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“I’ll pay sixty million pennies and provide you with jewelry so you won’t be disappointed by what the wife is doing. If the maintenance cost is too high, the elders will chase after me, saying that I was blindly in love and nag me.”
“…That much?”
“When negotiating, it is better to avoid such a reaction as the other person may use it against you.”
Hearing that, I shut my mouth and unknowingly nodded.
‘I’m rich! If I stay here for another month, I’ll get richer day by day!’
It felt like winning the lottery.
Now that it has come to this, it seemed that the employees’ problem had to be addressed even more now.
‘In order to stay together for a long time comfortably and safely.’
So, I asked, trying to calm the excitement of becoming a high-paying person.
“There is one more thing I want to ask you. Of course, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to do it right away, but how many servants can I fire? I wanted to ask if I had that much right…”
Maybe because my voice was too low since I was trying to calm my excitement as much as possible, so, it came out like a small, excited voice. I thought the Duke would have noticed my raging heart, so I was a little embarrassed and faltered towards the end.
He frowned slightly and put his hand to one of his ears.
“What did you say?”
“Well, I want to hire servants…”
“It’s so far away that I can’t hear well. Come a little closer.”
Without thinking, I walked up to him and sat down.
Seeing so, he lifted his finger as if to come closer. Even though I thought it was a little suspicious, I quietly bent down and narrowed the distance with him a little more.
He pulled his upper body forward and whispered in my ear.
“Consult with the butler and wield as many greetings as you like, Madam. By the way, you are getting this much from me, so how about revealing the identity of the perfume you are using?”
Upset, I couldn’t take it after hearing him talking about the perfume again.
I realized he was joking from the start and glared at him.
“Don’t look at me like that. Isn’t it the wife who tempts me with sweet taste?”
At that, I left right away, hating what he just said.
* * *
“Oh, I really want to hold you…”
Gazing at Rowaine’s back, Dimitri licked his lips as though disappointed.
He fell on his desk as if he was melting. The scent of grass left in the air relaxed his whole body. It was really a ticklish scent.
“She ran away so easily.”
He wondered what he could do to keep Rowaine from running away.
“Did I push too hard…?”
‘Well, don’t I get uncomfortable because I feel annoyed when someone touches me?’
“Next time, it would be better to approach her a little more openly and ask.”
* * *
Since the butler said that the paid money could be used freely, I took Agwen with me and left the mansion.
‘I should buy some clothes that fit me properly.’
And so, I wandered around the shopping district with Agwen, buying some comfortable clothes and shoes. It was so exciting to be able to buy anything without worrying about money. I was so excited that I bought Agwen a scarf that she had been fiddling with for a while.
As I did that, she was terrified and trembled.
“Oh, Madam! Don’t be like this. No, no.”
“It is up to me to decide whether or it’s okay or not. I’m buying it because I’m in a good mood after receiving my first paycheck, so there is no next time.”
It was when I forced the scarf to Agwen’s hand and turned around…
“Nyan, nyaan—”
There was the sound of a cat crying from somewhere.
Was it because my head is always full of thoughts about cats? It seemed that I could hear the sound particularly well. Immediately, I straightened my head like a meerkat and focused on the direction the sound was coming from.
“What’s wrong, Madam?”
“Shh. Cats are fighting.”
Agwen tilted her head slightly at my words, not knowing what I was talking about.
Nevertheless, I grabbed her hand and sprinted towards the sound.
The sound was coming from the back alley of the shopping mall. It was only after wandering through the maze of alleys that I found a group of cats fighting.
“What are you going to do?”
“Just to see if anyone was hurt.”
Cats fight for territory, and they could get seriously injured or die.
Even though I can’t always stop them from chasing after them, if I didn’t check them out like this, I would be too worried and uncomfortable.
‘Really, I’m just going to check it with my own eyes and leave.’
Then, I suddenly remembered that I had healing powers.
‘That’s right, if there’s a cat that’s injured, I can treat it myself!’
I was suddenly excited at the sudden realization and carefully observed the gathered cats, hiding behind the wall.
There were four cats on the dead-end side of the street, and two of them were fighting. It was probably a group of three, and the one in the corner was the newcomer.
I was surprised to see the guy in the corner.
