Chapter 72
The Northern Grand Duke, returning in a highly agitated state, transformed into a cat as soon as he arrived at Ruan’s bedroom.
Ruan observed the Grand Duke’s condition while picking up and tidying the clothes the cat Grand Duke had kicked off with his hind legs as if they were bothersome.
The Grand Duke approached the bed with a low posture, slinking along. As soon as he jumped onto the bed, he immediately began grooming himself vigorously.
Ruan watched this with a worried gaze.
‘He must be under a lot of stress…’
With a serious threat to his territory and constantly being on edge while fighting because of it, it was obvious how stressful this situation would be for a cat that gets stressed even by a few changes in daily life.
What if he falls ill from this? Even from Ruan’s perspective, it was gut-wrenching.
As much as he wanted to, there was nothing practical he could do to help the Grand Duke, which made it even worse.
Ruan, looking pityingly at the Grand Duke grooming aggressively, carefully drew the curtains and darkened the room.
He even walked carefully, lest his movements irritate the Grand Duke.
He hoped the Grand Duke could rest comfortably, even if briefly, in a familiar, unstimulating, quiet space.
‘While the cat is so stressed and struggling like this, the butler, in the meantime, due to sexual frustration…’
Suffering doubly from the shameful memory that appeared again in his mind, waving its hand casually, Ruan placed a large box he had prepared recently next to the bed with a penitent heart.
The Grand Duke, who had been following Ruan’s movements with his gaze, looked at the box for a moment before hopping down from the bed. After sniffing it briefly, he squeezed his body into the box that fit him perfectly.
‘That’s a relief. He seems to like it.’
Ruan, carefully sitting in front of the cat who had transformed into a liquid filling the box, spoke in a gentle voice.
“Your Grace. You’ve worked so hard. You must be very tired? Should I sleep in another room tonight so you can rest quietly alone?”
Although this was actually Ruan’s bedroom and the Grand Duke had his own separate bedroom… what did that matter now when the cat was feeling uncomfortable?
To begin with, Ruan, accustomed to sleeping in the remaining space like a game of Tetris when the cat lay down in the middle of the bed first due to his long experience as a cat butler, didn’t care about such things at all.
Thinking there must be at least one place to lie down and sleep somewhere in this vast ducal castle, Ruan was about to quietly get up when…
The Grand Duke started flicking his tail.
Although his body was snugly fitted into the box, so his tail was half-stuck between his body and the box… that half-exposed tail was flicking earnestly.
‘Does he dislike it?’
Before long, the wriggling tail escaped from the gap, clearly showing negative emotion. Ruan carefully asked,
“Would you prefer if I stay, Your Grace?”
At this, the Grand Duke tucked his tail, which had been hanging out of the box and flicking about, back into the gap between the box and his body. It seemed he meant for Ruan to stay.
‘I guess I’m someone who can stay with the Grand Duke even when he’s uncomfortable and stressed.’
For a cat that usually wants to be alone in a safe state without any variables when stressed, to allow someone to stay this close… Ruan knew how much affection and trust that represented.
Having received such a heavy sentiment, it was a bit sad that he had nothing to give in return.
‘Far from helping, I’m having such crazy thoughts about this cat…’
As he sat quietly next to the box the Grand Duke was in, feeling sorry, affectionate, and grateful…
Suddenly, the Grand Duke, who had been tightly squeezed into the box, started wriggling his body.
Wondering if he was uncomfortable in the box and wanted to go somewhere else, Ruan watched.
Before he knew it, the Grand Duke, now shaped like a cat rather than a box, was standing with his two front paws on the edge of the box. It was a sight that made one wonder if the genie from Aladdin’s lamp was actually a cat.
Ruan asked the Grand Duke, who was staring at him intently while standing on two legs, showing off his slender body line,
“Do you need anything? Is there something I can do for you?”
Despite asking in a small voice so as not to be irritating, the Grand Duke just stared at Ruan without making any other requests.
