Chapter 4

 

“Dear Aziz, control yourself.”

 

Despite Evelan’s gentle rebuke, the man called Aziz barely stopped laughing.

 

Embarrassed, I went back to the cat’s cushion and sat down as if nothing had happened.

 

‘You weren’t watching from the beginning, were you?’

 

Belatedly, he pretended to act noble and raised his chin high, and wiped water from his eyes.

 

“Ah, haha. It’s been a long time since I laughed like this. What an interesting creature.”

 

What’s so funny about a cat scratching a pole?!

 

“Meow.” (Hmph.)

 

I was very displeased, and turned my head sharply.

 

Aziz, who stopped laughing belatedly, approached and greeted me.

 

“Excuse me, Ms. Cat. You’ve been rude to someone you just met for the first time.”

 

Aziz leaned down to his waist in a plausible position.

 

‘Greetings to the local cat.’

 

I don’t think this person has a normal mind.

 

I glared at Aziz sharply, who was wearing a red robe.

 

Was he in his late twenties?

 

With his long gray hair tied tightly behind him, he looked like a scholar.

 

‘He’s pretty handsome.’

 

He was tall and was undoubtedly handsome, but it was a bit difficult to know what he was thinking because of his slender eyes.

 

“I’ve travelled for a long time just to see you in person. You’re amazing.”

 

Aziz, approached the cushion where I was sitting, and began to observe me in a relaxed manner.

 

‘He smells strange.’

 

I sniffed him reflexively and smelled a unique scent from him.

 

It was a low, heavy smell, and felt somewhat familiar.

 

“Is that the cat you were looking for? It looks like a messy stray cat on the surface.”

 

Evelan’s unfamiliar voice and gaze flew towards me.

 

As I was swearing at Evelan inwardly, Aziz gave me an unfamiliar answer.

 

“Certainly. She is the one I’ve been waiting for. She will guard our new King.”

 

…….Did a ghost possessed him?

 

Seeing that they were talking nonsense out of the blue, they must be either part of a sect or cult.

 

As the four eyes began to stare at me persistently, my tail tightened.

 

“Thank you for your hard work, Evelan. You may leave now.”

 

“….Yes. Then excuse me first.”

 

Evelan, showing a strange expression, disappeared out of the door. Silence hung in the room.

 

I was staring at Aziz with suspicious eyes.  He introduced himself with a smile.

 

“I’m late to introduce myself. I’m Aziz. I was wondering who would show up, but you’re much cuter than I thought.”

 

The way he stared at me made my whole body fur stand up.

 

I was slowly thinking about when to run away.

 

Aziz slowly approached me and whispered in my ear.

 

“I have been waiting for you for a long time…..Stranger.”

 

What?!

 

***

 

Aziz, who identified himself as a royal retainer and sorcerer, gave a general explanation.

 

He said he was destined to find me from the distant past with the divine eye he was gifted with.

 

Simply put, he noticed as soon as he saw me that I was a human thanks to his ability to see souls.

 

It was also the reason why he burst into laughter when he saw me scratching the pillar like a real cat.

 

‘Unfortunately, I cannot conversate.’

 

Still, it was very touching to meet someone who recognized me as a person in a long time.

 

“Meow, meow!” (First of all, give me food! I’m hungry.)

 

“Oh, I guess you’re hungry. I’ll get the food ready right away.”

 

Is this the greatness of universal body language?! I felt so moved to the point I almost shed tears.

 

After a while, the servants came in and brought great looking food for human consumption.

 

Considering that I am a cat, all of them looked good and were easy to eat.

 

After eating warm drinks and soft-textured special nutritious stew, I felt drowsy with satiety.

 

“Meow, meow!” (It’s delicious. I love it!)

 

“Ha ha, take your time. We have plenty of food.”

 

Aziz, this guy….

 

Oh! I think he’s a pretty nice guy.

 

I didn’t stop eating until I ate all the sweet pudding that came out for dessert.

 

Then he looked at my belly, which was inflated like a balloon, with a satisfied smile.

 

“Are you done? Let me know if it’s not enough.”

 

“Meow.” (Perfect)

 

“Okay. Then would it be okay if I could explain a little more about the situation?”

 

I nodded as I rubbed my stomach with my front paw, and he opened his mouth again.

 

“Astar’s incarnation, who has a beautiful soul, appears in the image of a cat when the moon shines the brightest. And he or she will be the one who might save the greatest sultan.

 

Poom.

 

I stopped laughing out loud.

 

A ‘beautiful soul’.

 

In my previous life, I was neither inwardly beautiful nor outwardly.

 

Even now, I’m just a dirty little street cat, you know.

