Chapter 68
Fish that don’t need to be fed, caught fish.
The Northern Grand Duke repeated the words that came out of the soldier’s mouth.
Caught fish.
Which means…
‘Does the aide treat me like already caught prey?’
The Northern Grand Duke, who had lived his whole life as an excellent hunter, almost dropped the sword he was holding at that shocking combination of words.
Of course, with his excellent motor skills, he managed to catch it before it clattered to the floor… But this was a stupid mistake that the usual Grand Duke would never have made.
But the fact that he had momentarily made a mistake similar to losing his grip on caught prey, or that the knights and soldiers had turned pale at the sight of the Northern Grand Duke with a grim face suddenly dropping and catching his sword in mid-air…
None of this was important to the Grand Duke right now.
It couldn’t be, because…
‘Am I… being treated like a frightened orc that only deserves to be rolled around with front paws?’
Not only was he compared to something he had never thought to put on the same level as himself, but…
‘Me… to the aide?’
The one who made this comparison was even his mate.
The Grand Duke was momentarily broken by the shocking assumption that he might be treated by the aide as prey already successfully hunted, no longer worthy of interest or focus, something to be rolled around a few times and then discarded.
The Grand Duke, who had been creaking like a broken wind-up doll for a while, came to his senses only after two soldiers had covered the dead orc’s mouth and carefully moved away.
Regaining his senses, the Grand Duke paced back and forth, trying to change his unpleasant mood, and thought:
‘Caught prey? That can’t be.’
Although he was momentarily flustered by this unimaginable story, thinking about it calmly, it made no sense at all.
Just last night, the aide had buried his nose in the Grand Duke’s back as he lay on the bed, repeatedly inhaling and exhaling like a pervert, mumbling things like “Ah… cats really are the best…” Someone like that couldn’t possibly treat the Grand Duke as mere prey…
‘Could it be that he was smelling to check if the prey was fresh?’
The Grand Duke momentarily stopped at this outrageous hypothesis he had come up with, then started moving his feet even more busily.
No. That couldn’t be it.
The Grand Duke recalled what happened after the aide had buried his nose in the Grand Duke’s back for a long time, mumbling about working for the cat tomorrow and whatnot.
Last night, the aide had taken out a strange object made by the dwarves, saying he had prepared it for the Grand Duke, and then performed playful movements with that object to entertain the Grand Duke.
If the aide really thought of the Grand Duke as merely caught prey, how could he have tried his best to please the Grand Duke like that? The aide must still consider the Grand Duke, his mate, very important.
He definitely, absolutely, couldn’t have been checking the freshness of his prey.
Yes. That must be right.
The Grand Duke stopped walking and thought, with his neck straight and shoulders squared.
‘I said there was a slight difference from the beginning. It seems that soldier’s case was a completely different story from mine.’
The Grand Duke turned around as if his ears had never been perked up and started walking towards the inner castle.
Leaving behind the knights and soldiers who had been trembling at the sight of the Grand Duke suddenly pacing with a grim aura and only now letting out their held breaths, the Grand Duke continued his pondering as he strode.
If he wasn’t being treated as caught prey, then…
‘Why on earth isn’t that guy courting me?’
Is there some special reason why he can’t court?
As the Grand Duke, lost in thought, flung open the door of his office…
“Whoa!”
The aide, who had been standing right in front of the door about to go somewhere, made a strange noise and flinched.
The aide, who had opened his eyes wide as if startled, recognized the Grand Duke standing in front of him and relaxed his body, saying,
“Ah. Your Grace, you’ve returned?”
The Grand Duke observed the aide’s appearance closely.
Come to think of it, the aide was always slow to notice someone’s approach. Although the Grand Duke was naturally quiet, this guy usually failed to notice even when the Grand Duke deliberately made noise.
It was because his perception, detection ability, and reflexes were all lacking.
The Grand Duke recalled the aide’s careless appearances he had seen so far and swished his tail.
How could he survive in this world full of dangers like that?
