The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 12

He thought he could easily outmaneuver the weak aide.

He was sure of it.

But.

‘How dare he… grab my nape…’

Just as Achilles had his heel, cats have an inescapable weakness.

It’s the nape of their neck.

When grabbed by the nape, as a mother cat would carry her kittens, cats enter a trance-like state.

The Duke was aware of this. It’s just that no one had been bold enough to even think of grabbing the Duke’s nape.

But… to think that the trusted aide would commit such an atrocity as to immobilize the Duke by grabbing his nape. The Duke felt as betrayed as a Roman consul assassinated by his close associate in ancient times.

However, whether the Duke was trembling with a sense of betrayal or not, the aide was mercilessly soaking the Duke’s fur, as if possessed by the sole will to finish this bath in the shortest time possible.

“Good boy. You’re so good at bathing. There’s probably no other cat in the world that washes so obediently. You’re so amazing, so good! It’s all done! Already all done!”

What’s all done when we’ve just started?

Even while diligently wiping away the bloodstains from the Duke’s double-layered thick fur, the aide didn’t stop talking for a moment.

“Still, you’re the type that gets a debuff reducing attack power when wet. Some start thrashing the moment water touches them. Right?”

What does he mean, ‘right’? Why is this guy seeking agreement for his nonsense? Does he think the Duke will agree to this nonsense while he’s committing such a vicious act?

The Duke slapped his tail, which had been submerged in water, expressing his displeasure. As the long, fluffy tail collided with the water surface, a considerable amount of water splashed in all directions with a ‘splash!’ sound.

“Whoa.”

The aide, suddenly drenched, seemed to pause for a moment.

“Okay, okay. I’ll finish quickly. Wow, we’re really almost done! We’ll finish washing in no time!”

As if used to it, he roughly wiped away the water droplets clinging to his eyelashes, flashed a big smile, and started talking nonsense again.

Could it be an attempt to distract the angry Duke by keeping him flustered? The usually quiet guy seemed to become particularly talkative when meeting the Duke in cat form, but now his nonsense was truly incessant to an astonishing degree.

‘But…’

Until just earlier when they met, he had seemed somewhat shrunken for some reason, but now he had enough energy to babble like this. That one thing didn’t seem too bad.

Even so, the villainous act of cowardly dunking the Duke in water was unforgivable.

“But usually, when a Maine Coon gets wet, doesn’t it look pitiful because its fur deflates…?”

The aide scanned the Duke’s wet body with eyes as if seeing something curious.

“But you, when wet…”

The aide’s gaze slid over the well-developed muscles befitting a predator, revealed as the fluffy fur clung to the body with water.

“What kind of cat has a gym rat body…”

Muttering another incomprehensible phrase, the aide looked down at his own arm, already certain to have muscle pain just from moving the cat briefly. It was a flimsy arm that would break if hit once by the Duke’s front paw.

“If I were to seriously fight you, I’d definitely lose…”

What nonsense about fighting seriously.

‘A guy who’d be just one mouthful once my wet fur dries dares to…’

The Duke, still not completely over his sense of betrayal, glared fiercely at the aide indulging in vain delusions. As if snapping back to reality under the Duke’s murderous gaze, the aide hurriedly started moving his hands again.

“Right. Let’s wash quickly. The faster we wash, the better. Ah, it’s refreshing. Right? Isn’t it refreshing?”

Where did this nonsense come from when he’s pouring water that’s been mixed with hot water to make it reasonably warm? After glaring once more at the stupid aide, the Duke slightly resigned himself at this point.

Right. What’s the use of fighting with such a weak and lacking guy? It would only make the Duke look foolish, so the generous and strong Duke had no choice but to let it slide.

The Duke heaved a deep sigh to vent his emotions.

The aide babbled on about how the sigh from the cat’s muzzle was this or that, but the Duke, now aware that 90% of what came out of that mouth was nonsense, completely tuned it out.

Although it was terribly vexing that he had committed the atrocity of grabbing the nape without realizing what kind of trust it took to entrust one’s body like this…

If one thought of such an underhanded method as something that weak guy had researched to survive, it wasn’t too bad in its own way. It was somewhat admirable that he at least knew to try such things rather than going out and getting foolishly beaten up.

The Duke, having experienced thinking from a weaker position for the first time today, was in a much more generous state than usual.

Already being weak, with many things to worry about and fear, life must be complicated for him. The Duke felt he should forgive him, at least.

As the Duke resigned himself, the cat washing progressed even faster.

“You’re really beautiful! You’re really amazing!”

Amidst the aide’s incomprehensible praises, the Duke finished his bath and was only able to escape from the aide after his fur was dried fluffy using several towels.

