Chapter 44
<Chapter 46>
“Sweetie! Please!”
Oh, come on! I’m going crazy!
‘He was so well-behaved, why is he suddenly acting like this!’
“Kya-ang!”
The baby cat, crossing the garden with a suddenly furious expression, finally leaped over the white fence.
“Sweetie!”
Boing—
My jaw dropped as he cleared the fence with a light, frog-like hop.
The baby was heading out of the Queen Consort’s Palace.
‘No!’
If he left the Queen Consort’s Palace, I’d truly have to move in the shadows.
It wasn’t that difficult, but I did have a conscience.
‘I only came here because of him in the first place. If anything happens, it’s all my responsibility.’
If the baby causes trouble, it’s my responsibility. My fault.
If I mess up, Knox will scold me.
And that news will go straight to Dad’s ears.
Then Calyps would say…
‘Didn’t I tell you it was dangerous? You’re grounded for the time being, kid.’
“He’ll definitely say that!”
Calyps had never actually said that to me, but in most of the novels I’d read, troublemaking children were grounded by their parents at least once.
My cheeks trembled at the horrifying thought.
No way.
I am the perfect Golden Seed. From this moment on, I’m entering ‘Spy Mode.’
I aimed my small, hamster-like hand at the receding baby cat.
Current distance between the baby and me: too far.
Realistically, I couldn’t catch him right this second.
In that case…
‘I have no choice but to tail him without getting caught, then pounce when the timing is right.’
Okay. Let’s go.
Plan quickly, act coldly.
Swish—
I scanned my surroundings.
From here on, it was the slope leading from the Queen Consort’s Palace to the Main Castle.
The only saving grace was that the baby had chosen a secluded, deserted path rather than the main walkway.
As I scurried after him, the massive rear of the Main Castle soon came into view.
‘Sweetie. Please.’
Please don’t go inside the castle. Head for the forest in the back.
As I prayed fervently, the baby cat, who had been sniffing around, wrinkled his nose again.
“Sniff.”
And just like that, the baby moved further away from my wishes. He slipped through the back door of the Main Castle, which had been left open, avoiding the gatekeepers.
“…Haa.”
Hiding behind a nearby tree, I looked on in despair before creeping toward a corner of the castle and scaling the wall.
Transforming into a literal cockroach, I somehow managed to cling to the ceiling of the back entrance.
If the knights looked up, they would see me.
However.
Thud—
I tossed a pebble I’d picked up earlier in the opposite direction.
“What was that?”
The yawning knights frowned and walked toward the forest.
Tap—
Taking the opportunity, I slipped through the door, made sure no one was around, and dropped from the ceiling onto the hallway floor.
“Swee-tie.”
“Meow—?”
When I called out in a warning tone, the baby cat, wagging his tail, turned his head.
Mischief was overflowing in those ordinary brown eyes.
About ten minutes later.
“Ugh, that little brat cat.”
After an intense game of tag, the way I addressed him had already changed.
Whether I was angry or not, the baby cat wagged his tail and led me up and down stairs until he reached his destination.
None other than the King’s reception room.
‘If I get caught, I’m dead.’
I was on the ceiling above, connected to the air circulation vents.
Gulping hard, I looked down at the cat below and felt my mind go blank.
Sweetie… why of all places did it have to be the King’s reception room…?
There are servant quarters, kitchens, indoor gardens, and ballrooms.
There are so many fun places, so why here?
Sweat gathered near my eyes.
‘Father, was it this hard for you to raise me?’
Though we hadn’t been together for very long, I suddenly felt an infinite wave of gratitude toward Calyps for adopting me.
In any case, I had to see what that brat—no, that baby cat—was doing.
Peek—
I poked my eye through a gap in the slanted ceiling.
The baby was sitting in a shadowed corner of the room.
‘There’s a cat right there, why hasn’t anyone noticed?’
But of course.
