“…What is it?”

The voice seemed to be calling Achilleon. He went out of his way to find a secluded path, and found not a human, but a beast disturbed his rest.

The moment he turned to go somewhere else, he saw bright green eyes.

“Meow, meowwww…”

As soon as their eyes met, the cat began to cry deafeningly. Perhaps it was afraid of where the man would go, it poured out its remaining strength and cried, causing Achilleon to cover his ears and frown.

“Why… why are you crying so much?”

The cat kept on crying and wouldn’t move. When Achilleon looked closer, he could see the metal hidden under the grass. A white paw was firmly bitten by the beak of a trap.

“…….”

Achilleon turned to look down at the cat before walking away.

“Meow.”

For a moment, the cat’s monstrous voice, which had grown crazily louder, blasted him mercilessly in the ears.

“Meow.”

Now it was a vocalization that almost cursed him, instead of sad. If he let it go like this, the cat’s spirit might come and claw at him all night.

“For god’s sake.”

Achilleon eventually retraced his steps. Then the cat began to cry more and more pathetically, probably because it had found its purpose in life again.

“Be quiet before I really leave you.”

The cat seemed to struggle to get to its feet to escape, but the more it did so, the deeper the trap tightened. The bloodstains on his white paws had already dried up.

It was a remote place where no one would come even if it cried so loudly.

When he pressed the lock of the tightly closed trap, it opened at once.

Achilleon pulled out the cat’s paw that was stuck in between the trap’s doors.

Looking at the cat, Achilleon clicked his tongue.

The marks where the hard steel had pushed its paw were deep. The flesh ripped open and the blood was flowing. Fortunately, no broken bones.

However, there were no medicines or bandages, so it was going to be hard to stop the bleeding.

(Tearing sound)

Achilleon ripped off his collar and tied it to the cat’s front paw. He had treated simple wounds himself during the war, but observing the affected area delicately felt very unfamiliar to him, who was mainly used to stabbing.

The cat resisted by cupping Achilleon’s hand, as if the trapped paw was hurting. Large and small scrapes formed on his hand as the cat constantly hammered in tiny claws and teeth.

“…….”

Achilleon’s eyes narrowed as he watched the little animal casually nibble the back of his hand. Compared to the injuries he experienced through many wars, this was nothing, but it was impossible not to be bothered by the scars that were quickly drawn on his hands.

He said, staring at the small beast that kept hammering its teeth and claws into him.

“Live and die, it’s up to you.”

Achilleon poured out cold words. It was enough to save it from being trapped and almost died, and I wondered what else he could do.

“Meow.”

Although the voice was softer, the cat cried helplessly, as if it had used up all the strength earlier.

It seemed that the wound should be treated better, but unfortunately there were no such tools available.

Looking at the cat’s thin, trembling legs, Achilleon became frustrated again.

If he picked it up and threw it in the street, there would be at least one person who would feel sorry for it, and judging from its beautiful white fur, it must be an animal that was fed and raised in the royal palace.

When Achilleon finished thinking about it and picked up the cat…

“Titty.”

He heard a woman’s voice shouting not far away, as if looking for someone.

“Titty, where are you?”

Why did he keep hearing dying voices? The woman’s voice continued as if she was about to cry out.

“Meow.”

What was interesting was that the cat in Achilleon’s arms began to make a different sound, as if answering the woman’s call.

“What did you do to Titty?!”

But the angry voice finally broke all his patience.

“What….?”

Achilleon looked over and saw a woman standing there, as white as a melted candle.

Her dark hair was scattered, and there was even blood on her feet.There were scratch marks all over her hands and arms. In a word, she was looking like a ghost.

It was horrible.

“Are you its owner?”

When Achilleon opened his mouth, the woman turned pale as if she had really seen a ghost.

***

Hazel woke up from her nap with a sudden chill.

When she woke up, she saw her hands were empty. It was at that very moment that she realized that the warmth she was used to was gone.

