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“Yeah, the devil! Yesterday, I saw the devil hiding in brother’s shadow. A strong cat can wield a demon!”
Come to think of it, I remembered that the Duke of Blois had summoned a demon during a fierce battle with the male protagonist in the novel.
Cat beasts were known to have nine lives and are said to use one of them as collateral to make a contract with a devil.
Nevertheless, I was still worried.
“But, how will he react if he finds out that you are a Shapeshifter…”
I think he allowed me to keep it because he thought it was a regular cat. If it was revealed that Coco was a Shapeshiftercat, I wondered if the Duke would hate Coco even more than when he thought it was a normal cat…
However, Coco spoke confidently.
“The brother, he knows that I am a Shapeshifter.”
“He knows…?”
“We all recognize each other, angel.”
“Although you didn’t tell me anything, though?”
What a shady cat!
What would I have done if I had changed clothes in front of him without knowing that Coco was a Shapeshifter?
‘Didn’t you say this so that I would know?’
As I pushed my lips out and made a dissatisfied look on my face, Coco swung the pen on the table with its foot and spoke indifferently.
“Originally, it’s supposed to be a secret angel. When turned into a human, the characteristics of the beasts are so prominent that we cannot hide our identity. However, when we are in the form of a cat, humans cannot recognize us unless we directly reveal it.”
The pen Coco was playing with tumbled down the table.
With its round head bowed and looking down, Coco, satisfied with the pen falling down, raised his head with its eyes twinkling.
“Keeping each other’s identities a secret. This was our unwritten rule, angel. So, don’t be angry.”
“All right. If that’s the case, I’ll try to talk to him. Though you need me, too.”
* * *
Dimitri turned into a cat and sat on the wall of the annex. It was because he was curious about what Rowaine was doing with Coco.
‘I heard that damn bastard has been spraying a lot of pheromones in my mansion since morning.’
Although he was staying still as Coco was with Rowaine, he couldn’t deny that it was pricking his nerves.
‘If I see it again, I’ll have to scold it.’
While he was poking around, he could see Rowaine coming out of her room with Coco. It seemed that the two were heading straight for the main building.
Dimitri followed the two in hiding.
As she met the butler on her way, Rowaine asked.
“Where is the Duke?”
‘She’s finding me…?’
It was then that he realized that she was coming to see him and ran back to the office.
As soon as he quickly turned back into human form, Dimitri adjusted his clothes and gathered his breath. Adjusting his appearance, the butler who had brought Rowaine at just the right time, knocked on the door.
“The Madam is here.”
“Tell her to come in.”
Rowaine appeared, carrying Coco.
Dimitri lost his temper at the sudden smell of Coco and ran, growling, before grabbing Coco’s back.
Everything happened in an instant.
“Nhgaa—!”
When Coco screamed, Rowaine scrambled to snatch Coco from Dimitri’s hand and hug it.
“Calm down, Duke!”
“He’s been stinking my mansion so much with his smell, Madam.”
Unlike when he ran to Coco, Dimitri spoke as he got up in slow motion and gracefully brushed his hand.
“That’s… I’m sorry. I think Coco wanted to help me.”
Coco let out a whine and dug into her arms.
“Brother hit me, angel!”
‘That wicked cat has revealed its identity. He doesn’t even have a gut.’
Seeing that, he caught Coco’s back again and lifted him up into the air with a ghastly glow in his eyes.
“Who do you dare put the smelly pheromone on, kid?”
Everything in this mansion, whether it be a person or an animal, was the concept of ‘territory’ to Dimitri. Therefore, Rowaine was also his property. Needless to say, he didn’t like Coco, who smeared pheromones in his domain.
‘Should I just kill him?’
While he was contemplating, Coco struggled pathetically and swung his front paw towards Rowaine.
“Angel! I’m scared, angel!”
It was a scene where Shapeshifter and Shapeshifter were fighting, although in the eyes of Rowaine, she could only see an adult man tormenting a small cat.
“Let it go, Duke! It’s a small, weak cat!”
Dimitri, who saw her staring at him as if he was unscrupulous, scoffed.
‘As expected, killing—’
However, contrary to his thoughts, his body was quietly laying Coco on the floor. It was because Rowaine’s face, which was tearing up as she recalled her dead cats, overlapped with her anxious expression as she was worried about Coco.
‘Damn it.’
Coco quickly hid its body behind Rowaine’s legs.
He grunted and opened his mouth.
