Chapter 51

Chapter 51

The doctor was right—death doesn’t always roar in like a spectacle. It sneaks in without warning.

Of course, I knew that. The day I got the news of my parents’ death had been just as sudden.

“Seems he’s a street person. If he has no relatives, the state will handle the burial.”

The doctor’s voice was hollow, already writing the man off.

“How long does he have?”

“Well, at this stage, a day or two is the critical window.”

“Ah……”

So by tomorrow, or the day after at latest, he’d let go of his soul.

I bit my lip, a bitter ache settling in my chest. He wasn’t someone I knew well, but hearing death’s whisper so close left a sour taste. My heart felt heavy.

* * *

It was deep into the black night by the time I reached Cuvershaiden. I went straight to my room and collapsed onto the bed. Staring blankly at the ceiling, washed in the dim moonlight, a thought suddenly surfaced.

‘Who’s going to take care of that cat now?’

The image of the black cat, crying at me with all its might, flickered before my eyes. No one on that street would be looking after it now.

‘Was it looking for its owner, maybe? That’s why it clung to me—someone who seemed like they could help.’

But that owner was dying right now. And I was afraid to imagine what the creature would do when it learned the truth. Even beasts understand grief.

‘Still, I should at least let it see its owner.’

Still, I decided it was better than never meeting its owner again at all. I hoped the creature wouldn’t be left with any lingering regrets in life from longing.

The next day, I headed to Neo Street early in the morning. The cat was sitting quietly in the same spot where we’d met the day before. Then it spotted me and let out a meow—

“Have you been here waiting for your owner all this time?”

The cat circled around me without a word.

“Alright. Let’s go see your owner.”

I crouched down in front of the cat and held out both hands as I spoke. As if it understood me, the creature slipped right into my arms. That’s how I put it into the paper box I’d brought and headed to the hospital. Stepping straight into the room, I saw the man lying on the old bed, his sickly pallor even more pronounced overnight.

He turned only his head in that state and looked at me.

“You came?”

“Yes. I brought the cat too. I thought you’d want to see it.”

I approached him and held out the box. Through a small air-hole, the cat suddenly poked its head out.

“Good thing you have a private room. I figured it’d be hard to bring an animal here since it’s a hospital, but that made it easier to get permission.”

I tried to make light conversation, something to break the heavy shadow of death hanging in the air.

“Well… they probably separated the ones about to die.”

“Oh…”

At that moment, I was struck speechless. He was talking so casually about how they’d put him in a separate room because he didn’t need treatment anymore.

“Anyway, thank you for this. I’ve never had anyone care about me like this in my whole life. Especially not from nobles.”

“Oh, no…”

“Don’t ‘no’ me.”

He took the box in both hands and replied. Then he coughed. Cough. Coughed a couple of times, a dry hack.

“Are you okay?”

“…Listen. Since we’re here, let me ask one more favor.”

“Yes. I’m listening.”

“Take this cat with you.”

“What?”

“Without me, it won’t even have a damn hole to crawl into.”

“Ah. Yes, yes! I’ll do that.”

To be honest, I had no real idea whether you could keep a cat at the Cuvershaiden manor. But somehow, the refusal just wouldn’t come out. His request carried the weight of a man facing death, so it sank into me, heavy and undeniable.

“And… in the inside pocket of my coat, there’s the coin I got that day.”

The man kept talking, his voice dragging on.

“Coin?”

What? Was he talking about the gold coin the duke had given him?

“That’s right. I never spent it, so it’s still there.”

“You didn’t use any of it?”

“Only someone who’s used money knows how to spend it… Me, I never quite knew what to do with it.”

His sentences came in fits and starts, broken apart by the labor of each breath. I watched him, terrified that at any moment, his breath would just… catch and stop.

“……So I just thought about it, on and off, and never made up my mind. I ended up tucking it in my coat, cherishing it. If I’d just bought some medicine, maybe… it would’ve been better. Funny thing is, I couldn’t bear to waste it on that, either.”

“…….”

“Anyway, use it to pay my hospital fees. And… take this cat, too.”

I couldn’t find a proper reply. I just nodded, my head bobbing hard in a silent promise.

“Thank you.”

And that was the last thing he said.

He slowly closed his eyes, and then he lay still, as though sinking into a deep, unending sleep.

*Mew—*

The cat let out a short cry, staring at him. Its voice echoed through the quiet hospital room like a fading bell.

Wait…

A wave of unease hit me, and I scanned the man’s body. Something was wrong. His chest wasn’t rising and falling with the breath it should have been taking.

