Chapter 23
By the time the sun began to set, the tumultuous tea party had finally ended without further incident, and we boarded the duke’s carriage.
“Even if you say you’re fine, once we’re back, let Dr. Etmon give you a checkup.”
“Mm.”
I was so drained from everything that had happened that I could only murmur a reply, limp on Eloise’s lap.
I felt someone’s sharp gaze on me, but I ignored it.
“Sister, what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
Raoul rubbed his face with both hands, looking deeply troubled once he lowered them.
“The cat spoke.”
“Lizette.”
“Yes. I’m talking about Lizette.”
“That’s my responsibility. Don’t worry. It won’t spread far enough to reach the duke’s house.”
“That’s not what I mean. Haa… I can’t imagine what His Highness is thinking.”
He let out a long sigh that brushed against my fur. I barely managed to lift my heavy body and look at Raoul.
“Marcel said he didn’t want Eloise to be lonely. But she has her mother, her father, even her brother. Isn’t it strange that Marcel still thought Eloise might be lonely?”
Raoul understood my meaning and fell silent.
When I flopped down across Eloise’s lap, I felt her cold hand carefully patting my back.
A calm warmth spread through me.
I didn’t know then that the duchess’s icy gaze would be waiting for me the moment we arrived.
Marcel had mentioned my case, so I thought it wouldn’t be such a big deal if a cat spoke. That was far too naive of me.
The truth was written clearly across the duchess’s face.
As soon as we reached the duke’s mansion, the duchess summoned the three of us to the second-floor drawing room.
The sofa I had shredded was still in tatters, and the air felt colder than the dead of winter in the mountains.
“It would have been better if it were a beastman instead.”
That was the first thing she said after seating her two children and a cat in a row.
Her chilling gaze made me shiver uncontrollably.
“They’ll say it’s because of the mana of the northern mountains. No doubt there will be talk.”
“Mother, you know very well Lizette is different from those creatures.”
“Indeed. She’s far more intelligent than the beasts driven mad by mana.”
Even I knew this part.
The northern mountains carried corrupted mana, and sometimes animals, driven unstable by it, would attack villages. That was why Marcel regularly traveled north, according to the original story.
“But Mother, she got into a full-blown fight today with that woman’s cat.”
“And did she win?”
At Raoul’s words, the duchess stared directly at me.
I couldn’t afford to act like an ill-mannered cat here.
“Yes… I won.”
“Good. That’s what I expect from a Montclair family cat.”
At her praise, my shriveled heart finally started beating properly again.
Phew, I was safe. That gave me enough courage to ask the question that had been nagging me.
“Does the fact that I can speak cause trouble for the Montclair family?”
“Not at all. Something so trivial won’t shake us. At most, rumors will multiply.”
“You wouldn’t bow to mere rumors, would you?”
This time, I managed to speak in a proper sentence, better than I had at the tea party.
The duchess smiled, satisfied, while Raoul looked at me with sheer disapproval.
“You even know how to use polite speech.”
“Because she’s clever.”
Borrowing the duchess’s praise, I shot the words back at him with a touch of sarcasm. Raoul’s frown deepened.
Eloise let out a soft laugh and stroked my head.
“Let’s wait and see. We’ll hear soon enough what kind of rumors spread.”
“Mother, the rumors are already bad enough.”
“Raoul.”
“…Forgive me.”
“Go rest. I’ll see you at dinner.”
Eloise was the first to rise, lifting me into her arms.
It wasn’t as if I couldn’t walk or find my room on my own, so I didn’t understand why she kept doing this since earlier.
The duchess stared at us, her eyes sharp.
“Bring Lizette to dinner as well. Your father ought to know who lives in his own house. He’ll likely have forgotten he even has a daughter.”
“I thought he already had.”
Before a mother-daughter cold war could erupt, I tapped Eloise’s arm lightly.
Now that I could speak, I might as well try to untangle some of this family mess.
“Eloise, will there be a lot of food at dinner?”
I reminded myself: I was just a cat learning about the world.
