Don't Be Obsessed With Your Cat Butler - Chapter 16
“…What?”
While Heimer was caught off guard, Sia successfully pulled her wrist free and hurriedly backed away, shouting once more.
“I’m sorry! I’m bald!”
“What’s going on?”
Just then, Karin emerged carrying a bowl of stew. Sia immediately rushed over to her and stuck close behind. In this world, the only person she could trust was Karin.
“What’s this, Mr. Heimer? Were you messing with Sia?”
Karin had already noticed that some customers were showing interest in Sia. Her appearance clearly differed from those of the Pelles Empire—and on top of that, she was pretty, so it was only natural people would be curious. However, she hadn’t expected anyone to flirt so openly. Let alone Mr. Heimer, a regular.
Caught off guard in multiple ways, Heimer quickly tried to defend himself.
“N-No… I wasn’t flirting or anything. I was just curious…”
Knowing Karin’s temperament, he nervously glanced at the stew he’d just barely earned, afraid it might get taken away.
“You were staring at Sia so blatantly all this time and now you’re saying you weren’t?”
“Ah… No, I mean…”
While Karin and Heimer bickered, a noisy sound echoed from outside. Thud-thud-thud-thud… As if something were being pounded—then, a slight vibration followed.
With sharper hearing than Sia, Karin turned her head toward the sound. So did Heimer. Sia, confused, looked out the window with them.
That’s when she finally realized what the noise was. Horses filled the view through the shop window.
Bang bang!
They knocked on the door, as if they had urgent business. But… why so aggressively? They could’ve just come in.
Sia stood frozen, her eyes wide. She had never experienced anything like this and had no idea how to respond. Karin seemed just as startled but managed better than she did.
Karin placed the bowl of stew on the nearest table and hurried to the door.
Bang bang!
As the knocking continued, she flung the door open—and tensed up at the overwhelming presence of the knights gathered at the entrance.
“Wh-what’s the matter?”
Even Karin, who rarely lost her composure, was stammering. Sia tensed even more. Karin had mentioned knights before, but she had never expected to meet one in person.
“Move aside.”
At the voice coming from behind, the commander of the Blois Duchy’s knight order stepped aside. A man emerged, barely concealed even behind the commander’s large frame.
The moment the people outside spotted the black-haired man, they all dropped to their knees. If you were a resident of Blois territory, there was no way you didn’t know who he was—the one who bore the ominous black hair.
Sia couldn’t take her eyes off the man slowly entering the shop. It was partly because he was the first black-haired person she’d seen here besides herself, but more than that, she simply couldn’t look away from his face.
Just like the handsome black cat she had met the day before, the man had mystical odd eyes. And he wasn’t just good-looking—his features were dangerously attractive, exuding a decadent charm.
Tall at around 190cm, the man had a long, lean build. His narrow eyes appeared languid but slightly tilted upward, giving him a sharp, aloof expression. His moderately full lips sat under a high-bridged nose and contrasted starkly with his pale skin in a vivid rose-pink undertone. He was both handsome and beautiful, and the intensity with which he stared at her made Sia incredibly flustered.
Slowly, he opened his mouth.
“You—what’s your name?”
Only after returning to the ducal manor had Nox realized he had never asked for the suspicious woman’s name. He couldn’t very well order his subordinates to bring in a nameless woman, so he came in person.
To be with her, just as she had wished.
“S-Sia… hic!”
Startled beyond belief, Sia hiccuped the moment she answered. She couldn’t run away, nor could she approach. Nox slowly walked toward her. The pressure was immense, like being cornered by a predator.
Even so, Sia couldn’t look away from the man before her. Because his hair was black—just like hers.
‘Karin did say there was a black-haired cat werebeast in Blois… Is that… him?’
Back when Karin said she couldn’t tell her more, Sia now understood why. Even at a glance, this man clearly wasn’t of ordinary status.
‘Wait—what if he figured out I’m from another dimension? What if he drags me away and tortures me? What do I do? What excuse can I make…?’
As Nox approached right up to her, he swiftly reached out to confirm whether what he had seen last night had been a dream or not.
Flick—
The cloth carefully wrapped around her head came undone in an instant by his hand. Her long, black, silk-like hair spilled down where the white cloth had once been.
From outside the shop, the knights watching groaned softly. Others nearby, peering in through the windows, witnessed the whole scene.
It was the moment when the number of ‘cursed black-haired’ individuals in the Blois territory increased from one to two.
