“What?”
He quickly changed the subject at my questioning tone.
“No, Astel. I was wondering if you enjoyed your tour of the palace.”
I think he meant something along the lines of, ‘letting Cassian Gray off easy just this once.’
I wondered if I was hearing things, because I couldn’t see his lips open and close in some kind of double-speech.
“Oh, yeah, that was fun.”
The goal was to get people to see me with the Duke, so that was a success.
‘Everyone’s going to be super curious about who I am now!’
For the time being, I had to be as shameless as a peacock eagerly fluffing its feathers.
I had cleared my goal of entering the palace, but there was still a big mountain to climb.
I glanced at my brother as he returned to the bench after a timely report.
‘I’d like to ask you about the diary artifact, and where you got it, but I don’t have a moment to spare.’
Where and by what route did he get the Diary Artifact, which was linked to my memories?
And I had to ask specifically about the circumstances of my disappearance.
‘It’s not just today, but…’
Whether he knew or not that the Duke disliked him, my innocent brother was smiling comfortably.
His relaxed expression belied his gait, which looked incredibly urgent.
And I could see the Duke’s expression hardening as he approached.
Before, Duke Anais had gathered a lot of information about Cassian Gray, and since arriving in the capital, he had begun to thoroughly investigate why women liked him.
It was no longer acceptable to label him a piece of trash.
For the time being, he could look past it as a spectacle.
But he needed to find out how the hell he’d stolen Astel’s heart. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
“You mean Lord Cassian Gray?”
“Yes.”
The aide who’d been briefing him on the findings spoke up.
“He is, well. He’s a thorough escort, and he’s gracious to all women!”
Step one was elegant manners.
Luckily, he’s been trying to cultivate aristocratic manners since his ascension to the dukedom.
It should be enough, but he’d like to hone it a bit more.
“He’s amazing at giving people the gifts they want, you know!”
Second, the gift attack.
But there’s no way Cassian Gray could have given Astel exactly what she wanted.
“Wouldn’t he have given her a gift from the heart? After all, he is the capital’s greatest playboy.”
His jaw clenched as he waved off the aide’s cautious addition.
The aide spoke quickly next, “And he has such great manners in bed…!”
Third, exquisite bed manners.
He nodded lazily. Bed manners, he had never experienced, but…
What could Cassian Gray not be capable of, he wondered, if he could be so sure of his impeccable bed skills…
No, wait.
He frowned, looking at the aide who’d made the offending comment.
“…Disgusting. Is that all?”
The aide had fought for his life and position with the tactics of being in when they were needed and out when they were not.
And so, today, he bowed low, “I beg your pardon, Your Excellency, my filthy, foul mouth! Vile words!”
“So, next.”
The Duke seemed rather busy, so thankfully this profanity was overlooked.
The aide breathed a sigh of relief and continued cautiously.
“There’s a circle in the capital that’s trying to learn Cassian Gray’s Casanova technique, and they’ve got a book…”
Duke Anais quickly took the circle’s romance book from the aide’s hand.
“Let me check it out.”
[Cassian Gray said.
My lovely darling. My eternal resting place.
Oh, everything of my soul. Your eyes are like honey].
“… He says these things?”
“Yes, Your Excellency, I’ve managed to procure one that is very popular in the capital.”
Inside the romance book was a terrible line of language that he couldn’t bring himself to utter.
Flipping through a few more pages, the Duke of Anais frowned as he felt his stomach churn.
“Properly…”
Cassian Gray seemed to have lost his mind.
His feelings for Cassian were being chipped away at.
Not wanting to be cut off from him, the aide desperately opened his mouth to speak.
“The ladies like that kind of sentimentality, Your Excellency.”
The Duke’s eyebrows rose slightly, “Can you swear to your love life?”
Unfortunately, my aide was a single man over thirty, full of ambition to succeed.
But he didn’t have the heart to tell the truth over his head.
