CH 11

Chapter 11 Cat

“Elder Brother, I thought I asked you to let me handle this today!”

“I waited quietly until you pulled her out. Leave the rest to me.”

Mana frowned when she saw Ethan enter the room without hesitation.

She seemed to hate him with all her heart.

I was just getting ready to talk to her, and he just had to ruin it…!

Why haven't you left!?

You've been flirting with a beautiful woman all this time, haven't you?

This was a temple and a sanctuary, you know!?

Anyway, it would be better to keep Ethan and Mana apart for now.

I don't want to ruin the weather any more than we already have.

“Saint-sama is tired and is about to take a rest. You, too, Elder Brother, return to the castle.”

“I don't take orders from you.”

“I don't take orders from you either. I'm here today because Mother told me to.”

“From tomorrow, I'll be dealing with the saint, and I don't care if I have to do it now.”

“Eh…?”

Mana raised a voice like a small scream.

She was silent, but her face was screaming “no” with all her might.

Seeing Mana, Ethan clicked his tongue, and sat down with a thud next to Mana on the sofa.

“Saint, if you spend a day with me, I’ll make sure you'll never want to leave after, you know? Look forward to it…”

Mana, sensing Ethan's movement as he tried to hug her shoulder, dodged Ethan's arm and escaped from the couch, then—

“Eh…?”

For some reason, she came and sat next to me, attached herself to me without any space at all.

We were so close that we were like a N pole and S pole of a magnet.

How did this happen…?

“You…”

Ethan looked at me as if he was trying to kill me.

Wait no, why am I being glared at!?

I was just sitting here you know!?

“Uhm, Saint-sama…?”

Please return to your original or else Elder Brother would glare at me to death!

That was what I was trying to say to her but…

“..........”

He even crossed our arms without saying a word.

Why did it get worse!

But, honestly…I don't feel bad at all.

Suck on that Elder Brother!

Mana smelled so good, and her soft something was hitting me, though I won’t say anything about it.

I should be thanking her for this.

However, If this wasn't my girlfriend who cheated on me in a previous life, and my Elder Brother glaring at me…I wouldn’t be holding back…

But now I’m in trouble, very.

I glanced at Mana, who was entwined with my arms.

In her previous life, she was a mature and calm older sister, but the Mana I see after becoming Edward was acting like a child.

Was this her true nature?

Did you reincarnate and stop being a cat?

…And were you really a dog lover?

Just when I thought she was crying and screaming, and then rubbed herself against me like this…she was really like a moody cat, though…

But, If I took her seriously, I would get hurt.

“Anyway, that's all for today.”

“Then it's my domain from 'tomorrow' on. Saint-sama, get out of this nasty place and come with me to the castle!”

What a persistent sexual harassing muscle head! ...Well, he was right.

For my part, I'd say, “The Saint is still Mana. Don't get involved!”

I'll just have to report what I heard to the queen and that will be the end of the saint-related matters.

I pitied Ethan that she was being hated by Mana, but I'll leave the rest to my brothers.

“Saint-sama, I think I'll go back to the castle now. Do you want to go back to your room in the temple, saint? Or do you want to move to the castle Elder Brother? Considering safety, I think the castle would be better…”

The temple was safe, but if something happened, it was better to be in the castle to deal with it.

“I'll take care of the castle, even if the demons come, I'll protect you.”

“...Demons…?”

Mana’s hand that was holding my hand tightened its grip.

Hey, hey, don't scare her like that.

“Rest assured there are no demons in the castle.”

“That's just a 'for example' scenario. Are you making fun of me? Don't get carried away, all right?”

“...Sorry about that.”

I am not getting carried away.

Rather, I followed through!

You’re trying to be cool, but you’re scaring people away, so you get zero points for that analogy!

“Hey, do you live in a castle too? Will I get to see you again?”

As I was thinking it was time to leave so as not to upset Ethan any further, Mana tugged on my sleeve and asked me.

Hey, stop being cute.

“...Yes. Saint-sama’s room is prepared in the area used by royalty, so it's very close by."

“Then…I will go to the castle.”

You’re coming…?

“Well then, let's make arrangements.”

Two carriages stand side by side in front of the temple.

Ethan was in the front, in the luxurious and magnificent carriage that you can tell at a glance was for an important person.

The carriage in the back, which looks like it belongs to a middle-class aristocrat, was mine.

I used it to get around the orphanage and the city, so I couldn’t afford to make it too luxurious…

I hope I could get a fine carriage if I asked too….

Anyway, my carriage would not be suitable to carry the saint.

Mana probably wouldn't like it, so I asked her to ride in Ethan's carriage. 

Ethan and I were already in the carriage and waiting for Mana.

I wanted to go home first, but he said, "It's outrageous for you to run in front of me," so I waited patiently.

I thought I would just wait and eat the remaining cat cookies, but Mana seemed to have finished her preparations earlier than I expected.

Mana was wearing the same clothes as the priests.

Since the existence of the Saint had not yet been made public, she refrained from dressing like one.

Mana was so happy to see me that she tried to run up to me, but was held back by the priests around her and led toward Ethan.

“Saint-sama, doesn’t seem to want to go with Ethan-sama, doesn’t she?”

Yuno, who had been watching Mana through the carriage window with me, chuckled.

“Well, even though she was with Elder Brother, who is not good for her mental health, she was not alone because she has a female priest with her…so I think she could handle it.  The ride is definitely more comfortable than this one, and if anything goes wrong, my brother has more military might.”

“That’s probably right.”

I told Yuno to close the window and wait for the carriage to start moving.

“I didn't know Master Edward was so good with women.”

He spoke to me with a blank expression on his face…You're kidding, right?

Come to think of it, I hugged Mana in front of Yuno and said a lot of things.

Ugh, That's pretty embarrassing….

“She was like a crying child, and I've already learned how to soothe children at the orphanage.”

Yuno laughed after I put it that way.

I’m serious!

“I could say that we managed somehow…?”

“She's going to move into the castle. That's good, isn't it? I'm done here, so I'll leave the rest to them.”

“I don't think that's going to happen…”

“Hey, don't flag me!”

I have to get over my past life and live in the present.

I couldn’t care about Mana anymore.

“Hmm? What with that noise?”

I thought I would be moving right now, but it was motionless and noisy.

I decided to open the window to see what was going on, and the door opened with a loud bang.

“Wha!?”

the moment it opened, something jumped in and tackled me in the stomach.

It hurt quite a bit…What is it?

“...Saint-sama…?”

Mana?

I heard Yuno's voice and looked at the object clinging to my stomach, it was indeed Mana.

Can't she just appear quietly, like when she was in my room!

“Saint-sama, what’s wrong?”

“Let me ride here….”

She said so and looked at me with teary upturned eyes.

It was not fair, But I will not give in!

“Saint-sama, should…”

“Please…hik….hik….”

Aargh, stop crying!

We were about to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride and we didn't want it to rain!

This was going to incur Ethan's wrath again, but it couldn’t be helped.

I wonder if I could get away from the Saint…