Chapter 18
Süleyman’s footsteps drew closer.
It was the first time I had ever witnessed someone die, and I was in a mild state of shock.
Even though he had saved me, I couldn’t help but feel afraid as he approached.
When his movement stopped in front of me, I looked up at him with trembling eyes.
“Why are you crying?”
“Huh…?”
When I raised my hand to touch my cheek, damp moisture spread under my fingers.
I hadn’t realized I was crying out of sheer terror.
He knelt down in front of me and reached out toward my face.
Startled, I flinched and shrank back, but he gently wiped my tears and murmured,
“Don’t cry.”
That short, clear phrase shook me helplessly inside.
Embarrassed, I lowered my head. He withdrew his hand and asked,
“Why did you block them? Weren’t you one of those assassins?”
I hesitated, unsure where to begin explaining, when Süleyman spoke first.
“Come to think of it, you never spoke. You only made that strange catlike cry.”
“…I can talk.”
For the first time, genuine surprise flashed across his face.
After a brief silence, he asked me again,
“Let me ask once more. Just who are you?”
“I’m…”
The cat who sleeps and wakes beside you every night.
…But of course, I couldn’t say that!
I bit my lip, unable to think of a proper answer. He stared at me with a serious look and said,
“I thought you were someone my mother sent, but after investigating, there was no record of anyone like you in the palace. Heterochromatic eyes, silver hair… Your looks are too striking to go unnoticed.”
“…I’m not a suspicious person.”
“But there are far too many suspicious things about you. If people come now, you’ll be interrogated in place of those assassins. Do you still want that?”
“Are you kidding? How could I want that?”
“Then tell me who’s behind you. I’ll protect you. Is it Roxelana?”
Who the heck is that?
I couldn’t take it anymore—I’m your cat!!
…Just as I was about to blurt it out, dozens of hurried footsteps and urgent shouts came rushing toward the room.
“Prince! Prince Süleyman! Are you safe?!”
“…They sure took their sweet time. Useless fools.”
Cursing, he grabbed my wrist and shoved me into the wardrobe.
“Stay in here. Don’t come out, or you’ll lose your life before the night is over.”
“No, wait, I—!!”
“Shh. They’re coming. Keep your mouth shut.”
Click.
The wardrobe door shut just as soldiers stormed into the room.
“You’re safe, Your Highness! Thank goodness.”
“Move the bodies to the forensic chamber immediately. I’ll examine them myself.”
“The room is in disarray, sire. Perhaps we should tidy up before—”
“Silence. Are you questioning my command?”
“N-no, sir!!”
“Preserve the scene exactly as it is. Don’t touch a single thing. I’ll look around again after examining the bodies.”
Saluting briskly, the soldiers carried out the corpses strewn across the floor.
Peeking through a crack in the wardrobe, I swallowed hard.
When everyone finally left and silence settled over the room, my strength gave out and I slumped down.
“What the hell is going on…”
Just when I was getting used to the peaceful life of a little kitten.
Suddenly, a breathtakingly beautiful woman appeared in my dream claiming to be a god.
I learned to wield strange powers, only to witness assassins dropping dead before my eyes.
My heart was as heavy as the tear stains stuck to my cheek.
I debated whether to step out of the wardrobe but decided instead to stay curled up inside and wait for him to return.
If I suddenly appeared outside now, I’d be mistaken for a suspicious person, just as he said.
I resolved that when Süleyman came back, I would finally confess—I am that little kitten.
Yet something nagged at me.
Why had he saved me in human form, when he’d only seen me like this once before?
He wiped my tears and hid me away. Is he really like this?
Maybe he had compassion beneath that cold exterior.
“Ahh, I don’t know anymore.”
So much had happened in a single night that my head was spinning.
Sighing, I pulled Süleyman’s clothes over me like blankets inside the wardrobe and spent the sleepless night wide awake.
A few hours later.
Süleyman left the forensic chamber in a somber mood.
The two corpses bore no clear clues to their backers.
All they carried were poison capsules hidden in their mouths and a peculiar stone tucked into their clothes.
Whatever artifact it once was had already lost all power, now nothing but an ordinary rock.
Following Iblan’s advice, he left it for further analysis, though it would take considerable time. The delay only made his anxiety worse.
This has to be the work of Teron and Roxelana.
Since he had left the capital to govern a province, assassination attempts had hounded him relentlessly.
It was the very reason he refused to let anyone stay long in his residence—not even servants.
