Chapter 19

Chapter 19

In an instant, silence fell in the room.

Frozen with shame, Rowaine carefully asked him again.

“Really… Are you okay?”

Dimitri, whose face was heated in anger, clenched his teeth and repeated the same answer.

“I don’t hate cats that much.”

At those words, Rowaine stared at him with her eyes wide open. Meanwhile, he repeated the same words quickly, emphasizing them.

“I don’t hate cats.”

“Really…?”

“I don’t hate it. I don’t hate it…”

Then, nervously, Dimitri ran out of her room after finishing those words.

‘What’s wrong with me?’

Thinking so, he ruffled his hair in shame.

‘Still, she won’t cry alone again since I allowed the cat to stay.’

Disgusted, he went back to his room, changed his clothes, and burned the clothes that had water droplets from the ugly cat in the fireplace.

‘Don’t cry again.’

That cat will have to be useful.

‘If it’s useless, then I’ll have to kill it secretly.’

After facing Dimitri, I decided to send Agwen to rest first since she must have been tired.

“Are you really all right by yourself, Madam?”

“He’s such a gentle cat. Besides, all I have to do is wash and dry it so I can do it alone.”

Eventually, I sent her out after learning how to use a magic stone that produced a warm wind.

“Then, shall we finish?”

Saying so, I rolled up my sleeves and started washing Coco again. It seemed that there was a lot of tangled hair because of the scab.

“This must be troublesome for you. Hold on a little, okay?”

No matter how kind it was, the cat was still a cat. So, as I washed up Coco, he was making noises because he didn’t like water. Then, belatedly, I found something wrapped around Coco’s neck.

“What is this…?”

Peeking through Coco’s fur, it was a necklace made of black metal.

“It must be frustrating like this.”

The necklace was tightly wrapped around Coco’s neck without any gaps. Seeing that, I tried to find a seam and untie the necklace, though there was no seam.

“It’s iron, so I can’t even cut it off with my bare hands…”

…Guess I’ll have to ask Azen tomorrow if there are any tools to cut this off.

So firstly, I washed Coco completely and dried all of the furs with a magic stone from which provided a warm wind.

After that, Coco was incredibly pretty.

“After all, cats become so pretty when they are being loved.”

Feeling proud, I kissed Coco on the forehead and laid it on the floor. Coco, too, seemed to be happy that it became soft, and rubbed its body here and there around the cushion of the sofa.

I gazed at Coco and took a seat in front of the table.

It was rather chaotic during the daytime, but it was time to think a little more about the employee changeover.

“…How do I differentiate between those who are on my side and those who are not?”

It was too burdensome for me to fire everyone and hire new people.

“If I could, I want to get rid of only Mrs. Elbas’ people…”

Even though Agwen agreed to help her with all her heart, she still wouldn’t know all the maids’ hearts. The Duchy of Blois is so big, and there are a lot of people working there. It seemed to me that I had to select people around me as safe people one by one first.

As I was pondering in deep thoughts, Coco was sitting and staring at me beautifully.

That expression of staring at me as though to understand what I was saying was so cute that I trembled and approached Coco as if possessed.

“How can you be so pretty!”

Blue was an elegant and cool cat, while Coco was a charming and pretty cat. Surprisingly, each cat has such a different personality.

Carefully stroking it, Coco growled pleasantly before crawling onto my lap.

“Oh, you’re here!”

Normally, cats don’t like being cuddled or getting on people’s laps. Furthermore, I usually take care of stray cats who are very alert, and this was the first time that I have taken care of a cat that voluntarily climbed onto a person’s lap like Coco.

It was clear that Coco knew it was pretty, as it sat on my lap with that pretty face and looked at me cutely.

“My heart…!”

I grabbed my heart and trembled with joy.

That day, I fell asleep stroking Coco while it curled up not far from me and fell asleep. Until then, I thought Coco was just a really cute, ordinary cat…

“Open your eyes, angel.”

Early in the morning, someone shook me from my sleep and woke me up.

“Hmm…”

I woke up, rubbing my eyes.

Coco was already staring at me.

“Angel!”

Coco spoke… It did.

‘This is a dream.’

With that thought, I lay back on my bed and fell asleep again. At that, Coco crouched down in front of me, tapped my nose with its soft paws, and chuckled.

“You really are a sleepy angel.”

Wait, this doesn’t seem like a dream…?

Immediately, I jumped up and opened my eyes wide before staring at the cat in front of me.

