JSOML 28

Chapter 28

At his blunt words, Lery’s body flinched.

‘…Wrong? I did do something wrong. A very, very big wrong.’

Of course, he had plenty to feel guilty about.

He had stubbornly insisted on sleeping with Ian while dreaming of escape, and after becoming human, he had stolen Ian’s robe without permission…

Even if he had succeeded in escaping, he had intended to run away knowing full well who Theodore would hold responsible.

‘Well, so what? In the end, I failed anyway!’

Lery’s round eyes drooped diagonally. Recalling his escape dream that had ended in yet another massive failure made his head throb.

Ian, who had no way of knowing how Lery felt, continued to provoke him.

“You’ve been glancing at me since earlier, and it’s unpleasant.”

“Lery was glancing at him?”

“Doesn’t it seem like he’s trying to gauge my reaction?”

…How did he know?

Lery, who had been playing dumb, secretly glared at Ian.

What a ghost-like bastard. A cat could just look at someone—how could he possibly think it was gauging his reaction?

The more he thought about it, the more it felt like Ian was treating him as human, which made him uneasy.

‘At this point, he seems to know something, doesn’t he? Otherwise, there’s no reason to treat me like a person this much.’

As thought after thought piled up, his suspicion grew.

If this were the old Lery, he would have raised all four paws and denied it with a “Mya-mya! (That’s not true!)” but now he couldn’t do that. Because he was worried it might make Ian even more suspicious.

Lery racked his brain for a clever plan to act as much like a cat as possible.

‘What kind of behavior would feel like a real cat? Ah, I never thought I’d live to see the day…’

Even he thought it was absurd. He was a human inside, but one day he’d become a cat, and now he had to act like one.

‘Should I use that method after all?’

As he grumbled and pondered to himself, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

But no matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t something a twenty-eight-year-old adult could easily do.

‘No. I can’t do it. It’s too embarrassing. But…’

What should he do?

As Lery stretched his ‘ㅅ’-shaped mouth horizontally and hesitated, an unexpected sentence came out of Ian’s mouth.

“No matter how I look at it, those blue eyes resemble…”

“Pardon? What did you say?”

“…Nothing.”

Since he had muttered it quietly, fortunately the doctor nearby hadn’t heard clearly.

Ian silently shook his head at the doctor’s questioning. Then he fixed his gaze on Lery again, full of suspicion.

‘I’m going crazy. Embarrassing or not, I have no choice!’

What was a little embarrassment?

After all, he was practically an animal, and it seemed better than living an uncomfortable life being suspected as human.

Lery reluctantly decided to pull out his trump card.

‘First, just flop down…’

Strangely, giving up made him feel at ease.

Lery took a breath, then flipped his body over like grilling rice cake on a frying pan. His hidden pale fur and light pink belly were exposed.

‘Stick out my tongue…’

Then, he began grooming himself.

From his chest area to his belly. He couldn’t bring himself to groom the parts that cats supposedly managed diligently, but he did his best to be brave.

After all, he was doing it in front of everyone.

But the one he’d expected a reaction from, Ian, was quiet, and all he heard was the others watching him cooing over how cute he was.

“Oh my~ Our Lery-nim is so good at grooming~”

“Lery-nim’s belly looks just like salmon.”

“After all, he did gain weight from snacks…”

From Sonia, to Ben, to the doctor—they all made comments that would make him snap, but Lery calmed his mind and focused.

Strangely, even though it had been forced at first, every time his soft belly touched his tongue, he felt good.

“…There’s no way he resembles.”

After grooming for a while and flopping over like a liquid monster, Ian finally shook his head.

It didn’t seem like he had completely dispelled his suspicions, but this was a success.

‘I need to be especially careful in front of that bastard from now on.’

Lery let out a sigh of relief and made a firm resolution to correct his habit of unconsciously reacting like a human.

After the examination, there were no more encounters with Ian.

Fortunately or unfortunately, despite it being the weekend, he was busy. Because he was the lord who managed the Serpeon Marquisate’s territories.

On weekdays, while he worked as the Knight Commander, Ben managed the territories on his behalf, and on weekends, he reviewed and made decisions on the pending matters.

“So since the Marquis couldn’t see you off, I came out in his place.”

“I see. That’s fine. You must be busy too, Ben, yet you came out like this…”

“This is also part of my job.”

Ben smiled kindly and quietly gazed at the sunset-colored sky.

Lery’s gaze, comfortably nestled in Sonia’s arms, also followed Ben’s toward the orange-tinted sky.

‘Finally leaving.’

According to the original schedule, they were supposed to leave tomorrow morning, but the examination finished earlier than expected, so they decided to move up the schedule.

This was all decided after Sonia reported to Theodore via the magic communication orb early that morning.

