Chapter 55

There was even clean water and boiled chicken breast inside the cage.

This is not leftovers. It is actual food.

With treatment like this, he was clearly still inside the place where Aisha lived.

Though he was curious why they had locked him in a cage.

Munch munch munch—

For now, he was hungry, so he started with the warm chicken breast.

After diligently drinking water as well, he settled onto the blanket pile and thought things through.

Did Aisha bring me here?

Warm sunlight streamed through the gaps in the barred window. Ahili’s Circus had never had sunlight like this.

There might be iron bars here, but to the cat, this place was practically a comfortable home.

Of course, his real home was inside Aisha’s blankets.

I should wait and see what happens. Aisha might come looking for me.

True, she scolded him whenever he transformed into a human, but when he stayed a cat, Aisha treasured him endlessly.

Sitting in loaf position, he fell deep into thought.

He remembered Aisha’s arms.

Falling asleep wrapped in her warmth. Curling up while listening to the sound of her heartbeat until sleep overtook him without realizing it.

But now he could not go to Aisha.

Hm. So that meant...

That is what people call losing something.

Suddenly recalling one of Aisha’s lessons, the cat nodded proudly.

Aisha’s arms. He had lost them.

But he was not dead, so he could get them back.

Imagining himself curling up in Aisha’s embrace again soon, he lazily stretched out all four paws and waited for her to return.

But—

One day passed.

Then two.

Even after a week, Aisha never came.

The only things that arrived were cool water and warm chicken breast from the knights, who cooed over how cute he was.

...Is Aisha not coming?

The cat slowly began growing uneasy.

Did Aisha lose me? Is that why she cannot find me?

If not...

Did she abandon me?

Abandon.

That was the word the circus workers used for sick animals at Ahili’s Circus.

Whenever the staff said they were “getting rid of” something, the sick animals disappeared shortly afterward.

Which meant they died.

Aisha abandoned me?!

The cat’s fur instantly puffed up, and his purple eyes trembled violently.

That cannot be right. I have not even transformed into a human. I am supposed to stay in Aisha’s arms.

He did not know why, but anxiety suddenly crashed over him.

Should I escape the cage?

Truthfully, if he truly wanted to, escaping this place would have been easy.

Humans consistently underestimated how flexible cats were.

The only reason he had not escaped from Ahili’s Circus—or from this cage now—was because of the food.

If he went outside, he might not be able to eat anything.

Roll—

His purple eyes shifted thoughtfully.

He had just settled into another loaf position when—

Click, click.

The faint sound of footsteps echoed from somewhere nearby.

It was not the knight who usually came.

“What now? Why is a maid suddenly coming here?”

Someone imprisoned in the cage next to his asked the question bluntly. The maid answered with a smile.

“I am Rose, the newly assigned maid. Honestly, no one likes working in the prison, so as the newest servant, I volunteered for the unpleasant tasks.”

“You sure talk a lot.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Replying mechanically, the maid handed bread to the man in the neighboring cage before stopping in front of the cat’s.

“Enjoy your meal.”

Smiling prettily, she set down cool water and chicken breast.

Normally, if a knight had come instead, the cat would already have rushed over to devour the meat first.

But now, with his tail wrapped neatly around his front paws, he simply stared at the maid.

Strange.

She had no scent.

Just like the man who kidnapped Aisha.

The cat watched suspiciously as the maid walked away.

He was still growing, so hunger gnawed at him quickly, but despite the tempting smell of the meat, he stubbornly resisted.

“M-my god. That maid was a Pose family s-spy?”

The man in the neighboring cage suddenly whimpered.

“That is right. I bought those potions from them, so this is customer service on their part... no, wait. Duke Pose. I did not expect him to be such a decent person. So if I just trust that maid and wait, I can escape from here?”

The cat listened briefly before quickly losing interest.

Duke Pose. Potions. He had no idea what any of those words meant.

Yaaawn—

So noisy.

Then suddenly, he realized something.

The knight who always treated him kindly never even glanced at the man in the neighboring cage. He merely tossed bread through the bars.

But that maid—

She was extremely polite to the man next door.

Whenever the cat secretly hid in Aisha’s arms and wandered around the estate, the knights had always treated Aisha kindly.

So then... would that maid also be kind to Aisha?

He doubted it.

She had no scent.

And the other scentless man had tried to kidnap Aisha.

Conclusion:

The maid named Rose was likely working with that man and planning to kidnap Aisha as well.

So what should he do?

Kill her?

But if I drink her blood and transform into a human, Aisha will start lecturing me again.

Still, getting scolded was better than letting Aisha get kidnapped.

If that happened, he could always run away from the humans afterward.

Then later, he could crawl back into Aisha’s arms.

I did not die. I was only lost. That means I just need to be found again.

For the first time in a while, the cat’s eyes sparkled brightly as he sat patiently in front of the cage until evening arrived.

“Hey, Rose. I have been waiting. So when exactly am I escaping?”

“Please be patient.”

“Hah. Fine, fine.”

“And hello to you too, kitty.”

Rose, who had been speaking with the man next door, reached a hand into the cage to place down water and meat.

The instant she did—

Crunch—

Without hesitation, the cat lunged.

Sharp little fangs pierced her skin.

The maid’s vision blurred, and she collapsed.

“Th-that kitten killed someone! Knights! Somebody get in here! Someone is dying!”

The man in the neighboring cage shrieked hysterically.

Should I kill that man too?

The cat—already transformed into a boy—looked at him with complete disinterest.

“I-it turned into a person. Th-the cat turned into a person...”

Thud.

Fortunately, the noisy man fainted all on his own.

The real problem was the rapidly approaching footsteps of the knights who had heard the screaming.

The boy ripped apart the iron bars on the window with impossible strength and prepared to escape outside.

Then he noticed the blood smeared around his mouth.

I should wipe it off properly.

Aisha had been startled the first time she saw him like that.

The cat hurried back down from the window and carefully wiped his mouth clean using the fallen maid’s apron.

And of course, by the time the knights arrived—

“...What? W-what is this...?”

The boy had already vanished.

***

Not in the garden.

Not in the kitchen.

Not in the dining room.

Not in the storage room either...

Screeech—

I dragged a crayon across the word storage room on my tear-stained checklist and sniffled.

“He is gone. My baby is gone.”

Several days had passed since I started searching, but my baby had vanished without a trace.

Did he really run away?

That could not be true.

He listened to me so well and always stayed quietly—

“Hic....”

Unable to hold it in anymore, I furiously scrubbed tears from my face with the back of my hand.

Right then—

Knock knock.

A quiet knock suddenly sounded at the bedroom door.

Who would come this late at night?

I wiped at my eyes again with the back of my hand, but I had cried so much that instead of drying, my entire face was soaked with tears.

Rub rub—

In the end, I cleaned my face with a handkerchief and opened the door with swollen eyes.

“Who is it?”

And then—

“Meow.”

A gigantic man stood there.

He was wearing a fluffy white cat mascot head and fur clothing.

He crooked one finger toward me.

“.......”

“.......”

Silence hung in the air.

“...Father?”

“Tch. You figured it out already.”

Looking embarrassed, Calypse awkwardly pulled off the mascot head while still wearing the fluffy fur gloves.

I gave my honest review.

“The meow was way too deep.”

“I know. I regretted it immediately after doing it.”

Thankfully, Father seemed to agree.