Chapter 56

“Mm.”

After thinking for a moment about what to say, I decided to just ask honestly.

“But... why are you dressed like a cat?”

Father immediately looked awkward.

Well, I understood the intention.

I had been crying nonstop over the baby lately, so apparently this was his attempt to cheer me up.

...But honestly, it is kind of terrifying.

Imagine a 190-centimeter-tall man standing in front of the door wearing fur clothes and a cat costume head.

This was basically the same situation as those little kids crying over clowns in America!

I am not an ordinary five-year-old, so I am not crying.

Although my eyes were swollen like goldfish from crying so much over the baby beforehand.

Father pressed his lips together and glanced around before finally sighing.

“You have cried every single day since the cat disappeared. I thought maybe this would help improve your mood. Knox gave me the advice.”

“Assistant Knox is the president of the Monster Lovers’ Association.”

“That he is.”

“Then of course he would give advice based on his standards. And you actually listened to him?”

A look of profound regret crossed Calypse’s face.

Then he bent one knee and lowered himself to my eye level.

“I was desperate. I thought maybe you would stop crying. Or at least laugh at me instead.”

“Hahahahaha.”

“Do not laugh.”

“Yes, sir.”

“.......”

“...Pfft.”

The atmosphere relaxed slightly.

Thankfully, Father seemed to feel it too. He smiled faintly and carefully brushed the area beneath my eyes with his cold thumb.

“Aisha.”

“Yes?”

“There is something Father needs to tell you. About the cat.”

“...Huh?”

I thought he was only here to comfort me, so the unexpected words made my eyes widen.

He came dressed like a cat and now he says he wants to talk about the cat?

...Wait.

Surely he was not about to say he would become my cat or something?

Horrifying!

The cat costume had been foreshadowing all along.

The moment I realized Father’s intentions, my pupils began shaking as I prepared to reject him preemptively—

“Actually, Father was the one who—”

Right then—

“It is an emergency!”

Knights came sprinting down the corridor.

“Your Grace, there is something you must confirm immediately. A maid named Rose has just been found dead in the prison.”

“What?”

Father’s expression instantly turned grave enough to suit the Duke of Kreutz.

While still wearing the fur outfit.

“And Marquis Lilith was discovered unconscious inside the cell. Once awakened, he claimed a cat attacked the maid—”

“!”

“!”

Both Calypse and I widened our eyes at the same time.

“I am going there immediately. Aisha, stay here.”

As if warning me not to cause trouble, he squeezed my shoulders firmly before turning to one of the knights.

“Stand outside the bedroom door. If Aisha tries to leave, stop her immediately.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

With that, Father effectively placed me under bedroom arrest and hurried off toward the prison.

“My lady. Please return inside your room.”

“...Okaaay.”

Hmph.

I shot a resentful glare at Calypse’s retreating back before obediently stepping into the bedroom.

But who was I?

Me, Aisha. Former spy—!

Crack crack.

Stretching my arms with a solemn expression, my soft little body produced disturbingly brutal bone-cracking noises.

A true master knows how to conceal their strength.

These soft fingers.

This squishy stomach.

These tiny soft toes.

Father had no idea how much power was hidden inside them.

If I cannot leave through the door, I can just leave through the window.

“Sometimes Father really does think I am an actual five-year-old.”

Though technically, I was five.

“Hehe... hehehehe....”

I laughed suspiciously while pulling out the scarf Mai gave me from the bedside drawer and wrapping it around my neck.

Rustle—

“Hm?”

A suspicious sound came from near the bedroom window.

Rustle rustle.

“......?”

Strange.

Inside the Kreutz estate, the only person who would casually climb through a window was Knox.

But he should be investigating the incident with Calypse right now....

Suspicious.

Which meant the intruder was most likely an outsider climbing the walls.

Who is it?

Quietly pulling out a poison needle, I erased my presence and crept toward the window.

Right then, a white hand gripped the window frame.

I will confirm who it is first, then immediately shoot the back of their hand.

