When around a week passed, even the nervous Prince was more or less used to the guards. He also got used to the person called Legato and gradually the occasions when he woke up in the middle of the night reduced, and yesterday he slept tightly right up until daybreak.
He was finally able to have a soundless sleep. I was relieved as it was genuinely good for the prince’s health too.
In the morning Legato, while telling the prince 「Yesterday night, you didn’t wake up even once」too showed a smile.
As the Prince became healthier, both us adults felt our fatigue accumulating, however.
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I thought, It’d be fine for Legato to have someone else substitute for him at times, but there was no one in the squad more competent than Legato, but Legato himself had a strong sense of responsibility, and added to it he was adored by the prince, so he thought it’d be difficult to get a substitute.
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In the midst of it, I entered the bed chambers with the prince just as usual. Legato too followed silently behind, and placed a chair at his usual position and sat down.
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「Earl, G’night.」
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The prince gave me a goodnight kiss on my forehead. When the adorable prince did that I felt embarrassed, but a part of me felt apologetic too. Actually, he was kissing an uninspiring, good for nothing magician nearing 30.
If possible, I’d like to pass this one month in peace without my identity being revealed. For the sake that I don’t shatter the dreams of a pure boy!
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When the prince got in bed, he fell fast asleep, as if the difficulty in sleeping up until now was a lie. Regular and healthy quiet breaths echoed in the room.
While swaying my tail to fight off my drowsiness, I who was absentmindedly gazing at that sleeping face, seeing that the prince was fast asleep, quietly lifted my body up.
I thought Since he’s sleeping so well, there’d be no problem if I moved about a bit. It’d be impossible for me to last this one month unmoving like this. I’d go crazy from being so idle. In my head to make good use of the work from daytime, I’d think of magic formulations, but there was a limit to that. For the most part, I felt sleepy and thus couldn’t think straight and I wasn’t able to get any useful thoughts.
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Thinking of moving my body to fight off my drowsiness, I jumped off the bed onto the floor taking the greatest care not to make a sound. Even when I strained my ears, there were no signs of the prince waking up, and only his silent sleeping breaths were heard.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I ensured that my claws didn’t dig in and walked on the floor. I felt a gaze on me. When I raised my head, I saw Legato, sitting on the chair, looking at me with reproachful eyes. He seemed to silently caution me, If you move, the prince will wake up, but I pretended not to understand.
Legato turned his eyes at the prince sleeping on the bed, but seeing him sleep as usual, his gaze softened. But still, his gaze returned to me once again.
I wondered Why is he looking at me that much, but I understood it.
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That makes sense. Legato too is idle and has no choice.
He ended up looking at something moving unintentionally.
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Even I’d have my eyes glued if I’d see a mouse running about when I’m on the top of the bed.
I quietly loitered around the room, but I quickly grew bored. During that period of time too, Legato’s absentmindedness gaze continued to follow me.
I who came to the conclusion that there was no way to kill time in this room other than with Legato after all, approached him.
Legato, who was convinced that he was hated by animals, even while guarding for about this one week, did not approach me. It seemed as if he thought that if he scared me and I ran away from the prince’s side, he’d be troubled.
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When I snuggled up to Legato’s feet that were on the floor, he stood still as if his body had gone stiff. It seemed as if he really hasn’t played with animals.
I wanted to jump up on the chair, but if I think to jump onto the long-legged chair that Legato is sitting on, a considerable jump strength is necessary. Normally I’d be able to do it but to put it into practice while not making a sound is a bit too hard.
When I climbed up onto the legs wearing the Knight Order’s boots, Legato after momentarily going stiff on seeing me, slowly stretched his legs. As the slope of the legs became gentler, I quietly rushed up those legs and arrived on top of Legato’s lap.
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I’d expected it, but Legato was considerably surprised seeing me, who climbed up on his lap, and his eyes grew round. That reaction was extremely amusing, and I thought Looking at such a Legato is the best way to kill time, right.
Legato really wasn’t liked by animals. The clear eyes that I gazed at to observe were purely surprised, but they still seemed a bit happy.
â€Legato nervously, in order to not scare me, timidly brought his hand nearer. I, twitching my whiskers, internally retorted, if you act so roughly, animals will perceive it as something threatening unnecessarily. It was a sign of me laughing internally.
Legato’s hand was placed on my body. The black coat of fur that had been maintained every single day thanks to the prince, must have surely felt nice to the touch. There were many things linked between my transformed form and my human form, and lately, my hair even in human form seemed to have become lustrous. My hair weirded them out to the point that 「Your hair’s kinda pretty huh…」was something I frequently heard.
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Legato placed his hand on my body to make me waver, but I didn’t show any signs of running away, and rather laid down on top of Legato’s lap as if I was content with it, and that hand, albeit clumsy, began petting my fur.
It’s a perk, thinking that and comfortably enjoying the feel of that hand, my heart felt satisfied. With this, I could kill time. Even for Legato, petting a cat would help distract him. It was a win-win situation.
I wonder if he got used to it amidst petting, his hand movements seem to have become gentler. Having my coat petted by a huge hand was comfortable.
I and Legato had no choice. Since there was nothing else to do, in the end, both of us were in the same condition until morning.
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However, there was a problem. Though it killed time, being petted by a person made me feel excessively sleepy. I fell half asleep many times and woke up many times, but if Legato sensed something amiss, he’d surely get up or something, and with that movement, I should wake up too.
Assuming so, I thought conveniently that my sleeping might not be a problem, and I ended up dozing off for a bit.
Rather than Legato, it’s surely me that’s reaping the benefits.
I feel sorry for him.
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But still at dawn, when the time when the prince’s sleep would become shallow came, I got down from Legato’s lap. Since Legato gently put me down on the floor, I jumped onto the bed and unconcernedly slipped near the prince. To show him I’ve been here for the whole night.
The prince, not noticing I’d cheated him through the night, greeted me with a cute wake-up smile, saying 「Morning, Earl」.
The fact that one ends up learning only how to cheat as they become an adult, is something I do regret a bit.
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