Chapter 51
<53화>
As soon as Calyps heard Knox’s report, he quietly pushed open the door to Aisha’s bedroom.
‘I judged that there would be no major issues. In truth, the Lady has been secretly keeping a cat for the past two weeks.’
He recalled Knox’s confession, made while the aide shifted his gaze away guiltily.
‘To be honest, she told me first, and since I also pretended not to know, it isn’t the Lady’s fault. If you wish to be angry, be angry with me. The Lady currently has no idea what that cat’s true identity is.’
Keeping secrets with my daughter and leaving me out of it.
Rather than true anger, Calyps felt a prickle of childish jealousy, but he decided to postpone judging Knox’s sins for later.
The priority was ensuring Aisha’s safety.
As the door opened, the light from the hallway spilled into the bedroom, illuminating the sleeping Aisha.
Contrary to his worries, the scene was peaceful.
Seeing the child sleeping with soft, rhythmic breaths, the thought crossed his mind that if an angel ever descended to earth, they would surely look like her.
But right beside her…
“…….”
Next to the sleeping Aisha, a pair of ominous violet eyes reflected the moonlight, glowing in the dark.
The cat, which had been sitting wide awake, rose slowly to its feet.
“Nyaa—”
So that was the Majin.
Based on the descriptions he’d heard, he had expected something far more ferocious-looking.
“It’s just a kitten.”
He could see why Aisha was so attached to it. At her age, children were naturally drawn to cute things.
‘Better to separate them for now.’
He sighed and moved to sit on the edge of the bed—
“Hiss!”
Suddenly, the ball of fluff puffed up its fur and lunged at Calyps.
Of course, it ended up dangling helplessly from his hand after he snatched it by the scruff of its neck.
“What is this?”
“Hiss, hiss!”
Even while caught by the scruff, the way it bared its claws and struggled proved it was certainly no ordinary cat.
With an expressionless face, Calyps kept his grip on the kitten’s neck and quietly exited Aisha’s bedroom.
And then—
“Lock this thing in the dungeon. It’s a cub, so it might get cold; give it a blanket. And, what was it… boil some chicken and give it some water too.”
Having handed the cat over to a knight, Calyps finally fell asleep with a much lighter heart.
However, the next morning—
“The baby is gone! Where did our baby go?!”
“Dandelion, what’s wrong?”
“Our baby… I was so scared when it disappeared before, but our baby is…”
“Baby? What baby?”
“The baby… I mean….”
Aisha, who had been hiding the fact that she was keeping a cat, couldn’t bring herself to answer and stammered incoherently.
Then, she bolted toward Knox.
“The, the baby… the baby is gone… what do I do? Our baby… it’s so small, if it went outside….”
Falling into a state of panic, Aisha was pulling at her hair and stuttering, which was unlike her usual self.
Seeing this, Knox rushed to Calyps.
“Your Grace. What did you do with that cat?”
When the flustered Knox burst into the office and asked—
“In the dungeon.”
“Pardon?”
“I gave it a blanket, water, and boiled chicken.”
Ahem.
Calyps cleared his throat, subtly emphasizing that he had acted with a shred of conscience.
But it was no use. Aisha had no way of knowing he had made an effort.
“…For now.”
“Yes, sir.”
The two men made eye contact, huddled together, and cracked the office door open slightly.
In the hallway, they saw Aisha still pacing restlessly, while a startled Lucas hurriedly brought her a handkerchief.
Knox closed the door and sighed.
“The Lady treasures that cat so much. How could you just take it away without warning?”
“It’s dangerous.”
“It may be dangerous, but that cat hasn’t hissed at the Lady once in two weeks. It was perfectly well-behaved.”
“It was hostile toward me.”
“What?”
“No, that’s beside the point.”
Aisha treasures it? That cat?
A flustered Calyps fell silent.
“Knox.”
“Yes, sir.”
“…If we bring her a different cat,”
“Don’t say such nonsense. Is a living animal a replaceable object?”
