Chapter 16
Sophie, who had been standing behind, quickly stepped forward and handed the order slip to the duchess.
“No, Madam. The rest will be delivered to the mansion once production is complete.”
At that, the duchess’s lips curved ever so slightly upward.
“This isn’t bad at all. Come in.”
So, if she hadn’t been satisfied, she really would have sent us back to the shopping district.
A mother who kicks her daughter out for not being extravagant… utterly absurd.
As soon as we returned to the room, Eloise set me down on the floor.
“Lisette, you did well.”
Going out had been fun, and shopping was enjoyable, but the familiar place was still the most comfortable.
I must really have become a cat now.
After dinner, I sprawled across my designated cushion and rolled around.
Eloise, now dressed in light indoor clothes, stared at me for a while before calling Sophie.
“Sophie, bring me the key to that room.”
“…Understood, My Lady.”
After a short while, Sophie brought the key, and Eloise rose from her seat and left the room.
Curious, I followed behind. The two of them stood in front of a door between her bedroom and the second-floor central parlor.
Until now, I hadn’t even realized this part of the mansion had a door—so little presence it had.
“Phew…”
With a light sigh, Eloise turned the key and opened the door.
Inside, the room bathed in the red sunset was draped entirely in white sheets.
As Sophie began removing them one by one, old furniture came into view.
A grand piano, a sofa, a tea table. And a childhood portrait of Eloise.
In this time-frozen space, Eloise gazed into the air as though recalling memories.
“Meow.”
Her figure looked somehow sad, so I rubbed my head against her.
Sophie neatly folded the sheets she had taken down.
Eloise’s footsteps moved slowly. Her hand gently brushed against the piano.
Her fingertips skimmed so lightly over the black and white keys that it was as though she might or might not touch them.
“My Lady, do you intend to use this room again?”
Eloise, rarely asked questions by Sophie, nodded.
“I want to turn it into a playroom for Lisette. It hasn’t been used anyway, so it’s better this way.”
“But this room is filled with your childhood memories, My Lady.”
It seemed this space had once been used when the Monclairs were still a harmonious family.
In such large mansions, I’d heard there were several parlors—this must have been one of them.
Eloise pressed a single piano key.
Ding.
A clear note rang through the parlor.
It was obvious she regretted clearing this place, and that made me sad.
I leapt onto the piano. The keys clattered under my paws, producing sound.
I used to love playing the piano too.
Plink, plonk, plunk.
Instead of the pretty melody I wanted, the clumsy pressing of keys produced odd sounds.
This wasn’t at all like the “Cat’s Dance” I used to play when I was young.
“Pfft.”
A short laugh slipped out. Eloise, smiling softly, lifted me into her arms.
“Lisette, you have no talent for music.”
“Meow!”
It wasn’t that I lacked talent—it was these fluffy paws! I wanted to protest.
Unbothered by my cries, Eloise sat down on the piano bench.
“This is how you play the piano.”
Her slender white fingers danced freely over the keys.
A beautiful melody flowed out, incomparable to my clumsy attempts.
Sophie’s face looked as if she might burst into tears.
And Eloise, immersed in the performance, appeared more beautiful than the piano’s sound itself.
“Do you understand now, Lisette?”
“Meow!”
Yes, I understood perfectly—Eloise loved and excelled at playing the piano.
It really would be a waste to put this piano away.
Selfishly, I hoped I’d get to see her perform more often, and I purred loudly on her lap.
“For someone you’re only keeping temporarily, you seem to cherish her quite a lot, Sister.”
Who dared ruin this perfect moment?
Whipping my head around, I saw a boy I hadn’t seen since the day I’d run away.
Eloise’s younger brother. His name was—
“Raoul. You must be busy with your duties as the young lord. No need to concern yourself with a cat.”
“I only came to check since a locked room was suddenly open.”
“I didn’t know I needed the young lord’s permission to open my own parlor.”
Eloise replied elegantly while stroking my fur.
The Monclair boy narrowed his sharp eyes.
At most around Étienne’s age, he was still poor at hiding his emotions.
“It’s pathetic to open this place just for a cat.”
“Just a cat?”
Eloise seemed more offended by “just” than by “pathetic.”
Still holding me, she stepped closer, towering over Raoul.
“To such a grand young lord, a cat entrusted by the royal family is merely ‘just a cat,’ I see.”
“A cat is still just a cat. Yet you treat it like royalty.”
Without a shred of courtesy or consideration, Raoul spat his words and turned to leave.
A soft sigh escaped Eloise’s lips, tickling my fur.
“Hah.”
This family really was thoroughly twisted.
Slipping out of her arms, I landed lightly on the floor.
“Meow~”
“Where are you planning to go this time? If it’s like earlier—when you said you’d be back but didn’t until I fetched you—then no.”
“Tch.”
So she’d caught on. It had worked once but not twice.
But since when did cats ever listen to orders? I bolted out of the room at full speed.
“Lady Lisette!”
Sophie’s startled voice rang out behind me, but Eloise must have stopped her—no one followed.
Instead, I chased the faint, toasty bread-like scent I’d picked up earlier.
The scent grew stronger. He hadn’t gone far.
“…More than that cat, I…”
The boy stood before a massive painting.
It depicted the Monclair family’s happy past.
A seven-year-old Eloise beamed brightly in it.
“Even without awakening magic, I’m still a Monclair. She doesn’t have to marry the crown prince.”
The veins in his clenched fist bulged. Tsk, tsk. How cliché.
Families broken by lack of communication, villains or heroes twisted by it.
How fortunate that it was so predictable. At least it lowered the odds of this “villainess family” being doomed together.
“Meow.”
“You… you…!”
Startled, Raoul glanced around, then sighed in relief when he realized it was only me.
I flicked my tail and circled him. He crouched to meet my eyes.
His turquoise eyes, a shade deeper than Eloise’s, glimmered.
“Don’t mistake it just because my sister adores you. Prince Marcel will take you away soon enough.”
Oh-ho. Was this boy… jealous of me? Then he ought to speak more kindly to his sister! Who raised him like this? I smacked his knee with my paw.
“Hey!”
“Meow!”
What now?
If only I could speak human words, this suffocating situation would be so much easier to handle.
Raoul, flustered, tried to catch me, but he was no match.
“Stop right there!”
“What are you doing, Raoul?”
“Sister.”
At Eloise’s voice, the boy—who had shown so many childish expressions a moment ago—returned to a blank face.
He had threatened me not to wander, yet here he was, chasing me down. How considerate.
I rubbed affectionately against Eloise’s feet, making Raoul’s brow twitch.
“Wouldn’t hunting suit the young lord better than chasing a kitten?”
“I’ll handle it myself.”
“Fine.”
Just as Raoul had done earlier, Eloise turned away coldly and headed back to the room.
I trailed after her, then turned back and stuck my tongue out at the boy standing like a statue.
Raoul surely knew too—continuing to speak so spitefully would only harm himself.
“Lisette.”
“Meow~”
Slipping through the open doorway, I heard Eloise sigh in exasperation.
“Who does she take after, to be so willful?”
“Perhaps it’s because she grew up in the palace?”
“Seems I’ll have to complain to Prince Marcel.”
Sophie chuckled softly as she prepared Eloise’s bed and laid a fresh blanket on my cushion.
“Then, sweet dreams, My Lady, Lady Lisette.”
As always, only Eloise and I remained in the bedroom.
She took some medicine from the drawer, tossed a handful into her mouth, and swallowed with water.
The amount she’d been taking had increased in recent days.