“Yes, sir! I’m just as popular, if not more so, than Lord Cassian!”
The Duke of Anais looked his aide up and down.
The aide flinched and stiffened under his gaze. The Duke nodded approvingly.
“I can’t believe you’ve become so popular with that face.”
The aide’s heart went cold, as if a freezing spell had been cast.
But the Duke of Anais didn’t change his demeanor, merely tweaking one corner of his mouth.
“Then I suppose we’ll just have to try it as is.”
The aide was human, of course.
It felt odd to say something like ‘my dear darling,’ and there was a brief moment of skepticism in his brain, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’
But the Duke’s trusting gaze was fixed on him.
“I commend you.”
The aide decided to take a moment of mental triumph.
I was tossing and turning on my bed.
My dreams were disrupted by the change in my sleeping position.
Despite lying with my head buried in my pillow with my eyes tightly closed, sleep didn’t come quickly.
My mind was more alert because of the problem of recovering my memory.
I’d been in constant communication with Warret through the video sphere, trying to piece together clues about the artifact.
‘It seems a little abrupt at times, the way my memories are coming back.’
‘I don’t know why the memory is returning so suddenly and so quickly, but I wonder if there’s some kind of trigger in the environment?’
I didn’t know why, but once I got the question out of the way, my lost memories began to come back like a torrent.
‘I’m tired…’
Every day I tried to think of a way to make contact with the top of Cornwall, and every night I closed my eyes tightly to search for memories.
Then, as always, I dreamed.
As I closed my eyes tightly and drifted off, bits and pieces of the past would float through my subconscious mind.
Thanks to Warret’s tinkering with my diary, this dream was very different from my past visions.
I woke up in my childhood body.
And naturally, I acted and spoke like a child.
At first, I tried to help a mysterious boy get out of the magic circle.
But then I activated the circle, and my vision went white.
When I woke up, the boy and I were trapped in a cave dripping with rainwater.
— ‘Do you think we can get back to our home?’
— ‘I don’t know… I don’t want to… I’m a piece of trash that needs to be disposed of…’
That was… drastic.
I shook my head urgently, trying to calm him down.
— ‘No, you were trapped, and it’s the duty as an adult to help!’
I continued to stroke the boy’s head, never stopping. But the boy refused to make eye contact with me and kept his head down.
After soothing him, I remained trapped in the deep, dark cave, trying my best to fire the flint.
But even after striking the stones together a thousand times, I could not get a fire started.
— ‘People in distress use flint to make fires…’
— ‘I tried it, but it didn’t work…’
…I’ve been scammed.
I stopped myself from speaking at the boy’s cowering form.
But then it happened. Something tiny flickered behind the boy’s back.
Like someone’s burning amber eyes… My eyes widened and I pointed.
— ‘It’s a cat!’
In the pitch darkness, I couldn’t see clearly.
A black cat was clinging to the wall. I stared at the cat’s glossy fur and stately form, my mouth wide open.
— ‘Meow!’
— ‘What’s a cat doing here? Meow, come here. It’s dangerous!’
The cat glared at me with its piercing yellow eyes and bared its claws.
— ‘Kyaaah’
I didn’t know much about cats until then, so I bravely approached it, not realizing it was a growl.
— ‘Good boy, meow.’
All I could hear was the sound of meowing.
The cat meowed for a long time, and then, frustrated by my boldness in reaching out, it beat my chest with a cotton paw.
It then proceeded to climb up and down the cave wall like a climber.
— ‘Meow, that’s pretty amazing, isn’t it!’
But the boy, clutching the hem of my shirt, was now hiding behind my back. I could feel the boy’s shaky breathing.
— ‘What’s wrong?’
— ‘It’s just that the cat, it- it’s not a cat.’
— ‘..?’
With those words, the meow stood up on its two paws.
Then, in a majestic gesture, he began to walk toward me.
— ‘Meow, meow, I’m not just a cat!’
