Chapter 70
The invasion, which was on a much larger scale compared to previous attacks, ended with less damage than expected. This was thanks to the dwarves’ equipment and weapons, as well as Reinke’s new defense system working well together.
While fatigue and damage inevitably accumulated due to the sheer number of monsters, the Northern Grand Duke leading a mobile unit armed with dwarf-made equipment to attack the monsters’ flank at the right moment changed the flow of the battle.
The knights and soldiers were inspired by the sight of the Grand Duke, who was rampaging even more ferociously than usual that day, sweeping through the monsters. The battle ended earlier than expected with minimal casualties.
It was a complete victory. The people of Reinke felt hope in the much easier defense compared to before.
However, the clearly larger scale of the attack was ultimately a precursor to the monster wave. While people felt hopeful, they also worked hard to improve weak points based on this battle experience to prepare for an even larger invasion.
This was also true for the dwarves repairing facilities damaged during the battle. The top of the castle walls was busy with dwarves moving about. Ruan spotted Greta giving instructions to other dwarves and walked over to her.
“Hello, Ms. Greta!”
Greta turned her head at Ruan’s call. A refreshing smile spread across her face when she saw Ruan.
“Ah. The aide has come.”
As Ruan approached, Greta finished what she was doing and turned towards him. Ruan responded to Greta’s smile with his own and held out the documents he had brought.
“Yes. I’ve brought the distribution plan for the additional materials you requested.”
“Ah, it’s out. Thank you for bringing it personally.”
Greta immediately started flipping through the documents she received.
Ruan, standing beside her, carefully opened his mouth.
“I’m really sorry, but… we don’t have enough manpower to deploy for quarrying right now. For areas lacking stone, I think we’ll have to repair using a mix of lime, gravel, and water. Would that be alright?”
Greta nodded nonchalantly in response.
“Sure, sure. We can use the damaged stone that can’t be recycled as reinforcement material. I know everyone’s incredibly busy.”
Flipping through a few more pages, Greta looked up with her large eyes and made a playful expression as she said,
“It seems His Grace isn’t staying in the castle much these days? You must be quite upset, aide?”
Seeing Greta’s eyes twinkling with anticipation, Ruan awkwardly smiled and avoided answering.
With the monster wave’s approach certain, the Grand Duke was leading his elites to deal with small to medium-sized monster groups discovered by the rangers.
The aim was to reduce their numbers while they were dispersed to lessen the burden of the monster wave. Ogres, which posed the greatest danger in large-scale battles, were said to be the main targets.
An ogre was a monster that required two skilled knights to take down. If even one ogre climbed onto the castle walls, soldiers would die in droves unable to face it. Reducing their numbers in advance would reduce casualties among the soldiers by that much.
The Grand Duke was frequently going outside the castle, and even when inside, he was busy checking on the knights and soldiers. As the Grand Duke’s aide who lacked combat ability and always remained in the castle to handle official duties, Ruan hadn’t been meeting the Grand Duke much lately.
Even during evening hours when they used to be together, there were many days when the Grand Duke couldn’t return. The nights when Ruan was alone even at bedtime were increasing.
On such nights, alone in the bedroom, while worried about the Grand Duke who would be battling monsters at that hour… Ruan would end up kicking the blankets due to the painful memories that kept popping up.
Faced with Greta looking at him with an expectant and excited expression, Ruan recalled the moment from not long ago when the bells rang to signal the monsters’ large-scale attack.
The Grand Duke, who had been sitting quietly in his place, suddenly stood up and approached Ruan, staring at him straight on as if he would devour him.
As Ruan was looking up at the Grand Duke’s face high above him, wondering why he was acting like that all of a sudden, a large hand touched his cheek.
While he slightly furrowed his brows at the feeling of a firm thumb brushing the skin close to his eyes, above his cheekbone…
An imposing large upper body loomed over the desk, and golden eyes resembling undulating spermaceti under sunlight sparkled beneath pitch-black eyelashes. Then, coming close enough for Ruan’s image to be reflected in the widely dilated black pupils at the center of the golden irises, close enough for only Ruan’s image to be reflected…
The moment Ruan realized the sharp tip of the nose was touching his cheek,
The lips he had always thought looked stubborn crumpled onto Ruan’s lips.
