At first glance, I probably look like a rabbit. I am a rabbit. That’s what you should believe.

I have my front paws on the window sill, and looked out.

On my head, I wore a white rabbit ear-shaped headband that was the same color as my fur.

“You look amazing.”

“Meow.”

I replied, looking out over the Crown Town scenery that I hadn’t been able to see properly earlier.

As we left the Duchsens’ mansion, Killian tried to take the headband off and put me in his pocket, but I swung my front paws at him and defied him, keeping the headband.

When I thought about it, Killian was right.

I was wearing a tiny, white, snug-fitting bunny headband, and if I let my eyes out just a little bit, just a little bit, I might look like a bunny.

Who in their right mind would think that there was a headband in the world that would fit a kitten?

Killian was dumbfounded, but he propped me up on the palm of his hand so I could look out through the gap in the curtains.

“Oh, come on.”

Killian exhaled lightly and leaned his head against the carriage wall, watching me intently.

Harrid’s abilities-though he resented their odd use-suggested that he was indeed a potential wizard.

After all, he was someone who would lead a rebellion a few years later, so I wondered how amazing his abilities would be.

But if they took Killian up on his offer and came to the palace to join hands, wouldn’t that change the future?

Even though he was just a passing villain, I didn’t want to see Baron sad about his son’s death.

The scene of the white-haired Baron collecting his son’s body was heartbreaking.

“Why.”

I snapped my head toward Killian out of nowhere, and he blurted out as he watched me.

Why does he ask me like I’m a person when I can’t even answer his question.

“Mm-hmm.”

I replied, shaking my head in a noncommittal way.

“When we get back.”

As the carriage approached the Luitzen Bridge, Killian glanced outside and spoke casually.

“Wash up.”

“Meow.”

“Eat dinner.”

“Meow.”

“Get dressed.”

Am I hearing this wrong, or did he just tell me to put human clothes on a cat?

I looked at Killian, but he kept his mouth shut and didn’t add, ‘Just kidding.’

“Meow?”

“What.”

At his nonchalant response, I looked up at him with the most ridiculous eyes a cat could make.

“Meow?!”

* * *

Something about Killian is odd.

It’s already been three days since he slept on the sofa in a bed big enough for five people to lie down on.

I looked up at Killian, who was preparing to go hunting in the morning, leaning his face on my front paw.

Dressed in a black blouse and black pants, he’d pulled on a dark blue jacquard jacket embroidered with silver as he approached the mirror.

It was an outfit that made him look even colder than he already was.

In the mirror, Killian closed his eyes for a moment, wondering if he hadn’t slept well, and exhaled deeply.

Yeah, sleep in your bed. What’s wrong with that?

“Meow”

I think, that day on the Duchsenstrasse, he really did intend to put those chemises on me.

When I pressed my front paws down on the chemise he’d put on my head, I shook my head, and pulled my a$s out of the way, Killian frowned and held out the clothes again.

‘Put it on.’

‘Meow!’

I raised my claws, ready to push his hand away, but Killian grabbed me whether I did or not.

‘Mmm! Mmm!’

I know it’s a headdress, I know it’s supposed to make me look like a different animal, but not chemise.

How can I give that up when it’s such a treat to snuggle into a cool quilt without anything on and fall asleep?

It’s sad to be trapped in this strange world as a cat.

I can’t let them be deprived of the little happiness they have.

Protect animal freedom! Protect the right to sleep in peace!

I tried so hard to run away from Killian, but I was always caught in his grasp, one hand after the other.

If I must wear it, at least give me a good reason!

‘meow!’

I lifted both my front paws and slammed them down on the bed with all the force in my body to make an assertive statement.

‘I don’t like it.’

‘Yuck!’

‘I’ll never wear it.’

‘Mmm!’

In that moment, Killian lifted me up to my eye level and stared at me with eyes like red pomegranates.

‘ I really don’t like…….’

His gaze was dark with anger as he turned back to me.

‘No!’

‘You…….’

I almost slipped out of his grasp as his threatening face caught me by surprise, and he propped me up with his other hand, his voice cold.

‘You…… will not regret it.’

If he told me not to regret it, why was he sleeping on the couch from that day?

Is sleeping together a punishment?

If that’s the punishment, I think I’m getting it.

I didn’t know what to do with my legs, so I crumpled them up and put them on the armrests to sleep, but I couldn’t get my precious body, which was used to sleeping in a bed, used to sleeping on the couch.

Why does he insist on the couch when I’m pretty sure he is pretty uncomfortable in it?

Do I stink?

“Meow?”

I pressed my nose to my pink jelly.

“What are you doing?”

Killian saw me with my nose buried in my front paw and made me put it down and wash my face with a wet towel.

I don’t know how many times I flinched in disgust at the careless hand that removed the gob from my eyes.