“Titty?”

She thought it was in the room somewhere. Drinking water, chewing on a snack. But contrary to her expectations, the cat’s meow was nowhere to be heard.

“Titty, where are you?”

Hazel called again, but there was no cat. She jumped out of her bed with an uneasy feeling.

“Titty!”

At that moment, a cool breeze blew and Hazel looked out the open window.

“They put rat poison and mousetraps in the garden.”

As soon as Hazel remembered what Mary had said earlier, her face went white.

“Princess! What’s the matter?”

“Mary! Titty got out!”

“Titty?”

“Find it!

Mary hurried out of the room, while Hazel fidgeted around, dressed roughly, and went outside.

It was now dark outside. She couldn’t believe that so much time had passed while she slept.

“Princess, please stay in your room. I’ll look for it.”

“It has never been outside. I’ve always kept the cat indoors.”

Hazel was impatient. Titty was a cat that she had raised since she was a child, and according to the pedigree, she was a cousin to the cat that her mother, Queen Martina, owned before she died.

It was exceptionally selected and chosen from the Conces family, who had been raising cats of unique breeds for generations, and sent it to Hazel. It was a consideration for the princess, who was supposed to be the only one left in the palace.

“It might die. No, I don’t know who’s gonna kill it.”

Her mother’s cat died. The soft white haired cat was found hanging helplessly in a corner of the palace with blood on its mouth.

The court physician believed that the cat ate rat poison.

Suddenly, Hazel thought of something. It occurred to her that a few days ago, Lady Pais’s bird was killed by an unidentified beast. And she believed that Titty was the culprit.

“If you are raising such a fierce beast, you should guard it carefully, Princess. Because you’ll never know when it will eat something bad and die.”

Lady Pais said as she looked at Hazel, who was angry. Hazel clenched her fists and shivered involuntarily as she remembered that day.

“Why would it die? And who would dare to do anything to the Princess’s cat?”

“Princess, we’ll find it soon, so….ouch!”

“Get out of the way.”

“Princess!”

Hazel pushed Mary out of the way and ran outside. She didn’t pay any attention to the voice calling her from behind.

***

Hazel was running around outside the palace, and before she knew it, she was wandering deep into the garden, in the middle of nowhere.

Cats have a habit of hiding themselves in deep places when they are panicked or frightened, so Hazel decided that she should probably look in some deserted places rather than public areas. But the problem was the palace was too big.

“Titty, where are you?”

Her appearance was ruined as she searched for the cat, screaming like a madwoman.

How long had the time passed?

Through the grass, she could hear the faint purr of a cat. Hazel rushed madly over.

And, surprisingly, as soon as she saw the clump of white fur on the man’s arms, Hazel inhaled deeply.

Or, more precisely, the moment she saw the man holding that bundle of white fur, she stopped dead in her tracks.

‘Achilleon.’

Hazel couldn’t say anything as she looked at the man in front of her.

She didn’t realize it until she saw his golden hair, and his uniform glistening white in the moonlight. And his fierce blue eyes when he looked at her.

The bad relationship from the past that she wanted to avoid stood right in front of her.

The white uniform he wore was bathed in moonlight, making his presence even more apparent.

“Are you its owner?”

The man said as he shook his grip on the cat’s collar.

“…….”

“Why aren’t you answering?”

‘Oh, how….?’

Of all places, not the ballroom, but a very secluded place, and of all people, she met him.

“I asked if you are the owner of this cat.”

Achilleon approached with an even more dismal look on his face. With each step, the cat dangled as he grabbed its collar.

“Meow.”

The cat recognized Hazel and began to cry happily. It was a cry that was half resentment, “Why did you come just now?” and half relief, “Thank you for still coming.”

Even though she had searched so hard for this cat, Hazel couldn’t move forward one bit.

“Dead or alive, you’re mine. Hazel.”

The faint whisper echoed in her ears.