‘It’s serious…!’
His condition was not serious. He was a sick guy with scabs clinging to his hair and a shriveled face.
‘That’s not a wound from a fight between cats.’
Cats usually attack the neck, face, legs, or buttocks. So, it was strange that his body was covered in scabs like that.
‘If they thought they would lose the fight, they’d have run away before it got to this point… Cats don’t chase people who run away from their territory.’
Judging from the intuition of a ten-year-old cat butler like me, the cat driven into that defense was more likely to have been abused by humans. It was as if he was running away from human hands and then accidentally entered another cat’s territory and was chased like that.
“Wait here, Agwen. Don’t make a sound.”
After telling Agwen firmly, I chased away the three cats from a distance. Meanwhile, the guy in the corner limped in the opposite direction to the guys who ran away.
As I blocked the guy’s path with my body, wary, the cat stepped back.
“Shh, it’s okay.”
I lowered my posture in the slowest possible motion and blinked my eyes at him.
“I won’t hurt you.”
He was staring at me with big blue eyes.
“I’m trying to help. I want to help you.”
Is this going to work?
It was a difficult task for me to reassure a cat whom I had just met. But, he looked so sick and tired. I knelt on the floor and waited for him, hoping my whole heart would reach the cat in front of me.
Fortunately, he didn’t run away. He seemed too weak to do that.
‘I don’t even have a bag to put a cat in. Can I catch him…?’
It was almost impossible to capture a cat without a cat cage. No matter how gentle a domestic cat is, when they go outside, they become more vigilant and rebellious. However, I couldn’t leave him alone.
Besides, I also have healing powers that I can share as much as I want!
“Can I take a look?”
It would be nice if he could just stay still for a little while.
Carefully, I stretched out my hand slowly so as not to startle him. Upon closer inspection, it was a wheat-colored cat with long hair though it seems to be getting darker as time goes on, perhaps dirty.
He glanced at me, alternately looking into my eyes and hands. But, he didn’t run away while he got my hands close to my nose.
‘I think he’s familiar with human’s touch.’
Otherwise, the cat would not have allowed a stranger to come close to it in such an injured state.
I swallowed dry saliva and carefully extended my index finger to him so that he could approach me first, sniffing.
‘Please, please.’
Staring at my fingers, the cat poked its moist nose to the tip of my finger.
‘It’s done!’
Singing with delight, I gently tickled his forehead and moved closer.
“Ah, how did you get hurt like this?”
His wounds were more serious than expected. I thought that if I had left him like this, he might have died today.
“Hold on a little bit. I will make you feel better.”
Saying so, I placed my hand near his wound. The cat flinched, though miraculously, he didn’t run away.
“Don’t get sick, don’t get sick, don’t get sick…”
As he concentrated my mind, I could feel a warm aura pulsing from my palm and seeping into the cat’s body.
“That should be enough…”
When I took my hand off, I saw that the terrible wound had healed quite a bit. Even I was amazed.
“It’s really done. Wow.”
I didn’t know such a deep wound would be treated so quickly like this. I felt like I had made a name overnight.
Even the cat stretched out his crouched body, licked the wounded area, and looked back at me as it couldn’t believe that the pain had disappeared so quickly.
If I had to guess, he seemed to be in a better mood now.
“Oh, are you okay? Doesn’t it hurt? It’s good? That’s a relief.”
I thought he was going to run away now.
However, unbelievably, he rumbled over to me and rubbed its face in my hands.
“Thank you. Oh, are you thanking me?”
Did the cat know that I treated it? It’s so fascinating, how cute!
I wish I had something for him to eat. If it was closer to the mansion, I wanted to take it and wash its hair, even if it was clogged with scabs.
It’s a pity I couldn’t do it, although my job ended here.
“I don’t know if you have a place to go…”
I struggled to take a step that did not fall.
At that moment, Agwen, who had been rolling her feet in fear of danger without knowing what I was doing in a distant place, slowly approached me.
I turned around to her.
“It looked like a serious injury, but when I looked closely, it must have been just a small wound.”
“That’s a relief. I feel bad for it.”
She lifted me up and gently brushed the hem of my skirt.
“Madam, he’s not running away?”
Agwen whispered.
As she said, the cat was still staring at us.