“Oh, you’re up!”

Coco rolled over on the bed as if pleased.

“You… talk? Did you just say that?”

“That’s not important right now. Look at this!”

Coco, who said calmly to me, who was still surprised, put down the crumpled paper in front of me.

“Gift.”

I opened the paper with a bewildered mind. There were various people’s names written on them in crooked handwriting that was clearly written by a blunt cat’s hand.

I asked, feeling like I was dreaming.

“What is this…?”

“People whom the angel said yesterday that you want to get rid of them. I did some research this morning.”

Saying so, Coco’s eyes narrowed and growled.

“Cats are compassionate animals.”

On the paper, many names were written on the paper, divided into groups.

Coco explained each one, pointing it out to me.

“These people are the people who said they liked it better when Mrs. Elbas was around. And, these people said that the new Madam seemed like a good person. While these people are neutral.”

Then, it pulled out its sharp claws and pointed to a few names.

“I personally liked this person, this person, and this person. They said I was pretty.”

“….”

“And, this person and this person tried to kick me out. They look like bad people, so these people here seem to be very friendly with each other. This person and this person seemed to have an argument, while this person said that he had an affair. This person has back pain these days…”

Coco released endless employee information.

“Well, first of all… thank you.”

I gazed down at the paper in confusion. Nevertheless, this would be pretty useful if I asked for some information through Agwen, and it matched with Coco’s words.

In spite of my lack of spirit, I carefully folded the paper and put it in my pocket.

After a while, after shaking off my sleepiness and coming back to my senses, I placed Coco on the table and sat down across from it.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a Shapeshifter in the first place?”

I knew that the Shapeshifters appeared in this novel, and that they go back and forth between the form of an animal and a person. Of course, it was also possible to communicate with humans in the form of animals.

But, didn’t Coco act like a perfect cat the whole time…?

Coco, who was sitting on the table, purred, rubbing its face with its paws.

“Originally, beasts don’t want to be found, angel.”

In the novel, the male protagonist, who is obviously a dog Shapeshifter, used to freely turn into a dog in front of people though?

Coco quickly answered my question.

“Except for the dogs. Because they don’t even have any courage.”

I suppose he had no courage…

“Then, why did you tell me that you were a Shapeshifter?”

“If it was an angel, I thought that even if you knew that I was a beast, you would still be nice to me.”

Finishing his words, Coco grabbed my wrist and tilted his head as if asking if that was the case… in the form of a cat with big shiny blue eyes, pointed ears, and a round face with a cute nose!

‘Oh, my heart…’

Coco used a lot of cuteness, so I couldn’t get a hold of myself, which made me confused. I smiled happily before quickly shaking my head to calm myself and spoke sternly.

“Can you turn into a human for a moment?”

…Otherwise, I think I’ll be too swayed by you.

At those words, Coco sullenly closed its ears.

“I want to, too…”

Then, it scratched near the neck with its hind paw and said, “Coco cannot change because of these shackles, my angel.”

Th, third Person Speech…!

Obviously, it was a third-person conversation that other people would have avoided if they had done it, but Coco was a cat.

‘S, so cute!’

Coco raised its big sky-blue eyes and stared up at me pitifully.

“Can’t the angel release me?”

Hold on. Is my nose bleeding…

I hurriedly covered my nose with a handkerchief and nodded quickly.

“Do it, I will do it…! I’ll do anything. What can I do? Just tell me!”

“Then, ask that brother yesterday.”

“Brother?”

“He tried to kill me here yesterday. He’s this area’s leader cat.”

It looked like he was talking about the Duke of Blois.

Though, what does it mean… a leader cat? It was cute to even refer to the Duke that way. However, aside from being cute, I became worried when the Duke’s name came out from Coco’s mouth.

“It’s difficult…”

Obviously, he said he doesn’t hate cats, but when I saw him, I was certain that he didn’t like it. Besides, didn’t Coco just say that? That he was trying to kill it…? His momentum was so ferocious yesterday…

As if he knew what I was worried about, Coco turned its stomach upside down and acted adorable again.

“So, angel, please do me this favor, okay?”

“Does he really have to do it? I can bring a tool to cut the iron and do it for you.”

Coco nodded as it licked its front paws left and right.

“These shackles are magical shackles that restrain prisoners, and they cannot be released unless you have the key. Wouldn’t the demon who uses black magic know how to release me?”

“Devil…?”