See, I’m washing myself morning, noon, and night.

That way I won’t smell.

In the evenings, Killian fills the tub with water and gives me a semi-bath, adding my fine perfume to the water.

Because of him, I have the luxury of using the same perfume as him.

Even though our body odors are different, it doesn’t differ that we use the same perfume.

So if smell isn’t the reason, what is?

“……!”

I get it. Because I’m a god-favored cat?

Because I’m incredibly valuable to this empire?

When I glared at him, Killian set the towel down and asked in a nonchalant tone.

“What are you looking at?”

Um, no way, this is too much.

I rolled over onto my stomach, blaming my excessive self-consciousness.

Killian moved the table and propped it up against the window, made sure the glass was securely locked, and dropped the cushions on the chairs and on the floor.

“Bear with me if you’re bored.”

My small size made it impossible for me to get from the table to the floor in one motion, so he always piled cushions around high chairs, couches, and beds.

“Eat this until I come back.”

He said, pointing to the snacks on the round table.

At times like this, I thought he was a curious human being.

His expression and tone are blunt, yet he calmly tells me the schedule and makes sure I have something to eat.

He lifts me up and sets me down on the table.

“If you’re bored, you can look out the window.”

He points to the tightly locked glass window and makes eye contact with me.

“But you can’t go out. Never.”

“Miyao.”

I closed my eyes and buried my face in his palm as if to say I understood.

Looking down at me, his long eyes suddenly deepened.

“……let’s go out tomorrow.”

In the meantime, Killian’s schedule as crown prince had been quite busy.

Even though he was back at the palace for vacation, he still had a lot to learn from the distinguished scholars the Imperial Family had appointed as teachers.

Much of this involved indoctrination, and in the original story, Killian never listened to the lessons from his childhood but pretended to be brainwashed to gain his father’s trust.

As a crown prince, he was the one who had to deal with his father’s mistresses and his half-siblings, and as an adult, he was able to ascend to the throne without difficulty because his father had a false belief that Killian was the son he could control.

The image of Killian returning from his father’s beating without a single rebellion flashed through my mind.

“I’ll be back.”

Killian patted me on the back and left the bedroom.

I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s another side to me if I can become human, if I can speak human language.

I plucked my fur and blew it into the air, or dropped it from a great height onto the carpet.

But the more I tried each new thing in his absence, the more I had the wistful premonition that I must have been reincarnated as a cat.

I pressed my face against the glass and waited for Killian to come out.

Soon the nobles began to hurry and bow. The Emperor and Killian were coming out.

Mounted on a sleek black horse, Killian gripped the reins loosely and turned gracefully toward the forest.

He shook his head and looked up.

His red eyes beneath his black hair reflected in the sun, and I thought he was looking at me, but it was probably an illusion.

I’m a cat, so I can see into the distance, but there’s no way he could see me.

“It’s a very nice day, isn’t it?”

Madame Gisela?

The voice was definitely hers.

I pressed my face against the glass to get a better look at Madame Gisela, whom I could finally see with my own eyes.

Oh my God, I finally saw Mrs. Gisela with my own eyes!

She came out of the back, smiling like a spring, waved to everyone, and mounted a healthy-looking brown horse.

“Meow?”

I had to admit it.

She was such an innocent, lovely-looking woman that I couldn’t help but admire her.

Madame Gisela had blond hair, fair skin, and red lips that showed off her white teeth, and when she smiled, it was as if red roses were blossoming freely.

She was dressed in a jacket and pants that accentuated her glamorous figure, and with a smug smile on her face, she swept her eyes over Killian as she pretended to straighten her hair with a confident smile on her face.

“Wong! Wong!”

Everyone on horseback, with the hounds trotting ahead and the Emperor in the lead, began to head into the forest, and soon they were hidden from view under the dense canopy of trees.

It was ominous for some reason.

* * *

“Dakkak.”

The sound of the door opening made my tail wag and I jumped to my feet in delight.

Killian, back from his hunt, closed the door and turned around.

Expressionless, he walked slowly over, his mouth set in a tight line.

The dwindling light of the setting sun shone on him, casting long shadows at his feet.

“You must be bored.”

There was an odd sense of repression in his low, dry voice.

“tomorrow. Let’s go out.”

Killian picked me up, set me down on the bed, and immediately turned around. The place he was headed seemed to be the bathroom.

“Meow?”

I sounded out lightly, feeling weird about him for some reason.

I expected him to look back at me immediately, but he kept walking without responding to me.

He never does that.

“……Meow?”

Suddenly standing tall, Killian shook his head and drew in a shaky breath.

A cold sweat dripped onto the carpet.

A thought crossed my mind that something was definitely wrong.

“Miaaah. Miaaaaah. Meowaaaah.”

Killian finally looked back at me as I continued to call out to him.

“…….”

His red eyes were wide with anguish.