I waited like a ghost, ready to blow the poison needle—

Then—

Pop—

A fluffy white puppy suddenly popped up through the window.

“I killed another person.”

And he said something completely insane with absolutely zero guilt.

“This time I even wiped off the blood so I would not leave evidence behind, but they still caught me.”

Tap—

The poison needle slipped limply from my stunned fingers.

It was that boy from before.

The one who looked like the baby cat.

That absurdly pretty, deeply suspicious—

“.......”

Whether I was shocked or not, his amethyst eyes sparkled brightly at me.

“...You...”

“When are you going to give me a name? You said you would when we met again.”

...Where exactly did this kid even come from?

Smack!

This was not the time to space out.

Snapping back to my senses, I slapped both cheeks with my hands before quickly dragging him inside the bedroom.

Planting my hands on my hips, I questioned him sternly.

“How did you even get here? And wait, what do you mean you killed someone again?”

How could he say something like that so casually? This kid genuinely belonged in prison.

“You cannot just kill people! Why do you keep doing that?! What if I reported you?!”

Last time he said he killed the man who kidnapped me, but this time who had he killed?

Most people would probably be horrified hearing this.

Unfortunately, I had been trained as a spy, so hearing that someone killed someone else did not frighten me much.

I was just angry because I was worried about him.

The boy clicked his tongue and jutted his lips out in displeasure.

“More lecturing. Every time I become human, you lecture me.”

“That is because you keep doing things that deserve lecturing! This will not do. You are getting punished.”

“Punished?”

Surprisingly, his eyes widened. Apparently he actually knew what the word meant.

“I am getting punished? Why?”

“Because you did something wrong. Because you made me angry!”

“Ah.”

Despite my stern tone, the boy merely nodded calmly and glanced around.

Then he pulled something pale from his trouser pocket.

“I will give you an apology. I am sorry.”

“......?”

It was boiled chicken breast.

Where did he even get that...?

Flutter—

With a lightning-fast hamster hand-blade strike, I flung the chicken breast out the window.

The boy’s mouth slowly fell open in shock.

No, seriously.

Before he killed anyone else, I needed to tell Father about him.

First things first. Emergency discipline training will now commence before Father returns.

Back during my spy-training days—

I imitated the expression of the most terrifying instructor of all, the one known as the Viper, narrowing my eyes sharply as I pointed at him.

“Kyle.”

“...Huh?”

“Your name is Kyle now.”

It was not particularly meaningful. The name had simply popped into my head.

Kyle was one of the characters from The Sword of Judgment.

If I remembered correctly, he had been called a lesser god.

He was not especially important in the original novel itself, but he was a crucial figure in the creation of the world’s backstory.

Because he was the reason the Kreutz family built the ice barrier.

The lesser god who created monsters.

Though by the beginning of the novel, humans had already killed him.

Since °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I would probably never meet the original Kyle anyway, I might as well give the name to this kid.

“...Kyle. Kyle.”

Unlike me, who had said it thoughtlessly, Kyle repeated the name several times.

His ears turned faintly red.

“I am Kyle. My name is Kyle!”

Kyle clenched both fists adorably and suddenly introduced himself—

“Right, Kyle. Now go stand over there in the corner with your hands up.”

“...?”

His mouth turned into a stunned little triangle as he stared where I pointed.

It was the darkest corner of the bedroom, where even moonlight failed to reach.

“Over there?”

“Yes. Go stand there, Kyle.”

“Why?”

“Because you are being punished.”

“But I apologized.”

“You apologized, but I did not accept it. That means it did not work.”

“!”

His amethyst eyes shook violently.

“If an apology fails, then punishment comes next. That is how you earn forgiveness.”

I carefully explained it at his eye level.

The warmth faded from his reddened ears.

“...Okay.”

Thankfully, Kyle listened surprisingly well.

Step. Step.

Granted, he looked utterly unwilling the entire way there.

And the moment he reached the corner—

Bang—

Someone suddenly threw open the bedroom door without even knocking.

“Boy. Come outside.”

It was Father.