“What do you mean, a small and weak cat? He’s just a weak kid. An incompetent cat that cannot even break its shackles.”
Dimitri, who clicked his tongue, looked at Coco disapprovingly.
At that moment, Coco, who had been whining with an angelic face, suddenly put on a cheeky face and stuck out its tongue to Dimitri.
‘That…!’
Seeing that, he stretched out his hand. Meanwhile, Coco hurriedly clung to Rowaine’s leg before he could even reach it, screaming in a deadly tone.
“Ahh! Argh—! Angel! Little and weak Coco is dying!”
It was a very, very treacherous cat.
* * *
It took me a while to calm the Duke of Blois before we all eventually sat down on the couch.
“Do you want me to untie the shackles, Madam?”
“If it’s not difficult.”
The Duke leaned back leisurely on the backrest and glanced at Coco.
“It’s not difficult.”
“Really?”
Seeing me reply excitedly, he smiled mischievously and asked another question..
“What if I don’t want to?”
“That… would be difficult.”
I dropped my shoulder and glanced at Coco.
Coco, who was not able to overcome Duke Blois’s annoyance and sat on the other side of the diagonal far away from him, stared at me pitifully and sighed.
Duke Blois’s eyes narrowed.
He tapped his finger on the armrest of the sofa he was sitting on as if telling me to look at him.
“Look at me, because this greedy scoundrel keeps bewitching the wife.”
“I don’t think he’s enthralling me…”
As my gaze began to return to Coco again, the Duke noticed it quickly and tapped the armrest again.
“Look at me, Madam.”
I don’t know why the Duke keeps talking about Coco like that.
‘I’m not beguiled, it’s just objectively cute.’
Coco, with the cotton candy-like fluffy wheat-colored fur, was such a cute cat.
“The shackles, can’t you even look at that?”
“I don’t want to look at that rascal.”
A pun.
[ T/N: It’s a play on word in Korean with the word 봐서라도 and 봐버려서, though it doesn’t really translate. ]
“Narrow-minded.”
“I heard you.”
“I-I said the sun is shining today. The weather is especially nice today, right?”
I hurriedly made something up, though the Duke just looked at me with a distrustful look.
At that moment, Coco, who was crouching down on the big sofa, shivering sadly, raised its front feet and said.
“If you don’t like me, just take off the shackles and I’ll leave here. What do you think, brother?”
“Who is your brother? This had been bothering me since earlier.”
“Hnng…”
Coco gazed at me with tearful eyes.
“Do you have a place to go?”
“Where there’s freedom! I want to go out into the vast world!”
“I see… as expected.”
If it was a cat that had nowhere to go and lacked the ability to live on the street, I would have taken it with me, but Coco was a free-willed beast. If he wanted to leave me, it was right for me to let it go.
I gently calmed the Duke, who was scoffing.
“If you don’t release the shackles, Coco will continue to be with me. So, wouldn’t it be better to free the shackles and let it go?”
Hearing my words, he put his chin on the armrest of the sofa with a languid look on his face.
“Tell it to stay with you in shackles, be incompetent and cute—like a clown. That’s what I decided for him.”
I could sense the dark energy of the villain who said those words.
“If I refute some of those words, wouldn’t the Duke’s heart be more reluctant?”
Then, he responded jokingly, “Have courage, Madam. I’m not going to do it anyway, but wouldn’t it be good for the wife to try to be honest with me?”
“That’s true, too.”
I accepted it and confessed openly thanks to his support.
“Were you originally such a mean person? You’re so mean.”
“Are you really that honest?”
“I’m just telling you how I wanted it. It would be a waste if I miss the chance.”
“I don’t know how you would have endured it if I hadn’t given you a chance?”
“It must have been difficult to endure, although I was lucky that you gave me permission.”
The speechless Duke of Blois touched his forehead as if he had lost. Eventually, a smirk leaked from under his hand that covered his face.
“At this point, it seems that I’ll keep hearing your honest criticism until I release the shackles… All right, fine.”
Is that permission…?
Excited, my eyes glistened as I put my hands together and flattered him.
“As expected, as handsome as you are, you also have an open mind.”
Perhaps, it was plain flattery. The Duke twisted his arm, which was holding his chin, and staggered.
“…What the wife said is correct.”
Although he had a bewildered expression, he didn’t seem to hate it because he was turning red.
‘He likes compliments.’
He crossed his arms and stared at Coco.
“If I release the shackles, will it leave without making a fuss?”