— ‘Cats talk?’
— ‘Surprise! Uh, yes, the beasts do talk, but not like this one…’
— ‘Hello, talking cat!’
I exclaimed, reaching out and touching the cat’s teeth.
The cat closed its eyes tightly and purred. It was interesting to see that with his eyes closed, his whole body looked like black dust. I turned to the cat and asked it carefully.
— ‘Are you… a super cute cat?’
— ‘Ugh! No, no, not now!’
I yelled at the top of my lungs and stared at the cat in disbelief as it ran around the cave.
The cat stretched and continued to meow in human language.
— ‘I’m not just a cat, I’m a divine beast!’
— ‘What’s a divine beast?’
— ‘Ignorant! You humans are so ignorant that you can’t understand me!’
The child, who had been curled up in a ball, raised his head. I could finally see his face properly.
A black hair in a shiny barrier.
His cheeks were scruffy, but he looked like he could be handsome if he was cleaned up.
Besides, he’s thin from not eating, and if you look closely, he looks older than me.
— ‘I don’t know what a Divine Beast is, Sister, that bad cat insulted you.’
The boy’s face came into my vision more and more clearly.
Although he’s a bit skinny, he doesn’t look old enough to call me his sister…
— ‘Hmph.’
As I stared, the boy’s round eyes widened, and his head dropped back to the floor.
I patted him on the shoulder and asked.
— ‘Are you sure you don’t know what that is?’
— ‘…Yeah, I’m useless, I don’t know…’
From the sound of it… he was an abused child. My heart sank even more, and I hugged him tightly and petted him to soothe him.
Divine Beast cat let out a loud, satisfied yawn and wagged his tail.
— ‘Little one, how dare you flirt in front of me?’
My face and the boy’s face turned bright red.
— ‘No, it’s not like that!’
— ‘…you, you dare me to…’
— ‘Anyway, you’re stuck in this cave, you’ll never get out. You fools, you dare to activate the magic circle?’
“What?”
He quickly changed the subject at my questioning tone.
“No, Astel. I was wondering if you enjoyed your tour of the palace.”
I think he meant something along the lines of, ‘letting Cassian Gray off easy just this once.’
I wondered if I was hearing things, because I couldn’t see his lips open and close in some kind of double-speech.
“Oh, yeah, that was fun.”
The goal was to get people to see me with the Duke, so that was a success.
‘Everyone’s going to be super curious about who I am now!’
For the time being, I had to be as shameless as a peacock eagerly fluffing its feathers.
I had cleared my goal of entering the palace, but there was still a big mountain to climb.
I glanced at my brother as he returned to the bench after a timely report.
‘I’d like to ask you about the diary artifact, and where you got it, but I don’t have a moment to spare.’
Where and by what route did he get the Diary Artifact, which was linked to my memories?
And I had to ask specifically about the circumstances of my disappearance.
‘It’s not just today, but…’
Whether he knew or not that the Duke disliked him, my innocent brother was smiling comfortably.
His relaxed expression belied his gait, which looked incredibly urgent.
And I could see the Duke’s expression hardening as he approached.
Before, Duke Anais had gathered a lot of information about Cassian Gray, and since arriving in the capital, he had begun to thoroughly investigate why women liked him.
It was no longer acceptable to label him a piece of trash.
For the time being, he could look past it as a spectacle.
But he needed to find out how the hell he’d stolen Astel’s heart. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
“You mean Lord Cassian Gray?”
“Yes.”
The aide who’d been briefing him on the findings spoke up.
“He is, well. He’s a thorough escort, and he’s gracious to all women!”
Step one was elegant manners.
Luckily, he’s been trying to cultivate aristocratic manners since his ascension to the dukedom.
It should be enough, but he’d like to hone it a bit more.
“He’s amazing at giving people the gifts they want, you know!”
Second, the gift attack.
But there’s no way Cassian Gray could have given Astel exactly what she wanted.
