Chapter 128
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129.
"Julian! Julian!"
At the forest's edge, Rebecca called out Julian's name endlessly.
A Servant who happened to be playing with a cat caught her eye.
Rebecca approached him and asked.
"Have you by chance seen the Duke?"
The Servant, who had been enthusiastically waving a toy dangling from a tree branch, started in surprise and looked at Rebecca.
"Oh, the Duchess!"
"Yes, thank you for your efforts. I heard my husband was in the forest—do you know where he is now?"
"The Duke should be around...."
The Servant withdrew a pocket watch and checked the time before speaking.
"On a bright day like today, at this hour he's likely at the Great King Rock."
"The Great King Rock?"
"Yes. If you follow the forest path over there, you'll come upon a broad stone. He's probably there."
"Thank you."
Rebecca hurried toward the path the Servant had indicated.
At the feet of the dazed Servant, the cat let out a sharp cry.
"Oh! My apologies, dear cat. I'll wave it faster."
The Servant resumed his duty, swinging the branch again.
As he contentedly watched the cat burning with hunting instinct, the Servant suddenly lifted his head.
"Ah, that's right—the Duke is currently...."
A look of awkwardness flickered across his face, but he quickly dismissed it.
"Well, what does it matter? They're husband and wife."
His gaze returned to the pink paw pads of the cat diving toward the toy.
* * *
Leo stretched with a long yawn and slipped from Julian's embrace as he lay atop the rock.
The stone was vast enough that even the tall Julian could stretch his legs and still have room—a place he had favored since childhood.
Today the sun was particularly brilliant.
Because of it, every cat in the forest had gathered here.
The cats occupied a spot beside Julian, sprawling lazily for their afternoon naps.
Leo glanced at Julian, who was playing with a brown-striped kitten.
Julian was so absorbed in the kitten's affections that he wouldn't have noticed if Leo disappeared entirely.
'Well then, perhaps I'll visit the vegetable patch after all.'
Leo had always known he was not originally a cat.
Though called a messenger of the divine, he was in truth one banished from the heavens for his transgression.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, his original form would not surface in his memory. And the sin he had committed—that too eluded him.
All he remembered was Defria's scornful remark.
'Make them worship you there.'
The time spent trapped within a cat's body had grown longer.
He was gradually coming to accept that his body was, in fact, that of a cat.
He had begun to think like a cat and behave like one.
At times, the fear that even his intellect might fade away gripped him so fiercely that he trembled.
Yet that too seemed to hold its own peculiar appeal.
If he truly became a cat, he would never have to wrestle with the anguish of this terrible curse again.
But he could never become an ordinary cat. He possessed no appetite whatsoever.
The Duke of Johannes had always provided him with divine energy.
Though he could taste food, he had scarcely ever felt the desire to eat.
Thus Leo did not crave fish as other cats did, nor did he slip into the kitchen to overturn milk bottles.
He ate only when curiosity stirred within him, or when it would bring joy to whoever had prepared the meal.
Yet there was one thing he enjoyed uniquely, as any cat might.
Catnip.
When he caught its scent, his mind would grow hazy and the present troubles would fade away.
His troubled heart would settle in an instant.
So whenever Leo felt restless or bored, he would seek out catnip.
Throughout the Forest of Duke Johannes's Estate, catnip grew in several places.
Among the cats of the Duke's Castle, Leo held the highest rank. When he appeared, the others would quietly yield their space or fawn upon him.
Because of this, the largest catnip patch was practically his own.
At the mere thought of catnip, his tail rose vertically of its own accord.
Leo swayed his slightly curled tail slowly as he padded gently toward his destination.
He slipped past the wide meadow where the great rock stood and entered the tall grass.
Then, from somewhere, a familiar scent drifted to him.
Leo lifted his nose and sniffed.
'This is... Rebecca?'
Rebecca carried a sweet vanilla fragrance, mingled subtly with the fresh scent of catnip.
Perhaps for this reason, he had liked her from the very beginning.
Sure enough, not long after, Rebecca suddenly emerged from the forest path.
"Leo!"
Leo rushed to her at once and rubbed his face against the hem of her dress.
Rebecca crouched down and stroked his face, asking softly.
"Do you know where Julian is? I heard he was around here."
Leo was about to eagerly show her where he was when the image of Julian lying upon the rock suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Leo meowed urgently and led Rebecca in the opposite direction from where Julian lay.
Just then, the sound of cats crying out in unison reached them.
It seemed Julian had begun to hum a melody.
Whenever he sang, the cats would follow his voice in chorus.
"What is that sound? Is Julian over there?"
Rebecca's gaze shifted toward the meadow where Julian was.
Leo felt as though he wanted to clutch his head in his paws.
Leo desperately grabbed Rebecca's dress and pulled her away from the meadow.
But Rebecca was already drawn forward like one entranced by the cats' chorus.
'I... did my best.'