 

Despite my ridiculing laughter, he calmly continued his explanation.

 

“There are several princes in this kingdom. All of them are candidates for the next sultan. Evelan and I support the second prince, Sulayman, who will become governor of this city.”

 

“Meow”. (So?)

 

With my front paws on my chin, Aziz suddenly burst into laughter.

 

“You’ve got food all over you since you ate in a hurry. Let me wipe it for you.”

 

He took out a handkerchief from his pockets while I coughed in embarrassment.

 

While wiping my mouth and front paws, Aziz started talking.

 

“In fact, the second prince is under a vicious spell. It’s a terrible curse. We’ve been waiting for you, so you could save Sulayman.”

 

He made sure I was clean and smiled softly.

 

While rolling my eyes, I pointed at my chest with my front foot.

 

‘So, is that really me?’

 

When I asked with my eyes, he nodded gladly.

 

“Yeah, that’s you”

 

After a short breath, Aziz said with a slightly troubled look on his face.

 

“By the way, I don’t know what to call you because I don’t know your name yet… It seems troubling.”

 

“Meow. (That’s right.)

 

With a deep sigh, I looked down at my tiny feet.

 

Looking back over the past two weeks, I have, surprisingly, had no difficulty understanding the language and conversations here.

 

However, it seemed that there was a limit with a cat’s body.

 

“Then I’ll call you Ms. Cat for a while. I guess the first priority is to find a way for Ms. Cat to regain her human form.”

 

“Meow?” (Human?)

 

Is there a way to get out of this cat form?!

 

“Meow! Meow!” (Come on tell me what the method is!)

 

Excited, I kept waving my front paws and mulled about transforming into a person! I tried to do a transformation test.

 

Aziz’s lips twitched at the sight of me doing these actions, perhaps my actions looked cute to him.

 

Nevertheless, he soon calmed down and told me what I was curious about.

 

“Stories of Astar’s incarnation are widespread throughout the kingdom, but very few people know about the truth, including me.”

 

“Meow?” (Truth?)

 

“My research suggests you can transform into a human, and someday return to being fully human. It will take some effort, but it’s quite possible.”

 

My eyes twinkled as if I had found a ray of light in the darkness.

 

‘What, that’s great.’

 

I thought Evelan was a lottery, but there was an even bigger jackpot hiding here!

 

“Meow, meow?” (I can’t believe I can go back to being human. When should we start then?)

 

He answered my question with a little troubled expression on his face.

 

“Before that, can you help me a little? I need a little confirmation to see if my research is reliable.”

 

“Meow.” (Well, if necessary.)

 

“I’m glad you gave me permission. Then, you’re in the same boat with me. We’re like a community of Destiny.”

 

Community of Destiny, I don’t know what he’s talking about.

 

I was full of thoughts to think of something that would help me regain my own peace.

 

“Me..Meow?” (So, what should we do first?)

 

Aziz rolled his eyes and smiled.

 

Even though it was a casual smile, I felt somehow ominous and my back stiffened.

 

‘Somehow, I feel a little strange.’

 

I think that’s exactly how I felt when I almost got scammed in the past.

 

As I staggered back, he mumbled, wiping the dirt on the back of my nose.

 

“Then, shall we start with a transformation?”

 

After that, I deeply regretted for a while that I said I would help him.

 

***

 

“Meow!!” (I don’t want to!)

 

I struggled as hard as I could, immersed in the hot tub and overturning the foam.

 

Thanks to this, a lot of bubbles were splashed in all directions, and the floor had long since become a sea of ​​water.

 

“Oh, cat. Please stay still. I’ll wash you right away.”

 

Three maids who hung on to wash me were sweating.

 

The maid, who was one at first, increased to two due to my stubborn resistance, and soon became the current number.

 

“It’s a stray cat, so it’s normal.”

 

“There are many gentle breeds of cats. Oh, jeez, of all, why would you…”

 

A maid grunted, wiping foam from her eyes, while others around her nodded.

 

It was half an hour ago that the maids, who were ordered to clean up my messy appearance, began to wash me.

 

My first bath as a cat was worse than I could have ever imagined.

 

The maids poured water on me without any care and rubbed my whole body like a sponge.

 

‘I didn’t mean to be treated like a human being, but this is too much!’

 

But no matter how much I struggled, the maids showed no sign of being cautious.

 

“Watch your mouth. Don’t you know that cats belonging to the royal family should be given names with respect?”

 

“The cat isn’t talking anywhere, so let’s sell our worries, sweetheart.”

 

The maid who pinned her nostrils, and splashed water on me at random not caring whether the water got into my eyes or not.

