In the end, far from filling its belly as much as it wanted, Yellian, who had unintentionally put on a cat show for the people at the banquet, was fuming with anger. In a fit of rage, it flipped onto its back, rolling this way and that, venting its frustration.
“Myaaaaak! Myak! Myaaaaak!”
Of course, it didn’t forget to cry out in a voice full of irritation.
Whether he knew Yellian’s feelings or not, Leonard, the very person who had grabbed Yellian, shook his head and clicked his tongue.
He couldn’t help but wonder where on earth such a bad-tempered feline humanoid had come from. Honestly, it was also kind of funny. The sight of this tiny creature throwing a tantrum was so absurd that he almost let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha, ha…….”
Naturally, Yellian had no idea what Leonard was thinking. It just felt annoyed by his laughter. So, Yellian glared fiercely at Leonard.
If it had its way, it would have bitten him hard, but knowing full well that biting the mad duke would only result in death, it stopped at the thought.
“What a ridiculous little thing.”
“Myep.”
Yellian responded in a voice full of discontent and smacked its tail against the floor with a thud. It wasn’t intentional; it was just so annoyed that its tail moved on its own. As a result, Yellian didn’t even realize it had smacked the floor with its tail.
“Lord! Lord!”
At that moment, Elton’s urgent voice calling for Leonard rang out. His shout was so loud that to Yellian’s sensitive hearing, it felt like a building was collapsing. In pain, Yellian covered both ears with its tiny front paws.
“Ah, there you are! Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you? Uh, what’s wrong with Yellian?”
What’s wrong? It’s because you’re too loud.
Yellian glared at Elton with resentful eyes, but he was too busy looking at Yellian with a worried expression.
“Are you hurt? Are your ears itchy?”
“Myaaak.”
“Ah, your ears are itchy! Could it be ear mites? I should clean your ears first.”
That’s not it!
Yellian turned its head sharply as a way of responding.
The problem was that Elton didn’t pick up on Yellian’s feelings at all. He grabbed Yellian with the determination to clean its ears right away, staring intently at every part of its body.
“Myaaaaak!”
You crazy guy, stop it! Stop!
Yellian cried out irritably, twisting its body this way and that. Soon, its flexible body stretched out like melted cheese.
Perhaps because it had clearly adapted to a cat’s body more than a few days ago, Yellian managed to make things quite difficult for Elton. Of course, it didn’t succeed in escaping his grasp, but it did manage to make him flustered and unsure of what to do.
“Stay still for a bit, Yellian.”
“Let me go. I don’t want this.”
Leonard, who had been quietly watching the scene, spoke curtly and clicked his tongue. At his superior’s words, Elton couldn’t hold onto Yellian any longer. Though still uneasy and worried, he carefully let Yellian go.
As soon as it was released, Yellian instinctively darted away from Elton. Then, it busied itself grooming the fur that had been ruffled and sticking out from being held in Elton’s grip. Anyone could see it was a very cat-like behavior.
“It seems Yellian likes the lord.”
“What?”
“Myep?!”
At Elton’s pleased remark, Leonard furrowed his brow, and Yellian let out a startled cry. Elton tilted his head in confusion at the dissatisfied reactions of the man and the cat.
“But look, Yellian is grooming at the lord’s feet. Doesn’t that mean it feels comfortable with the lord?”
Gasp.
At Elton’s words, Yellian was struck with shock. It had done it unconsciously, truly without realizing it. There was no way it had groomed on purpose, and the fact that it was at Leonard’s feet wasn’t something it had chosen either.
Yellian felt as though it had truly become a cat. Though its appearance was undeniably that of a cat, its mind was still human. It had no intention of giving up its human dignity even for a moment, but now it was horrified at the fear of completely turning into a cat.
Meanwhile, Leonard felt a strange emotion. The idea that this tiny feline humanoid felt comfortable with him was both bewildering and amusing. Becoming a comforting presence to such a trivial and small creature wasn’t exactly a pleasant thought.
That said, it wasn’t unpleasant either. It wasn’t worth getting angry over, as if to say, how dare something like you look down on me. Getting upset over it would only make him look more ridiculous.