“Wouldn’t he have given her a gift from the heart? After all, he is the capital’s greatest playboy.”
His jaw clenched as he waved off the aide’s cautious addition.
The aide spoke quickly next, “And he has such great manners in bed…!”
Third, exquisite bed manners.
He nodded lazily. Bed manners, he had never experienced, but…
What could Cassian Gray not be capable of, he wondered, if he could be so sure of his impeccable bed skills…
No, wait.
He frowned, looking at the aide who’d made the offending comment.
“…Disgusting. Is that all?”
The aide had fought for his life and position with the tactics of being in when they were needed and out when they were not.
And so, today, he bowed low, “I beg your pardon, Your Excellency, my filthy, foul mouth! Vile words!”
“So, next.”
The Duke seemed rather busy, so thankfully this profanity was overlooked.
The aide breathed a sigh of relief and continued cautiously.
“There’s a circle in the capital that’s trying to learn Cassian Gray’s Casanova technique, and they’ve got a book…”
Duke Anais quickly took the circle’s romance book from the aide’s hand.
“Let me check it out.”
[Cassian Gray said.
My lovely darling. My eternal resting place.
Oh, everything of my soul. Your eyes are like honey].
“… He says these things?”
“Yes, Your Excellency, I’ve managed to procure one that is very popular in the capital.”
Inside the romance book was a terrible line of language that he couldn’t bring himself to utter.
Flipping through a few more pages, the Duke of Anais frowned as he felt his stomach churn.
“Properly…”
Cassian Gray seemed to have lost his mind.
His feelings for Cassian were being chipped away at.
Not wanting to be cut off from him, the aide desperately opened his mouth to speak.
“The ladies like that kind of sentimentality, Your Excellency.”
The Duke’s eyebrows rose slightly, “Can you swear to your love life?”
Unfortunately, my aide was a single man over thirty, full of ambition to succeed.
But he didn’t have the heart to tell the truth over his head.
“Yes, sir! I’m just as popular, if not more so, than Lord Cassian!”
The Duke of Anais looked his aide up and down.
The aide flinched and stiffened under his gaze. The Duke nodded approvingly.
“I can’t believe you’ve become so popular with that face.”
The aide’s heart went cold, as if a freezing spell had been cast.
But the Duke of Anais didn’t change his demeanor, merely tweaking one corner of his mouth.
“Then I suppose we’ll just have to try it as is.”
The aide was human, of course.
It felt odd to say something like ‘my dear darling,’ and there was a brief moment of skepticism in his brain, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’
But the Duke’s trusting gaze was fixed on him.
“I commend you.”
The aide decided to take a moment of mental triumph.
I was tossing and turning on my bed.
My dreams were disrupted by the change in my sleeping position.
Despite lying with my head buried in my pillow with my eyes tightly closed, sleep didn’t come quickly.
My mind was more alert because of the problem of recovering my memory.
I’d been in constant communication with Warret through the video sphere, trying to piece together clues about the artifact.
‘It seems a little abrupt at times, the way my memories are coming back.’
‘I don’t know why the memory is returning so suddenly and so quickly, but I wonder if there’s some kind of trigger in the environment?’
I didn’t know why, but once I got the question out of the way, my lost memories began to come back like a torrent.
‘I’m tired…’
Every day I tried to think of a way to make contact with the top of Cornwall, and every night I closed my eyes tightly to search for memories.
Then, as always, I dreamed.
As I closed my eyes tightly and drifted off, bits and pieces of the past would float through my subconscious mind.
Thanks to Warret’s tinkering with my diary, this dream was very different from my past visions.
I woke up in my childhood body.
And naturally, I acted and spoke like a child.
At first, I tried to help a mysterious boy get out of the magic circle.
But then I activated the circle, and my vision went white.
When I woke up, the boy and I were trapped in a cave dripping with rainwater.
— ‘Do you think we can get back to our home?’
