The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 29

Recently, the Grand Duke had been quite on edge.

This was because he had learned that he could lose his aide to another cat.

This was a threat the Grand Duke had never experienced before in his life.

To the Grand Duke, Ruan Daen was a member of his group, a key piece of his daily routine, a part of his territory, and at the same time, an extremely capable aide.

The Grand Duke had never had such an existence before.

The idea that someone’s presence could make him feel peaceful and complete, rather than eliminating a threat – it was something the Grand Duke had never imagined.

Therefore, the threat of possibly losing such an existence to another cat was quite unfamiliar to the Grand Duke.

All threats are unpleasant, but threats that one hasn’t experienced and isn’t prepared for are even more unpleasant.

The Grand Duke was on edge about the existence of a cat that might snatch away his aide.

That must have been why.

He overheard a conversation between humans that he normally wouldn’t have paid attention to.

“I heard Lisa finally broke up with Wilhelm and is dating a younger guy?”

“Honestly, it was about time. Wilhelm, that bastard… he was kind of…”

“Right! That insufferable jerk. His girlfriend goes out of her way to take care of him, and not only can he not say thank you, but he always acts cold. Seeing that kind of behavior all the time, it makes you not want to do anything for him.”

“If someone treats you like that when you’ve gone out of your way to care for them, it really makes your feelings cool off.”

“And Lisa was so good to him. But whenever she wanted to do something, that guy was always so cold about it.”

“He’s really insufferable… When you’re with a guy like that, and a sweet younger man appears and starts flirting, how can a person resist?”

Stories about humans finding and breaking up with partners were something that normally wouldn’t have even grazed the tip of the Grand Duke’s ear hair.

But now, faced with the danger of possibly losing his aide to another cat, every word of the conversation between the two humans flew and lodged itself in the Grand Duke’s pointed ears.

‘Come to think of it.’

Had there been times when the Grand Duke granted what the aide requested…?

‘…’

Hadn’t there… been any?

…Really none?

In bewilderment, one of the Grand Duke’s ears twitched.

But that was unavoidable. The aide always wanted strange things from the Grand Duke.

Wanting to touch his paw pads, or bury his face in his belly, or brush his fur… He even tried to insist on trimming the fur between his toes.

How could he possibly allow such things?

It was indeed unreasonable.

Moreover, the part the aide was most obsessed with was the Grand Duke’s paw pads.

A cat’s paw pads are an extremely sensitive area. That’s why cats extend their front paws first when encountering something unfamiliar. Because there’s a lot of information that can be gathered just from the sensitive touch of the paw pads.

And to offer such a part to that pervert-like fellow.

Just imagining it made his ears flutter nervously.

Feeling disgruntled, the Grand Duke headed towards the aide’s bedroom.

Dragging his tail, he ambled along the familiar path, and soon arrived at the door.

Since the day he had gone to find the aide directly when he couldn’t meet him at the scheduled time during patrol and ended up spending the night together, the Grand Duke had come to consider spending time with the aide from evening to dawn as part of his routine.

For some reason, the aide seemed to be uncomfortable with the Grand Duke being in human form when he was in his bedroom… But the Grand Duke was also more comfortable in his cat form, so it wasn’t much of an issue.

Anyway, the Grand Duke’s recent routine was to be welcomed by the aide after returning from patrol, then spend time together before cuddling up to sleep.

But… now, having arrived at the aide’s bedroom after finishing patrol, there was no sign of the aide who should have been waiting for him beyond the door.

‘Where did he go?’

The Grand Duke, laying his ears back in displeasure, swiftly rose and opened the door with his front paws.

Unlike usual, only an empty room greeted the Grand Duke.

‘Why isn’t he here?’

The Grand Duke, pondering, walked towards the table. If there was a cozy place, it would be there. But even peeking under the table, the aide was nowhere to be seen.

Wondering if this frail fellow might have hidden in an even cozier space due to discomfort, he checked under the bed and behind the curtains… but the aide was truly not there.

As the Grand Duke was wondering where on earth this guy had gone, suddenly, the content of the humans’ conversation he had overheard earlier came to mind.

‘When you’re with a guy like that, and a sweet younger man appears and starts flirting, how can a person resist?’

Could it be… because he wasn’t allowed to touch the paw pads… he had gone off to another cat who would let him touch their paw pads?

At this ominous conjecture, the Grand Duke’s whiskers stood on end.

