Still, why not just see what he wants? I’ll cover your work while you’re gone.”
“…You better keep that promise.”
In the end, Bibi reluctantly followed Ries, cornered by her friend’s offer.
The tiny cat led her beyond the mansion grounds. She followed absentmindedly—until her face suddenly went pale.
“A-Are you kicking me out? From the estate?”
Could a cat even fire someone? Her brain went blank, already imagining the worst.
Just as she hit rock bottom in her spiraling thoughts, Ries raised a paw and began scratching shapes into the dirt.
A small house, with a sloped roof and a chimney.
Bibi stared at the drawing, dazed, and mumbled unconsciously, “…You want me to go home?”
“Meow meow!”
He nodded, as if to say Exactly. She had never seen a cat nod. Or draw, for that matter.
And yet, something about him pulled her in—something powerful, something she couldn’t ignore. Was this what it meant to face a Spirit Beast?
That evening, Bibi took a short leave and returned home for the first time in ages. There, she found her grandmother’s body—still warm, barely passed.
When she returned, her eyes were swollen from crying. She bowed low, deeply, to a cat many times smaller than herself.
“Thanks to you, I was able to give my grandmother a proper farewell. I’m so grateful… I got to say goodbye while she still looked like herself.”
Honestly, it was overkill. All he’d done was relay a message.
But Bibi’s story swept through the mansion in no time. And with it came a wave of new behavior from the staff.
They brought him tasty food, gifted him cute little toys, even prayed to him with their hands clasped like worshippers.
Sometimes they asked questions. Ries would throw out random answers. He figured they’d just laugh it off if he was wrong—but weirdly, he never was. Everything he said turned out to be right. It was eerie.
The news didn’t take long to reach Justyn’s ears. Probably Ketir had passed it along.
“You holding up okay?”
Justyn cradled Ries in his arms as he asked. At first, Ries didn’t quite get what he meant.
Then it hit him—Justyn was checking in on his feelings.
Ries blinked up at him with round eyes.
Okay? I’m dead tired, actually.
He was tired. People kept dumping their tragic backstories on him just because he was supposedly a Spirit Beast. Being called Lord Ries, Mister Cat, like he was some divine oracle—it was exhausting.
But he couldn’t bring himself to say any of that. Not when he saw those jewel-bright eyes, watching him so carefully, so tenderly. Just like that, all the grumbling inside him faded away.
“Then… does that mean the Duke was chosen by the Spirit Beast?”
A voice drifted through his memory—someone whispering with awe and disbelief.
Ries reached out and pressed both front paws into Justyn’s chest. It had been a while since he’d done it. The feeling… was still just as comforting as ever.
