Chapter 175

PHA – Chapter 175 – Strange Catkin

As a catkin, Ciel had the cat ears and cat tail typical of a catkin. In addition, she also had an above-average face and long black hair that flowed smoothly down her back. No matter how Alice looked at Ciel, the other party was undoubtedly a beautiful girl.

Upon closer observation, Alice also noticed that Ciel’s lips and slit pupils gave the catkin the feeling of a big cat. It was no wonder she was so popular in school. After all, who didn’t like cats? Even Alice couldn’t help but have the urge to rub Ciel’s head.

Unfortunately, Ciel, who had followed Alice to the roof of the teaching block, did not show Alice the same kind of friendliness she showed to other people. On the contrary, she silently glared at Alice after arriving on the roof, keeping it up for several minutes straight.

Unlike the school buildings Alice had read about in novels, the teaching block’s roof wasn’t freely accessible. A magic lock had been placed on the door leading to the roof, and one wouldn’t be able to open it even if one knew the Lockpick spell—Of course, a magic lock was no trouble to Alice at all.

Because the roof wasn’t a place students could normally visit, it was the perfect place for Alice to have a conversation with Ciel. After all, Alice was trying to learn the catkin tribe’s taboos, so she might have to reveal some information that’d be inappropriate for others to find out.

To get to the roof, Alice had used Aspect Separation to attach the concept of a “normal lock” to the door’s magic lock. Then, she used a simple Lockpick spell to open the door.

Ciel was relatively surprised when she saw Alice effortlessly opening the magic lock that had stumped countless students in the past. However, after entering the roof, she promptly resumed looking at Alice with a disgruntled expression.

Alice had no idea why Ciel looked at her with such a hostile look. However, considering she was trying to ask the other party for a favor, she quickly reflected on her past actions to see if she had wronged the catkin.

Did I offend her or her friends in some way?

That shouldn’t be the case. Alice maintained a relatively good interpersonal relationship with the people in the March Academy. The only ones she could recall offending were some of the rude nobles from Class Group A. Even then, she would only treat them poorly if they tried to approach her using force.

However, according to Alice’s information, Ciel didn’t seem to have any connections with the nobles of Class Group A. So, these nobles shouldn’t be the cause for Ciel’s behavior.

Am I carrying something that’s upsetting to her?

Alice looked down and evaluated her attire. Everything about her attire was normal. The academy did not enforce the rule that students needed to wear the allocated magic robe, so Alice was currently wearing the blue and white dress that she normally wore. However, this dress couldn’t possibly be an uncomfortable sight to the catkins, right?

If Alice had to bring up something strange about her attire, it’d probably have to be the two objects tied to her waist.

Of these two objects, one was the unconscious Milu Rabbit. If Ciel was a rabbitkin, Alice would’ve understood the reason for Ciel’s dissatisfaction. However, Ciel was a catkin. Alice had also never heard about Ciel sharing a close relationship with any rabbitkins.

The other object was the pouch filled with panties. When looking at this pouch, Alice couldn’t help but wonder if Ciel had managed to sniff them out.

A cat’s sense of smell was far superior to a human’s. Even though Ciel’s bloodline was very diluted, she still retained many characteristics of a cat. If she noticed that Alice was carrying a pouch full of panties and treated Alice as a pervert, it would indeed make sense for her to hold such an attitude toward Alice.

Moreover, if Ciel could really sniff out the panties in Alice’s pouch, wouldn’t that also mean that she had noticed the two pairs of panties Alice had used to tie up her hair?

Alice’s expression changed a little when she realized this possibility. Immediately, she began considering whether she should give up on Ciel and grant the catkin a physically induced amnesia.

However, before Alice could enact the plan she had formulated in her mind, Ciel finally decided to speak up. Moreover, her voice contained an obvious trace of annoyance that contrasted with her usual character:

“Do you have business with me, Your Royal Highness?”

“Huh?”

Alice couldn’t help but be a little stunned. Originally, she had been confused about why Ciel seemed dissatisfied with her. However, after hearing Ciel’s strange voice, she suddenly understood what was going on.

Could the catkin’s poor opinion of her be due to her identity as the princess?

“That…I do have something I need your help with,” Alice said after faking a light cough. Although she didn’t know why Ciel seemed to be hostile toward her identity as the princess, since Ciel was willing to speak to her, there was still room for negotiation. “I wish to visit your catkin tribe. May I know if you can introduce me to your tribe?”

“Ha?” Ciel frowned. Then, she looked at Alice and asked, “Why do you want to visit our tribe? There shouldn’t be any connection between you and the beastkin tribes, right?”

While not many people knew of Alice’s true origins, the tragic story of Hatter that was circulating on the internet had become widely popular among the masses. Hatter did not step forward to clarify the situation, either, so most people believed that the story was true and that Alice had been “living in a village her entire life” before she was discovered. If that really were the case, it should be unlikely that she had any interactions with the beastkins.

“The catkins are part of the Gryffin Kingdom, after all. The king feels that it is necessary to strengthen the catkins’ sense of belonging to the Gryffin Kingdom. So, I wish to visit the catkins to express the sincerity of the Gryffin Kingdom’s royal family,” Alice said, giving Ciel the excuse she had prepared beforehand. She wasn’t worried that others would try to verify this excuse with Hatter, either. If anyone brought this up to him, Hatter would definitely do his best to cooperate with her, the Hero. “May I know if you can help me with this, Ciel?”

“Not—a—chance—”

As Alice expected, the catkin had promptly rejected her request.

“If you want to visit our tribe, just do so. Why do you need me to pass on your message? With your status as royalty, there’d be plenty of catkins willing to pass on your words for you,” Ciel said as she looked at Alice unhappily.

“You seem to have a very bad opinion of me, Ciel,” Alice said as she scratched her face awkwardly. Then, using Ciel’s refusal as an opportunity, Alice decided to ask the question that had been puzzling her this entire time: “Can I ask what I did wrong?”

“You’ve done nothing wrong. After all, you are the princess,” Ciel said, nudging her mouth. “You’re so popular in the academy, so how would I dare say you’ve done anything wrong?”

Although Ciel had only been expressing her dissatisfaction toward Alice with her words, Alice still managed to discern the cause of Ciel’s dissatisfaction. Looking at the catkin, Alice asked in an uncertain voice:

“Do you perhaps think that…I’ve stolen your limelight?”