WTBMLM 43

Chapter 43

“Miss, since it’s come to this, perhaps you could at least give it a name…”

Rachel placed a small bowl of milk in front of the cat as she spoke.

The extraordinary feline was incredibly picky with its food.

No—picky wasn’t even the right word. It simply refused to eat almost anything.

Yet, it never seemed hungry.

Most likely, it was taking care of its own meals while it was out and about.

“I told you, I’m not keeping it…”

Taking care of two kids was hard enough. Raising an animal too?

Ellicia had no intention of doing that.

Of course, the cat was less demanding than Eden and Ariel.

But still—waking up every morning with it perched on top of her was not pleasant.

“Oh my, you do drink milk.”

Rachel smiled warmly and stroked the cat’s chin as it licked the bowl clean.

Ellicia could hear the purring from where she stood.

The cat, who hated Eden and Ariel, took to Rachel easily.

There was no telling what standards this cat used to judge people.

“Should we perhaps put a collar on it? Something with our family crest?”

“And why would we do that…?”

I said I’m not keeping it!

Ellicia shook her head and waved Rachel off.

It was a separate matter, but Ellicia had already developed a strong aversion to collars thanks to the choker around Eden’s neck.

“But what if a knight finds the cat and tries to chase it away? That’d be bad.”

“It wouldn’t be bad at all. And even if they did chase it away, it’d just come back.”

The cat leapt onto the desk and plopped onto its back in front of Ellicia.

“You can’t just show your belly to anyone like that, you know.”

Ellicia laughed in disbelief.

“It’s an unusually clever creature, Miss.”

Rachel added the comment as if the atmosphere wasn’t already warm enough.

The red-furred cat had even softer fur on its belly than its back.

Ellicia gently stroked its belly. Again, the cat purred.

“Why our house, of all places…”

After the belly, her hand moved to the neck.

As her hand slid upward, the cat’s tail swayed in wide, lazy arcs.

Rachel stood by the door, watching the scene unfold with a smile.

“Pii.”

Ellicia, who had stubbornly refused to name the cat, finally gave in.

She named it “Pii”—inspired by the faint breathing sound it made while napping on her desk one afternoon.

It was simple and fitting, and Ellicia was satisfied with it.

Pii seemed to approve too. Whenever she called its name, it would turn its head as if it recognized it.

“It’s raining today, so don’t follow me.”

She spoke to Pii, who was trailing behind her with soft little steps.

But Pii ignored her and continued walking.

Clearly, it meant to follow her regardless.

“Unni!”

Ariel was already waiting at the front entrance, waving with both hands—each holding an umbrella.

“I’ll carry the umbrella!”

She said cheerfully, prompting Ellicia to tilt her head and reply,

“You have two umbrellas. Weren’t we just going to use one each?”

A meal tray could be held with one hand, after all.

Ariel’s cheeks flushed bright red at her question.

“N-no! You and I are going to share one!”

The umbrella was big enough for two, so it wasn’t a problem.

Ellicia guessed Ariel was just being her usual clingy self again and nodded in understanding.

“You’re a cat, so you hate getting wet, right? Want me to take you back to the room?”

She was ready to do so at a moment’s notice.

She expected Pii to hesitate, turn around, and head back.

But Pii was stubborn.

“Wait, wait! You’ll rip my dress!”

Apparently wanting to come along but hating the rain, Pii latched onto Ellicia’s hem.

With those sharp claws, it looked like the dress might be shredded at any moment.

The reason it was clinging to her skirt was obvious.

With a sigh, Ellicia bent down.

Only then did Pii retract its claws and climb up onto her shoulder.

Carrying a full-grown cat was heavy.

“Even animals are clingy now…”

Everyone around me is just needy.

Ellicia muttered to herself with a faint smile.

Beside her, Ariel opened the umbrella and thought to herself,

Isn’t that because you let us be clingy, unni?

As one of the clingy ones, Ariel knew it was true—but she wisely kept that thought to herself.

Saying it out loud wouldn’t benefit her in any way.

It wasn’t until they reached the annex that Ellicia understood why Ariel had brought two umbrellas.

“U-um, in case you didn’t have one, I brought a spare…”

A light blush tinged her soft cheeks.

Lizbet, startled, accepted the offered umbrella.

It was clear that Ariel had brought it, knowing Lizbet would be standing outside the annex in the rain as she always did.