Of course, my behavior toward the duchess had already gone far beyond that. But role-playing required shamelessness.
Like when I first learned in college that pretending not to know things made life easier.
“There’ll be plenty of food for you too, Lizette.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Eloise, Eloise. I want to go to dinner!”
Looking into my bright, eager eyes, Eloise sighed softly.
She nodded as if to say she understood, and smoothed my fur.
“Let’s hope Sophie won’t have to prepare medicine for indigestion afterward.”
A coldness passed briefly between Eloise and the duchess. In the end, it was Eloise who backed down first.
She bowed politely and left the drawing room, heading to her room with me in her arms.
Sophie, waiting outside, opened the door for us.
“Are you alright, my lady?”
“Could you fetch Dr. Etmon?”
“He should be arriving at the duke’s gates about now.”
As expected. Word of the imperial tea party’s commotion had already spread here.
Eloise seated herself on the sofa and examined me carefully once again.
Just then, someone knocked at the door.
“He must be here.”
Sophie opened the door, revealing Dr. Etmon, slightly out of breath, wiping sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.
“Good evening, my lady. I heard Lizette was badly hurt.”
“Dr. Etmon, is she alright?”
“Yes, yes. Perfectly fine.”
He steadied his breathing and stepped into the room with his heavy medical bag.
Sophie laid a soft cloth on the table, and Eloise carefully placed me atop it.
The doctor inspected my fur thoroughly, then pressed a stethoscope to my back, humming thoughtfully.
“Hmm.”
“Is it serious?”
“No, quite the opposite. She’s far too healthy. Look, even this wound—it’s already healing quickly, though it should be fresh.”
He parted the fur on my neck, showing Eloise the mark Coco had made.
No wonder it hadn’t hurt much. It was already closing up.
Not only could I talk, but even my wounds healed fast. Was it really because of the northern mountains’ mana?
“There seemed to be a lot of blood. Her white fur was stained red, wasn’t it?”
“I thought it strange too, so I checked more carefully… It must be the power of mana.”
“Mana?”
“If someone like me, nearly a commoner, can sense it, then perhaps the duke or duchess should examine her themselves.”
His careful words seemed chosen for Eloise’s sake, since she couldn’t use mana.
“I see. And at first, you felt nothing unusual?”
“Until the Seneca incident, she was no different from an ordinary cat. Something must have changed since then.”
“Nothing particular comes to mind… but if I recall anything, I’ll let you know. For now, keep this between us.”
“Of course, my lady.”
The doctor packed away his instruments, then offered me a treat no bigger than a fingertip.
It smelled sweet.
“It’s a supplement.”
Nom. “Thanks, Dr. Etmon.”
Startled by my words, his gray eyes widened briefly behind his glasses before softening into a gentle curve.
“Think nothing of it. I’ll take my leave.”
With Sophie accompanying him out, the room was left with only Eloise and me.
My necklace and cape had been removed, but Eloise was still in the same clothes she had worn to the tea party.
Her peculiar blue-green eyes fixed on me.
“Lizette.”
“Mm?”
“…Tell me your story.”
Out of nowhere, she wanted me to introduce myself.
I straightened up and chose only the convenient truths.
Nothing about reincarnation or transmigration.
“I don’t remember before I was abandoned. When I opened my eyes, I was in the mountains, and Etienne saved me. I was probably over ten years old then. From there, you already know the rest.”
What else should I add?
“Oh! I couldn’t talk from the start. I could understand things, but today’s the first time I’ve actually spoken. Really!”
“I see.”
Her answer was calm, but her hand on me was cold and comforting.
I had grown used to that chilly warmth.
“Young lady, let me help you change.”
“Come in.”
Sophie entered, ending our short time alone.
As she helped Eloise change out of her dress, she kept sneaking glances at me.
“Sophie, why don’t you just talk to her? Lizette seems to like you quite a bit.”
“Mm. I like Sophie.”
“…!”
At my words, Sophie clutched her chest for a moment, taking a deep breath.
