Cat K | Chapter 8

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Somehow, the morning briefings seemed to be getting longer.

I let out a long sigh from where I was, lounging on Sugar Prince’s lap. Sugar Prince stroked my head frequently with his finger, but it had already been a while since that effect had worn off. My boredom couldn’t be remedied with just that. In order to chase away my boredom, I peeked my head out above the table the humans were sitting around

The old farts were arguing and wagging their fingers at each other when they saw me and cleared their throats, Ahe-hem. Their shifting gazes said they wanted to complain about me; that bringing a cat to the briefing room was this-and-that and blah-blah… But for some reason or another, the old men didn’t pester Sugar Prince with that kind of talk, only giving me the stink eye ever since I followed Sugar Prince in without getting on his case about it. I couldn’t tell if it was because Sugar Prince was the Crown Prince or if it was because they felt sorry for how lonely he was. I can’t help but think it is the latter.

The briefing commenced. But this time, the old farts didn’t pester Sugar Prince. It seemed my pitiful gaze had pricked at their consciences. Tch, tch. In this sense, this place and Korea weren’t all that different.

Instead of listening to the old farts, I turned my attention to their jewelry.

The huge pendants they hung around their necks were probably made from gold and gems. Seeing the way they glittered bright yellow, there was no question. Even with just one of those pendants, I couldn’t begin to imagine how many “don” that would weigh. Well, just because I was thinking of it doesn’t mean I was being greedy. It was senseless to wear such a stupidly heavy accessory. Rather than wear that kind of thing, my much lighter and fashionable Cartier ring was better. The most important aspect was, to any extent, the detailed workmanship quality. When I go back later, I really should whine to my grandpa about buying me a bunch of necklaces and rings. And, like always, he would toss me his gold card. Saying, Aigoo, our little puppy.

 

Ah. I’m bored. I’m bored. I’m bored.

Unable to overcome my extreme boredom, I poked Sugar Prince’s thighs with my claws. But my claws just bounced off, causing me to wonder how hard this guy’s thighs were. In the words of my older cousin, who would be drooling while looking at such sturdy thighs:

‘Those are straight up horse’s muscles.”

As she said that, my cousin was somehow frightening.

As if to comfort me, Sugar Prince’s large hand stroked my back, but it didn’t help much. Sugar Prince wasn’t fulfilling his duty of keeping me from being bored. This just couldn’t be tolerated. I wanted to claw at his arm immediately, but I resisted the urge. To get mad at one who was working because they weren’t playing with me wasn’t good manners. Instead, I leapt down from Sugar Prince’s lap. Sugar Prince’s golden eyes followed me, but I whipped my head in the other direction. You’re not gonna play with me, but you’re still gonna look at me? Hmph.

Scratching on the meeting room’s doors, they soon opened. Ignoring the gazes I felt from behind me, I stepped outside the doors. It was already bright out here. I knew that, where I was going, I would be entertained.

 

Forward. Forward. Turn to the right. Forward. Turn to the left.

Following the route I had memorized, I could see my destination. Once again, I amazed myself at my brilliant memory.

The place I arrived at was in the middle of the corridor. Standing in front of the solid wall, I pushed my head against it. With effort, I pushed the wall, and the secret door creaked open. Looking to my left and right, I went inside.

“Oh my. Butterfly, you came!”

Entering the room at the end of the narrow hallway, a maid greeted me cheerfully. I meowed coyly at the maid who was a 98 out of 100, Nyaong— It wasn’t good to cry kindly at just anybody so easily, but it was basically a rule that a man should be gentle towards a woman. Of course, in front of a pretty woman.

Squealing, the 98 points girl came and picked me up.

“Butterfly’s here?”

The other maids sitting in the room crowded around. Drunk with happiness, I voiced a friendly greeting at the women, Nyaaaong—

The beautiful women, the mean score being above 95 points, quarreled with each other about who got to pet me. I even let their hands touch my rear end, which I normally didn’t allow.

I discovered this paradise by chance several days ago.

Inside the corridor that the maids and manservants used, there was a small break room for them to use. Naturally, I decided that the maids’ breakroom would be my playground.

“Give it to me. This time I want to hold Butterfly.”

The beautiful women fought over me. Instead of trying to stop the fight, I observed them leisurely. The outfits here really agreed with me. All their clothes had deep necklines that showed their cleavages. I was passed from embrace to embrace, and I enjoyed their soft and bouncy chests as much as I wanted. If I pressed my paws into them to feel the bounciness or even licked their chests with my tongue, the would only squeal with delight and giggle. It was something I couldn’t even conceive of when I was a human.