Ellicia, too, was taken aback.

Rain pattered between the three of them. Lizbet remained silent, prompting Ariel to hide behind Ellicia’s back.

Realizing her mistake, Lizbet quickly spoke up.

“Thank you for your kindness. And please, you don’t have to speak so formally with me. You can talk to me casually—just like Miss Ellicia does.”

Her gentle smile was the smile of someone older and composed.

Ellicia found herself wondering again how old Lizbet was.

Wasn’t she twenty-one this year?

It had been over a year since she’d last reviewed Lizbet’s profile, so the exact number escaped her.

If she was twenty-one, that made her about seven years older than Ellicia.

As Ellicia looked at that serene smile, she was reminded just how much appearances could matter.

“Y-yeah. I mean, um…”

Why is she getting shy?

She looked more flustered than when she was with Eden.

“I think that cat is actually a person.”

Ariel whispered like she was sharing a secret, speaking directly into Eden’s ear.

Eden turned to her with a face that clearly said, What nonsense is that now? His exasperated expression came with a side of disbelief.

“She only hates us.”

Ariel wasn’t wrong.

Pii accepted Ellicia, of course—and even Rachel and Lizbet—but only they were consistently rejected.

“See? Every time we come in, she’s always on unni’s lap.”

“That’s because you keep bothering her.”

His voice was thick with annoyance. It was obvious he resented losing Ellicia’s attention—first to Ariel, and now to Pii.

To Eden, Ariel and Pii were cut from the same cloth.

“Don’t talk back.”

Frustrated that Eden wouldn’t agree with her, Ariel snatched away the book he was reading and shut it.

He hadn’t marked his place, so now he’d have to find it all over again.

Eden, long used to Ariel’s antics, simply touched his neck without a word.

Whenever he was irritated or emotionally stirred, he always reached for his neck.

Ariel brushed it off as just a habit.

With a bored expression, she tossed the book aside.

Eden’s eyes followed the motion.

And then—his gaze locked with Pii’s.

“…”

Those vertical pupils stared directly into his.

Eden flinched.

Pii’s gaze bore into him with uncanny intensity.

It was odd—feeling intimidated by a creature so small and cute.

And yet, alongside that discomfort… he felt jealous.

Jealous of Pii, who was small and adorable and could curl up in Ellicia’s lap so easily.

That moment of fear passed quickly.

Eden didn’t look away.

Surprisingly, it was Pii who broke eye contact first.

As if losing interest, she began licking her paw.

An enigma, through and through.

After the rain, the night sky was crowned with a glowing moon.

Pii, who by now was unmistakably Ellicia’s cat, had fur so soft and strikingly red that every servant in the manor sang its praises.

That praised red coat was now weighed down by the damp, heavy air left behind by the storm.

Her pawprints lingered for only a few seconds before vanishing.

With a flick of her long tail, even her traces disappeared without a sound.

Holding her chin high, Pii made her way toward the annex.

Toward Eden.

So expertly did she mask her presence that even Lizbet, a trained knight, didn’t notice.

Her lithe, powerful body made it easy to leap all the way up to the annex window.

She flicked her tail once more.

And in that moment—her body turned to dust and scattered into the room.

Though there wasn’t the faintest breeze inside, the black dust drifted effortlessly toward Eden’s bedside.

As if drawn to it by some unseen force.

The black dust reformed—taking on a new shape.

It was no longer a cat, but something larger.

A human silhouette.

Red hair cascaded in the dim room, reminiscent of Pii’s swaying tail.

But unlike Pii’s slitted pupils, these golden eyes were round as they locked onto Eden.

When she blinked, her crimson lashes fluttered gently.

Her thin lips curled into a smile.

But her eyes did not smile with them.

Of course they didn’t.

She harbored countless feelings for Eden—her enemy and her ally.

“…What am I going to do with you?”

Her voice rang clear and high, like a bell, cutting through the silence.

Eden didn’t stir.

“Living the good life, aren’t you.”

Her hand crept toward his neck, stopping atop his choker.

He shifted slightly in his sleep.

But didn’t wake.

Her fingers hovered there a while… then slowly pulled back.

Only then did her eyes narrow, the corners lifting.

One way or another, it was only a matter of time before something happened.

And when it did, she already knew what she would do.

Unless someone got in her way.