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chapter 34
“Huff… huff—.”
Outside the bedroom, the sky was turning a deep red as the morning broke, and I hadn’t stopped moving for a single moment.
Carefully.
I crept in quietly and lay down on the bed. I noticed a fine crease forming on Kenich’s brow.
It was a sign that he was about to wake.
As expected.
“……”
I felt his hands groping across the bed, accompanied by a low exhale.
He was clearly searching for me.
This had become a habit ever since I had been found unconscious on the floor after Erjin’s ambush a few days ago.
‘Not now…!’
The closer Kenich’s large hand moved toward me, the more my heart pounded violently, as if trying to escape my chest.
I had brushed off the dust before lying down, but my sweat-drenched fur hadn’t completely dried.
Most of all, it was inevitable that he would hear my frantic heartbeat.
Kenich, perceptive as ever, would figure out something had happened to me during the night.
‘Better to strike first than be interrogated…’
Before Kenich’s straight fingers could start fiddling with my tail:
“Chu!”
I leaped into the air.
I even exaggerated a bit, as if startled awake.
However, Kenich seemed unfazed and simply grabbed me firmly.
My heart thumped so loudly it felt like it might jump out from under his fingers.
He pulled the hand holding me up to his own face.
His sharp nose pressed against the top of my head, which he held rather carelessly.
“…Cherry.”
Kenich’s voice was lower than usual, likely because it was early morning.
But that wasn’t the only reason it felt chilling.
‘Cold.’
It was the instinct of a half-wild creature.
My tail shivered as if sending a warning.
“Chu, chuu…?”
My voice trembled along with it.
“Where did you go?”
“Chu, chuchu.”
I… I didn’t go anywhere!
Of course, he couldn’t understand, but I rolled my eyes and protested as best I could.
Perhaps my effort worked—Kenich simply opened his eyes without a word.
I couldn’t help but be drawn to his eyes, filled entirely with the golden sunrise.
“From you…”
Gulp.
“The scent of a tiger cub is overwhelming.”
“Chu… chuk.”
In the eerie silence that descended upon the bedroom, only my hiccups echoed loudly.
I tried to hold my breath, but hiccups don’t work that way.
Instead, my body shook even more violently.
“Chuk.”
Dangling by my neck, I had a thousand thoughts racing through my head.
The first thought that filled my mind:
‘I could suffocate just from his gaze.’
Then:
Would I really end up stuffed and mounted as a decoration in this room?
Stuffed… would that hurt?
Of course it would.
Even as my imagination spiraled, my hiccups continued.
“Chuk… chuk…”
Each gasp of air made my dangling body sway back and forth.
It was absurd, yet Kenich’s expression remained frozen, like ice.
That impassive look made me even more terrified.
‘Someone, please save me…!’
Sevi…
Ria…!
I desperately called out the names that wouldn’t answer.
Knock, knock.
“Gerard here.”
“Chuut…!”
His annoying voice had never felt so welcome.
It was the first time, I swear.
Like discovering a well-ripened acorn in the middle of a famine, my gaze naturally shifted to him.
My tail, which normally stiffened at the sight of Gerard, wagged energetically to greet him.
“…?”
Unlike me, Kenich made a slight displeased noise.
He seemed irritated, covering my face with his hand and forcing me to look only at him.
“Come in.”
Finally, Kenich gave permission.
The door opened, and orderly footsteps followed.
“Did you sleep well? But… what are you two doing?”
His voice lacked energy, probably from recent late-night work, though his polite-yet-busy tone remained unchanged.
Still, I wanted to lean on Gerard.
After all, even the smallest acorn is better when carried together.
“Chuu, chuu…”
Gerard, you see, it was the perfect time for me to whine with a pitiful little sound.
“Cherry.”
The heavy voice came from above my covered face.
“You haven’t answered yet.”
“Chu… chuk.”
Though my hiccups had long stopped, I pretended they continued.
Better a clumsy act than an impossible answer.
Kenich, aware of my pretense, let out a deep sigh.
The outcome was predictable.
“Chuuu…!”
Trapped in this miserable pocket again!
Unfair, unfair!
I struggled but lost my balance, collapsing to the floor.
“Oh dear…”
Gerard watched sympathetically as I wriggled on the floor trapped in the pocket.
“What on earth did you do wrong? Could it be… that you were attempting a midnight escape?”
“Chu!”
Not moving his face?!
I bared my teeth, ready to bite Gerard who was leaning in too close.
“With these rice-grain-sized teeth, I can’t even bite your fingers… Ah, you really bit me when I let my guard down!”
“Tch!”
Who told you to let your guard down?
And if I were really trying to escape, I wouldn’t feel wronged.
I was just taking a nighttime stroll!
No, more accurately, it was a night patrol!
I glared at Kenich in indignation, but nothing changed.
“Gerard, move a little farther. You also smell of tiger.”
“Eh? How can you say that…?”
Gerard sniffed, switching arms to check the smell.
Then suddenly:
“If you say ‘you too’…”
Gerard’s sly gaze shifted toward me.
He pressed his nose to my crown and inhaled deeply.
“Hmm, indeed, there’s no scent at all. Though you seem strangely… dusty today.”
“Chu, chutchu…!”
Dusty? Where?
I glared fiercely at him.
“Ah, it was rude of me to say that to a lady!”
Gerard belatedly realized his mistake.
I just shook my head at him.
‘Such a clever little snake…’
I almost got caught sneaking across the roof and down the pipes.
I exhaled quietly, unnoticed by Kenich.
“Although… Kenich shouldn’t be able to smell tiger scent, that’s strange.”
Gerard muttered to himself.
“Tch?”
What does that mean?
I tilted my head, buried in the pocket, and Gerard leaned closer, as if revealing a secret.
“Those in the direct line of the Kreutz family, including Kenich, have had weak senses of smell and taste for generations.”
“Chuut…?”
“Beastkin bodies are strong enough to handle most poisons, so naturally their sense of smell or taste didn’t develop much. They just don’t need it.”
Gerard shrugged.
“Ah, but they are very sensitive to mana. Perhaps Kenich sensed Astrahan’s mana rather than the scent.”
“Chu, chutchu…?”
What… what did you just say?
“Of course, Cherry wouldn’t have sensed Astrahan’s mana. Unless you escaped the bedroom to meet Erjin, and Erjin intentionally didn’t leave any mana on you.”
Gerard chuckled, clearly finding his own comment amusing.
‘Does he know something?’
Why does everything fit perfectly?!
But that wasn’t the important part right now.
Wait a minute.
Erjin… did what…?
Leaving mana on me?
“Chu, chuut…!”
You insane tiger…?!
