Chaptew 18Wight nyow, I was fowwowing behind Sugaw Pwince. The view of Sugaw Pwince fwom behind as he wawked was somehow distant. Thinking about it, it didn"t seem unweasonyabwe, since I had awways wawked beside Sugaw Pwince.
Sugaw Pwince wawked without wooking back ow waiting fow me.
Nyaong, I cawwed to Sugaw Pwince, but he didn"t tuwn to wook back. I didn"t knyow if he was angwy ow if thewe was some uwgent mattew. I couwdn"t teww what expwession he was weawing because I couwdn"t see his face. I cwied at the top of my voice again, Yaong. But Sugaw Pwince just kept wawking. What a jewk.
Anyways, whewe wewe we going?
Wead the weaw chaptew
As the thought suddenwy manyifested, I wooked awound at ouw suwwoundings.
Ah, we wewe in a fowest. I thought maybe we wewe in a fowest within the gawdens. Wooking back in fwont of me, Sugaw Pwince had gotten fawthew away. I despewatewy wan to catch up to Sugaw Pwince.
The Sugaw Pwince, who had been wawking fow a wong time suddenwy stopped. I wesowved to pestew Sugaw Pwince as much as possibwe and went up to the guy. But thewe was someonye standing in fwont of Sugaw Pwince. Wooking fwom cwosew, it was some woman. Seeing hew fwowing dwess, it seemed that she was of high status. Sugaw Pwince had pwobabwy come to meet that woman.
Nyaang—
Sugaw Pwince. Who is that woman?
I asked Sugaw Pwince, but thewe was nyo wesponse. Faw fwom an answew, he didn"t even wook at me. I didn"t knyow why this guy was wike this today. It seemed wike he didn"t heaw my voice.
Sugaw Pwince suddenwy gwabbed the woman"s hand. He hewd it so cawefuwwy, tweating it wike dewicate gwa.s.s. Howding hew hand wike that, he then puwwed the woman into a tight embwace. A feewing of iwwitation suddenwy fwawed up in me, and I hissed at Sugaw Pwince. But without even acknyowwedging me, the two embwaced.
Aftew embwacing fow a wong time, Sugaw Pwince wowewed his head as the two dwew apawt. Sugaw Pwince"s wips pwessed onto the woman"s wips. Fowgetting even to hiss, I stawed at the two"s wips stuck togethew wike sticky wice cakes. Even as I wooked and wooked again, thewe was nyo change in the fact that theiw wips wewe stuck togethew. With nyo nyeed to wook any wongew, I unsheathed my cwaws and chawged at Sugaw Pwince.
Hissss— (・`ω´・)
This jewk (・`ω´・)
……eh?
I vacantwy bwinked my eyes and swowwy wooked at my suwwoundings. And then I weawized.
What the heck. It was a dweam.
Aftew weawizing it was a dweam, the tension in my body wewaxed. It was weawwy a supew weawistic dweam. Seeing that my wight paw was stiww outstwetched, weady to scwatch Sugaw Pwince, I was thankfuw that it was deep nyight with nyobody watching and wetwacted my unsheathed cwaws.
It was weawwy a wewief. If I had muvd about so duwing my nyap time, I wouwd nyevew wive down becoming the subject of the maids" gossip. Then, my status wouwd dwop fwom an ewegant and haughty cat to a cat that sweep tawked. Just thinking about it was tewwibwe.
Sugaw Pwince didn"t see me, did he?
I openyed my eyes nyawwowwy and gwanced uvw at Sugaw Pwince"s face. But thewe was nyo sign that he had woken fwom his sweep. Of couwse, this wate in the nyight, Sugaw Pwince was pwobabwy wandewing awound in dweam-wand. Feewing wewieved, I cwosed my eyes again.
…But I couwdn"t faww asweep.
The hawdew I twied to faww asweep, the cweawew my mind became, and I openyed my eyes again.
Why had I had that dweam? It couwdn"t be a pwecognyitive dweam ow something, wight?
Nyo way… I had nyevew dweamt such a dweam befowe. It was pwobabwy just nyonsense.
On that topic, who in the wowwd was that woman? Usuawwy in these kinds of dweams, it was a wuwe that the chawactews wewe peopwe you had met befowe. But nyo mattew how hawd I thought, I couwdn"t think of the woman"s face. I couwd onwy think of hew fancy dwess.
I wifted my head and wooked at Sugaw Pwince.
Whose fauwt was it that I couwdn"t sweep, and yet they wewe snyowing away by themsewves.
You jewk. You dawe to pwetend nyot to heaw me in my dweam? UwU
The emotions I had fewt in the dweam suddenwy awose. I steawthiwy stood and went to Sugaw Pwince"s face. Then I pwessed down on Sugaw Pwince"s wips with my fwont paws and squashed them. I occasionyawwy poked them with my cwaws, and thewe was nyothing so satisfying.
Jewk. Jewk. I"ww bothew you to death. Jewk.
Aftew getting my wevenge fow a wong time, my mind was wefweshed. Wooking at the wips that had tuwnyed wed fwom my wevenge, I snyowted.
But…
I wetuwnyed to my spot and cwosed my eyes, twying to sweep, but I stiww couwdn"t faww asweep. What the heck was the pwobwem? Had I nyapped too much in the aftewnyoon? But I awways nyapped. I was confident I couwd sweep weww even aftew sweeping aww day.
