Chapter 12
At his firm tone, Aniella tightly closed her mouth. She grew more and more doubtful about why this man was acting like this. Was he really just trying to make her sleep, as he said? Or was he planning to do something terrible once she let her guard down and fell asleep?
While she couldn’t let go of her suspicions, the story continued.
“In the competition for milk, it lost every time, and the vicious cycle of stunted growth repeated. The cat with one white sock needed its mother cat’s care even more. But the mother cat deliberately did not provide it.”
“……”
“What do you think the reason was, Mullier?”
First, he tells her to be quiet, and now he’s asking questions. While complaining about his capriciousness inwardly, Aniella pondered why the mother cat didn’t care for it.
Had something happened to the mother cat? Had she been taken by someone?
“Because abandoning the weak offspring is the law of nature.”
While she was delayed, thinking it over, Paiki turned the page and spoke.
“There was a person who discovered the kitten growing weaker day by day.”
A strange feeling came over her as she recalled her mother reading by her bedside when she was young. Of course, her mother, who used to read fairy tales with vivid expressions, was different from Paiki. His tone had no inflection; it was utterly monotonous. It was clear he was really just reading from a book.
Yet, it brought back distant memories. She knew it wasn’t the time for leisurely nostalgia, but she held her breath and listened to the story. She anticipated a tale where the cat with one white sock would meet the person who found it and quickly find happiness.
“It seems you’ve finally fallen asleep.”
It seemed she had been too quiet. Paiki closed the book and stood up. Before Aniella could explain that she was still awake, he opened the door and left the bedroom.
Wondering if he had really left, Aniella subtly removed the sleep mask. Paiki was nowhere to be seen. All that was visible was the chair placed beside the bed and a single fairy tale book on it.
She quietly sat up and grabbed the fairy tale book. She was too curious about what happened to the kitten.
“‘The Cat With One White Sock. Written and Illustrated by Paiki.’ He was reading a book he wrote himself…?”
Not only did he read a book, but it was one he wrote himself! And Duke Paiki, whose impression was utterly disconnected from fairy tales!
Shocked, Aniella looked down at the book. ‘Written and Illustrated by Paiki’ meant that the pictures inside were also drawn by him.
What kind of pictures could possibly be inside?
With a pounding heart, she turned past the hardcover.
II.
It was a year ago. Aniella stared intently at the job listings section of the newspaper, as if trying to dive into it. In an ideal world, she would have gone to work anywhere, regardless of the job, as long as it paid the most money.
‘The daughter of the noble Viscount Mullier earning money through disgraceful work! I wouldn’t want to hear such a terrible thing even in hell!’ That is, unless Viscount Mullier had only permitted ‘honorable and educational work’. Her proud and quite patriarchal father considered it deeply shameful for a nobleman’s daughter to have to work for money.
Aniella wanted to tell him: If the household has no money for the children to live idly, how can we just sit back and do nothing!
Far from living idly, they were in a situation where someone had to earn living expenses just to avoid starving next month. Viscount Mullier knew this well. Precisely because he knew, he only permitted work within a range that was less damaging to his pride—namely, teaching jobs. That way, he could excuse it by saying it wasn’t for the money, but for the fulfillment of educating children.
Aniella traced the words with her finger, focusing on ads seeking teachers.
‘Minimum 5 years experience,’ ‘3 years experience required,’ ‘2 years experience,’ or ‘Reference letter from previous employer required.’
Discussion
1 CommentReactions
aliceyriz