chapter 15
As always, everyone’s days except mine passed by quickly and busily.
As dusk slowly settled over the city, lights began turning on one after another like fireflies illuminating the night. The glow that had once come from sunlight gradually transformed into dazzling colorful lights.
‘Wow… it’s beautiful.’
Even after spending several days inside the carriage, this was the first proper outside scenery I had seen, and it was breathtaking.
I pressed my nose against the window and stared outside without blinking.
Colorful lanterns continuously floated high into the sky, looking as though the stars of the night sky were rising in reverse. It felt like watching countless shooting stars drifting upward.
The people outside the carriage looked lively and free. If I could, I wanted to run outside immediately and mingle among them.
“Dangerous.”
Ian grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me away from the window.
I had been completely absorbed in the scenery outside, but now I was forcibly separated from the window, staring back at it with obvious regret.
The glass had fogged white from my breath, except for the exact spot where my nose had been pressed.
As I lowered my head after being pulled away, my short legs covered in pitch-black fur came into view.
For some reason, the bright world outside contrasted painfully with my legs.
Unlike the night outside, which seemed capable of embracing every light, my fur was dark as the deepest abyss. It looked as though it swallowed every bit of light rather than reflecting any.
It felt like my body could naturally melt into the shadows.
Maybe that was why people called me a bringer of misfortune.
The colorful lanterns floating brightly outside were the complete opposite of me.
‘Why am I suddenly thinking like this again…’
I imagined myself walking through those streets like an ordinary person.
It didn’t suit me at all.
‘Even if I went out there, beastfolk would still hate me.’
The moment I realized I could never become one of those lively beastfolk wandering happily through the night market, bitterness spread through my mouth.
The excitement that had once filled my eyes had long since sunk away.
‘Put me down.’
I smacked Ian’s palm twice.
But the hand holding me didn’t budge.
‘Put me down.’
I hit his hand again.
“You want to go there?”
Ignoring my kicks, Ian crookedly smiled and gestured toward the window with his chin.
‘No. It’s fine.’
I shook my head.
I did want to enjoy the festival, but if I wandered around alone, the chances of something bad happening were much higher than the chances of something good happening.
Ever since that syringe had pierced my body, even during the supposed adaptation period for human transformation, I had never succeeded in transforming again no matter what I tried.
I looked down at my ink-black fur once more.
‘Someone like me doesn’t belong there anyway.’
A symbol of bad luck.
That was what people called me.
The servants of the Cadelion family were the unusual ones. If ordinary people saw me, disgust would be the natural reaction.
‘I lived receiving those disgusted looks for over ten years.’
Maybe living comfortably in the tiger’s house had made me greedy for more things.
The excitement I’d felt for the New Year celebration cooled instantly.
I hit Ian’s hand harder.
‘Put me down.’
My nose stung as though tears were about to spill out at any moment. My eyes were probably already watery.
I kept pounding against the tiger’s hand.
I just wanted to hurry into the basket and bury my face in the cushion.
But Ian didn’t let me down.
Tap. Tap.
I struck his hand again.
My vision blurred, and my chest felt tight.
Ian quietly stared at Ariel lying on his hand.
Ariel seemed to have given up on climbing into the basket and instead buried her face in his palm. Not long after, cold droplets began falling onto his hand one by one.
Even as the tears fell, no sobbing sound escaped her.
If someone didn’t look carefully, they might not even realize she was crying. The kitten cried silently, holding her breath.
Receiving the falling tears in silence, Ian looked at the tiny black fluffball trembling faintly.
‘Since when was it…?’
Today, Ariel had been more excited than usual. Even after boarding the carriage, she had stared outside with bright eyes for a long time, watching the people walking around.
It was the reaction of someone seeing the outside world for the first time.
‘Was it after I pulled her away from the window?’
At some point, her expression had suddenly sunk.
And after that, she stared motionlessly at her own legs.
‘Those eyes.’
Eyes darker and more sunken than ever before.
The fluffball usually had a very expressive face, but he had never seen that expression before.
It was heavy beyond description, yet strangely empty.
If he had to compare it to something, it looked like someone rejecting the entire world.
Even the faint pheromones she unconsciously emitted had dimmed so much that one wouldn’t notice unless paying close attention.
Without even looking into her heart, he could tell she was digging herself deeper and deeper into despair alone.
Her expression and pheromones told him enough.
He wanted to pull her away from those thoughts that were consuming her.
So Ian, who had been quietly petting the kitten, suddenly pretended to shoot an arrow at her—something he had never done in his life.
“Pew.”
Allen stared at him like he was watching a dancing sea anemone, but the moment Ian gestured toward the gloomy kitten, he quickly understood.
It was Ian’s own small way of telling her to stop digging herself into a hole and come back out.
‘…What are you doing?’
Still burying my face in Ian’s hand, I lifted my head and stared at him in disbelief.
My vision was still blurry from tears.
Thunk.
Ian mimed shooting an arrow again with his fingers.