— ‘I don’t know… I don’t want to… I’m a piece of trash that needs to be disposed of…’
That was… drastic.
I shook my head urgently, trying to calm him down.
— ‘No, you were trapped, and it’s the duty as an adult to help!’
I continued to stroke the boy’s head, never stopping. But the boy refused to make eye contact with me and kept his head down.
After soothing him, I remained trapped in the deep, dark cave, trying my best to fire the flint.
But even after striking the stones together a thousand times, I could not get a fire started.
— ‘People in distress use flint to make fires…’
— ‘I tried it, but it didn’t work…’
…I’ve been scammed.
I stopped myself from speaking at the boy’s cowering form.
But then it happened. Something tiny flickered behind the boy’s back.
Like someone’s burning amber eyes… My eyes widened and I pointed.
— ‘It’s a cat!’
In the pitch darkness, I couldn’t see clearly.
A black cat was clinging to the wall. I stared at the cat’s glossy fur and stately form, my mouth wide open.
— ‘Meow!’
— ‘What’s a cat doing here? Meow, come here. It’s dangerous!’
The cat glared at me with its piercing yellow eyes and bared its claws.
— ‘Kyaaah’
I didn’t know much about cats until then, so I bravely approached it, not realizing it was a growl.
— ‘Good boy, meow.’
All I could hear was the sound of meowing.
The cat meowed for a long time, and then, frustrated by my boldness in reaching out, it beat my chest with a cotton paw.
It then proceeded to climb up and down the cave wall like a climber.
— ‘Meow, that’s pretty amazing, isn’t it!’
But the boy, clutching the hem of my shirt, was now hiding behind my back. I could feel the boy’s shaky breathing.
— ‘What’s wrong?’
— ‘It’s just that the cat, it- it’s not a cat.’
— ‘..?’
With those words, the meow stood up on its two paws.
Then, in a majestic gesture, he began to walk toward me.
— ‘Meow, meow, I’m not just a cat!’
— ‘Cats talk?’
— ‘Surprise! Uh, yes, the beasts do talk, but not like this one…’
— ‘Hello, talking cat!’
I exclaimed, reaching out and touching the cat’s teeth.
The cat closed its eyes tightly and purred. It was interesting to see that with his eyes closed, his whole body looked like black dust. I turned to the cat and asked it carefully.
— ‘Are you… a super cute cat?’
— ‘Ugh! No, no, not now!’
I yelled at the top of my lungs and stared at the cat in disbelief as it ran around the cave.
The cat stretched and continued to meow in human language.
— ‘I’m not just a cat, I’m a divine beast!’
— ‘What’s a divine beast?’
— ‘Ignorant! You humans are so ignorant that you can’t understand me!’
The child, who had been curled up in a ball, raised his head. I could finally see his face properly.
A black hair in a shiny barrier.
His cheeks were scruffy, but he looked like he could be handsome if he was cleaned up.
Besides, he’s thin from not eating, and if you look closely, he looks older than me.
— ‘I don’t know what a Divine Beast is, Sister, that bad cat insulted you.’
The boy’s face came into my vision more and more clearly.
Although he’s a bit skinny, he doesn’t look old enough to call me his sister…
— ‘Hmph.’
As I stared, the boy’s round eyes widened, and his head dropped back to the floor.
I patted him on the shoulder and asked.
— ‘Are you sure you don’t know what that is?’
— ‘…Yeah, I’m useless, I don’t know…’
From the sound of it… he was an abused child. My heart sank even more, and I hugged him tightly and petted him to soothe him.
Divine Beast cat let out a loud, satisfied yawn and wagged his tail.
— ‘Little one, how dare you flirt in front of me?’
My face and the boy’s face turned bright red.
— ‘No, it’s not like that!’
— ‘…you, you dare me to…’
— ‘Anyway, you’re stuck in this cave, you’ll never get out. You fools, you dare to activate the magic circle?’
