Chapter 141

At that time, Herman was with William.

Not long after Rowaine left the party hall, William ended up getting completely drunk. His secretary hurriedly took him to his quarters to prevent people from seeing the Emperor’s disgrace.

William, who went to bed early, called Herman instead of going to sleep.

“Where is Rowaine? Where did she go? What happened with her?”

Herman sighed inwardly as he looked at William, who was drunk and slurring his words.

“It went as planned. The Duke of Blois was very angry and dragged Rowaine away. It looked like they were going to have a big fight.”

In reality, Dimitri didn’t show his anger in front of him like that. Despite the fact that he had deliberately tried to sow seeds of discord, pretending there was something between Rowaine and Cadis, Dimitri was calmer than expected.

‘How boring.’

He wanted to see Dimitri blinded by jealousy and run wild. Well, regardless, for now, he just needed to satisfy William. He wouldn’t remember anything by tomorrow anyway.

“Really?”

William chuckled.

“As expected, you’re smart! Haha! Good, good! Keep them apart like that, those two. The Duke of Blois, that shapeshifter, keep him away from Rowaine!”

Leaving the shouting Emperor behind, Herman slowly slipped out of the bedroom as if he had done his job. On the other hand, William, who was satisfied, didn’t call for him, and before long, the only sound from the bedroom was loud snoring. As he left the Emperor’s quarters, Herman thought to himself.

‘Suspicious.’

He suggested to William that they would use a hunting hound, who was easy to handle, to separate the Duke of Blois and Rowaine. But in reality, that wasn’t his only goal.

‘In the past, Rowaine would’ve exploded with rage, but today she was different.’

If something like today had happened before, Rowaine would have immediately drawn her sword and threatened to kill the hunting dog, but earlier, she just stood there watching. From the moment he saw her rush out to stop the servants throwing stones at the hunting dogs at the Duke of Blois’s estate, he had been quite suspicious.

‘Can a person change like that overnight?’

Herman’s eyes narrowed.

‘As if she was a different person.’

Certainty settled in his violet eyes.

̊ · : * ✧* : · ̊

The next morning, I was sitting on the bed with bleary eyes even before Agwen came to wake me up.

‘I think I need to explain things to Elaine…’

I had a hard time sleeping because I was worried about Cadis, what Herman’s plan was, and whether there was a way to meet Elaine secretly.

Dimitri slept in a different room last night.

While we were at the imperial palace, it seemed that some of the custom-made beds, which were supposed to take a bit longer, were placed in several rooms. Thanks to that, I was able to send Dimitri to another room with peace of mind.

‘We only slept together for two nights, but it felt a little empty.’

I glanced at the spot where Dimitri had been lying, then shook my head and stood up. After changing my clothes and lightly washing my face, I stepped outside the room. Unlike my restless night, the mansion was welcoming a peaceful morning.

“Uuwaaak!”

“Go away! Aaack! Let go of me!”

Coco and Sasha were running around the vast mansion like crazy, hugging and rolling around in each other’s arms. The servants, watching my reaction, couldn’t bring themselves to stop the two children and narrowly avoided them.

Sasha, in the form of a cat with a crazed look in her eyes, was closely chasing Coco, who was also in his cat form.

“I said stop following me!”

Although Coco screamed, Sasha just laughed, “Heehhee!” and continued chasing after him.

“You’re too slow!”

“Whether I’m slow or not is none of your business! Aaaack! Rowaine!”

When Sasha saw Coco, who had hidden behind me and hissed at her after he found me, she pointed at Coco and tattled to me.

“He insulted me!”

I picked Sasha up in my arms and spoke firmly.

“Sasha, don’t bother Coco.”

“Hmph, when did I?”

Sasha twisted her body and slipped out of my grasp.

“Aaahh! Watch out, Sasha!”

I was worried as Sasha fell from the air, but she managed to land skillfully and gracefully on the ground with a soft thud! Then, I put my hand on my waist and gave her a stern look.

“Sasha, you need to be polite. And Coco, you can’t bother her as well.”

“Tssk. He started it first.”

Sasha defiantly met my gaze, her tightly closed mouth showing her stubbornness. When I looked at Coco, he widened his eyes as he tilted his head, looking very innocent and wronged.

“No, Rowaine. She was bothering me. I didn’t do anything, but she suddenly lunged at me and hit me.”

His tone and voice were more timid and childlike than usual. Those sky-blue eyes were so clear and innocent. They didn’t look like eyes that could tell lies.