‘Well. Being so weak, he can’t help but be timid.’
Getting startled easily, not being afraid even when seeing a dead ogre.
It seemed he had made a good choice in choosing the Grand Duke as his mate. The Grand Duke was a cat so strong that there were no rivals in this area, so no matter how weak that guy was…
‘Wait.’
Weak, he said.
Suddenly, a rational hypothesis incomparable to the outrageous one from earlier popped into the Grand Duke’s mind.
Could it be… that this weak guy is too timid to court first?
Even now, the aide was checking if the Grand Duke, who had returned from battle, had any injuries.
Come to think of it, this repeated behavior was the same every time. Unless it was on the scale of a monster wave, monster attacks couldn’t hurt the Grand Duke.
Because the Grand Duke was such a strong individual.
The aide must know this well too, but still, whenever the Grand Duke returned from battle, he would always busily check the Grand Duke’s body like this.
It might be partly because he liked the Grand Duke so much… but couldn’t it also be a habit formed from living as a weak individual all his life, worrying about everything?
The Grand Duke remembered the time when he was pondering what kind of prey would suit the aide, as the aide had been scared upon seeing the ogre he had gifted.
Thinking from the perspective of a weak being, there was so much to consider and so many limitations.
‘That guy has lived like that his whole life.’
The Grand Duke’s gaze towards the aide was tinged with pity.
It might be natural for the aide to be so worried and timid. To the point of being cautious even about courting his mate.
Thinking like this, something suddenly crossed the Grand Duke’s mind.
‘If so… the courtship last time must have been a great effort from his perspective.’
He hadn’t thought about it that far, focusing only on the fact that he had received courtship from the aide.
Was it such a commendable action?
“Your Grace?”
As the Grand Duke just stood there staring, the aide looked back at him with a puzzled expression.
‘This timid guy…’
How much must he have worried and how much courage must he have mustered to court first, with his growing desire to become the Grand Duke’s mate?
The Grand Duke licked the corner of the aide’s eye once and then moved to his own place.
“Your… Grace? Why suddenly…?”
Hearing the aide’s voice calling him, the Grand Duke thought.
That timid guy had courted once with such courage. It wouldn’t be right as a mate to just wait for that cautious mate to court again after much worry and concern.
The Grand Duke decided.
For the sake of his timid mate, he would court first.
* * *
Of course, male cats don’t go into heat unless their partner goes into heat first. Therefore, the Grand Duke didn’t particularly feel the need for courtship right now.
In fact, he had been in this state his whole life… But still, the Grand Duke knew how male cats who respond to their partner’s heat try to seduce their partner.
Having decided to court first for the sake of his timid mate, the Grand Duke began to seduce the aide using all the means he knew.
He approached the aide and repeatedly made low, long cries. He followed the aide around, emitting strong pheromones. He frequently rubbed his body against the aide, marking him with his pheromones.
Thinking that if he seduced first, the aide, who would have been hesitating and wavering, would respond right away.
But…
The situation didn’t unfold as the Grand Duke had expected.
“Lately, the cat… I mean, Your Grace seems a bit different from usual…”
The aide didn’t respond to any of the Grand Duke’s seductions.
‘Why… exactly?’
It wasn’t just that he didn’t respond to the seduction. To the Grand Duke who was seducing him, the aide even…
Asked if he was sick somewhere.
‘How come?’
The Grand Duke couldn’t even understand how to interpret this situation, faced with this unexpected reaction.
He tried courting more diligently, wondering why this guy who usually understood everything the Grand Duke did so well couldn’t understand this… But the aide still showed no signs of responding to the Grand Duke’s seduction.
This was the first time since meeting him that there had been such a lack of communication with the aide.
The Grand Duke didn’t know.
The aide had accumulated various knowledge about cats from living with them for a long time, but the cats he had lived with were only neutered cats.
And consequently, the only area of cat knowledge where the seemingly all-knowing cat butler was ignorant was…
The part about cat courtship and mating.