As a result, with unfamiliar scents clinging to his fur and his coat disheveled, the Duke had to tremble again with a sense of betrayal towards the aide while engaging in angry grooming.

* * *

“Really… Ruan, will you be okay alone?”

Even on the morning of the delegation’s departure, Joachim was looking at Ruan with worried eyes.

“I’m telling you, I’ll be fine. It’s not like anything special will happen. Just go to work, come back, go to work, come back a few times, and everyone will be back, right?”

“But…”

Despite Ruan’s words, Joachim’s worry didn’t seem to subside at all as he lowered his gaze with reddened eyes.

“Brother! If you keep dawdling like that, you’ll get scolded by mother again!”

At Magda’s shout from outside the door, Joachim, who had already been scolded by Julia several times recently, stiffened his shoulders with a start.

“I’m coming! Coming now!”

Despite saying this, he hesitated as if unable to take a step, and carefully said,

“If His Grace ever treats you oppressively, or, well, he always does that, but… anyway, if he troubles you, you must tell me. Understood?”

‘The Duke cat acting oppressively and troubling me, huh…’

Certainly, when they first met, the Duke was definitely ‘oppressive’ and ‘troublesome’ to Ruan.

‘But the cat-ified Duke is closer to ‘willful’ than those words.’

A slight smile formed on Ruan’s lips as he recalled the Duke looking proud after bringing the ogre.

“That will absolutely not happen, but if it does, I’ll definitely tell you.”

As Ruan spoke in a plain tone without a hint of lie, Joachim’s expression softened to its usual state, seeming somewhat relieved.

“And take good care of yourself. You know not to wear thin clothes just because the weather has gotten warmer, right?”

If this is considered warm weather, then what is winter like…

Ruan, who hadn’t gone a day without saying “Whew, it’s cold” since his possession, thought that the Northern Duke’s territory was indeed a frightening place and replied,

“Yes. I’m fine. I’m more worried about you going far away.”

“Ruan…”

Touched by the sight of his young brother worrying about him, Joachim…

“Hey, come on already!”

…was dragged away by the hand of his angry sister born in the same year.

Ruan watched the backs of the two who looked like a close sibling pair no matter how you looked at it, then let out a small cough.

‘I told Joachim I was fine, but…’

Honestly…

He did feel a bit chilly and his throat was scratchy, giving him the sense that he might be coming down with a cold. He had hidden it because if he mentioned it, the Daen family members would leave with heavy hearts, worried about their ‘late-born youngest who had just woken up after being unconscious for a long time and was now falling ill’.

‘Well, even if I catch a cold, I’ll probably be better by the time they return.’

Then it wouldn’t matter at all.

Ruan tightened his tightly wound scarf once more and began to make his way towards the Duke’s castle.

‘By the way… Hasn’t the Duke been acting a bit strange recently?’

Maybe it was the day after he gave the ogre carcass.

I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to use this expression for that ice-cold face, but… There was a day when the Duke seemed to be pouting, acting sulky for quite a while.

Of course, after spending some time together, he seemed to forget about it and quickly returned to his usual self, but…

‘Was there something he didn’t like?’

Although Ruan was trying his best to make the Duke comfortable as a cat, given that this was a case of a human turned into a cat by the power of a fantasy world, there might be other differences that Ruan wasn’t aware of.

‘It happened because of me, so I really need to take good care of him.’

Recently, Ruan had been feeling an even greater sense of guilt and responsibility towards the Duke.

And for good reason.

‘Things have become too comfortable since the Duke turned into a cat…’

Although it was truly regrettable from the perspective of the Duke who had become a cat-human overnight, Ruan’s job satisfaction, which had been so low it could have drilled through the Earth’s core, had recently risen dramatically.

There was no need to tremble and stress under the terrifying gaze of the Duke watching him as if about to devour him. While the shell might be different, the life of assisting what was essentially a quasi-cat was thoroughly fulfilling and rewarding for Ruan, a cat servant to the bone.

As such, his conscience ached even more every time he saw the Duke acting like a cat without realizing he had changed because of Ruan.

‘I really need to treat him well…’

“Cough, cough!”

As his throat started to hurt with each cough, it felt ominous, and sure enough. Ruan’s physical condition worsened as time passed.

After barely enduring the work hours and leaving slightly earlier than usual, by the time he managed to return home, he was dizzy with a rising fever.

Ruan collapsed onto the bed, lacking even the energy to change his clothes.

‘Ah… This is…’

Before he could finish thinking that this seemed dangerous, Ruan’s consciousness faded.

* * *

The Duke was displeased.