The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 27

Among Kim Ha-jin’s past companion cats, there was one named Naru.

Naru, a cheese-colored shorthair, would rush to greet Kim Ha-jin when he came home, wiggling her pink nose to check the scents her human had brought back. And if she detected the smell of another cat, it was Naru’s routine to scold the human who dared to bring a different scent into her territory.

Now, as Ruan was being held and having his cheeks rubbed by the Duke, who seemed to think he needed to mark his territory even though there was no other cat’s scent, Ruan couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of déjà vu.

‘Could it be that just now… that was… what Naru used to do?’

It wasn’t about suspicion of being a spy or anything like that… It was just a house cat’s way of keeping tabs on its human?

He looked like the Northern Duke for a moment, but was he just a cat after all?

Although it felt a bit empty after being so tense and worried…

‘At least I wasn’t suspected, right?’

Stumbling due to the intense headbutting from the giant cat who didn’t consider his own size, Ruan inwardly felt relieved.

‘A Duke who suspects and pushes me away…’

It was just a momentary misconception, but even the possibility made his heart sink.

As they spent more time together, the Duke began to show a more relaxed and comfortable demeanor in front of Ruan.

When Ruan reached out his hand, instead of avoiding or attacking, the Duke would flatten his ears back, making it easy to pet him. He would close his eyes gently, as if unaware of any possibility that the hand extended towards him might harm him.

The Duke would often sprawl out showing his belly around Ruan. He did this even knowing he couldn’t quickly get up from that position.

Ruan knew what this complete trust meant to a cat who had survived using anxiety and wariness as weapons.

The breakdown of such trust would be a terribly sad thing.

Both for Ruan who had received it, and for the Duke who had given it.

Ruan reached out his hand, as he used to when the Duke was in cat form, and gently tickled the Duke’s head. He could feel the Duke slightly nuzzling his head against his hand.

Ruan never wanted to lose this sensation. To ensure that, there would be many things to consider.

This time, the Duke had latched onto a different point and just let it go.

‘By the way, the Duke really dislikes other cats…’

But still, just doing a scent check and marking with his own scent… Isn’t this an extremely mild reaction compared to Naru, who used to beat up her human while getting angry?

‘Good cat, good cat.’

As he petted the Duke’s head, which was flattened including his ears to be easily stroked, Ruan thought that the issue arising from his slip of the tongue had been concluded with this.

And as always, nothing in this fantasy world went according to Ruan’s wishes.

* * *

The Duke was quite a persistent cat.

‘Well… He’s the one who drove out the defeated soldiers of Reinke who had lost their homeland and eventually recaptured Reinke after it had become a monster field… Of course he can’t be anything but persistent.’

And it seemed that Ruan’s comment hinting at his past cats had properly stimulated this persistent cat.

Otherwise…

There’s no way he would be this excessive.

Since that day, the Duke, who had become extremely sensitive to the existence of other cats, increased his patrol time. He seemed ready to beat up and chase away any other cat that dared to poke even a whisker into his territory.

That wasn’t all. Whenever Ruan went out alone and came back, he was immediately caught and had to be sniffed by the Duke, who had a very serious face. And if he smelled anything suspicious, the Duke would hold Ruan tightly and busy himself rubbing his scent all over him.

And of course, this happened…

Regardless of whether there were other people around or not.

As Ruan’s immunity to the evolving rumors grew day by day, one day…

The entire delegation that had left for exchanges with the dwarves returned.

As part of the delegation, including Julia and Joachim, had reported earlier, the exchange with the dwarves was progressing smoothly, like a ship with the wind at its back. Considering that dwarves were originally a race that avoided interaction with humans, this was truly remarkable.

‘Of course, the timing was just right too.’

The dwarves live in the mountain range southeast of Reinke. This means they are greatly affected by monsters, though not as directly as Reinke, which is in immediate contact with the monster lands.

But for the past few years, the monsters’ movements had been unusual, and then a monster wave incomparable to previous years occurred. Eventually, even Reinke fell.

Of course, part of the reason things got to that point was the sudden death of the previous Duke due to the intervention of Volker, who currently holds the imperial throne, but that’s an untold story.