 

After taking a bath after many twists and turns, I was dried dry and dragged to a cat hairdresser.

 

“The fur is too tangled. ······. Well, it’s gonna take a long time to get it right.

 

“We have a lot of time, so please do as you please.”

 

The maid left her seat as if she had finished her work. Then, the hairdresser spoke with a cautious look on her face.

 

“It’ll sting a little, my cat. Hang in there for a second.”

 

“Kyannng!!” (It hurts!)

 

It’s so hard to transform from a street cat.

 

I was able to reunite with Aziz only after repeating the mandible so many times.

 

“Hey, you look like someone else. You’re  very clean.”

 

“Meow.” (I went through so many hardships.)

 

Aziz looked at me with my cheeks inflated and smiled.

 

Dissatisfied, I expressed my emotions by smashing the floor with my front foot.

 

‘It’s not that bad though.’

 

Although I suffered sub-human humiliation, it was true that I felt good after my soft fur was organised and I smelled sweet after a long time.

 

“Excuse me for a moment.”

 

Aziz took out a choker with a blue bell from the box and carefully placed it around my neck.

 

“Meow…..?” (What is this…..?)

 

“This choker is a special accessory I made. The blue bell was put on for a while to protect you.”

 

“Meow?” (Protect?)

 

“Yes. If you wear that bell, no one in the palace will easily touch you. It has a special spell on it.”

 

Magic and sorcery. I think this place has a fantasy worldview.

 

Feeling a little cramped, I shook my head and rattled, and a subtle sound came.

 

It’s a bell on a cat’s neck. Isn’t it too typical?

 

“You look good in a choker. Please wear this for a while, even if it’s stuffy. It’ll be safer.”

 

“Meow.” (Okay)

 

I nodded meekly, and he gently stroked my forehead with a satisfied smile.

 

‘The sun has already set.’

 

It was already quite late at night.

 

As I had been through a lot all day, I was slowly falling asleep.

 

Whew.

 

It was when I was yawning with my legs outstretched, Aziz suddenly lifted me, who had been lying on the cushion, into his arms.

 

“Me, Meow?” (What, what?)

 

“I said earlier that we were going to find a way to turn you back to a human. That requires a little confirmation. It’s kind of an experiment.”

 

Experiment? What is he talking about all of a sudden?

 

I swallowed dry saliva in a tense mood.

 

“Was there a reason behind feeding and washing me?”

 

I tried to struggle, but my body didn’t move because it was rolled up in a soft cushion.

 

“Argh!” (Put me down!)

 

“Haha, you look so cute when you’re angry.”

 

He laughed like someone who didn’t know what to do because I was so cute.

 

Is it just my feeling that his smiling eyes look scary?

 

‘I don’t think you’re in your right mind!’

 

While muttering inwardly, Aziz headed somewhere.

 

Step, step.

 

Footsteps echoed in the hallways of a splendid palace where darkness fell.

 

‘Good evening, Sir,’

 

Every time he passed, the guards politely saluted him.

 

Judging from their attitudes and expressions, Aziz seemed to be of a fairly high rank.

 

How many minutes has it been since he had been walking?

 

His feet halted in front of a door.

 

“Did you do as instructed?”

 

“Yes, Mr. Aziz.”

 

“Open the door, and guard around for a while.”

 

When Aziz and someone unidentified ended their conversation, the door slowly opened with a screeching sound.

 

As I carefully looked around the room, I frowned.

 

‘What…is this room? Why is it so gloomy?’

 

Unlike where I was earlier, it was hard to find fancy decorations in the dark and gloomy room.

 

The only furniture filling the room was a large bed, desk, and closet.

 

Furniture, which is faithful to its purpose without any decoration, revealed the character of the owner of the room.

 

‘It’s a relief that there is a fireplace.’

 

If it hadn’t been for the warm energy of the fireplace, where the embers were still alive, the room might have looked like a prison.

 

I was in a dazzlingly colorful room before and after coming to such a dark place, my hair was fluttering for no reason.

 

“Look over there, Ms. Cat.”

 

“Meow…..?” (Where…..?)

 

A black seal glimmered on the bed drenched with moonlight.

 

‘What is that…?

 

I narrowed my eyes to look clearly. There, I saw a man lying down.

 

‘Meow, meow!’ (There’s a person!)

 

Surprised, I raised my tail, Aziz hissed and put his finger on my mouth.

 

I stared at him with a discontent look and thought to myself.

 

‘What the hell are you up to?’

 

As if he had read my mind, Aziz smiled and put his face close to my ear.

 

And whispered something ridiculous.

 

“Ms. Cat, the first task I’m going to give you today is to steal the lips of the prince who is sleeping over there.”