I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 43
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Chapter 43
Sasha, who saw my shadow, was surprised and flew backwards as if she had been hit by a long gush of wind and landed. It seemed that she did not recognize me right away because of the stimulation.
I blinked my eyes slowly to Sasha to say hello.
‘I won’t approach you now. I’m not going to attack you, I’ll just stand here.’
“It’s all right, Sasha.”
As I spoke in a low, soft voice, Sasha’s growling sound suddenly stopped.
“Come here, Sasha.”
I waited patiently for her. But once frightened, Sasha seldom came out of the shadows. Reluctantly, I hid myself in the corner of the hallway and only peeked out one eye.
‘No kitten can refuse to play hide and seek.’
While I thought that, I could see Sasha turning her head 45 degrees as if saying, ‘I can see all of you, Is that hiding now, fool?’ as she stared at me.
Then, I hid completely behind the wall and counted two seconds before popping my head out again. Sasha had already taken three steps forward in the same pose as if I had copied-pasted her. After repeating this three times, before I knew it, Sasha was already standing in front of me.
Groaning, she rubbed her head against my leg, making a pleasing sound inside her neck.
“I could see everything, Rowaine!”
I squatted down and stroked Sasha’s head.
“Do you want a hug, Sasha?”
As if she had never been so angry, she snuggled in my arms and purred.
Everyone’s eyes widened when they saw me coming with Sasha. Especially Agwen, who, like with Liddell, struggled to appease Sasha and wanted to send her to the separated annex, had the face that thought I had done some magic.
“How did you do that?”
Even the maid Lucy responded that she could not believe it.
“Even if I mobilized all the employees, I couldn’t catch her…! The Madam doesn’t know how many bites and scratches everyone has.”
“You’re so amazing, Madam.”
“How do you deal with her so well?”
‘It’s not even something that interesting.’
I thought I had to teach my employees how to handle cats.
Embarrassed, I smiled a little. To be honest, it was awkward to receive such recognition for handling cats well. In a previous life, I would have been treated as a useless waste of time by my grandmother and villagers.
‘…I’m happy.’
Being recognized for the experience and knowledge I had accumulated because it was something I like, I was more proud of this than being recognized for anything else. Because of that, I let the employees continue to say something nice though their reactions started to take a strange turn.
“The Master must be very happy.”
“Is this why the Master married the Madam?”
“Oh, my.”
The eyes of the employees were full of anticipation. It was an atmosphere where I thought, “I am sure that was why the Master has a crush on his wife.”
“It-it’s nothing like that so stop it, everyone.”
When I covered my mouth in embarrassment, the employees grinned and said, “It’s nice to see you two get along well.”
Even some employees, who had been wary of me even now because of the notoriety of being a ‘shapeshifter abuser,’ were nodding their heads with a face expressing, “The Madam could not have done that when she is so good at handling the shapeshifters!” In the end, I have no choice but to escape from where I was and take refuge in my room instead.
What would Dimitri think if he found this sight…?
“Everyone, please go and work!”
Although I tried to pretend to be casual, without realizing it, honorifics came out. At that, the employees, who noticed my distress, smiled mischievously and dispersed.
‘The superior should protect their dignity.’
As I went into my room with a sneaky look on my face, Sasha was already dozing off in my arms before I knew it. Although I wanted her to sleep, Sasha had something she had to do.
“Sasha, wake up.”
“I’m going to sleep.”
“Not now. Get up and get dressed first.”
I dressed Sasha in a human form and headed to Liddell. She was receiving light treatment from the other maid.
“Sasha, apologize for hurting her.”
This was caused by the lack of communication between Liddell and Sasha, so no one was at fault. Still, I wanted to let Sasha learn the principles of human society. Regardless, she has to live with humans in the future.
Sasha gazed up at me, wrinkling her face with resentment and pride.
I put on a stern look.
“Come on.”
Sasha wiggled and pouted her lips before murmuring reluctantly.
“Hey, I’m doing this because she told me to apologize, okay? Be careful from now on, mwiss.”
“….”
Knowing that I should not laugh, it was so cat-like that I thought I would burst into laughter. I bit my lip firmly and tried to keep my eyes open.
