Meanwhile, Formo was sipping tea while reading a book inside the glass greenhouse. The book he’d brought to the greenhouse dealt quite in-depth with catnip and silvervine, which feline beasts were said to like. Formo read the book written in difficult terminology, tilting his head this way and that.
“Pipi-nim!”
At that moment, a voice he’d heard in a while came from the glass greenhouse entrance. Formo, who had been sitting in front of the table, looked toward where the presence was felt with surprised eyes.
“Haha, Pipi-nim. It’s me! I’ve come!”
The one running over frivolously was Kert, who hadn’t shown his face all this time. He did look quite gaunt, as if he’d suffered in the time they hadn’t seen each other, but it wasn’t enough to not recognize him.
“Have you been well? Hm? Didn’t you think of me occasionally, like catnip coming up during a drought? Were you a bit longing, or did you want to see me at least once since you might forget my face?”
“…”
To Kert’s question, Formo responded with silence. Like master, like subordinate—befitting a jaguar who went around with Serdin, he was skilled at talking nonsense. Formo shook his head from side to side and shifted his gaze to the book.
“Oho, are you reading a book? It seems you’ve become quite familiar with the common language to the point of reading difficult specialized books. Hahaha! You could even become His Highness’s advisor instead of me.”
“I don’t want that.”
“Ha, haha… Yes, I suppose so. No one would covet my position. I suppose it’s my fate to be rolled around under His Highness until I die of old age.”
Since Formo didn’t even know how to give encouragement as a courtesy, he could only give Kert a pitying look.
“But more than that, you’re reading a book that deals in-depth with catnip and silvervine.”
“Yeah.”
“I also like these plants. When staying at the Detached Palace, it was very difficult not being able to drink the special catnip tea sold only at Deli’s salon. It was tantamount to the only pleasure of my advisor life disappearing. But now I can drink it anytime, so I’m mentally relieved.”
Formo roughly nodded his head while listening to the chatty Kert’s story.
“By the way, do you know that His Highness is indifferent to catnip or silvervine?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Huh, hup! You knew? Ahem. If I may add a bit, at first I thought that like some tiger beast-people, instead of being indifferent to catnip, he would react to silvervine. But I heard he has no particular feeling for silvervine either. Perhaps it’s because of the price…”
“Price?”
Kert, who had been talking excitedly, hesitated and trailed off. Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard anything about Serdin’s price. Serdin had never told him about it first either. Formo closed the book he’d been reading and looked up at Kert.
“…Are you perhaps curious about what His Highness lost as the price for becoming a beast-person?”
“Yeah.”
Formo nodded his head in answer.
“His Highness’s price is…”
Kert, who hesitated before opening his mouth, trailed off. At his appearance, seeming to ponder whether it was okay to say, Formo felt anxious.
“The price is a sensitive matter after all…”
Kert tilted his head even as he continued speaking. Though it was a delicate matter, he felt it might be okay to tell Formo. In reality, extremely few people knew what Serdin’s price was. To the extent that Serdin was publicly known merely as someone very bothersome and indifferent.
“Hmm.”
“Can’t you?”
“Well…”
Kert, who paused for a moment, soon answered cleanly.
“I think it would be better to ask His Highness directly about the price. If Pipi-nim asks, he’ll probably answer while being pleased.”
What did he mean by answering while being pleased just because he asked about the price? Formo sighed and waved his hand.
“Oh my, isn’t that a habit from when you’re a long-tailed tit? When you were a long-tailed tit, you used to flap your wings…”
“Work?”
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you going to work?”
When the tired Formo brought up work at the incessant chatter, Kert’s mouth shut at once. Kert cleared his throat for a moment, then soon answered while pouting his lips.
“…I see. So Pipi-nim also sees me not as a beast-person but as a worker. I understand well.”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“I should go comfort my fragile, oh-so-fragile heart that was hurt by Pipi-nim at Deli’s salon.”
Kert, who spoke weakly, greeted Formo, then left the greenhouse dejectedly. Though his back looked very pitiful, he had no particular intention of stopping him.
As he opened the book again and was reading earnestly letter by letter, he felt someone standing in front of Formo. Had Kert, who said he was going to be comforted at Deli’s salon, come back?
Formo, who had been concentrating, spoke without even looking up.
“You said you needed comfort.”
“To be comforted? Pipi, who came?”
“Wha, what!”
Formo, who had naturally expected it to be Kert, was startled at Serdin’s voice and dropped the thick book. In the morning, Serdin had definitely spouted nonsense telling him not to cry and to wait since the meeting would be long. Formo turned his head to check outside the glass greenhouse, wondering if it had already become evening.
