“How cute!”
“Kyaaah! What do I do, it’s so adorable!”
Yes, it must be cute. Go ahead and adore it all you want, you foolish humans.
Juan stretched his fluffy, cotton-ball-like hind legs upward. His short paws shot up into the air.
Their gazes instantly turned to Juan’s hind legs, or more precisely, to the soft, pink jelly-like pads peeking out from between the fluffy fur. Having captivated everyone with his cuteness, Juan moved quickly.
The endlessly long table was laden with all kinds of food. Seeing the various dishes arranged as if at a high-end buffet, Juan swallowed hard with anticipation.
His pale grayish-blue eyes gleamed with a hint of madness.
Indeed. It had been days since Juan last felt the sensation of being full. He had nibbled at the food given to him to avoid starving to death, but that was it.
Naturally. For the past few days, all Juan had eaten was fishy cat food and unseasoned grilled fish.
At first, he refused to eat something like cat food, clinging to his human dignity. But when hunger became unbearable and his vision started to blur, he had no choice but to crunch on the kibble.
The reason for eating cat food was simple. Juan was a cat. You might wonder how a cat could talk about human dignity, but that explanation will come later.
Anyway, Juan’s eyes spun at the sight of the deliciously prepared food. Unable to hold back any longer, he charged toward the food, weaving through people’s legs and scurrying toward the table with his short four legs moving busily.
“Kyaa! What’s a cat doing here!”
“Oh my, how cute.”
“A cat at a banquet, of all things.”
He thought he was running swiftly, but due to his short legs, it looked more like a toddle. And though Juan would never admit it, his tail stood straight up in excitement at the sight of food.
The nobles attending the banquet were each startled by the sudden appearance of a small beige cat. But Juan, paying no mind, just kept running toward the food with his short legs pattering along.
Finally reaching the front of the table, Juan looked up at it. It seemed impossibly high, but who was Juan? Though he hated to admit it, he was a cat, an animal specialized in jumping high.
‘Alright, let’s give it a jump, shall we?’
Juan tilted his head up stiffly and tensed his hind legs. Then, with all his strength, he leaped upward.
“Uwaaah!”
Perhaps because he wasn’t used to a cat’s body, Juan ambitiously jumped but failed to land on the table. Instead, he barely managed to cling to the tablecloth with his claws, dangling midway down the table. As he struggled not to fall, he heard whispers behind him.
“D-Did it just say ‘Uwaaah’?”
“Right……. I’m not the only one who heard that, am I?”
It seemed people had heard the scream he let out without realizing it. The thought of what might happen if they discovered he was a talking cat sent his mind racing.
“……Uh, meowww, meowww!”
In his panic, he decided to mimic a cat’s meow. It made him sound like a strangely meowing cat, but he had no other choice at the moment. Juan desperately hoped they would fall for it.
“Ahaha, what was that? It was just a meow.”
“This cat meows in a weird way.”
“Yeah, really.”
Luckily, the people were simple-minded. After all, it was easier to think a cat meowed strangely than to believe it could speak human language.
Relieved for the moment, Juan sharpened his pitiful claws and began climbing up the tablecloth.
“But is it okay to let a cat climb onto the table?”
“Of course not. How dare a filthy thing try to get on a table with human food. I’ll take care of it.”
Hearing the angry voice from behind, Juan’s heart raced. Even if he was going to be chased off, he wanted to at least get one bite before that happened. With that thought, he hurriedly moved toward the top of the table. Though still unaccustomed to his cat body, perhaps due to his desperate determination, Juan managed to climb onto the table without slipping further.
A feast of delicacies lay right before his eyes. Juan opened his tiny mouth as wide as he could, ready to lunge at the nearest dish.
“Trying to steal human food again, huh.”
“Nya, ah…….”
A deep, heavy voice rang out, and a faint meow escaped Juan’s open mouth. Then, his scruff was grabbed, and Juan found himself lifted into the air.
The one who had lifted Juan by the scruff was none other than the protagonist of this world, the mad duke Leonard Abrams.
Juan glared at Leonard, whose image filled his eyes, and flailed his pitiful front paws in resistance. However, Leonard Abrams opened his mouth indifferently, his expression unchanging.
“Eat your cat food.”
Give me real food, not cat food, you mad duke bastard.
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