I Became a Cat That Sleeps with an Obsessive Tyrant Every Night - Chapter 49

“Yeah.”

What on earth should I do? Already, my head was spinning, and my stomach felt queasy.

“Hmm.”

Unlike me, he leaned back on the sofa with a relaxed gesture, looking at me.

I couldn’t refuse when he went to the trouble of making such a comfortable space.

“You look comfortable, Your Highness.”

“Do I?”

Killian smiled slyly and leaned his head back.

A languid sigh escaped from him.

Taking off his jacket and loosening his cravat halfway, he looked defenseless yet languid.

His prominent Adam’s apple stood out more as he did so, and my gaze fell on his long, thick fingers tapping on the sofa.

“Did you get some sleep?”

“Not really.”

Baroon told me earlier that the crown prince had slept little.

Perhaps it’s because he fears that if he falls asleep while watching over me, the residual effects of some unknown dark magic potion may have a greater negative impact on his body.

Killian is going through so much trouble for me, and it seemed right to set aside such fears.

“…… You should probably bundle up for the prom because you never know when I might turn into a cat.”

As I spoke, Killian lifted the corners of his mouth slightly and looked at me.

“As you wish.”

“You look tired. I really am fine now. Just relax and go to sleep.”

“Didn’t you look relaxed just now, If you’re sleepy, you would have slept.”

“Will you sleep in the carriage?”

“Of course.”

Killian responded quietly, closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, ruby-like red eyes appeared in the darkness.

As he stood up from the sofa, I also stood up alongside him.

“You must stay healthy for two weeks. Absolutely, do not eat any unhealthy food.”

“Well. You’re the only one who can recognize it, so how am I supposed to?”

He casually swept his hand through my hair and smiled slyly.

I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Don’t go out.”

“Why? I have to see you off.”

As I tried to hurry my steps, he caught me and effortlessly lifted me up.

Being lifted by him was as instantaneous as lifting a single napkin, to exaggerate a little.

“It’s late. You need to sleep.”

Killian walked with large strides to the room with the bed and gently laid me down.

* * *

“Please take care, Your Highness.”

As he opened the front door and came out, Baron, who had somehow followed Killian, greeted from behind.

Killian opened his eyes slightly and gave a faint smile.

“She seems to have stayed up late because of me.”

“It’s alright, Your Highness. As people age, it’s natural to have trouble sleeping. More importantly, have you had enough conversation with Lady Vivi… I mean, Lady Reinette? She must have been surprised to hear it.”

Baron, who had suggested to Killian earlier to leave Reinette here, was now the first to hear the plan that her name would be Reinette Brünnhild from Killian.

“I was surprised…”

The one who was responding to Baron suddenly stopped talking.

Baron, noticing Killian’s frowning in the sunlight, turned his head in the same direction.

“I thought I told you to sleep.”

Reinette, with her upper body halfway out of the window, appeared.

The window, which only opened in the middle, was a bit high compared to her height.

Killian, with a faint smile on his lips, looked at her with a poetic gaze.

He had checked to make sure she was lying down and had closed her eyes, but Reinette, with her silver hair gently fluttering, was smiling brightly.

“What if you fall like that?”

Killian mumbled as he saw Reinette waving her hand towards him, as if refusing to yield.

However, it was inevitable that the stern expression softened when looking at Reinette sparkling in the morning sun.

She would probably be standing on the chair by the window, halfway leaning out, just like that.

Seeming fearful yet unexpectedly capable of defying expectations in a peculiar way.

“Do you perhaps dislike being away from me for two weeks?”

Such a question was casually thrown out without hesitation.

“As you wave your hand like that, it’s as if you’re saying hello.”

When Baron mentioned this, Killian involuntarily let out a dry laugh.

He had never before gestured broadly or laughed while looking at someone.

It was still early in the morning, so he gestured lightly, indicating for Reinette, who was only waving her hand, to go inside.

“Take care.”

She said with a smile, forming her words with her mouth.

It resembled her face when she was a cat, but seemed to be more feminine than that.

As Killian nodded, Reinette alternately greeted Baron and him before closing the window.

The early morning, which had been unusually noisy, suddenly quieted down.

“….”

The light seemed quite dazzling.

Killian gazed at the closed window for a moment before turning away.

In front of the mansion, there was a path that seemed like a trail, surrounded by lush vegetation, including trees.

“Baron, if you find any clues about the Hamilton couple, make sure to report it promptly.”