As soon as Theodore’s face appeared in the communication orb, an excited Sonia fired off the examination details like a rapid-fire cannon.

Theodore, delighted, replied:

—

‘Really? Then come back today. No, I’ll come pick you up.’

‘Your Highness?’

‘Yeah. I need to see him as soon as possible. At this rate, I’m about to get Lery deficiency syndrome.’

—

He mentioned a mysterious illness called ‘Lery deficiency syndrome’ and told them to hurry back.

Sonia relayed this to Lery and Pompom, chuckling to herself, “If they’re apart even for a week, I don’t know what kind of trouble might happen…”

Lery wholeheartedly agreed with Sonia’s opinion.

He could have just sent a carriage, but the fact that he insisted on coming on the weekend… Theodore might be severely afflicted.

As Lery dozed off with Pompom while listening to Sonia and Ben’s conversation, the sound of rough horse hooves came from afar.

“It seems His Highness has arrived. He’s early.”

“Indeed. It takes half a day to cover that distance…”

As they said, Theodore appeared sooner than expected, in such a hurry.

The carriage, which had approached swiftly, slowed down in front of the mansion. But before it could even stop properly, the carriage door flew open.

“Your Highness!”

“It’s dangerous!”

Ignoring everyone’s warnings, Theodore jumped out with a beaming face. Like a golden retriever greeting its owner.

“Lery!”

“…Myak! (…You scared me!)”

“I missed you~”

He immediately approached Sonia and took Lery from her. Then he rubbed his face against Lery’s fur vigorously.

‘No, this guy must be crazy!’

Lery, squished against his white cheek, flailed his front paws and struggled, but Theodore wouldn’t let go easily. He just savored Lery with his whole body.

‘It’s not bad that a handsome guy does this, though…’

Perhaps because seeing his handsome face after just one day was dazzling, Lery half-gave up and quietly received his affection.

“Your Highness…! I want to… urgh!”

Then, belatedly, long limbs popped out of the carriage. And Luke crawled out, collapsing as if crumbling down.

Having driven the carriage so roughly that his stomach was churned, Luke clamped his mouth shut as soon as he got off and ran to the opposite side.

“L-Luke-nim!”

“Leave him, Sonia. Luke’s just weak.”

“…”

“Anyway, we should have fed him venison back then.”

Theodore clicked his tongue as he watched Luke’s retreating figure, recalling the moment Luke had refused venison that one time.

‘Crazy bastard.’

Lery, who had been there at the time, understood immediately and narrowed his eyes.

If you think about it, it wasn’t because of the venison—it was because Theodore had ordered him to drive like a speed demon…

‘No point saying anything. Hang in there, Luke.’

Lery sent a cheering message, recalling Luke’s back as he kept retching.

While the coachman moved the luggage, Ben formally greeted Theodore.

“I greet the Sun of the Empire. It’s been a while, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Ben. I wouldn’t have recognized you now.”

“Hahaha. I’ve aged a lot, haven’t I? I’m approaching seventy now.”

“Has that much time already passed…”

“Yes, it has.”

Ben smiled awkwardly and fidgeted with his graying hair.

Since it had been quite a long time since they’d met, their changed appearances seemed unfamiliar to each other.

It seemed Theodore and Ian had been friends since childhood, so he was apparently also close with Ben.

‘But isn’t it unusual for a Crown Prince to know a butler?’

Lery tilted his head as he watched them.

A Crown Prince wouldn’t often leave the palace, so the fact that he was also acquainted with Ben was a bit puzzling.

Looking at Ben and Theodore’s eyes, they seemed full of nostalgia. As if they shared some memories between them.

The touching reunion was brief—as Luke walked toward them like a zombie from afar, Ben abruptly changed the subject.

“Ah, right. The Marquis couldn’t come out because he had urgent business.”

“Yeah, I heard. Seems he’s been busy with territory matters lately?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But… what’s this I hear? Lery threw a fit saying he wanted to sleep with Ian?”

“Myang! (How did you know?!)”

Startled by Theodore’s question, which came without warning, Lery answered reflexively.

It had happened just last night, and news had already reached his ears!

Back then, of course, he hadn’t thought about the consequences—only focused on escaping…

If Theodore found out about all of this, his jealousy would go beyond that and his hurt feelings might explode.

Sure enough. At Lery’s reaction, Theodore’s face began to harden gradually.

The joyful, tail-wagging version of him from moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

“Traitor.”

He muttered in a sulky voice.

“You said you only liked me.”

“Mya, myamyang… (I, it’s not…)”

“Hah. There’s no other flirt like you.”

Like a boyfriend witnessing his girlfriend’s cheating scene.

“But I’m still the first wife, right?”

Theodore made a face as if he was about to cry at any moment.