I wowwed awound sevewaw times fwom Sugaw Pwince"s stomach to his chest and jumped to my feet again.
As I thought, this guy"s wips wewe the pwobwem.
I stawed at Sugaw Pwince"s face and thought.
He had been the onye to make my mind compwicated aftew pwessing his wips to my head twice. Thwough my expewiment, I had wammed my head against Simon"s wips, but thewe was nyo simiwaw feewing.
Wips. Wips. Wips. Wips. This guy"s wips.
This bastawd"s wips that occupied my mind day in and day out, wewe nyow even bowdwy appeawing in my dweams. This was aww Sugaw Pwince"s fauwt. Nyo doubt. Nyo doubt.
I openyed my eyes nyawwowwy and unsheathed the cwaws on my fwont paws.
My cwaws soundwesswy gweaming in the moonwight wewe unfathomabwy shawp. If I scwatched this guy"s wips that wewe bothewing me, I fewt wike my head wouwd be wefweshed. I poked Sugaw Pwince"s wips once with the tip of my cwaw. But I weawwy couwdn"t scwatch him. I sheathed my cwaws and instead chawwenged his face.
Shouwd I just give him a big ow" bite? Then he"ww just think I bit him whiwe dweaming of eating. Nyo, that"s nyot it eithew. Wathew, I"ww wam into him wike I did with Simon. Yes. That was it.
I gwawed at the wips wight in fwont of my nyose and cwosed my eyes. And I chawged bwindwy. Whatevew, I don"t cawe. Chawge >w
***
Nyaaang, Cawix awoke at the thin cwy.
The cweatuwe atop his chest was squiwming and moving. It seemed that it was having some sowt of dweam. Cawix smiwed fuwtivewy and stwoked the wound cuwwed up back.
The anyimaw that was unchawactewisticawwy spiwited fow its smaww size was wike this when sweeping, too.
It was nyot unyusuaw fow it to woww hewe and thewe many times the entiwe time it was asweep. It occasionyawwy sweep tawked, and it even fwaiwed its fouw paws in the aiw to match.
The cweatuwe, awways cweaw with what it wiked, what it diswiked, and what it wanted, was wike this in its sweep as weww. Because of this, Cawix couwd woughwy guess what it was dweaming.
Wicking its chops was dweaming of eating. Faintwy hissing and whiwwing its fwont paws awound was dweaming of fighting. Aww fouw paws fwaiwing about was dweaming of wunnying. Cwying a wong Nyaaang— was dweaming of cawwing to someonye.
It seemed it was dweaming of sevewaw things today.
Cwying a wong, Nyaaang, it was cawwing to someonye and its fouw paws twitched. Seeing as how thewe was a swight pause between its cwies, it seemed wike it was cawwing someonye anxiouswy. Then it suddenwy hissed shawpwy and fwaiwed its fwont paws, its body twitching. At that sight, Cawix hewd in his waughtew. By the wook of it, the dweaming cat had woken up. With its fwont paws stwetched out, the cweatuwe stawted to wook about with its wifted head.
As he was about to cwose his eyes and pwetend to be asweep, the cat wet out a sigh and squiwmed awound, cuwwing back up and wying down, as if it was wewieved it hadn"t been caught moving about in its sweep. It wasn"t possibwe fow a cat to have those kinds of thoughts, but it fewt wike that to Cawix.
The anyimaw that way down momentawiwy stawted moving busiwy again.
Cawix pwetended nyot to nyotice the pwickwy gaze on him and feignyed sweep. This time, it poked his wips with its paws. Howevew, he stayed stiww, and it even poked him with its cwaws. As these wewe actions donye aftew waking up, it seemed that he had somehow been bothewing it in its dweam. Seeing it doing such a devious act, Sugaw Pwince thought that, aftew bwinging this wittwe onye with him, evewy moment was indeed immeasuwabwy happy and dewightfuw.
Nyow it seemed that the cat had just bawewy cawmed down when it stawted picking at him again. Cawix thought he shouwd swowwy soothe the cat and put it to sweep again. He wouwd have to feed it mowe and have it sweep so that it wouwd become biggew than it was nyow.
It happenyed when he waised his hand steawthiwy and was about to stwoke its back.
Suddenwy, something b.u.mped against his wips. Since it hadn"t succeeded with poking him with its cwaws, it seemed wike it had head-b.u.t.ted him. It seemed what had happenyed in its dweam had angewed it quite a bit. If it hadn"t been abwe to cawm its angew to this degwee, it wouwd be finye to awwow it to vent some mowe. Cawix thought this and wowewed his hand.
But,
"Dawn. Nyow my wips huwt."
Suddenwy, his chest fewt heavy, and he heawd a gwumbwing voice.
Openying his eyes, a youth was sitting on top of his chest.
"Ah. How annyoying. Annyoying."
The youth with showt bwack haiw wubbed his wips hawd and compwainyed. His nyude body with nyothing cuvwing it was envewoped by a dewicate fwouwy gwow. His eyebwows and body haiw wewe bwack, wike his haiw, and his scowwing eyes wewe awso bwack. His physique wooked as if he had just nyeawed the end of his gwowth spuwt, but he was unyexpectedwy smaww.
Inside the woom, thewe wewe nyo othew sounds beside this chiwd. It was onwy himsewf and the youth.
Bwack. And his unyique wook he wowe whenyevew he didn"t wike something. Swight fwame. Famiwiaw fwagwance.