The sun was still shining brightly. Which meant the meeting had ended at midday.
“Who came?”
“…Kert.”
“Why did that bastard come?”
“…I don’t know.”
Come to think of it, Kert had come suddenly and left suddenly. There didn’t seem to be any particular purpose for his visit either.
‘That’s right. Why did he really come?’
He thought carefully about the reason, but nothing came to mind. Had he just come because he needed someone to chat with? Formo shrugged his shoulders.
“Pipi, why were you reading this?”
Serdin, who picked up the book that had fallen on the floor, checked the title and smiled. He didn’t seem interested enough to look for a book about catnip and silvervine, but he seemed inwardly curious and intrigued.
“You came quickly.”
“Yeah. Pipi, you didn’t cry because you missed me?”
“…That can’t be.”
“You weren’t longing enough to shed tears?”
Formo answered with a sigh instead. It was a question of similar nature to what Kert had asked. Was there an established truth that masters and subordinates come to resemble each other? Formo, who shook his head from side to side, got up from his seat.
It was because continuing to hear similar questions was more tiring than reading a book with difficult content. Then he passed Serdin and left the greenhouse. He heard the sound of Serdin following after gathering the book from behind.
“Pipi, we should go together.”
Serdin, who strode over with long legs, was already beside him and put his arm around. As the long arm went around his shoulders, Formo, who became uncomfortable, frowned.
“It’s heavy.”
“Give me a piggyback ride, Pipi. I think I’ll gain strength if Pipi carries me.”
“Wha, what? Are you joking?”
“Pipi is a brave and dignified guardian, so it might be possible.”
“That… is true, but. No matter how much of a guardian I am, I can’t carry something as heavy as you.”
Formo, who retorted bluntly, opened the door to the room. As he was about to pass through the drawing room attached to the bedroom and head to the bedroom, the story about the “price” that Kert had mentioned came to mind. Formo, who stopped in the middle of the drawing room, turned his head to look at Serdin.
“Why?”
“You know…”
“Yeah.”
Formo drew out his words while reading Serdin’s mood. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be in a bad mood. It seemed like a good timing to bring up the story about the price.
Thinking about what Kert said in the greenhouse, it seemed like asking beast-people what their price was was a sensitive matter, so he was cautious about asking, but didn’t Serdin know what his own price was? So he had the right to know his price too.
“What was yours?”
“What was?”
“…The price.”
He clearly witnessed Serdin making a blank face upon seeing the word “price” come out of his mouth. Though brief, he seemed very surprised. Was it a problem so difficult to answer that it was worth being surprised? Formo blinked his eyes while waiting for Serdin’s answer.
Though he thought he had the right to know what Serdin’s price was, if he was having this much difficulty saying it, he couldn’t push strongly.
“If it’s hard to say…”
“I don’t know why you suddenly became curious about such a thing.”
Serdin, who had been pondering slightly, soon opened his mouth.
“My price is nothing special, Pipi. It’s not as serious as Pipi’s price.”
“My price isn’t that serious either…”
“Pipi’s price is serious. I told you last time. Ah, Pipi. Since we’re on the topic, how about we check it now?”
As Serdin approached as if he would take off his clothes right away, Formo had a fit and stepped back.
“I’m joking, Pipi. It’s okay since I checked earlier.”
At the voice mixed with laughter, Formo, who pouted his lips, asked again.
“You won’t tell me what the price is?”
“Ah, that.”
He swept back his hair and retorted as if it was no big deal.
“Everything just became tedious, that’s all.”
“Became tedious?”
Formo blinked his eyes and asked back. To have gained tedium as the price for becoming a beast-person. As Formo, who had never once felt the feeling of tedium, he couldn’t imagine what kind of state of mind Serdin was in. Was the world Serdin looked at boring?
As Formo’s face became quite serious while thinking such thoughts, a smile appeared at the corners of Serdin’s mouth.
“It’s okay now, Pipi.”
“…Why?”
Could the price disappear? Formo waited for Serdin’s answer with a subtle expression.
“Because Pipi is here.”
Serdin said with a bright smile he hadn’t seen in a while. Formo stared blankly at that smile, then shook his head left and right.
“It’s okay as long as Pipi is by my side.”
“Why, why?”
“Why, you ask.”
Serdin, who paused briefly, continued in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Because Pipi is brave and dignified, and even cute on top of that.”
“…”
“And when I’m with Pipi, there’s no time to be bored, so I don’t think about other things.”
At those words, Formo was at a loss for words. The reasons he gave were things Serdin always said, so to Formo they only sounded absurd. To not be tedious for such trivial reasons. It must be that Serdin had made up a false price to tell him.