Just as Ruan was about to open his mouth again, wondering what was going on…
The Grand Duke, who had been supporting his body on the edge of the box, stretched his neck forward. And then,
Poof.
The cat’s black muzzle touched Ruan’s lips.
‘…?’
Startled by the sudden touch of the cat’s muzzle on his lips, Ruan stared blankly at the cat. The cat, who had lightly touched his muzzle and then pulled back, was also staring intently at Ruan as if gauging his reaction.
After a long moment of incomprehensible eye contact, the cat’s face approached again.
Poof-
The Grand Duke had bumped his muzzle against Ruan again. Unlike the brief touch a moment ago, this time it was a bit longer.
The cat, after pressing his muzzle against Ruan and then pulling away, was examining Ruan’s face with a persistent gaze.
And Ruan…
‘What is this…?’
He was thrown into confusion.
This was already the third, no, fourth time the cat had bumped his muzzle against Ruan.
It was no longer possible to see this as a misdirected nose kiss or part of a headbutt.
This meant that the cat really wanted to do this muzzle-bumping action and was doing it intentionally…
‘Does he like this action for some reason I don’t understand?’
Cats are animals that repeat an action if they like it after trying it once, so if that was the case, it would explain this repetitive behavior.
Although he really didn’t understand why the cat liked it so much.
But. If it was true that the Grand Duke cat liked this…
‘Does this mean I’ll have to endure the Grand Duke’s muzzle bumping until he gets tired of it from now on?’
At this ominous assumption, Ruan’s eyes began to waver.
In fact, just looking at the phrase “a lovely cat giving kisses to a human” there was no problem at all. No, far from being a problem, it was a very grateful thing.
A cat that comes up on its own and voluntarily gives kisses. Even if the cat doesn’t think much of it, from a human’s perspective, isn’t it an adorably lovely action that makes you want to scrunch up the whole world?
If he were still Kim Ha-jin, he would have been tempted to create a new Instagram account just to brag to the whole world that his cat was none other than a kissing cat.
But there was a fatal problem behind this amazing situation.
First of all,
‘The Grand Duke won’t just do this in cat form.’
Like the human-form headbutting that had been the starting point of the rumors blocking Ruan’s marriage prospects. And like the recent incident where Ruan momentarily lost his mind… just remembering it made him want to bang his head against the bed frame next to him.
Because the Grand Duke wasn’t a cat who refrained from doing what he wanted based on his form, he would act immediately if he wanted to do muzzle bumping. Even if he was in human form.
In fact, this alone was a big problem. Even with just the headbutting, rumors had spread so widely. Now, it seemed he was about to perform actions that looked like kissing in front of everyone in town.
If such a sight were seen, the people of Reinke and the dwarves would all together…
Imagining the future scene that might inevitably occur, Ruan felt a chill for a moment.
‘No. Absolutely not.’
After that bizarre affair rumor, he had been skillfully avoiding skinship like headbutting in front of people. Kissing? This was really adding insult to injury.
And… there was a second problem that made this first problem a really serious issue.
Namely, the fact that Ruan Daen had a history of being momentarily attracted to the lip-bumping of a cat in human form.
As the memory of that time vividly came back to his mind, Ruan really, sincerely wanted to bang his head against the bed frame.
‘You crazy fool. Why are you getting all flustered over a cat’s kiss…’
Barely suppressing the urge, lest the already sensitive cat be startled by the sight of a human suddenly banging his head against the frame, Ruan inwardly vowed,
‘I really need to keep my mind straight. How can a human being react like that to such an innocent action done by this pure cat without any thought?’
Ruan closed his eyes tightly and then opened them to control his intense emotions, looking at the cat in front of him with serious eyes.
‘I must never again be deceived by that excessively handsome shell and do something stupid.’
Unaware that the Grand Duke was looking at him with an inexplicably dissatisfied expression.
* * *
It was two days later when so many monsters rushed in that the white of the vast snow field across from the castle walls could not be seen.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
