“Is Yellian still a kitten or something……. Can’t it groom itself?”
Elton, who had business with Leonard, used it as an excuse to visit his room to see Yellian, tilting his head at the sight of Yellian’s spiky fur.
And understandably so, since Yellian didn’t bother to lick its fur dry after the bath. Nor was Leonard the type to painstakingly comb Yellian’s fur with a brush, so Yellian’s fur remained dried just as Leonard had roughly wiped it.
“What’s grooming?”
“Oh, it’s when a cat licks its fur to tidy itself up.”
Elton kindly answered Leonard’s question. At that, Leonard’s brows narrowed. He didn’t bother hiding his displeasure.
“Disgusting. It gets saliva all over.”
“Oh, come on, cat saliva has antibacterial properties that actually eliminate odors and allow them to disinfect themselves. That’s why healthy cats don’t need baths for months. They keep themselves clean enough on their own.”
“……I guess stupid cats are an exception.”
“Huh?”
Recalling the image of Yellian floundering in the toilet, Leonard narrowed his brows and sneered. At that, Yellian, whose painful memory had been dredged up, glared at Leonard with a face full of resentment.
“Anyway, is it a problem if it can’t groom itself?”
“Well, yeah. You’d have to comb its fur, and bathe it more often too.”
As soon as Elton finished answering, Leonard shot Yellian a cold glare. There was no way he’d wash this damned feline humanoid kitten twice.
“Damn it. Make it groom or whatever right now.”
“Myak?!”
Yellian, suddenly forced to groom, expressed its disbelief with a cry, but Leonard remained deadly serious. If anything, he even stared down at Yellian with a coercive gaze.
“If you don’t groom, I’ll shave off that irritating fur completely.”
“Ha……?”
“Ha?”
“Hanyaaang.”
Yellian, dumbfounded and inadvertently responding, quickly corrected itself.
How long would it have to live like this? Why, of all things to possess, did it have to possess a cat? And of all the cats out there, why did it have to be picked up by a guy like Leonard?
Anyway, Yellian didn’t want its fur shaved off completely. If Leonard had said he’d throw it out, Yellian would’ve said, ‘Oh, thank you very much,’ and not even bothered with something resembling grooming until its fur was matted, but becoming a naked cat was out of the question.
In the end, Yellian stuck out its tongue with a sour expression and began half-heartedly grooming its front paw. Grooming its body like a cat while fully retaining a human mind was far more distressing and difficult than expected.
Sneaking a glance at Leonard, Yellian saw a satisfied expression on his face. Though anger boiled within, Yellian had no choice but to keep grooming for now, vowing to repay this humiliation no matter what.
* * *
One problem arose. After a day of bickering with Leonard, getting into a bit of trouble, and even enduring a bath, Yellian was hungry. This wasn’t just a slight hunger like before. It was ravenously hungry.
Yellian paced discontentedly in front of an empty food bowl. The only thing to eat was cat food, but even that had been completely thrown out by Leonard earlier. Of course, Yellian had no desire to eat cat food in its right mind.
To show its displeasure, Yellian stomped the ground with its front paw.
“What is it this time?”
“Myaat.”
“You should’ve eaten when I gave it to you.”
“Myaaat!”
“Don’t talk back.”
“Myak!”
“Who told you to talk back like that? I am a lord. Lord Abrams, no less. No one dares speak back to me. Got it?”
“Myaaaaat!”
At Yellian’s unabashed retort, Leonard tightly shut his eyes to suppress the rising anger and took a deep breath.
When he opened his eyes again, Yellian was lying stretched out sideways, flicking a front paw as if to taunt him. It was an utterly insolent behavior.
“I can’t take it anymore. I’m throwing you out.”
Gasp, yes! Finally, it could be thrown out!
Yellian cheered inwardly. Thinking, ‘So this is what happens when I keep getting on Leonard’s nerves!’ it felt proud that its strategy had worked.
“Ah, no way! My lord! Calm down. How can you say you’ll throw out Yellian, considering what it is!”
Elton hurriedly intervened. Yellian, caught off guard by Elton’s unwanted interference, looked back and forth between Elton and Leonard in confusion.
The two exchanged some incomprehensible looks. Yellian had no way of understanding the meaning behind their gazes.
“Yellian is such a precious being; don’t even think about such a thing! It’s still young, so it’s just a bit disobedient. It’ll get better as it grows.”
“But even so…….”
“Even so, what! And it’s still a kitten; if you throw it out, it won’t survive the outside world and will die!”
“Why should I care?”
“Hah, cold-blooded!”
At Leonard’s icy response, Elton, seemingly genuinely shocked, hugged Yellian tightly.
Suddenly embraced in his arms, Yellian struggled to break free. However, Elton, who had handled countless cats, knew how to hold one properly. Yellian, still not fully adapted to its cat body and clumsy in movement, couldn’t escape from someone like Elton.
“Myaak! Myaaaak!”
“Anyway, don’t say you’ll throw Yellian out. It’s a loss for you too, my lord.”
“……Damn it. How did I end up picking up something like this?”
Though he grumbled, Leonard relatively obediently followed Elton’s words.
At this point, the baffled one was Yellian. Just what made it such a precious cat that Leonard, a man destined to become a mad duke, would listen to Elton?
Having missed the chance to be thrown out, Yellian irritably scratched at Elton’s arm holding it. Though, since Leonard had ignorantly trimmed its claws, it had little effect.
“Myaak! Myaak! Myaaaak!”
“Ah, right. You said you’re hungry, didn’t you? Sorry, I’ll let you go.”
Yellian cried out with the intent of being released immediately, but Elton seemed to misinterpret the meaning of its cries. He carefully set Yellian down and brought over a bag of cat food from a corner of the room.
Waruru.
Elton filled the food bowl to the brim with cat food and smiled contentedly. Of course, Yellian’s face crumpled in displeasure.
“Here, eat.”
“Myaaaaat.”
Though hungry, Yellian didn’t want to eat cat food. With a cry full of discontent, it swatted the food bowl with its front paw. As a result, the cat food scattered everywhere. Seeing this, Leonard’s brows furrowed.
“Just let it starve.”
“Ah, come on, how can you say that? It might not like the taste of the cat food. Even humans are picky eaters; it’s only natural.”
“Really, it’s so annoying.”
Leonard muttered with a frown, then looked at Yellian. Yellian, half-lidded eyes fixed on Leonard, didn’t forget to thump its tail on the ground to express its displeasure.
“You say you’re hungry but refuse to eat the cat food. What exactly do you want?”
“Myaaak.”
“Elton, do cats eat fish too?”
Leonard, who seemed lost in thought for a moment, soon asked Elton.
“Of course. Ah, should I bring some fish? Since it’s still a kitten, raw might not be good…… Should I ask the chef to grill it?”
“Do as you please.”
“Yes, sir! I’ll be right back.”
As soon as Leonard gave permission, Elton hurriedly left the room. Since grilled fish was far better than cat food, Yellian felt quite pleased. Without realizing it, it let out a purring sound, the noise cats make when they’re happy.
“What’s that sound now?”
“Mya?”
Yellian, unaware it was purring, tilted its head, not understanding what Leonard was talking about. At that, Leonard narrowed his eyes.
“Making strange noises now. I’ll have to ask Elton about it.”
“Myaa?”
Still not grasping the meaning of his words, Yellian blinked its large eyes. At that innocent gaze, Leonard’s usually sharp eyes softened just a little. It was a change even Leonard himself didn’t notice.
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