Chapter 57

Chapter 57

“Take care, Lucia.”

“Yeah. Go safely.”

Lucia saw us off with a look full of regret. We left her behind in the Academy dormitory and slipped out through the school gates.

Grrrrrr—

We’d barely taken a few steps down the street in front of the Academy when a sudden thunderous rumble came from beside me. I turned my head to find Roti looking up at me with an utterly pitiful face.

“Unnie, I’m hungry.”

Now that she mentioned it, we’d been in such a rush getting our third sibling ready for enrollment that none of us had eaten properly since morning. And it was already well past noon, so it made sense that she was hungry.

“Alright. Let’s go eat something good. I know just the place!”

I looked back at the kids with a triumphant expression that said, trust me on this one. I was finally going to take the family out for a meal—something I hadn’t been able to do since our parents died.

The menu was meat, obviously. Meat is always the right answer.

I immediately led my siblings straight to a bustling restaurant. There, I fed them as much juice-laden meat as they wanted, and we polished off the side dishes cleanly too.

“This is so good! I’ve never had anything like this!”

Roti’s eyes shone especially bright as she cried out.

Yeah. She would say that. By the time Roti was born, our house was already poor. So all the things I, Ren, and Lucia got to eat back when the house was wealthy—that kid had never tasted any of them.

But now she had me. I had more than enough ability to feed my siblings delicious food as much as they wanted. And that was one of the reasons I earned money in the first place!

“Hey, if you’re done eating, want to go get dessert?”

I pushed myself up from the table and turned to look at my three younger siblings.

I was going to treat them to dessert this time too!

“Yes, yes! I want to. Let’s go fast, Unnie!”

So we hurried through the meal and slipped out of the restaurant fast, then turned our steps toward the dessert shop, Écre.

Écre was a fair ways off, but I insisted on going there even if it meant passing every other place. I’d never seen a shop that did desserts as good as theirs. I wanted my younger siblings to taste them too.

“Noona, isn’t this place expensive?”

The moment we stepped inside, Ren’s eyes went wide. The lavish décor seemed to intimidate him.

“Well, yeah, kinda, but the stuff here is amazing. Especially the strawberry desserts. You like strawberries, right?”

I answered casually as I sat down at a table. Then, before Ren could suggest we just leave, I started scanning the menu. Meanwhile, Roti slid into the seat beside me and leaned in to look at the menu too.

“Unnie. I want Choco. Make it Choco for me.”

“Okay. So strawberry cake, tarts, and chocolate cake. What else should we try?”

And so, after picking through the menu and placing the order, before long the table was laden with desserts. Those dishes, which must have been crafted by a professional pastry chef, were stunning enough to make your head spin — and they looked delicious, too.

But… my money’s melting away like butter.

“Unnie! Unnie, this is so good!”

Still — if it’s melting in your mouths, then I guess it’s worth it.

“How about you, Ren? Is it good?”

“With how much it cost, it’d better be.”

This kid and his mouth…

I glared at Ren — who was eating his cake with airs, daintily spooning it — with daggers for a moment. I even considered giving him a few smacks for that, but decided to hold off on the violence on such a nice day, gave up on the idea, and turned my gaze to Ryan, sitting on Ren’s lap.

Ryan was chewing, mouth smeared with gobs of whipped cream. Judging by the look of it, there was no need to even ask the youngest if it tasted good.

“It’d be nice if you could stay a few days. Is work that busy over there?” Ren asked, poking at his tart with a fork before setting it down.

Ren had been fiddling with his tart using his fork, then stopped and asked me.

“Hmm… something came up. But I’ll try to make it so I can stay longer when Lucia’s on break.”

An invitation to the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet had come out of nowhere, and there was a mountain of preparations. To make matters worse, the event fell right around Lucia’s school enrollment. So my plan to spend days cooped up in the new house with my siblings had crumbled into dust. It was a shame, but there was no helping it. Nothing to do but promise next time.

“Alright. Then… see you then, for longer. By the way, you’re looking good, Noona. Is the Duke… household really that nice?” Ren’s voice carried a hint of disappointment, but he feigned nonchalance.

Ren’s tone was laced with a hint of disappointment, but he forced a casual air as he spoke.

“Hm… well…”

His words made me think of the duke’s face. Not that I needed to say it out loud.

“…Good. Perfect, actually.”

I picked up my fork, speared a strawberry resting on the cake, and nodded as I ate it.

“Yeah, well… If you’re that happy about it… fine.”

