Cat K | Chapter 10

Nyaaong—

A coy meow rang out. I bemoaned my inability to cover my ears and bristled my fur. The white cat before me took a step towards me. Finally, I was unable to bear it any longer and threw a punch at it, claws out.

Hisss—!

The cat that received the blow retreated with faltering steps. Once again, I threatened it, slashing my claws menacingly.

Hhkks— hhkgh—        (this is the sound of hissing/spitting…harsher than “hiss”)

Don’t come near me! Fuck off!

“It seems like Butterfly doesn’t like her.”

The maid murmured disappointedly. She scooped up the white cat as Simon stood next to her. I alternated my gaze between the two, glaring and threatening them, Hiiiss—!

What the hell are you doing, putting that orc in front of me, you pieces of shit!

 

For some reason, right from the very start, today has been unlucky.

It started from the moment I opened my eyes. While stretching, I rolled and fell from Sugar Prince’s chest bed. I landed on the cushy mattress after my fall, but nevertheless it was a startling awakening. It could have been worse, but a bunch of small things like that accumulated to bad luck that would come all at once.

The second instance was when I was accessorizing. I chose one of the collars that Julia held out to me, and as I was waiting for it to be fastened around my neck, the chain got tangled in my fur. A startled Julia attempted to untangle the collar, and the knotted fur was ripped out all at once. It hurt, and I leapt into the air, letting out an undignified yell, Mrraowng— Julia apologized with tearful eyes, and as I wasn’t in any position to reject the sincere apology of a beautiful woman, I put up a front like I was completely fine, although my body was trembling with the effort.

After that, one after another, minor mishaps swooped down on me, but I made no big deal out of it. It was my plan to bear with it, as if bad luck always fell upon me like this, and wait for it to pass. But one of the basic rules of bad luck was that the greatest misfortune will always come at the end. No matter how I look at it, I was now facing this greatest misfortune.

“Look over here. Butterfly. Really! A new friend is here.”

Speaking in a high, nasally voice, the maid who came in beside Simon held out the thing she was holding in her arms. From the moment I saw Simon trying to hold back his smile, I had a sense of foreboding that some bad event was going to burst out at me. Ignoring that lightly, I was all to prepared to throw a sneer in Simon’s direction. But the assault of Simon, who had been silently whetting his knife all this time, was something that transcended my imagination.

Nyaaaong—

At the lilting cry from the wad of white fur that the maid set on the ground, every hair on my body stood on end. The thing with the white fur was without a doubt a cat. But that appearance was…

Seeing its face, I almost fainted then and there. Its nose was so completely pressed flat into its face, it was beyond being called flat, and snot and tears flowed freely, mixing together. That squashed nose reminded me of only one thing.

Agh! It’s an orc!

Whether or not it knew what I was thinking, the white fur-wad sent a subtle stare in my direction. I barely held my body straight, it felt like I would collapse at any moment. However, the fur-wad paid no mind and took a step towards me. Unable to bear it any longer, I threw a clawed punch at its head.

“Butterfly, don’t fight and be nice to your friend. Look here. You’ve got such a pretty friend, too.”

I didn’t even listen to the maid who was holding the orc-cat, rambling without knowing my thoughts. My only concern was focusing on increasing the distance between myself and the white fur-wad. With the fur-wad trapped in the maid’s arms, I could relax a little and glared at Simon, who was standing to the side.

You were the one who planned this.

At my resentful gaze, the corners of Simon’s lips curved stealthily upwards. I was certain. This horrendous reality had begun from Simon’s scheme.

I swore to have revenge on Simon and went up to the orc-cat that was mewling in the maid’s arms.

I’ll get you first, you orc-cat!

 

 

Hiss—! Hss—!

The thoroughly beaten fur-wad growled warningly, hiding underneath the bed. I shook my paws to get rid of the white fur stuck between my claws and walked toward the bed. Only the fur-wad’s spitting was loud. In reality, its body was trembling with fear. But I didn’t have an ounce of thought at stopping with just this. Once you start a fight, you have to see through it till the end. That way, scum don’t keep crawling back. Taking another breath to gather myself, I ran towards the fur-wad underneath the bed again.

Hisss—!

Today, you’ll die and I’ll live, you trash!

As I battered its head with blows from my front paws, it cried out and ran away. Aaong, aaong— I gathered my energy and bit down on the fur-wad’s scruff, stretching it out. Now I didn’t have a view of the white fur-wad running around crazily, but I didn’t stop my attack. My grandpa always said this, a fight is the first strike. Meaning that once you start a fight, you have to see it through till the end. Beat your opponent until they are on the verge of death and then strike once more. It was probably something he said because I was smaller than others of the same age, but it didn’t matter. On grandpa’s rubric, I was winning 100 out of 100.

Hiiisss—!

At intervals, fur-wad got in a counterattack and swiped at my flank, but I ignored it. I couldn’t just draw back because my body hurt while fighting. I had to attack no matter what, unrelentingly. It may have just been a hideous cat that didn’t understand the situation, but that served it right after it had invaded my territory. There was nothing as forgiveness in the wild.

Hiss—!

Shut up and take it, scum!

