The Cat Who Weeps in the Dark - Chapter 11

“Come on, lean on us. It hurts just watching you struggle like this.”

At this point, even Arnin couldn’t cling to his pride any longer. Instead, he gnashed his teeth and muttered under his breath.

“That woman… I won’t let her get away with this.”

“You lost fair and square in a duel—what else can you even do?”

“Duels only mean something between knights. What honor is there in fighting some w***e who doesn’t even deserve the title?”

“Sounds like you’ve got something in mind.”

“Damn right I do.”

Arnin motioned for the confused knights to come closer. Though hesitant, they leaned in, curiosity getting the better of them.

Whisper whisper.

The more he murmured, the more shock spread across their faces. That shock soon twisted into intrigue, then darkened into a deep, lurid flush creeping up their necks.

“But… is that really okay?”

“I’ll take full responsibility. You know my family—silencing some lowborn knight is nothing.”

“It’s tempting, but…”

The knights exchanged glances, their eyes glinting with something sinister. Soon, one of them nodded slowly, his expression hardening with resolve.

“Fine. Count me in.”

The first step was always the hardest—after that, the rest came easy. One by one, the others nodded as if it were some unspoken signal.

“Yeah. The best things in life are meant to be shared.”

A strange, feverish excitement spread between them like wildfire, reflected in their gleaming eyes. Under the moonlight, a dark conspiracy began to bloom.

* * *

Katie heaved her heavy body up from the bed. Even after taking the medicine and sleeping, her condition wasn’t great.

But she should be grateful it was only this bad.

On the first day of her first estrus cycle, she had been half out of her mind, reduced to panting and gasping.

Back then, even walking to the infirmary had been a struggle—she’d leaned against walls for support before eventually crawling down the hallway. That said it all.

“If it weren’t for Wayne, I would’ve been in real trouble.”

Only physicians from the kingdom knew how to make heat-suppressing medicine. If he hadn’t infiltrated the empire first as a spy, she would have been exposed as a beastkin that day—tortured or executed.

Katie donned her white uniform, fastened her sword at her waist, and headed to the training grounds for morning drills.

Morning training always followed the same routine. Ten laps around the grounds, followed by strength exercises. Only after working up a sweat could they finally pick up their swords.

Katie gave the other mid-rank knights a curt nod in greeting before silently starting her laps. By the fifth round, her breathing was already growing ragged.

‘My body really isn’t doing well today.’

This would never happen normally. For a beastkin, ten laps around the field was nothing more than a light morning stroll.

Just as she finished the tenth lap—gasping for air as she reached for her water flask—Arnin approached.

“Katie.”

“Sir Arnin.”

Katie steadied her breath and saluted him in the imperial fashion—palm pressed over her heart, on the left side of her chest.

“About yesterday. We need to talk.”

Katie sighed inwardly. She had known this was coming. Though she’d won the duel, she never expected Arnin to accept the result quietly. He was bound to accuse her of cheating or demand the duel be nullified—throwing some kind of tantrum.

But her expectations were completely off the mark.

“I want to apologize for acting recklessly. I admit my defeat, Katie.”

Katie froze mid-salute. She had never imagined an apology would come from his mouth.

“As a sign of reflection, we’ll help you with cleanup duties today.”

“‘We’…?”

No sooner had Katie stiffly asked than Arnin’s lackeys appeared. It was an eerily swift entrance, as if they’d been waiting for this exact moment.

“Yeah. We’ve all just stood by while Arnin gave you a hard time.”

“Thought we’d revisit our humble beginnings by doing the grunt work we did as mid-rank knights.”

“If you really want to revisit your beginnings, wouldn’t fetching gear like apprentice knights be more fitting?”

“Ugh! Why do you have to be so prickly even now? When your seniors lower themselves like this, you should at least act grateful!”

“…Thank you.”

Katie forced out a curt thanks. The group grumbled for a while, clearly dissatisfied with her attitude, before finally turning away.

“We’ll talk after training. Meet us when you head to the storage.”

Arnin gave her shoulder a light tap and flashed a smile—the kind of guileless grin he usually reserved for his own cronies.

‘Has he lost his mind? Why is he acting like this?’

For a brief moment, she wondered if she had hit him too hard and damaged his brain. But under his persistent urging, she reluctantly nodded.

After all, once she got promoted to senior knight, she’d have to keep interacting with them. Though their sudden, forced friendliness was grating, it was still a hundred times better than being tormented like before.

“Might as well take it. My body’s not in great shape anyway—the sooner we finish, the better.”

Shaking it off, Katie resumed her training.