Ren said that, watching me. I met his eyes. The strawberry burst in my mouth, flooding it with sweetness.

“Mm. Thanks.”

The strawberry was delicious. Even this was perfect.

That day, I stayed with my siblings at the new house, then came back to Cuvershaiden early the next morning. But as I was walking along the garden path toward the main gate, I heard a rustling. I turned toward the sound and saw the catnip the young marquis had brought, sticking out of the ground.

And at that exact moment, a black cat popped out of a bush.

“Huh? Huh? Huh?”

What was this? Had the cat’s soul not disappeared? And it was way too early in the day for ghosts to appear.

Something felt off. I bent my knees and lowered myself for a closer look at the cat.

“Oh? Laura? You’re back? How were the kids?”

Just then, a lady-in-waiting passing by the garden spotted me and waved cheerfully.

“Oh. Oh! Hey. Yeah. The kids were fine.”

“Oh my! Tan’s here too?”

She trotted over to me, then noticed the cat and shifted her gaze to it.

What? Was this a visible cat? Named Tan?

“Roxy, can you see this cat?”

I asked her, feeling flustered.

“What? What kind of weird question is that? Of course I can see it. What, is it a dead soul or something?”

She laughed out loud, as if I’d just told a hilarious joke.

“Oh. Uh… Right. What was I saying…”

I mumbled something vague and looked back at the cat. No long gash on its head. This was a completely different cat from the ones I knew.

It had just happened to be sitting right where the cat souls used to linger, so I’d mistaken it.

“Oh, by the way, Laura. The young marquis brought this catnip, right? I thought it was so random at first, but now I’m actually glad he did. The cat loves playing around it.”

Roxy said, looking down at the cat circling the catnip.

“Oh… Yeah… I guess so… But what is this cat? Where did it come from all of a sudden?”

For me, this cat was way too sudden. And Roxy, treating it so familiarly, didn’t make sense either.

“When you went to visit your brother, this one wandered into the Coverushalden estate. It just settled in and wouldn’t leave, so I got the butler’s permission and decided to keep it.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Yeah. Thanks to it, the mansion’s mood has improved. Remember how gloomy we all were when the cat you brought before died?”

“Really? Then that’s good. And… well… don’t worry too much about the dead cat either. It’ll ascend and be reborn in a better place.”

I tacked on a small consolation. I’d never actually seen it ascend, but I chose to believe it had. I’d prayed for that, too.

“Oh my, Laura. Do you believe in ascension and reincarnation too? We’ve all been wondering if that cat reincarnated and came back as this one. Look—they even look alike.”

Roxy’s voice rose, brimming with excitement. It was a lovely thought. But the truth was, the chances were next to nothing. Saying this little creature, among countless lives born every day, was the reincarnation of a dead cat—it was a stretch. Still, I nodded vigorously, not wanting to disappoint her.

“Right? Maybe it’s true.”

“See? See?!”

She crouched down in front of the cat and began to stroke it. It was true—since that cat had arrived, Roxy’s whole mood seemed lighter. How to put it? She looked genuinely happy.

Alright, cat it is, then!

I squeezed in beside her and started fawning over the cat, too. The fur was silky soft against my palms. The cat seemed a little annoyed but didn’t try to escape.

“Hey, you two! What are you doing sitting there?!”

We’d been playing with the cat for a while when another lady-in-waiting’s voice rang out. She must have spotted us while passing by, and soon the others swarmed over.

“Oh, Momo’s here.”

“Choco~”

“Coco!”

They each called the cat by a different name, crowding around it in a lively huddle. In the commotion, I was left out, forgotten.

“Hey, everyone. I’ve been out for just a day, but… won’t you… welcome me back too…?”

But my voice drifted away like a faint echo. When I’d returned from Krentis, they’d welcomed me with overwhelming warmth—maybe because I’d been gone so long. A day or two away, though? That clearly wasn’t worth the fuss.

My popularity… usurped by a cat. Kind of sad, isn’t it?

“Our Choco is so cute.”

“Momo is pretty!”

“Coco~”

“Tan!”

“Alexander!”

Still, seeing my friends so happy made it worth it. Just like Roxy said, that cat had somehow lifted the whole atmosphere around here. Before I went out to check on my siblings, the place had been heavy with gloom—but now it felt noticeably lighter.

I slipped quietly between them. Truth was, I wanted to share in their joy too.

“I’m naming her Ellie!”

And just like that, I gave the cat another name. Ellie was short for Elize.