Inside the break room that men couldn’t enter, many scandalous things went on. It was a common, and beautiful, sight to see the maids throw off their suffocating dresses and go about in their undergarments. Seeing the women hike their white underskirts up to their thighs to sit, showing the snowy skin of their legs, I went up to them happily and rubbed my body along their calves and thighs. If I wanted to, I could daringly look up into their skirts, but I never put it into action. Because I was an all-around refined and gentlemanly cat.

 

Once Sugar Prince’s morning briefing ends, the maids move about busily. When that happens, I say a disappointed goodbye and go out the secret door. If I retrace my steps, I’m bound to run into Sugar Prince sometime.

Nyang—

Is the briefing over?

As I meet Sugar Prince and ask him this, he lifts me up high into his arms. Actually, I rather enjoy walking at his side more than being held by him, but at this point I’m feeling tired. It’s only reasonable that I’m exhausted after playing with the maids. Sugar Prince has a knack for knowing exactly what I’m feeling, like a ghost. In any case, I think I really must take a nap and paw at Sugar Prince’s chest.

 

A good fragrance was coming from Sugar Prince’s body. It was hard to put into words what kind of smell it was, but it was a pleasant one. Even as I was dozing while curled up in his shirt*, when I woke up, I would unconsciously put my nose to his chest and breathe in the scent. Occasionally, in my half-asleep state, I would lick his chest with my rough tongue, and Sugar Prince’s chiseled abdominal muscles would flinch.

Even after waking up from my nap, the thought of wanting to come out from inside Sugar Prince’s shirt never crossed my mind.

Instead of going outside, I moved around and made mischief. When I moved about, Sugar Prince’s stomach appeared to be undulating and bumpy from the outside, and I could hear Simon’s voice growing more and more flustered. To provoke Simon even more, I pulled down on the hem of the shirt with my front paws. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew well enough that he was fuming. I could hear his huffing and puffing from where I was. But no matter how mad he got, he wouldn’t be able to say anything out loud. Obviously. Since I was inside my Sugar Prince’s shirt.

From the other side of the shirt, Sugar Prince stroked my back a couple times and focused on his work again.

As there were not many people about, the study where Sugar Prince worked was frightfully quiet. If there was some noise to be heard, it would be a voice reading a report, the sound of a page turning, or a pen moving across paper. Only when I heard Simon’s voice did I make movements inside the shirt. The rest of the time, I napped.

 

In reality, there was a reason I could spend my day lazing about so.

It was because there was no way to find out how to break the curse or return to Korea. I initially thought I would find an answer by looking through the palace’s huge library. I even went there with Sugar Prince in tow, but once I was at the library, I realized it. I couldn’t read this place’s language.

It would be convenient to ask Sugar Prince to find it for me, but no matter how well he understood what I wanted, something of that degree wasn’t likely to translate. Even though, like a ghost, he knew what I wanted, it wasn’t that he could understand what I was saying. And to add to that, I didn’t know the languages, so writing 「Find me a way to break the curse.」 was impossible.

It really was a hopeless situation, but I had decided to take it calmly.

It was the same as when the witch first put the curse on me, but my plan was to wait quietly for some sort of solution or opportunity to come to me. At any rate, since I was living a comfortable life now, it was wiser to throw away any sort of impatience. To add to that…

I brushed the tip of my tail on Sugar Prince’s side, tickling him. At that, Sugar Prince’s chest rumbled slightly. No mistake, that was a small chuckle. It was a vibration only I, lying directly against his skin, could detect. That part pleased me.

I liked Sugar Prince very much. If I was restored to my original form and went back home, this shy and solitary guy would become a loner again. Sugar Prince’s wide chest bed, the comfiness of being curled up in his shirt, and this guy’s kindness were really making me lazy. If he doesn’t stroke all of my body once I wake up, I feel like I’ll be really sad. And so, I was planning to stay with him a bit longer, since Sugar Prince will surely be lonely if I leave.

Sugar Prince, aren’t you glad?

I tapped his chest with my paws, and Sugar Prince stroked my back as if he was answering me.

Yes. Yes. So be good from now on. Otherwise I’ll leave without a trace. Crying and begging won’t do you any good then. To me, it’s over when it’s over, since I’m a cool city man.

 

 

If you guys noticed, I tried a new way of adding my notes inside the text. I always found it so troublesome to scroll all the way down to read the translator’s note. The function I used was the “tooltip” thing in wordpress, but I don’t know how many of you guys would like it… Tell me in the comments if you have any problems with it or want me to try another format for my T/N next time! Oh, and I finally found myself an editor! A big round of applause for KagamiTL, who is also the translator of Mirrored Translations!