The reception room was as vast as a playground, and that brat cat was just a tiny kitten.
The room was quiet. And the baby was watching something.
‘…What is it?’
Following the baby’s gaze—
In the center of the empty reception room sat a sofa and a low table.
I saw a gray head and a brown head sitting on the sofa.
Since I was looking down from the ceiling, I couldn’t distinguish them clearly, but the gray head was definitely the King.
And then.
“Shouldn’t we test the waters now, Your Majesty?”
I flinched.
My small hands trembled at the familiar voice.
‘No way.’
While my heart hammered with an ominous feeling, the gray-haired man ran a hand through his hair and crossed his legs before speaking.
“What is the current situation? Has the Madness Amplifier spread through the Crost Duchy?”
Madness Amplifier? The Crost Duchy?
I furrowed my brow.
Why was the Madness Amplifier being mentioned in relation to the Crost Duchy, and why were the Duke of Pose and the King together?
Even a passing dog would know that the Duke of Pose and Calyps were on bad terms.
The King should know better than anyone that he needed to balance that relationship carefully.
And yet, the King, jealous of the hero Calyps, was secretly colluding with the Duke of Pose.
Ah. For the record, all of this was from the original novel.
But what puzzled me was that the timing was far too early.
‘As I thought, the flow of the original story changed when I went looking for Lucas.’
I had even saved the cat who was supposed to die at Ahili’s Circus in the original story.
“…….”
I stared at the baby cat in silence.
The baby cat yawned with narrowed eyes, as if he had no intention of leaving.
The conversation continued.
“According to the latest report, part of the Ice Wall has collapsed due to a sudden rampage of monsters.”
“What? The Ice Wall?”
The King bolted upright. He asked again as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Is that true? The Ice Wall collapsed because of that one drug?”
No, he didn’t look like he couldn’t believe it; he looked slightly terrified.
“I-if the Ice Wall has collapsed… if the House of Crost is devoured by the frenzied monsters…”
“That won’t happen. Though they will certainly be properly wounded.”
My heart sank at the Duke of Pose’s mocking reply.
My suspicion turned into certainty. The flow of the original story really had accelerated.
‘…If that’s the case, the North must be a complete mess right now.’
In the original novel, the House of Pose developed the drug called the Madness Amplifier when the male lead was around eight years old and had grown quite a bit.
‘The male lead should only be seven right now…’
Perhaps my provoking Marquis Lillis during the successor trial had been the catalyst.
‘Marquis Lillis must have used the drug while it was still in the development stage, and the results were better than expected.’
Dammit.
‘To think the world is changing like this because of my actions.’
Calyps and Lucas were likely fighting on the front lines in the North.
‘Because of me… my family is in danger.’
My chubby palms, pressed against the floor, trembled slightly.
There was nothing I could do for them right now.
I wanted to clench my fists and hold on, but it felt like sand slipping through my fingers.
Meanwhile, the Duke of Pose continued shamelessly, fully aware of what he was doing.
“If the Madness Amplifier proves effective, we will begin illicit trade in earnest. While we manufactured the situation in the North ourselves…”
The Duke of Pose paused, his lips curling into a grotesque smirk.
“If the drug spreads randomly through illicit trade, it will be difficult to trace its source.”
“But are there really people who want to drive monsters into a frenzy?”
“Doesn’t Your Majesty know that better than anyone?”
“…Ahem!”
At the Duke’s question, the King cleared his throat as if he knew nothing.
Unlike the Northern nobles who knew the dangers of monsters all too well, nobles in other regions didn’t even know what monsters were.
Thus, it was a secret trend among high-ranking nobles to keep small, seemingly cute monsters as pets.
I, having read the original novel, knew this well—thud.
It happened just as I was following that train of thought.
A sudden, quiet impact struck the back of my neck, and my vision went black.
At that same moment.
“…….”
The gaze of the cat hiding in the shadows turned toward the ceiling, where the presence had vanished.
It was time.