Since it didn’t feel as bad as he thought, Leonard quietly looked down at Yellian, who was half-frozen at his feet.
For some reason, the little thing looked shocked, its expression frozen. Its fluffy beige fur, large grayish-blue eyes, tiny mouth tightly shut, and the fur around its mouth tinged with a strange white hue.
Even to Leonard, who had never known what cuteness was, it looked pretty cute. He admitted it. The creature was quite cute.
Of course, knowing that Yellian’s cuteness was purely due to its fur, Leonard decided not to be fooled by it. He already knew from seeing it soaked that once that fluffy fur got wet, it looked like some kind of monster cub.
“What an impudent little thing.”
“Myaap.”
At Leonard’s words, Yellian cried out in a disrespectful tone. Leonard’s eyebrow twitched upward, but Yellian pretended not to notice.
Anyway, I don’t like it.
Swallowing the words that rose to its throat, Yellian toddled across the room on its short legs, trying to get as far away from Leonard as possible.
* * *
A few days later,
Crash, bang, crash. Crash, bang, crash.
Yellian was running around like crazy. Leonard, who had been looking at documents on a scroll of parchment, narrowed his eyes sharply. He glared at Yellian, who had been darting around like a mad cat with no apparent purpose, with great displeasure.
“Elton, explain to me why that crazy cat is acting like this.”
“It’s zoomies.”
“What’s that?”
“Zoomies… it’s a kind of play. You could call it a stress reliever. Since the lord hasn’t played fishing games with it, it seems to be doing zoomies even more intensely.”
At Elton’s explanation, Leonard’s brow furrowed. He couldn’t understand why this feline humanoid was so annoying and bothersome. He felt like he’d already done enough by feeding, housing, and bathing it, but now he had to play with it too? It was truly an irritating existence.
Unlike the thoughts of the two men, Yellian felt quite refreshed. Of course, that didn’t mean it felt good.
Anyway, Yellian was in pretty decent shape right now. Its injured body had fully healed. Moreover, it had completely adapted to a cat’s body.
Honestly, it wasn’t sure if this was a good thing. It was confusing whether adapting completely to a cat’s body as a human was something to view positively or to be sad about. Whatever the case, it had become able to control its body freely as a cat.
In other words…….
‘I’m ready to bolt.’
Yellian barely held back a burst of laughter. There were reasons it hadn’t made a proper attempt to escape from the mad duke Leonard’s mansion until now. First, it was injured, and second, it hadn’t fully adapted to a cat’s body.
But now that both issues were resolved, all it needed was to seize the right moment to run. So, Yellian running around like crazy right now was a kind of training. Training to bolt swiftly without hesitation when the right time came.
Running around so frantically, its breath caught up to its chin. Yellian opened its mouth, panting heavily with ragged breaths. Its pink nose had turned a deep pink, and its pink tongue was sticking out.
“Oh my, it’s even doing dog breathing. Why didn’t you run in moderation?”
“Dog breathing?”
“It means breathing through the mouth. Usually, they breathe through their mouth when they’re stressed or excited like just now.”
At Elton’s explanation, Yellian belatedly realized it had been doing dog breathing. It quickly shut its mouth. Instead, it slumped down, sitting with its tired body stretched out.
Leonard, who had been quietly watching the scene, shifted his gaze to Yellian’s fluffy little bells.
“Elton, do cats absolutely need to be neutered?”
“Yes, it’s essential. It can prevent problem behaviors during heat, and for their health, neutering is a must.”
At Leonard’s sudden question, Elton answered firmly. Yellian rolled its large eyes back and forth, looking between the two men.
The word neutering sounded quite ominous, but since Yellian was in the position of faithfully playing the role of a cat right now, it pretended to know nothing. Its gaze was the epitome of innocence and purity.
“I see. Then schedule neutering for this little thing.”
“What?! No!!!!!!!!”
Yellian, facing the crisis of losing its pair of bells, screamed in shock, and startled eyes turned toward the fluffy bundle.
Ah, I’ve messed up.
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