The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 7

As the Duke’s large hand enveloped his chin entirely,

With long fingers tracing over where his pulse beat,

As those striking features, assertive to the point of seeming violent, came unnaturally close,

And the moment that clearly warm, firm cheek touched his own,

Ruan thought,

‘I’m screwed.’

Ruan knew what this action meant.

Cats have scent glands on their cheeks that secrete pheromones. That’s why cats rub their cheeks against objects in their territory or trusted companions to mark them with their scent.

This behavior is called head-bunting, a form of territorial marking and an expression of trust and affection…

The problem was that the shell of this cat was the Northern Duke.

Of course, Ruan knew that the Duke had become cat-like because of him, and that this was a cat’s way of marking territory and expressing trust.

Having spent all day intuitively understanding the Duke’s cat behavior and personally tending to him, Ruan now half-perceived the Duke as a giant cat. He was starting to get used to the Duke’s cat-like behavior, to the point where he would just accept whatever the Duke did as typical cat behavior.

Even for Ruan, who had become accustomed to this, the fact that the cat looked like the Northern Duke caused some damage just now.

He wasn’t sure exactly what was being destroyed, but it felt like the head-bunting, which should have been harmless coming from a regular cat, had gained some destructive power.

And in this space…

There was one person who knew neither that the Duke had become cat-like, nor what head-bunting was.

Over the Duke’s shoulder as he rubbed cheeks, Ruan’s eyes met with those of the knight watching them.

Seeing the knight’s pupils shake as if in an earthquake, Ruan tightly closed his eyes.

‘It seems I’ve been… seriously… misunderstood.’

The knight’s eyes, wandering aimlessly not knowing where to look, testified to this fact.

And the more serious point here was that the name of the knight who had come to report and suddenly witnessed the scene of the intimidating Duke roughly pulling his aide close and sensually rubbing cheeks was…

Joachim Daen.

Joachim, Daen.

Yes.

Daen.

The eldest son of the Daen family, with a knight-like physique inherited from his mother and a sensitive disposition inherited from his father, had fallen into panic at the sudden skinship between the Duke and his youngest brother.

While the two brothers were dazed for different reasons,

The Duke, who had been rubbing from his ear to his cheek against Ruan’s cheek for a while, seemed to have left enough of his scent and pulled back.

Ruan watched with a blank expression as the Duke returned to his original sitting position and shifted his gaze to the documents as if nothing had happened.

Did that cat know what he had just done?

‘Probably not…’

It’s natural for a cat to act like a cat. A lowly human can’t blame a cat for acting like a cat. Even less so for acting like a cat in front of another human.

Therefore, all of this could be blamed on Ruan Daen, who had turned the Duke into a cat…

But Ruan was dizzy from the impact of the bomb this cat behavior had dropped on the ignorant humans.

However, cats were noble beings who didn’t care about such trivial matters, so only the two humans in the room were frantically shaking their pupils.

The Duke, with a face as strict, solemn, and serious as ever, not 1mm different from usual…

“Aren’t you going to continue the report?”

Until he prompted the resumption of the report.

“Ah, yes! So, um…”

Joachim, who had been staring with trembling eyes at the Duke who had just engaged in some kind of sticky skinship with his brother—the Duke’s outstanding appearance, usually not very noticeable due to his intimidating presence, had the special effect of making even minor skinship seem particularly intimate—began to continue his interrupted report.

But Ruan couldn’t understand a word of the report’s content.

Joachim’s eyes were getting visibly moist in real-time, his thoughts clearly drifting somewhere else.

‘It feels like… things have gone terribly wrong…’

‘Ruan Daen’ had two older siblings.

The eldest, Joachim Daen, and the second, Magda Daen.

Unlike Magda, who had a basically calm personality like their mother Julia, Joachim was extremely sensitive and tender-hearted.

To the point where one might wonder how his main job could be wielding a sword and slaying monsters.

And recently, his crying button had become his youngest brother, who had just returned from a long period of unconsciousness. Joachim, who had been the only one to protest against putting his brother, who had no memories, into such a position when Ruan started work as an aide because there was no one else to take the job, had been shedding tears non-stop worrying about his brother working all day right next to ‘that Duke Your Grace’.

And though I’m not sure exactly how… it seemed that the scene he had just witnessed had set off a bomb in that fragile knight’s mind.

‘How am I supposed to clean this up?’

While Ruan was pondering how to explain the situation to this overly caring older brother,

The report finally ended in a strange atmosphere where only the two humans were troubled and the cat who had caused the trouble remained nonchalant.

Ruan, who hadn’t decided how to explain the situation well until then, made a decision.

Right. Let’s start by shutting his mouth.

He had to somehow prevent the story of the Duke engaging in skinship with his aide in the office from leaking out to the rumor-hungry people of Reinke.

If there was one thing Ruan had learned from living in Reinke for a few months, it was that the people here loved gossip.

