The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 26

‘Another cat…’

The Duke knew better than anyone how his assistant behaved in front of cats.

It was natural, as he was the cat receiving that fervent affection.

And for the Duke, the words ‘another cat’ naturally evoked numerous thoughts.

Like…

His assistant waving a quill pen seductively in front of another cat.

His assistant cutting jerky into small pieces and placing them one by one into another cat’s mouth.

His assistant caressing another cat’s nose bridge and chin area with those exquisite touches that sometimes made even the Duke lose his senses.

His assistant walking around exuding a group scent with another cat, the other cat’s smell sticking thickly to his assistant’s unique refreshing body scent…

Scenes that made him want to groom vigorously just imagining them.

The Duke stared at his assistant, who was noticeably flustered after mentioning another cat.

That bewildered look. It was as good as confessing that there was something to be guilty about.

The Duke’s pupils contracted narrowly as he looked at his assistant.

‘This is… a threat.’

The Duke’s assistant had a weakness for cats.

He couldn’t not know.

Even after learning that his boss, the Duke, and the cat occupying his bed were the same cat, the assistant behaved oddly more softly towards the Duke in cat form.

Of course, he wasn’t neglectful towards the human Duke. The assistant wanted to do anything for the Duke even in human form. It’s just that when he was a cat, the assistant was almost desperate to do even more for him.

How could he not know when the assistant acted so differently despite knowing they were the same being?

The assistant was openly weak for cats.

Now that he knew the assistant liked both forms of the Duke, he wasn’t as displeased as before… but that was when he was the only cat making the assistant as soft as kitten fluff.

Now that another cat had appeared between them, the assistant’s extreme weakness for cats was quite a serious problem.

Of course, other cats couldn’t compare to the Duke. The Duke was an overwhelmingly strong cat. No cat could take better care of that frail one than the Duke.

‘But that guy melts completely in front of cats…’

Even the Duke, who was such a strong cat that no one in the area could match him, couldn’t let his guard down.

If another cat—any cat would be pathetic compared to the Duke—appeared and tempted him, the assistant, whose eyes go wild at the sight of any cat, might thoughtlessly follow right behind without discretion.

Moreover, if that cat allowed him to touch its paw pads…

‘There’s a high chance he’d fall for it.’

This was a clear threat to the Duke.

Threats should be eliminated quickly.

The Duke stood up.

* * *

‘Having encountered many cats until now. That’s not “Ruan Daen’s” story, but “Kim Ha-jin’s”…’

Ruan, realizing what he had said only after finishing his words, was lost in thought.

It was true that he had met many cats during his time as ‘Kim Ha-jin’.

Thanks to his mother who passionately loved cats, from the moment he left the postpartum care center for his mother’s home, there wasn’t a single moment he hadn’t lived with cats.

Growing up in such an environment constantly exposed to cats, Kim Ha-jin naturally… became an adult who carried cat food around and flirted with every cat he encountered on the street.

‘There were even times when I felt fate upon meeting a cat by chance and brought it straight home…’

Just because you have someone you like doesn’t mean you develop love for all humanity, but if there’s a cat at home, you naturally find your eyes drawn to cats and wish for all cats in the world to be happy. It couldn’t be helped.

Anyway, having experienced many cats over such a long time, it was natural that he was skilled in dealing with cats.

But if there was a problem… it was that this was all the story of Kim Ha-jin, a 26-year-old Korean man, not the story of Ruan Daen, a native of Reinke.

Ruan pondered, his busy hands coming to a stop.

‘Did Ruan Daen even encounter cats in the first place?’

Since possessing ‘Ruan Daen’, the only cat he had seen while living in Reinke was just one. That pitch-black, enormous Duke.

Originally, cat lovers develop a cat detection ability that might make them mistake a plastic bag for a cat, but they never mistake a cat sprawled on the street for a plastic bag and pass by. Ruan was originally someone who could uncannily notice even just the tip of a cat’s tail while walking down the street.

But even with such detection ability, he hadn’t found even a hair tip of a cat on Reinke’s streets, let alone a tail tip. He had found it strange and even thought that maybe cats didn’t live in Reinke…

‘It’s probably because this is the Duke cat’s territory, so other cats can’t live here.’