After touching once, as if that wasn’t enough, the lips tilted to touch more deeply, with a temperature clearly higher than Ruan’s body heat.
The clear temperature difference, as if letting him know this was exactly where they met, made the contact feel even more unfamiliar. Because of this, Ruan had no choice but to feel that contact very minutely for every moment their thin skins touched.
Even until the moment he belatedly grasped the situation and moved his body back, feeling the long, dense eyelashes tickling his cheek.
Even though he pressed his body against the backrest as much as he could, the Grand Duke’s overwhelming face, with broad shoulders looming over the desk, was still too close. Therefore, even after backing away, all Ruan could see was the Grand Duke’s face staring at him as if he would devour him.
Receiving that gaze fully, while chewing on his lips that still seemed to retain that unfamiliar temperature,
Feeling heat rising to his head, Ruan realized.
That he had momentarily been attracted to… that cat’s shell.
‘Shit.’
“Aide? Why are you crumpling the documents?”
Ruan, who had momentarily clenched his fists, forced a smile at Greta who was looking at him curiously. As soon as Greta’s gaze returned to the documents, his facial muscles relaxed.
While Greta was looking at the documents, Ruan’s thoughts returned to that shocking moment.
If the alarm hadn’t rung then.
Just the hypothetical made Ruan feel like he wanted to bang his head against the parapet beside him.
‘Shit, am I even human… How could I have such feelings towards a cat. Even if the shell looks like that, how could I feel that way towards a cat…’
Was he not human but an animal…
As always when this memory suddenly surfaced, Ruan was overwhelmed with the urge to kick off the blankets. But since he couldn’t do that every time the memory came up as a normal member of society, he just vigorously rubbed his face with his hands.
Ruan thought with a miserable feeling,
‘Have I gone crazy because it’s been too long since I’ve been with someone?’
Well. Since the possession, he hadn’t even experienced that kind of atmosphere with anyone, let alone dating.
In the early stages of possession, he was too busy grasping and adapting to the situation. And after he had somewhat adapted…
He had become the protagonist of the most scandalous gossip in all of Reinke.
In a situation where rumors of him being the Grand Duke’s lover had spread throughout the territory, not only was there no one who thought of getting involved with Ruan, but Ruan himself was also too busy in many ways to let his thoughts drift in that direction.
He had thought so.
But…
‘Was I actually so sexually frustrated that I ended up feeling… that kind of emotion towards a cat?’
Ruan, who thought he had lived his whole life as a clean-cut person, couldn’t come to his senses in this shocking situation.
Honestly… he even felt slightly relieved about the current situation where he rarely had to face the Grand Duke for a while.
If he felt that way again upon seeing the Grand Duke, the self-loathing that was already overflowing would explode.
Ruan steeled himself to come to his senses quickly before he had to frequently face the Grand Duke again.
‘By the way, why did the Grand Duke suddenly plant his lips on mine?’
It was a question that came belatedly, as he hadn’t been able to think about it at the time due to bewilderment and shocking realization.
As Ruan pondered deeply, a scene suddenly flashed through his mind. It was the memory of when the Grand Duke, in cat form after having his claws trimmed, had suddenly brought his muzzle forward.
‘Back then, I thought it was either a nose kiss gone wrong or part of an intense headbutt and let it go.’
Because for cats, the action of pressing muzzle to muzzle has no meaning at all.
So was this time something similar to that?
In fact, thinking about it again, the Grand Duke’s action at the time was closer to ‘muzzle bumping’ rather than an action that could be embarrassingly called a ‘kiss’.
It was an undeniable fact, although embarrassing to say from the position of someone who had been momentarily attracted to that muzzle bumping.
Suffering from the self-loathing that washed over him again, Ruan finally turned his attention to Greta, who had finished reading the documents and was asking questions.
After finishing the conversation and heading towards the inner castle to process Greta’s requests,
“Ruan!”
A familiar voice called out to Ruan.