As expected of the president of the Masamo Club.
Knox pushed up his monocle.
“And even if the Lady receives another cat, do you really think she would be happy? Not with how clever she is.”
“…….”
He had only done it because he feared for his daughter’s safety.
However, Knox’s words were also true, so Calyps, unable to utter a word of protest, finally closed the office door completely.
“I’ll tell Aisha in a little while.”
“Tell her what?”
“I’ll tell her the truth—that it was dangerous because of the cat’s identity, so I secretly moved it to a safe, isolated place at dawn.”
Ha.
If it hadn’t been connected to Aisha, he would have killed it without a trace.
Cub or not, that cat was a dangerous creature that could determine the fate of the Frozen Kingdom.
But he had no choice.
Listening to the child’s distressed voice drifting from outside the closed door—
“It, it was almost d-dead at Ahili’s Circus, and it was so, so t-tiny, so I s-saved it… it’s still a b-baby, so if it wanders o-outside, the w-wolves might g-gulp it up…!”
“Was the ‘baby’ that cat? Oppa will help you find it. There, there, don’t cry. That’s a good girl.”
His heart became a turbulent mess.
Calyps tried his best to ignore the conversation and sat in his chair to focus on work again.
When I’m finished. When the child has calmed down a bit, I’ll talk to her.
Parenting was far too difficult.
Notably, he found it nearly impossible to focus on his work while hearing the sounds of his beloved child suffering.
Meanwhile, at that same time.
In the kingdom where Aisha had recently caused a stir, a large-scale investigation was underway.
It was regarding the identity of the man killed by the mysterious boy.
“The killer didn’t damage the face and aimed precisely for the back of the neck. At first, I thought the boy had done it, but there were animal bite marks on the back of the corpse’s neck.”
“…Were there animals in the royal castle?”
“None in the castle itself, but this forest is where hunting competitions are held and where His Majesty occasionally hunts. There are rabbits and deer… and occasionally weasels…”
“…….”
“I wonder if he was bitten by a weasel….”
The voice of the knight reporting on the body trailed off into a mumble, realizing how ridiculous his own words sounded.
However, the bite marks left on the man’s neck were indeed as small as those made by a carnivorous animal from the weasel family.
If not a weasel, perhaps a kitten.
But a grown, sturdy man killed by a weasel or a kitten?
“Since it appears he was bitten to death by a beast, we will process it as an accidental death for now and investigate the identity of the deceased…”
It was just as the flustered Knight Commander let out a sigh.
“The Sun of the World shines upon the Frozen Kingdom!”
Hearing the salutes of several knights, the Knight Commander turned and saluted reflexively as well.
“The Sun of the World shines upon the Frozen Kingdom. Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“Yes. And how is the work progressing?”
The King, walking slowly, glanced at the Knight Commander’s notebook.
The Knight Commander showed him the notebook without suspicion.
“The investigation suggests he was bitten to death by a beast rather than a person. However, seeing as he infiltrated the royal castle without permission, we intend to examine the body to confirm his identity…”
“Postpone it for now.”
“Pardon?”
“I said postpone it. Do I have to say it twice for you to understand?”
The Knight Commander flinched at the slightly irritated tone and replied quickly.
“My apologies! Then I shall cease all investigation until Your Majesty gives further orders.”
“Good. Since that’s settled, everyone get back to your other duties. Good work.”
Only then did the King offer a faint smile before walking away with a slightly hurried pace.
‘…Did he come all this way just to tell us that?’
Usually, an aide would deliver such a command, or if it were an important matter, the King would have delved deeper into the case, asking questions one by one.
‘Why did he stop the investigation?’
It felt a bit unsettling, but to a Royal Knight, the King’s command was absolute law.
“Investigate the body later. For now, store it so it doesn’t decompose.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Knight Commander returned to his post, unable to shake the lingering sense of unease.
The next day.
“The, the body has disappeared.”
“…What?”
Less than a day after the King had ordered the cessation of the investigation, the body had vanished without a trace.