“Even without that, a letter arrived this morning. As Your Highness mentioned, it seems they haven’t returned to their estate, Railver, for quite some time. The estate managers say it’s not the Railver they used to know.”

“I apologize for involving you in searching for the Hamilton couple.”

Baron, who walked alongside, was taken aback for a moment but soon smiled.

“It’s alright, Your Highness. Just the fact that you sought the guidance of the gods is something to be grateful for.”

“I suppose I should convey my gratitude.”

The two entered a path lined with pine trees on both sides.

As they moved away from the mansion, the path widened. In other words, the area near the mansion was almost completely covered with vegetation, making it not easily visible from the outside.

Killian had learned through Harrid that, before Lady Gisela appeared, the fact that Earl of Hamilton and his wife had discarded all the letters sent by non-imperial mages, who, unlike the imperial mages, did not bribe him, during their time managing the imperial household when they stood by the emperor, was known.

Some might say it’s not uncommon for those at the top of the hierarchy to flaunt their power and casually take bribes, but Killian had doubts that the empire he believed in was as strong as it seemed.

Could his father’s eyes and ears truly perceive the truth?

Killian wondered if he himself had come this far without truly knowing the reality.

“Harrid has already manipulated everything with the maids and servants, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

Nodding lightly at Baron’s words, Killian glanced at the seemingly inconspicuous carriage.

“Baron, dark magic is said to be the use of one’s own body and mind as tools among those with magical power. Is that what you know as well?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Doesn’t that mean humans cannot darken or amplify their own magical power on their own?”

“It means it’s an impossible task to mimic what evil has created without directly following it.”

With Baron’s response, Killian looked at the landscape of the garden with a somewhat darkened expression in his eyes.

Clover plants swayed on the grass in the morning breeze, and rose vines climbed the wall, touching the flag with the inscription of the Duke of Duchsens. The people of the Huppert Empire had believed in and adhered to the prohibition and complete elimination of dark magic for a long time. This included magicians like Baron.

However, there was dark magic potion in the food made by Lady Gisela.

Could dark magic, believed to have disappeared for hundreds of years, suddenly reappear in an instant like magic?

It was incomprehensible.

“If that’s the case, to learn it, one must either already know the method or learn through books.”

“If books were secretly circulating, someone at Winston could have been influenced by the magic. There hasn’t been such an occurrence for hundreds of years. Even if someone wished to find it, the books wouldn’t be easily accessible.”

“It means emphasis should be placed on the fact that it was being kept in the first place.”

Killian, gradually walking along the widening path, let his pensive gaze extend into the air.

Lady Gisela had dark magic potion.

However, the probability was high that she didn’t possess magical power, so someone else must have created the dark magic potion.

Dark magic still existed within the empire.

Now, that was an undeniable fact, and the bigger issue was whether Lady Gisela was satisfied with merely poisoning the Emperor and the Crown Prince with the dark magic potion, or if she was moving with a greater purpose in mind.

As well as those related to it.

“Baron.”

“Please speak, Your Highness.”

“If that alone is insufficient.”

“…….”

“If you need more information than what you already know about dark magic.”

“…….”

“Where do you think you would go to find it?”

When Killian stopped and asked, Baron hesitated.

One would have to go to a place where difficult-to-obtain materials could be found.

The empire had thoroughly searched and eradicated everything related to dark magic. They left no trace, as if they wouldn’t even leave a speck of dust.

However, one place. There, all the books were kept.

The only place within the empire.

“The imperial library.”

“Lady Gisela has requested special access to the Imperial Library from His Majesty.”

“……!”

“Of course, Father must have granted Lady Gisela’s request.”

Upon hearing Killian’s words, Baron’s pupils trembled for a moment.

Lady Gisela might have simply submitted a request to Emperor Adolf to showcase her power.

She was someone who enjoyed such deeds, so it wouldn’t have been surprising.

However, what if, against all odds, she had requested access to the Imperial Library with a different goal in mind?

The time for merely speculating and stopping at the worry that it might be the case had long passed.

The dark magic potion, whose existence they had denied, was openly in Lady Gisela’s hands, and it was even inside the palace.

Reinette, too, lived in a way completely different from what the empire had believed, becoming the center of a new Oracle.

Now, there shouldn’t be limitations on any assumptions, and the range of possibilities had to be considered without restriction.

“It’s possible that Lady Gisela is looking for something in the Imperial Library, Your Highness.”

Baron responded calmly, suppressing his uneasy expression.