This wouldn’t do. He couldn’t just stand by and let that happen.

That guy muttering nonsense about grape jelly being super cute or whatever and coveting another cat’s paw pads, and then being enchanted by those paw pads and trailing after some strange cat.

The Grand Duke couldn’t accept any of it.

‘This won’t do. I need to go catch him right away.’

Just as the Grand Duke, feeling urgent, was turning towards the door to go find the aide…

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

From beyond the door, in the corridor, familiar footsteps began to be heard. They seemed a bit faster than usual, but they were definitely his aide’s footsteps.

Fortunately, it seemed he hadn’t left the Grand Duke after all.

The Grand Duke quickly ran to the door and waited for the aide to open it.

The light yet hurried footsteps drew closer and finally stopped in front of the door.

“Your Grace!”

The aide, looking as excited as a hunter returning home with an incredible prey, entered the room. Though the Grand Duke didn’t know what this guy had caught, even that silly face seemed purely welcome, and the Grand Duke rose up, placing his two front paws on the aide’s body.

“Oops.”

The frail aide’s body wobbled momentarily, unable to withstand the force, but soon regained balance and stood straight. The Grand Duke immediately buried his nose in the aide’s body. It was to find out where the aide had been while away from him.

At least there was no outside smell on him. It seemed he hadn’t gone outside the castle while the Grand Duke was away.

The Grand Duke’s castle was the most intimate and direct living space among the Grand Duke’s territories. It was a space where no other cats could be, and naturally, the aide who had been there all along didn’t smell of any other cats.

From the smell, it seemed the aide had probably been to the kitchen.

Right. No matter how much of a pervert this guy was, obsessed with paw pads, would he really go off to another cat just because he wasn’t allowed to touch them?

As the Grand Duke, slightly relieved, was about to lower his two front paws from the frail one’s body, an unfamiliar scent was detected from the aide’s hand. It was a water bottle he had never seen before.

If there’s an unfamiliar object, the first thing to do is to assess its danger.

As the Grand Duke stared intently at the unfamiliar object, the aide, seemingly noticing the Grand Duke’s interest in the water bottle, held it out in front of the Grand Duke.

“Your Grace! Look at what I’ve brought!”

The sound of water sloshing inside the bottle could be heard. As the aide even opened the lid, the Grand Duke stretched out his neck to smell it.

After a thorough check, it was just ordinary water with nothing particularly problematic.

If it wasn’t dangerous, there was no reason to pay any more attention to it. Having lost interest in the water, the Grand Duke was about to withdraw.

…Or so he tried.

‘…’

If only the aide, for some reason full of expectation, hadn’t pushed the water bottle towards the Grand Duke again.

As he slightly pulled his neck back once more, the water bottle approached by that same distance. Along with the aide’s gaze, which felt somewhat burdensome.

The Grand Duke, with his neck practically retracted into his fluffy body, looked at the aide staring at him with sparkling eyes once, then at the water bottle held out in front of him once, then at the aide looking straight at him once, and then at the water bottle placed in front of his muzzle once.

No matter how he looked at it, it was just a harmless water bottle.

The Grand Duke couldn’t understand why the aide was showing this to him.

‘Ah. Come to think of it…’

As he stared at the water bottle, something suddenly crossed his mind.

‘Is this part of that strange hobby again?’

The aide had been oddly obsessed with water recently.

Whenever he had a chance, he would whisper in the cat’s ear—the aide sometimes seemed to think of the Grand Duke’s cat ears and human ears separately—about how important water intake is, or how drinking water makes you healthy. He kept pushing water in front of the Grand Duke. It had gotten to the point where he had developed a hobby of arranging water in containers of all materials and sizes.

At some point, the aide had started rummaging through the castle, pulling out all sorts of containers and lining them up. In the process, quite a few items that even the Grand Duke, the owner of the castle, didn’t know existed, appeared. The aide would fill these containers with water, display them in his room, and show them to the Grand Duke. As if he wanted to share his hobby, he would look at the Grand Duke with eyes that seemed to be expecting something.

Honestly, it was a taste the Grand Duke could not understand at all… But humans are inherently complex and strange beings, and among them, the aide was an even more unique one. The generous Grand Duke had been simply putting up with the numerous water bowls placed wherever his feet touched.

This must be another such act. Deciding to ignore it as usual, the Grand Duke removed his paws from the aide and stepped down to the floor.

Not noticing how the aide behind him was looking at him.