After returning to the capital as governor, the threats seemed to subside for a while, but now, on the eve of his inauguration, here they were again.
An attempt on my life right before the ceremony. Only a fool or someone with immense courage would dare such a thing.
And it had been executed meticulously.
The assassins had infiltrated through the garden window with an escape route ready.
The rare anesthetic incense that knocked everyone into a deep sleep had been the work of a bribed servant.
By the time Süleyman’s men broke in, the servant had already hanged himself.
“To stir up such chaos inside the palace itself…”
It was far too well-prepared to have been arranged overnight.
“They’ve grown bold enough to run wild.”
Grinding his teeth, he seethed with rage.
If not for his mother, he would already have taken ruthless action to eliminate them.
Süleyman did not believe in keeping his hands clean.
He met filth with filth, and he repaid threats against his people many times over. That was his creed.
But Hürrem, after the bloody purges, had worked hard to maintain stability and refused to provoke further strife.
He knew well that it was because she wanted him to ascend as the next sultan without obstacles.
It had already been two years since she promised to hand him the throne within five.
Now she sought to solidify his future reign by carefully consolidating her power.
Süleyman, however, who believed attack was the best defense, chafed under her restraint.
Still, he couldn’t deny that she was right.
There were six princes in total. Two had died young, leaving four—of whom he and Teron were the strongest contenders.
Teron’s family poured immense wealth into the capital through donations, charity, and support of noble trade and enterprises.
From commoners to nobles, no one failed to sing their praises.
Crossing such a family recklessly would invite disaster.
Thus Hürrem wished Süleyman to secure the throne first before ruling as he saw fit.
Am I supposed to just endure all this until then?
His fiery temperament was not suited to patience.
The assassination attempt earlier was no exception.
Though his body was paralyzed by the anesthetic, his mind was partly awake.
Thanks to his natural resistance to drugs and poison, he endured what would have killed an ordinary man.
He couldn’t move, yet faintly sensed someone shaking and calling to him.
Through the haze, he felt a fragile body holding him tightly, carrying a sweet fragrance that made his head spin.
Then came a rippling clarity, a clean energy washing over him, sharpening his senses.
When he opened his eyes, he saw assassins charging with blades—
and a young woman, eyes squeezed shut, shielding him with her own body.
A delicate figure, fragile enough to break, yet offering her back to protect someone else.
She was unforgettable.
The woman who had appeared once, then vanished without a trace, whom he had been searching for ever since.
Those mismatched eyes staring at him had burned themselves into his heart.
Seeing her tears nearly tore him apart.
Her voice, when he finally heard it, had nearly stopped his heart.
When the bumbling soldiers rushed in, he had almost had to hand her over—an unbearable thought.
“…Maybe I really have lost my mind.”
He knew he hadn’t been thinking straight since the moment he first met her.
Otherwise, why would he have ordered Iblan to scour the palace and the capital for her?
He had claimed she might be a spy for Teron’s side, but in truth, there was no reason.
The moment she disappeared, he longed to see her again.
And when they crossed paths a second time, he realized just how deeply he had missed her.
“…At last.”
Finally arriving back at his chamber, Süleyman opened the door with a trembling heart.
The broken window let in the cold night air; the room remained exactly as he’d left it.
I should have ordered them to cover the window…
Even with the fireplace embers glowing, the chill of the capital’s night might have given her a cold.
To think someone who saved his life was left in such conditions.
The fact that it had been the best choice at the time only angered him more at himself.
He felt like the biggest fool alive.
Slowly, he stepped toward the wardrobe and reached for the handle.
If I open this, will she be inside?
Or perhaps she had run away again.
The thought pricked at him, dread crawling up his spine.
“…What am I even afraid of?”
He muttered in self-mockery and swung the wardrobe doors wide.
Inside, filled with the warm scent of fabric, was something completely different from what he imagined.
“Mrrrow.”
Curled up in her discarded clothes, drooling in her sleep, was a tiny kitten.
“…Hah.”
Süleyman stood frozen, then lowered his hand to gently stroke the little cat.
The fragile fluffball purred with a content smile.
“…Warm.”
The soft touch on his skin reminded him of wiping the woman’s tears earlier.
“Sleeping so soundly, how infuriating.”
Had she disappeared again, leaving only the cat behind?
Lost in thought, Süleyman spent a long time staring down at the tiny kitten nestled in his wardrobe.