In the end, Leo released Rebecca with a sense of resignation.
He soon imagined Julian's desperate heartache and sighed.
Whether he wished to feel it or not, Julian's pain would inevitably reach him.
It would be better to distance himself somewhere pleasant.
Leo hurried briskly toward the cluster of chamomile flowers.
"Julian..."
As Rebecca pushed through the undergrowth, the expansive meadow opened before her eyes.
She raised her hand toward him, lying contentedly atop a boulder and singing in good spirits.
But the moment she beheld his form, she froze in place.
Julian was completely naked.
Cats were scattered about him, yet their small bodies proved wholly insufficient to conceal his large frame.
Rebecca's gaze slowly traced the length of his exposed body.
She thought she ought to look away, yet her body refused to obey.
His firm physique, burnished to a beautiful bronze, gleamed in the sunlight.
Rebecca's eyes followed the sculpted contours of his musculature downward.
Lying naked among the cats, Julian resembled the primordial man whom God had beheld after creation and marveled at his beauty.
As Rebecca blinked slowly, Julian, who had been using his arm as a pillow, rolled toward her with a contented sigh.
Their gazes collided in midair.
A moment of silence passed.
"Ahhh!"
Upon spotting Rebecca, Julian jolted upright in shock.
In doing so, everything that had been precariously concealed was laid bare.
Confronted with the sight before her, Rebecca's mouth fell open in astonishment.
'It's... quite large.'
"What are you doing! Why are you staring!"
Julian's face flushed crimson as he quickly prostrated himself, concealing his body among the cats.
At Julian's nearly tearful shout, Rebecca finally came to her senses.
"Ah..."
"As if covering your eyes changes anything now!"
Seeing Rebecca hastily cover her face with both hands, Julian spoke irritably.
Rebecca stammered in response.
"W-who told you to take everything off there?"
"You're the one who burst in suddenly!"
Julian quickly changed into the clothes he had neatly folded beneath the boulder.
The sound of him urgently pulling up his trousers rang sharply in her ears.
Though the situation was undeniably mortifying, Rebecca's lips inexplicably kept curving upward.
"There. You can open your eyes now."
At his words, Rebecca cautiously opened her eyes.
Julian stood before her, hastily throwing on a shirt, his brow deeply furrowed.
Julian crossed his arms at an angle and spoke.
"I've been thinking about this for a while now, but you're quite the voyeur."
"W-what did I reveal?"
"The way you looked me over wasn't innocent! Be honest. You were staring on purpose, weren't you?"
"I wasn't! Do you think I'm some kind of pervert?"
"Seems about right to me. No matter how I think about it, this feels terribly unfair."
"What's unfair about it?"
"I need to make things equal."
"What?"
Julian approached Rebecca with a sly smile, moving slowly toward her.
Rebecca stumbled backward, retreating from him.
The cats sat in a row atop the rock, watching the two of them with keen interest.
"Wait, just a moment!"
"I don't have moments."
Rebecca raised both hands and pushed against Julian's chest, but instead he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew his face close to hers.
His face tilted down toward mine.
From him came the soft scent of sun-dried, fluffy bedding.
Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut.
A light touch.
A gentle weight settled against my cheek.
With my vision blocked, the sensation of his soft lips became all the more vivid.
Rebecca opened her eyes in a daze.
Julian smiled brightly, his face close to hers.
"Let's call it even."
Rebecca gazed at the gentle sunlight falling across his face. A soft breeze brushed through his hair.
"Ah...."
A tremor ran through me. A tingling sensation, as if electricity coursed from head to toe, swept across my body.
His beautifully curved crescent eyes and the reddened, wet lips that had just touched my cheek.
Nestled against his bronzed, sun-kissed chest would feel as warm as being wrapped in a fluffy blanket.
With all of that directed toward me, I couldn't regain my composure.
My legs gave way, and I collapsed onto the rock.
"Rebecca?"
"Ah, I'm fine.... I just felt dizzy for a moment."
To be precise, I had been mesmerized by Julian's face, but I couldn't voice that truth, so I offered a weak smile instead.
Julian's expression grew serious. He sat beside Rebecca and placed his hand on her forehead.
"You don't seem to have a fever...."
"I'm really fine. If I just sit like this, I'll feel better soon."
Rebecca felt dizzy as his face drew so close to mine.
I quickly exhaled the breath I'd been holding and hastily changed the subject, fearing he might summon a physician at any moment.
"What were you doing here anyway? Removing all your clothes like that...."
"Ah, well, that's the thing...."
The Countess who had fled returned.
E-book publication.
January 12, 2022
Author.
Gin Bam Ha Neul
Publisher.
Desert Fox
Published by.
Woongjin Thinkbig Co., Ltd.
Submission contact.
naver.me/54VzzLSn
Blog.
blog.naver.com/wj_fennecfox
Twitter.
@wjt_fennecfox
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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