When Reinke, which had been a sturdy shield against monsters for a very long time, fell, the dwarves too had to continue a grueling fight against monsters that had become more ferocious than ever before. Even for the dwarves with their excellent construction skills and outstanding defense techniques, this was by no means an easy task… Until the recapture and reconstruction of Reinke under the Duke’s command, the dwarves had to overcome countless crises.

And now, at a time when the dwarves were still on high alert as the damage from that time had not yet fully recovered, the Duke of Reinke, who had reclaimed the castle from the monsters, extended a hand to them.

Even for dwarves who had been avoiding interaction with humans, they couldn’t help but consider it.

In addition, the Duke placed on their picky scales an iron ore mine recently discovered in Reinke, excellent in both quantity and quality. After all, Reinke lacked the technology and manpower to develop the mine independently. In any case, offering them a chance to have a stake in this, the dwarves were bound to be tempted…

The response from the dwarves was better than expected.

So much so that shortly after the Reinke delegation returned from presenting conditions and assessing the atmosphere, a visit from a dwarven delegation was scheduled to finalize the terms and ensure cooperation between the two sides.

As a result, Reinke was now in a bustling state, preparing to welcome their non-human neighbors.

The kitchen of the Duke’s castle was one of the noisiest places in this situation.

“Spices! Who touched these spices! I said don’t add them!”

“Didn’t you say to make it saltier than usual!”

“I think we’re short on reindeer meat here!”

“More importantly, the distilled liquor! We don’t have enough distilled liquor! Is this all?”

Ruan, who had come to the kitchen to coordinate some matters, couldn’t gather his thoughts in the atmosphere filled with shouts and noise. Thinking that it wasn’t urgent and he should come back later to meet the person in charge separately, Ruan was about to turn around when…

Thump.

A thick hand landed on Ruan’s shoulder.

“It’s chaotic, isn’t it?”

Turning around, he saw that the head chef Paula was standing next to him with a grinning face. True to the typically large-boned and big-framed people of Reinke, the tall Paula had a large box tucked under one arm.

Ruan, who couldn’t possibly lift such a box even with both arms unlike the ‘typical’ Reinke people, smiled slightly and said,

“It’s a busy time for everyone.”

Paula, who had an arm draped over Ruan’s shoulder and was watching the chaotic kitchen scene, said,

“Well, this event is important for Reinke… And it’s been so long since we’ve had anything like a proper welcoming of guests after that incident, so everyone’s excited.”

After saying that, Paula effortlessly lifted the box she had been carrying under one arm. Ruan’s gaze, which had been nodding, fell on the bottles densely packed in the box Paula was holding.

“Ah, I guess these are the drinks for the dwarves.”

Dwarves were all known to be heavy drinkers at a level incomparable to humans, and at the same time, they were alcohol enthusiasts. They liked both quantity and quality when it came to alcohol.

Naturally, the gifts that Reinke’s delegation had taken included Reinke-produced distilled liquor, and Ruan had heard that the response to it was truly explosive.

‘Of course, before hearing that, I had to comfort Hans for a long time after he came back having heard somewhere about the subsided rumors of the imprisoned princess…’

As Ruan was briefly recalling the tear-fest on the day Hans and Magda returned, Paula spoke up.

“That’s right. This Reinke-produced distilled liquor might not be much in quantity, but the taste is incredible. Made with melted snow from the eternal snow caps, it has a clean and transparent feel… Ah… it’s fantastic, just fantastic.”

Paula, who had been praising it for a while as if just thinking about it was enjoyable, looked down at the box full of liquor bottles and smacked her lips.

“We’re bringing out everything we have… But they’re famous for being alcohol demons originally. I’m worried it might not be enough.”

Paula, who had been chattering about the drinking capacity of dwarves she had heard about somewhere, quickly ran off with just a brief goodbye when she heard someone calling for her.

Left behind, Ruan pondered deeply about what he had heard from Paula. He was certainly interested in the drinking capacity that seemed like it might be a joke or real, and the supposedly excellent taste of the Reinke-produced distilled liquor… But what Ruan had fixated on was what Paula had mentioned earlier.

Water from melted eternal snow.

‘Could it be… Evian…?’

Recently, one of Ruan’s main concerns, aside from work and resolving misunderstandings about the Duke cat, was the Duke’s water intake.