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Chapter 3
Lady Montclair?
Was there another Lady Montclair besides the villainess? Even I, someone who had read the novel religiously, couldn’t remember one.
There wasn’t.
The person Marcel meant was Eloise Montclair—the original story’s villainess.
She had many titles, but the most famous were:
- The Shame of the Great Archmage Family.
- The Villainess Who Failed to Awaken Her Magic.
- A Woman Good for Nothing Except Throwing Tantrums.
“Marcel, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You know how out of control Lady Montclair has become lately.”
“You know that’s not the kind of person she really is. Besides, my brother was the one who was at fault from the beginning.”
Marcel looked down at me with eyes that seemed on the verge of tears.
Why…? Why are you making that face?
The villainess had an awful temper.
She abused her noble status to torment the heroine.
She was a genuinely terrible person.
“…The Eloise we knew is gone now. Besides, the moment she became engaged to the Crown Prince, your first love came to an end.”
“I know.”
“But you know how gentle Elli’s heart is.”
“So what? You’re planning to send her a cat to comfort her?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sure our little one will cheer her up.”
No, Marcel… I really don’t think that’s how this works.
The villainess kept committing one atrocity after another until the very end.
Her entire family was destroyed.
She herself ended up imprisoned.
And that was the person he wanted to send me to?
A wave of misery washed over me.
“Meow! Meeeow!”
I cried out in protest.
Just then, the veterinarian came hurrying over.
“Is something wrong with the little lady? I could hear her crying all the way here!”
“Payson. She suddenly started crying a while ago, and I’ve been worried.”
“May I examine her?”
“Go ahead.”
…
Just like that…
My fate had changed from the Prince’s Palace cat to the cat belonging to a family doomed to destruction.
At this rate, the villainess might kill me before her house even fell.
Was my happy cat life really only going to last a single month?
That was just cruel.
“Hmm…”
The veterinarian carefully examined me with several medical instruments before humming thoughtfully.
“In my opinion… she’s been frightened by something.”
“I can’t think of anything that would have scared her…”
I had every reason to be scared!
If I went to the villainess…
A life even harsher than my previous one was waiting for me.
I don’t want to go.
I like it here.
As Marcel gently stroked my fur, my heart slowly calmed.
Before I knew it, my eyes drifted shut.
*
When I woke again, the sitting room was dark.
I climbed out of my personal basket and looked around.
Squeezing through the small gap left open for me, I slipped into the hallway.
It was much later than I’d expected.
Only the knights guarding the Prince’s Palace remained in the corridors.
Normally, I would’ve run straight to Marcel and stolen his bed.
But today…
I didn’t feel like it.
So he’d intended to send me to the villainess from the very beginning…
“Hmph!”
Feeling thoroughly betrayed, I turned away from Marcel’s bedroom.
Using my tiny paws, I padded down the hall until I reached a familiar door carrying the scent of wolves.
I scratched at it repeatedly.
A moment later, soft footsteps approached.
The door opened.
“I told you not to come into my room.”
“You scratched up my door again.”
Even while grumbling, Etienne stepped aside so I could enter.
I naturally climbed onto his bed.
He chuckled helplessly before shutting the door.
“What?”
“Did you get upset with Marcel again?”
Whenever I got annoyed with Marcel, I often came to Etienne instead.
Sleeping alone in the sitting room somehow felt…
Lonely.
Maybe it was because I’d spent my previous life crammed into a tiny one-room apartment.
The room I’d been given here was simply too large for one little cat.
“Meow.”
I answered primly.
Etienne plopped down beside me.
Normally, once I settled onto his bed, he’d pretend I wasn’t there and go straight to sleep.
Tonight felt different.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
“Mew?”
Every now and then…
Etienne spoke to me as though he suspected I understood human language.
Unlike Marcel, who mostly just talked to himself.
I looked into his golden eyes glowing softly in the darkness.
“If you really end up going to House Montclair…”
“Meow?”
“…Please take good care of Lady Eloise.”
“Huh?”
“Even though I hate cats, I still rescued you.”
“So… I’d like you to help her too.”
He wore the same sad expression Marcel had shown earlier.
Instead of meowing, I simply tilted my head.
Why are they both so worried about the villainess?
“And…”
“I hope Eloise hasn’t changed.”
“Meow?”
“But…”
“If she really has become a bad person…”
“Run away.”
“No matter where you are…”
“I’ll come rescue you again.”
“Meow?”
