Chapter 82
In truth, Ruan had seen the Grand Duke’s naked body quite a few times.
Unlike a well-mannered retriever, the Grand Duke didn’t seem to mind becoming naked when he changed forms.
The Grand Duke, who didn’t care how he appeared, transformed in front of Ruan without any hesitation, and this happened quite frequently. Almost routinely.
As a result, Ruan, who initially tried to avert his eyes from the assertive nakedness, eventually became somewhat accustomed to seeing the Grand Duke’s body in his field of vision. The shock of seeing that overwhelmingly powerful visual had significantly diminished.
So by now, he shouldn’t be surprised just from seeing the Grand Duke’s naked body.
However, there were a few critical issues here.
Firstly, the Grand Duke’s body was so assertive that no matter how many times one saw it, it could only be ‘less shocking’ but never not surprising.
Secondly, unlike before, Ruan had recently started feeling strange sensations during physical contact with the Grand Duke.
And thirdly…
This wasn’t just a situation of seeing that naked body.
‘What the hell…’
He unconsciously bit the inside of his cheek, feeling the heavy weight pressing down on his body.
‘Think rationally, Kim Ha-jin.’
Ruan tried to calm himself and assess the situation.
Until just a moment ago, he had been comforting a cat lying face down on the bed in a bad mood. So this situation was just like a normal cat climbing onto a human’s belly, only the shape was a bit different…
‘Damn it. How could that be the case now?’
The body of the man straddling him was too much for rational thinking.
The Grand Duke’s shoulders, already assertive on their own, were also large in volume, so most of Ruan’s vision was filled with skin color. It felt mentally disorienting even without moving.
When he raised his gaze to avoid him…
He could feel another’s breath on his skin. The face filled with features as intimidating as those powerful shoulders was so close that it was impossible to gauge its original size. Within a distance that made re-looking meaningless, fierce golden eyes stared at Ruan as if they would devour him.
Struggling to roll his eyes to the side… His vision was filled with a muscular arm with visible veins, propped next to his head.
‘This is maddening.’
Everything was excessive.
The Grand Duke already exuded a violent presence and had a much larger body than others, and now he was at such close quarters that there was no way to avert one’s eyes. Ruan eventually chose to close his eyes.
Even so, it wasn’t very effective as many parts, including firm thighs, were in contact with his body, asserting their presence.
Especially… something with an alarming volume pressing against his stomach.
‘Is it… a sword hilt?’
Ruan cautiously guessed the identity of the excessive volume he felt on his stomach.
But rationality, which he thought had long since disappeared, suddenly emerged to put on the brakes.
‘That can’t be.’
The Grand Duke wasn’t wearing any clothes right now. There was no way he would be wearing a sword in this situation. And even if he was, the probability of the sword being in just the right position was close to zero.
Even Ruan, whose rationality was working very selectively at the moment, knew all of this.
But for it to be a body part that should naturally be there, the volume was a bit… Rather, the idea of an out-of-place sword hilt seemed more plausible.
Following his stream of consciousness, Ruan bit his lip hard once again.
He didn’t know why his mind was being rational only about these aspects, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like he was losing his mind.
In any case, it was difficult to maintain rationality in a situation where something of that volume was touching his stomach.
Feeling like he would lose what little rationality he had left if he thought any more, he decided to stop thinking for now.
To divert his attention from the situation of being pinned down, Ruan tried to recall the previous context. Everything was making his mind scattered, so it was blurry, but before the situation became like this, they were clearly talking about…
“If you’re going to the capital… won’t it be too difficult for you?”
Right. They were having such a serious conversation.
But why did the situation suddenly become like this?
Giving up one’s territory to a cat was a very serious issue. If he focused on this serious problem, he would be reminded that what was on top of him was a cat. And then he might be able to escape this situation where everything that shouldn’t feel strange was feeling strangely arousing. With this hope, he opened his mouth, but…
The reaction wasn’t good. He could feel the thick thigh muscles tensing through the points of contact.
For some reason, the Grand Duke, looking even fiercer, said,
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
The deep voice coming from right in front of him made him feel like the hair on his neck was standing on end.
‘To think even his voice feels stimulating, I’m really done for…’
No. The other party is a cat.
Ruan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he desperately tried to grasp his sanity. Struggling to suppress that sensation, he opened his mouth again.
“But you have to go outside your territory…”
This time, his words were cut off before he could even finish.
“And it’s something I have to do anyway to protect that territory. I’ve been there before, you know. It’s true that it’s not a pleasant task, but.”
The Grand Duke’s large hand grabbed Ruan’s chin and pulled it upward. The already close distance became even closer. Fierce golden eyes filled his vision.
“Is that the only reaction you have in this situation?”
Then what kind of reaction should I have? Isn’t this a bit too much?
Ruan became more distressed at the thought that unconsciously crossed his mind. Perhaps because he thought about it, it started to feel even more vivid.
No… it didn’t seem to be just his imagination.
As the Grand Duke put more weight on him, the object that was blatantly pressed against him seemed to have grown even larger than before…
‘Damn it. No. It must be my imagination. It has to be…’
Ruan tried to deny the situation.
It was just the outer shell, but it was still his innocent and cute cat. No matter how corrupt a human he might be, he shouldn’t have such thoughts about a cat.
But when the Grand Duke, who had pulled Ruan’s chin, overlapped their lips, and while enduring the persistently kneading lips with their bodies overlapped, when he detected that something asserting its presence between the Grand Duke’s body and his own had increased its presence even more…
Ruan had no choice but to face the undeniable truth.
And faced with a fact that was not only undeniable but also impossible to handle…
For the first time in his life, both as Kim Ha-jin and as Ruan Daen, he pushed away the cat clinging to him and ran away.
* * *
At this point, he had to admit it.
Ruan’s “innocent and lovable cat”…
Now. It seemed to be in heat.
‘In heat.’
Ruan pressed his brow hard at the unexpected word.
This was quite unfamiliar to Ruan, who had only lived with neutered cats until now. He had never had a reason to be interested in the subject, so he had never thought about it.
That’s why he was late in noticing it.
‘Of course, the Grand Duke wouldn’t have been neutered… and since he’s an adult, it’s natural that he could go into heat.’
To think he never once considered this.
Ruan let out a deep sigh at his own stupidity and fell into thought.
Now that he knew it was heat, he felt like he could finally understand the incomprehensible behaviors the Grand Duke had been showing recently. Of course, he still didn’t quite understand why the Grand Duke had become fixated on nuzzling in particular, but…
No wonder he had been showing such strange behaviors recently. He thought it might have been due to stress from the monster wave, but it turned out to be due to being in heat.
Anyway.
Although Ruan had never experienced a cat in heat, he wasn’t completely ignorant about it. Once he thought of it as being in heat, Ruan could easily recall stories he had heard about cats in heat from various sources.
That cats experience considerable stress during heat, that they exhibit unusual behaviors, that they vocalize…
And that cats in heat often cling to nearby caretakers.
Yes. It was entirely possible for cats to go into heat, and for cats suffering from the effects of heat to cling to their caretakers.
This was a perfectly natural occurrence, and something Ruan, who had decided to live with a cat that didn’t need to be neutered, should know about. As a caretaker, it was essential to understand the cat’s physical condition.
But the reason his thoughts were so complicated and he felt so troubled in such a natural situation was…
‘Because it’s not at all natural for a caretaker who should be dealing with a cat suffering from heat… to be swept up in the cat’s heat…’
With that, Ruan simply banged his head against the nearby wall.