While throwing punches, my grip on the fur-wad’s scruff loosened, and it took the chance to scramble away. I glared at the wad’s hiding spot and huffed. How tricky, it hid underneath the skirt-hems of the tearful maids huddling in the corner of the room. Not only was it ugly, it was cheap.

“B-Butterfly…sob, sob.”

Julia stuck flat against the wall, looking in my direction and crying. Her face was scared blue. Instead of trying to comfort the women, I spit threateningly at the shivering trash hiding inside their skirts. Hhaghk! Hhk!

You piece of shit, get your ass out here!

I threatened multiple times but, obviously, the wad didn’t come out from hiding. Of course, I wouldn’t have either. It was clear it would only get thrashed if it came out. Hmph!

Hhiiisss—!

Hey, buster. Next time you step inside my territory, I’m really gonna kill you. Imma beat you up till you die and then hit you again and pull out your fur in chunks, so remember that!

I gave one last, menacing warning and turned my head. As I sent a ferocious glare at him, the corner of Simon’s mouth twitched ever so slightly. I started padding leisurely in his direction.

 

I always traveled around with Sugar Prince. Only on rare occasions was I apart from Sugar Prince. Occasionally, we would be away from each other for a couple hours, but those were the times when Sugar Prince went to visit the Emperor. When Sugar Prince went to visit the ailing Emperor on his sickbed, he left me alone in the bedroom. To my inconvenience, Simon had used this window of opportunity to carry out his attack.

Rather than swiping at him with my claws or hitting him, I started circling around Simon slowly. He was a knight with a bear-like frame, and it was obvious that even if I tried beating him up, he wouldn’t even be tickled. Rather than a physical attack, a psychological attack would be more effective against him. Convinced by this, I made circles with him at the center and, at intervals, tapped my tail on his calf.

To be honest, I was confused as to what the intent of Simon’s attack was.

Whether he meant to bring in another cat with the excuse of finding me a friend in order to start a fight, try to shift Sugar Prince’s affection to another cat, or try to get me to faint or die from a heart attack at seeing the beauty(?) of the white fur-wad. I wanted to confront him directly about it, but as he couldn’t understand what I was saying, I would have to pass on that.

Anywho, I was truthfully somewhat disappointed. It was because I had felt a degree of familiarity to Simon. The reason I got on his nerves by sticking my tongue out at him or giving him the stink-eye wasn’t because I hated him or anything; I was just teasing him.  But what a jerk. What a cheap man! I’ll definitely get my revenge!

 

I glared at Simon and swore to get revenge on him when the door opened, and Sugar Prince walked in. Even though the thought that he was early momentarily entered my mind, I called to Sugar Prince in a feeble voice and went to him, Nyaaang— I approached him with a very noticeable limp, and I felt Sugar Prince’s golden eyes inspecting me carefully. Once more, I meowed thinly at Sugar Prince and finally collapsed onto my side.

“……”

Sugar Prince knelt down and looked over me carefully. I gazed at Sugar Prince with spirit-less eyes and moaned about my aches and pains, Mrrnng— Glancing out of the corner of my eye, Simon was huffing and puffing. His gaze was saying, It was running around completely fine just a minute ago, why is it fainted on the floor now?! But I didn’t think I was being unreasonable at all since, while I was beating up the white fur-wad, I did get hit a few times too. To add to that, because of its clawing, a lot of my beautiful fur was plucked out. If it had gone on any longer, I could have gotten a bald spot, so what more reason did I need to have to collapse?

Sugar Prince, who had been inspecting me carefully, hardened his gaze. It seemed he was angry. I was a little touched by how serious Sugar Prince was. My gentle and kind Sugar Prince was mad because I had gotten hurt. It seemed he liked me that much. Of course, if someone beat up Sugar Prince, I would be filled with anger to the tips of my fur. If something like that happened, I would find the guy that did it and shred his face to rags.

Mrng— mmrng— I moaned pitifully while looking at Sugar Prince’s hardened expression, but something was strange. The cool air I felt on the back of my neck felt like a chill… And the shivering of my body and the goosebumps on my skin… It seemed that my body was bruised and unwell from the blows I had received from the fur-wad. If I knew this was going to happen, I would have hit it several more times. Hmph.

I swiveled my eyes to where the fur-wad was hiding under the maids, and— What’s this? The maids were shivering in the corner, faces blue. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who felt a little chilly. Maybe the maids were feeling a bit unwell from fright.

I just turned to face Sugar Prince and meowed, Nyaang—

Sugar Prince. It hurts so much. My front legs where that orc hit me hurt, and my side where it scratched me is sore. My pretty fur was pulled out, and I might become bald. My claws are all chipped from beating up that trash, too. So quick, lay me on your chest bed and pet me.

Could he have understood my gaze? Sugar Prince, who had been looking at me quietly, delicately lifted me up into his arms. Once in his arms, the tension in my body loosened, and I started to feel bruised and sore all over. This time I really did meow from the pain, Yaaong—

 

 

Aaahhhh! It’s been more than a week since the last chapter! And I really have no excuse since I only have one final I don’t really need to study for… Well, if any of you are FoD trash, I just jumped into your dumpster by binge-reading all 34 chapters on Sunday. So yeah. That’s what I did instead of TLing last weekend.