A land occupied by the world’s strongest cat.

Honestly, if Ruan were a cat, he wouldn’t want to compete for territory with a giant cat that looked blunt due to its fluffy fur but actually had a body like a gym rat.

Moreover, while there were many houses in Reinke that kept hunting dogs, he hadn’t seen any houses keeping cats… There was a high possibility that the Duke was truly the only cat living in Reinke.

‘But if Ruan Daen, who probably never left this town in his life, says he’s met many cats… isn’t that a bit strange?’

As Ruan was deep in thought, a shadow fell across his vision.

Whoosh-

Ruan’s chin was lifted upwards.

As he raised his gaze accordingly, he saw the Duke looming over him, holding Ruan’s chin with his thumb and index finger.

‘He was sitting at his desk just a moment ago…’

The Duke was already someone who made no sound when moving despite his large build and overflowing presence. Add to that Ruan being lost in thought, and it seemed he hadn’t noticed the Duke approaching so close.

Anyway…

Ruan carefully observed the Duke, who had bent his large upper body and brought his imposing features close to Ruan’s face.

‘He looks angry?’

Of course, the Duke’s face wasn’t different from usual. It was the same face that would make any person from Reinke caught on the street scream, “Eek, His Grace is going to rip off my head!” if shown to them. But while that was all a misunderstanding and usually the Duke was just thinking about the jerky his assistant made for him, this time… the Duke was, unusually, truly in a displeased state.

Noticing this, Ruan unconsciously swallowed dryly.

‘Did it sound suspicious to the Duke too…’

The Duke, looking like the Northern Duke rather than a cat, was staring down at Ruan with an almost devouring intensity.

Come to think of it, the Duke was someone who had lost his parents and territory to spies. It was natural for such a Duke to be sensitive to any suspiciousness from those around him.

‘Why did I thoughtlessly say such a thing and make the situation like this…’

As Ruan was pondering how to explain his slip of the tongue, the Duke, who had been staring at Ruan with eyes brimming with fierce emotion, lowered his head and…

Buried his nose in Ruan’s collarbone area.

‘What’s this?’

Startled by the suddenly decreased distance, Ruan tried to pull his body back, but his chin was still held in the Duke’s hand.

Ruan had no choice but to expose his neck area to the Duke. As he did so, it suddenly occurred to him that the neck was a vital point.

While Ruan was stiffly frozen with tension,

He could feel the Duke’s face moving right next to his ear.

With his body still inclined over Ruan as if pouncing on him, only the Duke’s head turned slightly. The nose that had been touching his collarbone moved towards his tense neck. With his chin held, Ruan could acutely feel the Duke’s breath on his stretched-out neck.

At this point, even Ruan couldn’t help but realize what the Duke was doing.

‘He’s smelling me right now, isn’t he?’

Why suddenly?

Could it be that he’s trying to check because it’s too suspicious?

Is he trying to catch some clue with his excellent sense of smell?

Of course, smelling wouldn’t reveal anything strange about Ruan. Ruan wasn’t a spy in contact with someone outside, and what Ruan was hiding was a matter of the soul, not the body.

But in front of the Duke who seemed to be suspecting him, Ruan couldn’t help but be tense.

The Duke smelled Ruan with a careful and meticulous attitude. While being held tightly by the Duke and smelled, countless thoughts rose and fell in Ruan’s mind.

What if the Duke suspects me of being a spy? How should I explain what I said earlier to make it sound natural? It seems unreasonable to reveal that I’m a possessor, but… If this causes the Duke to distance himself from me…

After Ruan’s long agonizing, the Duke, who had even picked up Ruan’s hand holding the pen to smell it, finally raised his head.

The Duke’s piercing golden eyes met Ruan’s trembling eyes.

“Now…”

Now?

Ruan quietly watched as the Duke’s lips, which seemed to have reached some conclusion, parted.

“It seems there isn’t another cat around.”

As he said this, the Duke’s anger seemed to have slightly subsided for some reason.

‘That… was what was important?’