Chapter 54
“Can you hit the Count of Ronsble’s mansion tomorrow night?”
“You…!”
“Shh, shh. I’m just trying to find a solution.”
“Do you always act that fast?”
“The faster you move, the less you have to compromise with reality.”
Even in my previous life, I was the kind of person who moved before thinking.
When you’re in a difficult situation, if you spend too much time thinking, you end up compromising with reality and settling for an uncomfortable present.
You start thinking, “Well, this isn’t so bad after all.”
From experience, once you get used to your current situation, the future never changes.
“You’re kind of… weird.”
“So what if I am? You still like me.”
Not in a romantic way—just as a friend.
Even if I didn’t add that clarification, I figured Étienne would understand.
After all, that’s why he always came running to me and went along with my ridiculous ideas.
When I turned my head, Étienne was staring at me with a dazed look.
“Yeah… I like you.”
Those three words that followed were unexpectedly sweet—
like the aftertaste of the blueberry cake we’d just eaten for dessert lingering on my tongue.
***
Étienne.
That name was all the boy had.
Among beastfolk, surnames weren’t necessary unless you were part of the royal family.
Their race was their family—their clan.
The boy was born to be the next chieftain, but he was sent to the imperial palace as a hostage in place of the current chieftain who had left the capital.
During his time in the Wolf Tribe’s village, the boy had been happy—
surrounded by a warm family and kind friends, he grew up strong and healthy.
But at the age of four, because he was the son of the chieftain, he was sent away to the imperial palace.
“Étienne, you are the next chieftain. Never forget that.”
“I don’t want to go alone, Father, Mother!”
“When you go, you’ll meet your mana resonance partner, so you won’t be alone.”
After forming deep bonds with his family, the boy was suddenly dropped into the palace all by himself.
There, he met another boy—
the Second Prince, Marcel de Valois, the one he’d supposedly resonated with from birth.
Marcel was kind and warm, treating Étienne like a true younger brother.
“Éti, you and I were born this way—as a prince and a future chieftain. We can’t change that.”
He had no choice but to accept his fate, just like Étienne.
But even Marcel couldn’t fill the empty space in Étienne’s heart.
When his father finally came to the palace at the emperor’s command, Étienne begged him.
“I want to go home, Father.”
“Have you forgotten? Your duty as the next chieftain is to watch over the Empire.”
“But…!”
“Don’t be childish. That’s your fate from birth, Étienne.”
The boy who had spent his days crying in the palace eventually began to accept his place naturally.
Even when he wanted to return home to see his family and friends, he held it in.
Because he was the next chieftain.
Before he could even understand what that title meant, he learned to accept reality.
“As the next chieftain, serve the royal family faithfully.”
Ironically, his father—the current chieftain—had abandoned that very duty and stayed with their people instead.
It wasn’t as if Étienne had chosen to be born as the next chieftain.
But even then, he didn’t complain. He simply accepted it.
There was no one close enough to blame, and the only one by his side was Marcel.
Then, he met Eloise.
“So you’re Étienne. You’re smaller than I thought.”
Eloise often appeared with Marcel. Though her words were blunt, her actions were gentle.
And just like that, one more person joined Étienne’s world.
When the three of them were together, he felt the same peace he once had in the Wolf Tribe’s village.
Of course, there were others who disturbed that peace.
“Why was it Marcel and not me?”
Every time Arno happened to cross paths with him in the palace, he showed open hostility.
Even though the mana resonance partner wasn’t something Étienne had chosen.
But Étienne accepted even that hostility.
There was nothing he could do about it.
“Goodbye, Étienne. I might not be able to come to the prince’s palace anymore.”
Arno couldn’t take Étienne away from Marcel, so instead, he took Eloise.
Once again, it was just the two of them.
From then on, as the boy grew into a young man, they were never three again.
“Étienne, how’s your health today?”
“Étienne, let’s train together!”
“Étienne~!”
Marcel was surrounded by good people, so Étienne received affection through him.
But they were all subordinates of Marcel, and not equals—
so he could never truly relax around them.