“I wish I could understand cat language.”
Where had his usual grumpy, prickly attitude gone?
For some reason…
Tonight Etienne was unusually gentle.
For the very first time, he carefully stroked my head.
“Mew?”
“…You know something, don’t you?”
“That’s why you don’t want to go to Lady Montclair.”
Pretending not to understand a word he’d said, I vigorously rubbed my face against his hand.
I know nothing.
I’m just a cat.
*
Even after several days of staging a hunger strike…
Even after repeatedly sleeping in Etienne’s room…
Marcel never changed his mind.
In the end…
I was placed inside an elegant wooden crate with small air holes and loaded into a carriage.
“Don’t forget what I asked you.”
“Prr… Meow.”
We’ll see.
I answered while looking at Etienne through the narrow slits between the wooden boards.
Marcel was already sitting inside the carriage, smiling at me.
Not that it worked.
“Hmph.”
“Etienne, are you really not coming?”
“I’m sure Elli would like to see you.”
“If people hear that the Second Prince and the future chief of the wolf beastfolk visited the Duke of Montclair together…”
“I’m sure the Crown Prince would be absolutely thrilled.”
“Still…”
“Just go already.”
“Before that little troublemaker escapes back to the palace.”
Tch.
He figured me out.
I awkwardly withdrew my paw after trying to fiddle with the crate’s latch through one of the holes.
A short while later…
The carriage doors shut.
With a jolt, we set off.
My previous life wasn’t exactly smooth…
But this one is somehow even more complicated.
“Little one.”
“Meow.”
“I don’t know what frightened you…”
“Or what you’re worrying about…”
Marcel slipped a finger through one of the holes and gently tapped my head.
“Meow!”
Don’t!
I’m still mad at you!
I bit his finger.
He looked genuinely startled.
“Do you think I’m abandoning you?”
“Meow!”
“I’m not abandoning you.”
“I’m sending you to someone who’ll be an even better owner.”
“She’ll need you too.”
A better owner?
Yeah, right!
I knew exactly what the villainess did in the novel.
Turning away, I buried my head stubbornly in the corner of the crate.
Marcel lowered his voice, almost as if sharing a secret.
“Elli…”
“Eloise used to be my childhood friend.”
“She was a kind girl.”
“She was so soft-hearted she’d burst into tears whenever one of the flowers she cherished wilted.”
“She was clever, too.”
“She always read difficult books.”
“Whenever she visited the Prince’s Palace, she’d bring presents for all the maids.”
“Before long, everyone looked forward to Elli’s visits even more than mine.”
The longing and affection in Marcel’s voice were unmistakable.
So…
The villainess really had once been a good person.
I could more or less guess why she’d changed.
“She had such a beautiful smile…”
“I don’t think I’ve seen it even once since that day.”
That day…
He had to mean the day she failed to awaken her magic.
House Montclair was the family of Great Archmages.
For their daughter to fail her Awakening had been an enormous shock.
According to the novel…
That was when Eloise began walking the path of a villainess.
“Your Highness.”
“We’ve arrived at the Montclair estate.”
The carriage came to a stop.
A knight announced their arrival.
Lifting my head from the corner, I watched as Marcel personally picked up my crate and stepped out.
My view shifted wildly.
First…
A cloudless blue sky.
Then…
A grand entrance hall beneath an enormous chandelier.
Finally…
A ceiling mural even more magnificent than the one in Marcel’s bedroom.
Gemstones had apparently been embedded into it, sparkling wherever sunlight struck them.
Talk about extravagant.
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
A clear, elegant voice echoed through the room.
Trapped inside the crate, I couldn’t see its owner no matter how much I craned my neck.
That must be the original villainess.
“…It’s been a long time.”
“Lady Montclair.”
Inside the carriage, Marcel had affectionately called her Elli.
Now that they stood face to face, however, he addressed her formally.
Silence lingered until tea was served.
Even I, shut inside the crate, felt suffocated by the awkward atmosphere.
The clinking of teacups echoed softly.
The fragrance of black tea blended with the scent of fruit drifted through the room.
“I was surprised to receive your letter so suddenly.”
“It has been quite some time.”
“I heard your campaign in the north was rather difficult.”
“Hardly more difficult than my brother’s burden of governing the Empire.”
The conversation drifted through polite formalities.
The moment the Crown Prince was mentioned…
Silence returned.
At this rate, I’m going to suffocate in this box.
“Meeow.”
