“…….”
A silence hung in the air. Yellian was quietly staring at the eyes of a long-dead fish, while Leonard was looking at Yellian with pitch-black eyes.
They weren’t looking at each other, yet there was a strange connection between them.
“Um…….”
After a long pause, Yellian cautiously opened its mouth. Speaking freely still felt awkward, but there was a more pressing issue at hand. Therefore, it had to speak now.
“What is it?”
“Well…… I’m not a cat, I’m a feline humanoid, you see. So…….”
“So?”
“I’d like to eat human food instead of unseasoned fish.”
For some reason, its words unintentionally came out sounding very submissive, though that wasn’t the intent. Yellian glanced at Leonard nervously while subtly pushing the unseasoned grilled fish in front of it with a paw, signaling its reluctance to eat it.
“Can you eat human food?”
“Of course? I’m not a cat, I’m a feline humanoid, after all?!”
Truthfully, Yellian wasn’t confident. Even as it answered, its words were full of question marks, but it figured it would probably be fine. As long as its tongue was happy, wasn’t that enough?
Unlike Yellian’s lighthearted thoughts, Leonard was quite serious.
And understandably so, since he had spent a long time with Elton, who had cared for cats for years.
Elton never gave human food to cats, no matter how cute or pitiful they looked. He only fed them cat food or completely unseasoned meals. He said that giving them seasoned food just because they looked cute could damage their kidneys due to the salt content or something like that.
Having witnessed this for a long time, Leonard couldn’t help but worry about Yellian, even if it said it was fine…… or rather, not exactly worry, but he couldn’t help but be concerned.
“Why does your answer sound so uncertain? It seems you’re not sure if you can eat human food.”
“No, that’s not it. It’s just your imagination. I can eat human food. Spicy rice cakes, spicy beef, spicy chicken-I can eat them all.”
“……What are those?”
“Well, those…… they’re popular in the feline humanoid world…… they’re very spicy. I eat stuff like that.”
Unconsciously recalling the ‘spicy’ series it used to eat periodically during stressful times as a human, Yellian’s mouth began to water.
Barely managing to swallow the drool that seemed ready to drip at any moment, Yellian couldn’t help but feel resentful of its situation, having to eat this unseasoned grilled fish still in its line of sight.
“Please, allow me to eat human food. I’ll behave. Otherwise, I might just run away…….”
“Run away?”
“Ah, I misspoke. Don’t mind me.”
Yellian, trying to hide the true feelings that had slipped out, looked at Leonard with a forced polite expression. Leonard stared back at Yellian with a skeptical gaze.
Though they were looking at each other, their thoughts were entirely different, and the gazes of one human and one feline humanoid intertwined in the air.
“……Fine. You can have just a little.”
“Gasp, thank you! Thank you!”
Finally getting the answer it wanted, Yellian bowed its tiny head so low it nearly touched the floor, expressing its gratitude.
Yellian couldn’t see itself, so it wouldn’t know, but to Leonard, it looked like a small kitten frantically bobbing its head up and down.
“Haha…….”
“Huh? Did you just laugh……?”
It was a low, rumbling sound, different from a typical laugh, but it was definitely laughter.
Yellian couldn’t believe that Leonard, the mad duke among mad dukes, a cold-blooded and ruthless man, had laughed, so it asked again.
“When did I laugh? Don’t talk nonsense.”
At the icy response, Yellian could only open and close its mouth. It felt wronged. It had seen it with its own big, shiny eyes.
He definitely laughed. Yellian heard the sound of laughter and saw the smiling face. And that smiling face…… was ridiculously handsome.
Honestly, Yellian admitted it. Regardless of Leonard being a cruel and brutal mad duke, his face itself was incredibly good-looking. With a face like that, it almost seemed like his heartless and sinful actions could be forgiven-his appearance was that perfect.
And that man had smiled, even if just for a fleeting moment. His stern expression was already indescribably handsome, but his smile was beyond words.
Yet Leonard seemed unwilling to admit he had laughed. Judging by how he coldly denied it with a hardened expression, as if asking when he had ever laughed.
Because of that, poor and helpless Yellian, who had to pretend not to have seen what it saw, awkwardly nodded its head.
“Ah, right! I must have seen wrong. I’m sorry!”
Apologizing wasn’t a big deal; it didn’t wear out its mouth, so Yellian could do it as many times as needed. After all, Leonard was the mad duke, and Yellian was just a weak feline humanoid captured by him.
But just wait, did he think Yellian would stay captured forever? The moment it got the chance to escape, it would be goodbye, you jerk. Yellian dreamed of escape.
In contrast, Leonard was actually quite taken aback. Not wanting Yellian to notice his flustered state, he deliberately responded even more coldly.
Him laughing? That was absurd. Of course, anyone could laugh. Leonard, being human, could laugh too, even if not often.
But to admit that the reason for his laughter was this tiny furball was something he couldn’t accept.
What was it about this creature? Its soft, fluffy beige fur, the two perky ears that stood out, the transparent and mysterious eyes that looked like jewels, the pink jelly hidden beneath its fine fur that looked so squishy……. Oh, right. And that round, plump belly that made him want to poke it. In conclusion, it was nothing special.
Therefore, Leonard couldn’t accept that he had laughed because of this unremarkable feline humanoid cub. If it were at least cute, that would be one thing, but it wasn’t even that.
“Anyway…… you’re going to give me human food, right? You said you would, didn’t you?”
Unaware of Leonard’s complicated thoughts, Yellian was more concerned about the food that would soon enter its mouth. If it had to eat unseasoned grilled fish again because of its loose tongue, it felt like it would cry.
“……Fine, what do you want to eat?”
At Leonard’s question, Yellian’s already large eyes widened even more.
* * *
“Atta atta arrabbiata.”
“……What are you saying?”
“Ah, don’t mind me. Just nonsense from excitement.”
Drawing a line under its own words as nonsense, Yellian’s eyes sparkled as it looked at the deliciously prepared food. Having eaten nothing but unseasoned fish for days, it craved something spicy and strongly flavored.
Tteokbokki, kimchi jjigae, ramen, budae jjigae, kongbul, jeyuk bokkeum……. There were many dishes that came to mind, but the problem was they were all Korean foods. Naturally, they were hard to find in the Western fantasy setting of the Black Prison.
Ultimately compromising with reality, Yellian, after much thought, requested spicy pasta. As someone who generally preferred spicy food, Yellian knew that spicy pasta was called arrabbiata. Without hesitation, it ordered arrabbiata.
Before long, a plate of arrabbiata pasta with bright red tomato sauce arrived. The sharp smell hitting its sensitive nose suggested it would be as spicy as expected. Yellian eagerly reached its front paws toward the fork and spoon that came with the arrabbiata.
“……Ugh, why can’t I grab these!”
Yellian had overlooked something. No matter that its true form was human and it currently had the body of a feline humanoid, in appearance, it was still a cat.
No matter how well a cat used its front paws, it was still a cat. It wasn’t capable of holding a fork in one paw and a spoon in the other.
In the end, Yellian, with tears in its eyes, tossed aside the fork and spoon and resolutely approached the plate of arrabbiata, neatly arranged with sauce.
“If you get sauce on your fur, I won’t let it slide…….”
“Huh.”
Before Leonard could finish his sentence, Yellian plunged its snout straight into the arrabbiata. Naturally, its elegant beige fur was stained red with tomato sauce.
As a flustered Yellian unintentionally let out a cat-like sound, Leonard let out a long sigh while clutching his head.
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