Don't Be Obsessed With Your Cat Butler - Chapter 9
Nox secretly observed the suspicious woman as she scattered something strange. Her appearance alone was certainly unusual, which made her easy to spot.
He was perched on a tree branch in his animalized form. Right in front of his nose was the strange paste the suspicious woman had spread. He sniffed it cautiously, and though the strange pull of appetite made him even more suspicious, he couldn’t resist—he ended up licking it.
Hm?
The color was unpleasant, reminiscent of something off-putting, but the taste was not at all. Overwhelmed by a rapturous flavor he had never experienced before, he unknowingly consumed all the paste the woman had scattered on the tree.
“……”
Nox had never intended for things to turn out this way, and he was so startled by his own actions that he couldn’t even make a sound. The woman who had spread this addictively potent substance was now even more suspicious to him.
Was she from the Emperor’s side? Or the wolf werebeasts? Or perhaps the notoriously devious snake werebeasts?
Whoever it was, they had undoubtedly sent someone formidable. Moving swiftly, he leapt and landed on the small window frame near the top of the inn. Through the glass, he could see the suspicious woman moving busily.
Though her head was wrapped in cloth, making it impossible to confirm her hair color, he imagined the black hair that lay beneath. There was no doubt she was suspicious, but he wanted, at least once, to see someone with the same black fur as himself with his own eyes.
In a strange mix of anticipation and suspicion, Nox continued to fixate on Sia—until he finally noticed someone was next to him.
“Kyak!”
Startled, Nox hissed and turned his head. His eyes widened so much they looked like they might split open. Cola, leisurely grooming his paws, stared at Nox with a puzzled expression.
Seeing Cola, a fellow black-furred feline like himself, Nox was momentarily speechless. Could Cedric’s report have been wrong? Could the one before him be the woman from the square that day?
As he contemplated, he quickly realized that the cat in front of him was male. He looked back and forth between Cola and the woman several times, then opened his mouth.
If they were both cat werebeasts, they should be able to communicate, even in their animalized forms.
[State your affiliation and name.]
“Meow!”
[I’ll say it again. State your affiliation and name—]
“Meeeoow!”
Nox was thrown into confusion—he couldn’t understand a word this cat was saying. Why couldn’t they communicate if they were both werebeasts?
[Is it… magic?]
He had heard that mages were eccentric and rarely left the Magic Tower. Still, exceptions could always occur. He himself was an example of that.
The House of Blois was a lineage of white cats considered sacred. Their dazzling blue eyes had also been passed down for generations. Yet, unexpectedly, a black cat was born into that family—him. And only one of his eyes had inherited the blue color.
As he fell into thought, Cola finished grooming and stood up, stretching. Then he calmly stared at Nox. The way he looked at him, as if trying to say something, prompted Nox to look back.
His slowly blinking eyelids seemed to convey reassurance. They had never met before, yet the atmosphere felt peaceful—perhaps because they shared a sense of kinship.
Just as Nox unconsciously relaxed, Cola suddenly nuzzled his head against him, then began to lick the back of Nox’s head. Nox stiffened—he had never been groomed before.
But having someone else do the grooming was an entirely different experience from doing it yourself. The sensation of being licked in places his own tongue couldn’t reach made his body feel like it was melting.
His tense body, wound tight with suspicion, dissolved like liquid. As he purred, Nox remembered the reason he had come and opened his eyes again.
Right in front of him gleamed a pair of yellow eyes.
Backing away, he spoke quietly.
[If you simply tell me your affiliation and name, I won’t make an issue of it.]
Nox considered that this cat might have circumstances of his own. Staring silently at the black fur that resembled his own, he felt something stir in him—not tension, but anticipation.
But then, suddenly, Cola sprang up and bounded away.
Nox stared after him, dumbfounded.