I narrowed my eyes and glanced at Sasha.

“Sasha.”

“No! No, I didn’t do it!”

With a huff, Sasha let out a frustrated sigh and dashed off toward the dining room. At that moment, Dimitri, who happened to be coming down the stairs, whispered to me as he passed by.

“Sasha is telling the truth.”

I was startled by the sudden sound of his voice, and when I put my hand to my ear and looked at him, he was already smirking.

“Good morning.”

“Oh, Dimitri…”

Whether I felt awkward or not, he seemed indifferent, teasingly smiling down at Coco.

“While Sasha was chasing bugs on the railing, Coco was the one who first pushed her over with his butt.”

“….!”

I looked down at Coco, who was holding onto my leg tightly with his mouth agape from an unexpected hit to the back of his head. He glanced at Dimitri before he looked up at me with innocent and clear eyes.

“Sasha was behind Coco’s butt.”

Then, he looked up at me with an innocent look as if to say he was innocent, and it was really the cutest thing ever. I didn’t have the heart to scold him for his mistakes.

‘I don’t know. It’s okay if he’s cute…’

Then, self-blame flooded in.

‘I’m a bad caregiver.’

As we trudged to the dining room, Dimitri grabbed Coco’s backside and growled at him from behind me. I was worried because he was a bit violent with the children, but it turned out that Dimitri’s parenting style was firmer than mine…

“Where are you pretending to be cute? How old are you to still make tongue-tie noises? Should I just cut that d*mn tongue of yours?”

…We weren’t cut out to be caregivers.

‘We’re hopeless. Completely hopeless.’

It was fortunate that Sasha and Coco met us when they were old enough.

Breakfast, as usual, was meat-centered. In front of Coco, Sasha, and Dimitri, various types of well-cooked meat were laid out. While in front of me, there was mushroom soup, a beautifully arranged fruit salad, warm bread and pancakes, and omelets filled with various vegetables and sauces.

I picked out vegetables that were good for cats from my food and distributed them into the three plates.

“Make sure to eat at least this much, everyone. And drink a cup of water each.”

“Oh, tasteless stuff!”

“Do we really have to eat it? Hiingg.”

“You talk too much. Just do as Rowaine says.”

When Dimitri clenched his fist, Coco and Sasha straightened up.

“Yes.”

“Ung.”

I smiled back at Dimitri, who looked back at me with a proud smile as if asking, ‘I did well, didn’t I?’ I knew that the employees in the mansion were watching our interaction.

‘They’ll get used to it.’

The employees of the capital townhouse, who had only heard of me through rumors, were quite wary. Initially, even the employees at the country house on the estate were reluctant to accept me, but they soon got used to me, so I expect the people here would also get used to me over time.

The briefly quiet dining table once again became noisy.

“Coco, if you keep picking at your food like that, you won’t grow taller.”

“Mind your own business.”

“You know I’m taller than you now, right?”

“It’s not just your height. You’ve also got a potbelly, you know?”

“I don’t! You look like a skinny sardine!”

“It’s better to be a skinny sardine than to eat recklessly like you and poop a lot. And I’m cute, so it’s okay.”

“Tssk!”

Coco, who had a sharper tongue than Sasha and knew how to provoke her, smirked and stuck out her tongue. In response, she swung her fist at him.

It was the beginning of the second round.

‘Cats often fight from adolescence to early adulthood.’

That was because they were full of vigor. They couldn’t control their desire to prove themselves as big and strong cats, fueled by their lingering energy.

‘Still, that kind of bickering stems from the recognition that we’re family.’

If they really didn’t get along well, they would have avoided each other without seeing each other instead of being in each other’s faces all the time. In this spacious mansion where there was enough space to avoid overlapping paths, the fact that they always stuck together like that was a sign of a strong bond.

“Come on, kids, get up when you’re done eating. Let’s go ride the horses.”

Still, I couldn’t let them keep fighting like that, so I thought it would be better to let them expend their energy.

“Good! Can I ride the demon instead of a horse?”

“I’m lazy.”

“Finish your meal, get dressed, and let’s meet in the yard.”

Before I could finish speaking, Sasha dashed off to change clothes in a flash, followed by Coco, who ambled after her. After informing the children, I was already thinking of ways to get in touch with Elaine.

‘I need to see how the Emperor plans to punish Cadis and prepare a plan with Elaine…’

At that moment, the butler came up to me and whispered.

“Madam, you have a visitor.”

 
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