Chapter 75
On the way back to the palace, Louis grumbled to Dylan.
“In the end, no one managed to find the human.”
“You didn’t think it would be easy to find from the start, did you, Your Highness.”
“That’s true, but to not find even a single strand of hair, somehow it’s deflating.”
“…It is a bit frustrating.”
“You feel the same, don’t you?”
Louis had secretly harbored hope after reading records that said the previous human who appeared had chosen a cat tribe mate. But perhaps the reason there was not even a trace this time was that the human might be in another country.
His thoughts wandering pointlessly, he switched topics to distract himself.
“You saw her too, didn’t you?”
“…Pardon? Who do you mean, Your Highness?”
“The Duke’s female.”
“I didn’t see clearly because of the distance, but yes, I did see her.”
“Where did he find a female exactly like himself, I wonder.”
“…Isn’t it a good thing? I know His Majesty was quietly concerned that Duke Blois had reached marriageable age without any news.”
“Well, yes, there’s that.”
Louis rested his elbow on the carriage window frame, tapping his chin with his fingers as he muttered,
“Not only black-haired, but to have only such a clumsy female at his side… It’s a bit of a pity. Fur color is ill-omened, but in terms of ability the Duke is an excellent male.”
At the unexpected remark, Dylan’s eyes widened slightly as he replied.
“That’s unusual, Your Highness. You’re suddenly praising Duke Blois…”
“Tsk. If not for that fur color, he’s the one I’d have been closest to. It’s off-putting, yes, but I’ve never wished misfortune on him.”
Dylan let out a quiet laugh at Louis’s words. This side of him was precisely why Dylan followed the Crown Prince. He might grumble, but in the end, he was a man who took his duty and position seriously.
“But how did you know the female was clumsy, Your Highness?”
“I saw it with my own eyes. She lost her balance just on a slight slope. Among cat werebeast females, I’ve never seen one so awkward. It stuck in my mind.”
“Haha. If she’s that clumsy, isn’t she human? After all, the reason humans are considered weaker than werebeasts is their lack of physical ability.”
“……”
At Dylan’s joke, Louis’s expression went cold. No, beyond cold. It went pale.
“…No way.”
“What is it, Your Highness?”
“A human… with black hair? That’s impossible…”
Alarmed by Louis’s reaction, Dylan quickly tried to explain himself.
“It was just a joke, Your Highness. I apologize if it offended you.”
“…It can’t be.”
“It won’t be. If Duke Blois had found the human, he would never keep silent about it to you, Your Highness.”
Whenever they’d met at the noble council or at the Emperor’s summons, Nox had been consistently upright and straightforward. Dylan truly believed such a man would never deceive the imperial family.
“…Right. It’s His Majesty’s order, after all.”
Even as Louis told himself he’d been thinking nonsense, an odd discomfort lingered in his chest. The carriage carrying the two of them sped swiftly through the night air.
* * *
Back at the ducal mansion, Nox and Sia shared dinner in the dining hall for the first time in a while. All other servants had been dismissed. Only Cedric and Marie remained.
Nox was happy to finally spend quiet time alone with Sia again, but a shadow of unease lingered.
This time they’d been lucky, because the Crown Prince had left without discovering anything. But the future was unpredictable. Not only the cat tribe’s royals but nobles and royals of other nations too were surely searching keenly for the human.
He already knew how to quell this anxiety.
To plant his seed in Sia’s womb as soon as possible.
But humans, unlike the cat tribe, were said to have specific days when ovulation occurred. Nox, who could not bring himself to ask Sia directly for those dates after she had trusted him enough to be honest about her nature, simply cut his steak into large bites and resolved.
‘If we do it every day, she’ll conceive naturally.’
Like any male who would stop at nothing to court his mate, he turned to Sia and smiled as though he were the happiest man in the world. He knew every time he smiled, her eyes trembled helplessly.
He smiled to draw her in, while below he was already standing firm. And beyond that…
“Sia, is there anything you want?”
“Why do you suddenly ask that?”
“You said before that the things here didn’t suit you. So I was thinking of bringing in whatever you need from overseas before winter comes.”
At his words, Sia felt her heart flutter. Was it always so thrilling to hear someone say they’d import things from another country just for you?
Watching the faintly humorous but tender man, she quietly thought. Truth be told, there were a number of things she needed.
First and foremost, sanitary pads and comfortable underwear.
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