It couldn’t be helped, as there was nothing else to enjoy in Reinke.

Due to the brutally cold weather, outdoor entertainment hadn’t developed, and in this barren, remote, and difficult place to live, there was no chance for grand cultural activities to develop either.

Naturally, entertainment was limited to things that could be done huddled around a warm fireplace, and the best of these was gossip, which only required a three-inch tongue and ears to enjoy.

The people of Reinke were always thirsty for gossip and took it seriously.

‘If I let Joachim out like this with his mental state shattered…’

Ruan involuntarily shuddered.

He felt like a returnee who had already experienced how a few words dropped by the disoriented Joachim would evolve and end up on everyone’s lips in the neighborhood.

If there was any consolation, it was that the person in question was Joachim. The gentle-natured Joachim generally listened to his younger brother, so it should be easy to keep him quiet.

Thinking this, Ruan immediately followed Joachim as he left the office.

“Um, brother! About what just happened…”

Just as he was about to grab Joachim, who was walking ahead, to ask him to keep quiet and promise to explain later, Ruan couldn’t help but pause.

Because Joachim’s eyes, as he turned around… were already brimming with tears.

And the problem started from that moment of hesitation.

“Ruan, His Grace as a romantic partner… His Grace will eventually marry and have an heir… Then what about our Ruan… No, but His Grace wouldn’t just leave his former lover after marriage…”

During that hesitation, shocking words spilled from Joachim’s mouth.

“…Pardon?”

Whatever he had been thinking during the report, the story had already gone to an unimaginable place.

No, where on earth is this person’s mind going?

And not just the speed, but the direction too…

‘Why am I already the abandoned and mistreated ex-lover of the Duke?’

Of course, the Duke cat had done something to be misunderstood, but still, this was a bit…

Ruan, who had only thought as far as ‘a suspicious and strange atmosphere between the Duke and his aide’, was taken aback by the story that had developed far beyond his imagination.

Seeing Ruan at a loss for words, Joachim’s eyes began to overflow with tears, though it’s unclear what he thought.

“Our poor Ruan… What should we do? How should we…”

Afraid of where this sensitive man’s thoughts might progress if left alone, Ruan quickly opened his mouth.

“No. No, brother. The Duke and I are absolutely not in that kind of relationship.”

As Ruan quickly denied it, Joachim, who had just witnessed the skinship between the two up close, exclaimed,

“But just now, His Grace pulled you into his arms and on your cheek…!”

People’s attention began to focus on the suddenly raised voice.

‘Oh no. I was so focused on catching him quickly that I didn’t pay attention to the location…’

It wasn’t an illusion that the footsteps of people passing through the corridor had all slowed down.

‘Originally, I was just going to quickly shut his mouth…’

He had been so flustered that he hadn’t properly realized they were talking in an open space.

Ruan, who had thought it wouldn’t be too difficult to persuade Joachim alone in private after work if he could just keep him quiet for now, started to get a headache.

The seed of the rumor had already been planted.

It was impossible for these humans, who were pretending not to be interested but were so focused on the brothers’ conversation that they had forgotten what they were doing, not to spread any rumors.

‘At least the content… I need to somehow control the content of the rumor…’

Ruan, thinking to quickly resolve the situation, interrupted Joachim and began to explain.

“Wait a moment, brother. If you say it like that… It sounds like that, doesn’t it? And that’s not the kind of thing that happens between lovers as you’re thinking…”

But that explanation backfired.

Joachim’s expression hardened terrifyingly after hearing only that it wasn’t something between lovers.

“Don’t tell me… Then… Did His Grace force himself on you?”

And at that moment.

Silence fell in the corridor where quite a few people had been passing by.

‘Damn it.’

Ruan said in as firm a voice as he could muster,

“No. Absolutely not. His Grace is not that kind of person.”

“I see… Right? Yes. He might kill people, but he wouldn’t sexually harass anyone…”

Although that statement gave him a somewhat strange feeling, Ruan nodded for now.

“Yes, that’s right. So, let me explain how this happened…”

Just as he was about to start explaining to Joachim, who seemed to have calmed down a bit after his initial outburst,

“Joachim! What are you doing there? I told you to come right away after the report!”

A knight who appeared from the opposite end of the corridor called out to Joachim in a loud voice.

“Ah, right.”

Remembering a forgotten schedule, Joachim looked ready to leave right away.

“Um, just a moment…”

Ruan, who needed to correct the story right there before rumors spread, tried to hold Joachim back, but.

“Sorry, Ruan. I forgot I had something to attend to right away… At a time like this, as your older brother… I’m really sorry… Let’s talk for sure after work.”

Before Ruan could grab him, Joachim ran off hurriedly, shouting, “Make sure, okay?”

Ruan watched Joachim’s rapidly retreating back with a blank expression.

“Explain…”

He needed to explain…

The brother he thought would be easy to keep quiet had set off an unexpected bomb.