‘No. No… he’s just asleep. That’s all.’

But the moment the thought crossed my mind, a sphere of light — his *soul* — condensed at his lips and slipped free. It rose, hovering in the air above him.

‘This is…’

Of course, the doctor had warned me. I understood what was happening. I just hadn’t wanted to believe it. But now, I had no choice but to accept it.

He was dead.

*Mew, mew, mew—*

The cat cried out, sharp and insistent. It stretched out one paw, patting at the man’s face, once, twice. I couldn’t tell if it understood its master was gone, but it knew something was terribly wrong. It patted him harder, again and again, but of course, he never woke. I scooped up the little thing, box and all, and held it against my chest.

“Come with me… it’ll be okay.”

After that, I left the room and told the doctor the man had passed. The doctor spoke in a flat, matter-of-fact tone, saying the funeral would be in three days. Not because of any procedure, but because that’s when the country would collect the remains of those with no family.

When he asked if I’d come to the funeral, I told him I would, then turned back toward Cuvershaiden. The cat stayed pressed tight against my chest. I had the feeling bringing animals to work was frowned upon—but all that caution proved pointless when the maids spotted me within seconds.

They surrounded me in a tight circle, craning their necks to get a look at the tiny creature cradled in my arms.

“Huh? That cat?!”

Sonia’s eyes went wide as she blurted it out.

“It’s definitely the one we saw! That scar on its forehead—it’s the same little guy.”

“Yeah. Well… it ended up that way…”

“You brought it here? I guess that makes sense. Its owner looked sick—probably couldn’t take care of it anymore, right?”

“That’s right. That’s the reason.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell them about the man’s death, so I just nodded along.

“What? So this is that cat you saw on your day off?”

Ann cut in, asking.

“Yeah. Its owner asked me to look after it, so I brought it here.”

“Really? You’re going to keep it, Laura?”

“I was thinking of taking it home or finding someone to adopt it, but… honestly, I have no idea what to do with it right now.”

“….”

At that, every one of the maids fell silent for a moment. Each seemed to be turning over the cat’s fate in her own mind.

“Should we ask the butler? Ask him to let us keep it here for a while?”

I was the first to break the quiet.

“No. No. Let’s not. I don’t think the butler would allow it.”

But Sonia’s voice cut through, firm and decisive.

Would he really say no? Maybe for a little while…

“Let’s just keep it in secret. The manor’s huge anyway. If we take turns hiding it in our rooms, we’ll never run into the butler. That way we buy ourselves some time until we figure out what to do with it.”

“Oh. That doesn’t sound bad.”

“Yeah! Let’s hide it!”

The maids huddled together, heads touching, whispering like they were planning a heist. They really did work well together when they wanted to.

But is this really okay…?

I felt a twinge of worry, but the headstrong maids seemed to have already made up their minds.

‘Fine. I’m staying out of it. If you’re all in, then… I’ll be your accomplice.’

With no other choice, I squeezed into their circle. The gloom that had clung to me started to lift, just a little. Then I felt eyes on me. I looked up and saw the butler standing just a few paces away, watching us silently. Our secret scheme had been discovered before we could even put it into motion.

“Uh… guys?”

I kept my gaze fixed on him as I called out quietly to my friends, who were too busy fussing over the cat to notice.

“What’s its name? What did its original owner call it?”

My voice had apparently stopped reaching them altogether.

“Uh… well, I don’t think they gave it a separate name… but hey, guys…?”

“Then we can name it ourselves! What should we call it?!”

“Hmm… but shouldn’t we… talk to the butler first?”

The butler’s mustache twitched. He stood there with an air of utmost gravity and solemnity, but the corner of his mouth kept lifting, like he couldn’t help himself. Looking closer, I saw he wasn’t watching us at all — he was watching the cat.

And I understood it instinctively.

The butler was a cat person.

“I think we should tell the butler. I get the feeling he’ll allow it.”

I tried convincing the maids again. At that, the butler’s mustache curled up even more cheerfully.

“Oh, Laura. You don’t know. The butler has a cat-hair allergy. It’s not severe, but his skin gets itchy whenever he touches a cat.”

“Right. So he won’t exactly like cats. That means we need to keep the cat out of his sight as much as possible.”

“No. We need to keep it out of his sight entirely.”

“Yeah. The butler has no need to see a cat.”

“Ever.”

The maids were relentless.

Guys. Stop it! The butler can hear you right now!