I turned to Allen.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘Play dead.’
Allen silently mouthed the words.
What nonsense are you talking about?
I wrinkled my nose.
That was a completely unrelated answer.
I looked at Allen again for clarification, but all he mouthed back was:
‘Play dead.’
‘…You want me to play dead?’
Since Allen kept repeating himself like a parrot, I decided—for today only—to trust the words of Ian’s oldest subordinate.
Though he didn’t look trustworthy at all.
A beat later, I flopped onto Ian’s palm and pretended to be dead.
‘Satisfied?’
I squinted one eye open and looked at Ian.
Ian looked down at Ariel, who was secretly peeking at him with half-open eyes.
It seemed the cat pretending to be dead had managed to push at least some of her gloomy thoughts out of her head, because now she was staring at him with narrow eyes.
Those eyes resembled Allen’s.
Like someone looking at a walking sea cucumber.
But Ian paid no mind to her reaction and simply stroked her head.
“Smart, huh? Truly a genius cat.”
“Indeed. Where else in the world would you find a cat that plays dead when you pretend to shoot an arrow?”
The pupils of the fluffball staring at him like a bizarre sea creature widened in disbelief.
But the moment her eyes met his, she suddenly remembered she was supposed to be dead and hurriedly shut them again.
“She’s even excellent at acting dead.”
“Exactly. Look at how still she’s lying there without even twitching an eyelid.”
At that exact moment, Ariel’s eyelids trembled slightly.
Pretending not to notice, Ian suppressed a laugh and added,
“Maybe she has talent as an actress. Should I hire someone to teach Ariel singing and make her perform?”
Apparently hating that idea, the strength in the paw pressing against Ian’s palm increased immediately.
“Ariel, here.”
Ian handed jelly to the kitten struggling to continue her performance.
The moment the jelly appeared, the disbelief staining her expression vanished and her face brightened instantly.
‘Jelly…!’
“Lie down.”
Ariel immediately obeyed.
At this point, what was a little dignity for jelly?
She had already endured sitting there listening to ridiculous nonsense while pretending to be dead anyway.
‘Though I did get jelly out of it.’
But when Ian didn’t tell her to lift her head, I looked up at him with wide round eyes.
‘You’re not giving it to me…?’
Ian then popped another jelly into Ariel’s mouth.
“Left paw.”
“Right paw.”
“Sit.”
“Stand.”
“Applause.”
…Those tigers had apparently gotten excited and started making me do all kinds of strange things.
Did they think I was some dog from the neighborhood?
My humiliation lasted only briefly, because once the jelly entered my mouth, I couldn’t refuse the next command he gave.
‘Ah… so this is what being trained feels like.’
“Sparkle sparkle.”
This time, a voice that wasn’t Ian’s came from above.
It was Allen.
‘You don’t even have jelly.’
Ariel completely ignored him.
‘I’m an elegant cat.’
…Though she had temporarily abandoned that elegance for jelly.
Watching the two of them, Ian quietly smiled like a victor.
“Ariel says she only likes me.”
There was unmistakable pride in his voice.
The smile on his lips was the smile of someone who had received applause from the black fluffball, directed toward someone who hadn’t.
“Is this the Cadelion family?”
After playing around for quite a while, the voice of a guard checking identities at the Crystal Palace gates echoed outside.
Ian slightly lifted the carriage curtain and looked at the guard.
The moment the guard saw Ian’s face, he bowed so deeply it looked like he might topple over.
After bowing, the guard’s cheeks even flushed red.
“Y-Yes! Your identities have been confirmed! Please proceed! Lord Ian Cadelion!”
We passed the long line of waiting carriages and entered through another route leading toward the Crystal Palace.
There were several more inspections along the way. But every soldier guarding the palace only glanced at Ian’s face before silently bowing and letting us through.
Of course, whenever they spoke, they sounded extremely tense.
‘Oh. So this is the power of authority.’
Authority was incredible.
Except for the inspections, we entered without any waiting at all.
Meanwhile, countless carriages beside us remained lined up, crawling forward slower than snails.
Compared to them, our carriage sped right past.
I jumped down from Ian’s hand and into the small white basket.
Since this was my first Peace Day party, excitement pounded in my chest.
After checking once more that his bangs were neatly arranged and his glasses properly positioned, Ian opened the basket lid and looked at me.
The moment our eyes met, he lifted the tiny white basket.
‘…Was he checking if I’d gotten inside properly?’
A white suit paired with a white basket on the way to a banquet hall.
Objectively and subjectively, it was an incredibly strange combination.
Then again, carrying a basket into a banquet hall was already weird enough.
At the very least, it was definitely not a sight one could see anywhere else.
‘We’re going in now.’
Ian whispered softly.
The moment he finished speaking, a servant loudly announced:
“The Guardian of Ice, Lord Ian Cadelion, enters!”
The massive doors opened.
And the host of the party stepped inside.
Silence instantly fell over the hall.
The Peace Day celebration had officially begun.
