Chapter 38.2

I tried my best to ignore it and go on, but I heard the sound yet again. But this time, the source of the sound was clear.

“Meow.’

“……a cat?”

My eyes opened wide, I ran quickly to where the sound emanated from. In the bushes, I found a cat trying to wriggle its way out, its white fur stained with mud.

“Oh dear, how did you get here, a cute baby like you?”

I approached the cat carefully and squatted, unable to stop myself from trying to pet the cat. The cat, whose bright yellow eyes had just been staring at me, suddenly rose and walked off to some other place.

The cat was headed to where Noah sunbae was standing, a surprised look on his face.

Whoa, when did he get here. We seem to run into each other a lot these days.

“Meow.”

The cat rubbed cutely against sunbae’s leg. Even its tail was moving from side to side. With a blank face, I pulled myself up from my squat.

“Sunbae? Is this…… do you know this cat?”

“……no. I’ve never seen it before.”

As if embarrassed, he stroked the cat for a moment.. The cat purred from his gentle and soft touch. I stared at him with bright eyes. This had happened even the last time he came to my fief. He seemed quite used to handling animals. I wondered if he had raised one before.

“You are quite skilled at handling it, sunbae.”

“My younger sister had a cat when we were kids, and I helped her look after it sometimes.”

“Ah.”

I am not sure about dogs, but I have heard that cats are a little hard to take care of.

I bent down to look at the cat and sunbae. The cat was still rubbing against sunbae’s trouser legs, while Noah sunbae himself was looking down at the cat with a gentle smile.

“…..so cute.”

“The cat, I mean,” I tacked on hurriedly. I felt a bit embarrassed after saying that.

“Do you want to touch it?”

“Oh, would that be okay?”

After hesitating for a long time, I reached out carefully. But the moment my fingertips touched the fluffy fur……

“Ouch!”

The cat had clearly been quiet up until then. But now it was hissing fiercely, and the back of my hand was stinging.

I lower my hand frowning. The wound was not deep, but I did feel a little sad.

Why are you discriminating? You were acting cute with sunbae just a moment ago.

As soon as the sound of other students approaching came, the sly cat disappeared into the bushes. Of the two of us who were squatting and panicking, Noah sunbae to gather his wits. He grabbed my hand with a pale face, pulled me up and took me to the infirmary. As if he was planning to treat my wound himself, sunbae grabbed several items.

“Ah, it’s al……”

It’s alright.

That was what I was going to say, but I shut my mouth once I saw sunbae’s face. His long eyelashes were shaking, and at first glance, I could tell he was feeling guilty. So I sat quietly on the sick bed.

I held out my hand, and disinfectant covered the wound. I winced at the pain and rapped on the bed like crazy with my other hand. The hand that had been pouring the disinfectant paused for a moment, and as a result, the disinfectant flowed down and wet my arm.

“……ah, I’m sorry.”

Noah sunbae soon came to his senses, quickly picked up a piece of fabric from the shelves and wiped my arm.

I tried as much as I could to hold back my groans until he finished applying the ointment and bandaged my hand. I couldn’t ask sunbae if it was really necessary to put the bandage on, given that his face was so grave, as if he was dealing with some difficult problem. My hand was covered in so many wraps of bandage that it looked like a swollen bun. Thankfully, I could still hold a pen, but only just barely.

“I am sorry,” Noah sunbae said, his face ridden with guilt.

“Hmm? It was the cat that scratched me. Why are you apologising, sunbae?”

“I was the one who told you to touch it…… I thought it was gentle.”

I felt slightly embarrassed. It felt like I was being over-protected.

But it’s really alright.

One could easily fall and get hurt, or roll down the stairs. I had experienced all of that. Being scratched by a cat was nothing.

But come to think of it, Noah sunbae was a young master from a great noble family, so things like this must have seemed like a big injury to him.

“If you are worried that it would scar, you can also go to Flora,” he added carefully, as he was still worried.

Ah, that was true. Flora sunbae had divine power. But wasn’t it a bit too much to use such great powers for a cat scratch……

In the end, I nodded my head.

“Ah, okay. I will.”

* * *

When Dora heard that I had gotten scratched, she had come running. But her face relaxed when I told her it was a cat.

“Cats are like that sometimes. But where was the cat?”

“Wow, just look at how your attitude changed.”

I clicked my tongue at how she was thinking of the cat even before her own friend. She stared at my hand, asking who had done such a terrible wrapping job. Then she asked.

“By the way, you seem to be getting injured a lot these days.”

“Mhmm. But thankfully, sunbae applied some medicine to it.”

Hearing my happy reply, Dora shook her head.

“This crazy girl…… Are you really okay?”

I chuckled at her concern-filled question, before answering.

“Yeah, I seem to have gone a little crazy.”