When he began visiting the northern Wolf Tribe village once or twice a year for work after the age of ten, it started to feel unfamiliar.
Just when he thought he knew what excitement felt like, he was let down again.
“It’s been a while, Étienne.”
His family and friends were no longer like the people he remembered.
He accepted even that unfamiliarity.
He had been away for too long, after all.
Soon, even his trips north stopped being something to look forward to.
Then one day, while investigating the northern mountains, he heard a faint meow in the distance.
“Meow…”
The weak, flickering sound of breath made his feet move on instinct.
At first, he thought it was an animal, but when he felt a trace of mana, he realized the cat was a beastfolk.
Étienne’s keen mana sense told him the cat was young and unawakened.
If he left it there, it would die—so he took it to Marcel.
The cat safely woke up in the prince’s palace.
“I wish you’d be a little more honest.”
“Marcel, I… don’t like cats.”
He hated cats.
Étienne had been raised hearing the Wolf Tribe’s history over and over from the chieftain—almost brainwashed.
The wolves had left the Beast Kingdom because they had lost a war against the Lions.
And the reason for that loss was betrayal—by the feline clans.
He was taught never to trust them.
Those words had taken root deep in his mind, making him instinctively hate cats.
“Meow!”
The small, white thing, once recovered, caused trouble almost every single day.
And instead of being sorry, it proudly wagged its tail.
No one hated the cat. Everyone found it adorable.
“Meow~”
Even when Étienne said he disliked it, the cat boldly pushed its head against him.
“Go away.”
He was sure the cat understood him—but it didn’t listen. It just kept coming closer.
Before long, the three of them—Étienne, Marcel, and the cat—were always together.
“Étienne, why do you always bring the little one to training?”
“…Warning. Maybe if it senses my opponent is stronger, it won’t pick a fight.”
In truth, he thought letting the cat watch mana resonance training might help it awaken.
Though he disliked cats, Étienne pitied this one for being abandoned just because it hadn’t awakened.
Perhaps it was cheap sympathy, but as the future chieftain, he was supposed to care for everyone.
Just as he grew used to being part of a trio again, Marcel said he was going to send the cat away.
“Who are you sending it to?”
“Lady Monclair.”
When Marcel said he’d send the cat—Eloise—Étienne wasn’t pleased.
They were going from three back to two again,
and the cat was going to the very same Eloise who had changed so much from the girl he remembered.
“If she really seems like a bad person, run away. No matter where you are, I’ll come and save you.”
He said it because he had brought the cat to the palace himself—he felt responsible.
Even as he tried to reassure it, the cat threw a fit, as if it already knew how cruel Eloise could be.
If it had been Étienne, he would’ve given up and resigned himself to fate.
But the cat struggled until the very end, even as it was being sent away to the duke’s estate.
The cat was different from him—strange in that way.
“Hurry and go, before that thing runs back to the palace.”
The cat left. And just like that, they were two again.
And once more, Étienne accepted it.
After all, Marcel had sent the cat away for Eloise’s sake.
Without the noisy little cat, the once lively palace felt unbearably quiet.
Sometimes, as he lay in bed, he could swear he heard phantom scratching at the door.
It was strange—unsettlingly so.
“She’s been given a name—Lizette.”
“Apparently, she caused trouble on her first day. Broke a vase the duchess’s mother gave to the madam.”
“She was sick, so a veterinarian visited. They said she’s fine now, don’t worry.”
“Yesterday she ripped out the butler’s mustache. Small but fierce, that one.”
Almost every day, Marcel received reports from his spies planted in the Duke’s household.
Even though she kept causing trouble, oddly enough, it seemed like she was getting along with Eloise.
Étienne worried that Lizette might try to run away.
So hearing that she was doing well in her new home should have been a relief—
but instead, his chest twisted with an odd, aching feeling.
So you don’t miss this place, huh? Or us.
Just like his family and friends back home,
the cat seemed to have forgotten about him too.
And yet, Étienne missed them all—his home, his people.
He’d even worried about that troublesome cat.