“That’s not how you should say sorry for hurting her, Sasha.”
“It’s roughly like that, isn’t it?”
Oh, she is shameless.
When I placed my hand on my forehead, Liddell, who was watching us, stopped me.
“I’m fine, Madam. I didn’t get hurt too much.”
“That’s right, Rowaine!”
“Liddell, don’t forgive Sasha until she apologizes properly.”
As Sasha poked out her lips at my words, I gazed at her and widened my eyes again while Liddell answered.
“Oh, yes. I got it.”
Eventually, Sasha mumbled softly as she put on a haughty expression.
“Sorry for hurting you.”
…Before raising her chin proudly and glancing at me.
“This is okay, right?”
I looked at Sasha’s back as she ran away and shook my head. As Dimitri advised, there was an urgent need for a teacher to socialize with Sasha and Coco.
‘By the way, I’ll have to apologize to Dimitri for Sasha coming all the way to the main building.’
At the time when Rowaine was taking Sasha to apologize to Liddell, Dimitri faced Coco as he was wandering around the main building.
Coco, who should have been in the annex, was casually sauntering around the first floor of the main building as if it were his own home in a human form. It was a very leisure and languid walk.
The shoulder straps of the suspenders he was wearing were both off the elbows. His fluffy, cloud-like, wheat-colored hair was thick and feathery, so no matter how he styled it and combed it, it always loosened into its original shape.
Walking with an atmosphere like a young master who had no interest in studying, he paused when he found Dimitri.
“….”
“….”
Their gazes intertwined quietly.
Coco slowly took a step back, thinking would turn into a cat and run away. The moment when the pupils of the two cats dilate greatly with tight tension…
“Huu.”
Dimitri sighed. It meant he had no intention of attacking.
Seeing that, Coco’s back, which had been stiffened by tension, was relaxed when he understood his intention. Dimitri then lifted his finger towards Coco.
“Come closer.”
“Why?”
Curious, Coco slowly walked and stood in front of Dimitri.
“I want to ask you something.”
“What is it, brother?”
“Duke.”
“Yeah, Duke.”
Coco changed his name quickly. Contrary to how he acted towards Rowaine, he looked quite disciplined. While he knew that Rowaine was soft and would not attack him, he knew that Dimitri would raise his fist whenever he was offended.
“Do you notice the smell of grass coming from Rowaine?”
When Rowaine’s name was mentioned, Coco’s eyes twinkled.
“What’s wrong with that good smell?”
Seeing Coco’s reaction, Dimitri nodded as if he thought so too.
‘It’s a scent that only shapeshifters can smell.’
He did expect that. When Rowaine and Sasha first met, he could guess when he saw Sasha sniffing her, saying Rowaine smells good.
Unlike Coco, who was amiable and carefree, Sasha was alert and belligerent. Even the food she first ate or the first toy she saw, she would be vigilant about touching it and observed it for a long time. However, when she first met Rowaine, Sasha completely broke her boundaries and approached her first.
‘She must have felt the same way I did.’
From Rowaine, the special scent must have calmed their forged nerves and softened their vigilance.
Dimitri knew it was strange and tried to force himself to be wary of the scent. Nevertheless, Sasha was a young cat. No matter how wary he was, she was still more faithful to instinct than reason — meaning that she would have reached out to Rowaine before if she felt something was strange.
“Have you ever seen Rowaine spray something like perfume?”
At his question, Coco tilted his head.
“Rowaine doesn’t like perfume. The maids also said, ‘Madam doesn’t even put perfume in the bath water.’ When she gave out all the expensive spices to the maids, everyone was so excited.”
“Really?”
“Yes! And, Rowaine’s scent gets stronger when she sleeps at night!”
That means it was just the smell of Rowaine.
‘I’ve heard that there are races that use strong pheromones to communicate, but…’
He had never heard of pheromones among humans with a dull sense of smell and developed language.
‘Anyway, it seems like it’s just her natural body odor.’
Although he does not know, it must have been a special odor. Dimitri licked his lips involuntarily, thinking about how comfortable he had felt as if he had melted all the way through the carriage with Rowaine.
‘…She has a scent that entices cats.’
He sighed inwardly.
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