“Ah… th-thanks.”
It was such a natural action. But Naro’s reaction was anything but natural. It felt like the touch of the hand that had brushed past his lips still remained. The hand lifting the teacup creaked and his head kept turning this way and that.
“R-Ray. Look at this. This crest.”
Naro, whose heart had become unnecessarily agitated, pointed with his hand at the armrest of the sofa he was sitting on. Inside the metal border wrapping the sofa, some kind of crest was engraved.
“It was also engraved on the outside of the carriage we rode. I guess it’s the crest of the Hernia Ducal House.”
A picture with something like a leaf drawn inside a round border. He didn’t know what it meant, but seeing how it was even engraved on the sofa, it seemed to indeed be the ducal house’s crest.
“Where?”
Just then, Ray leaned his body to the side as far as possible to see what Naro was pointing at. Thanks to that, the distance between them sharply narrowed.
Their shoulders pressed close together, and at a distance where their noses would touch if he lifted his head, Ray’s face was there. Naro slowly raised his eyes. The profile looking at the sofa’s crest was straight. Following the sharp jawline upward, he could see eyes that gave off a cool feeling.
Ray’s eyes turned to the side. He, who had been examining the crest, was now staring intently at Naro.
“Ah…”
Naro hurriedly lowered his head. Like someone caught peeking.
“What kind of picture is this?”
Ray, who hadn’t noticed Naro’s behavior, asked.
“Who knows. A leaf maybe?”
“It’s a bit different from a leaf though.”
“Right?”
The bottom part was round and blunt while the top part had a pointed end. At a glance, it looked like a leaf or water droplet.
“Or maybe it’s not modeled after anything in particular.”
While nodding at Naro’s words, Ray couldn’t take his eyes off that crest for a while.
After that, Naro and Ray waited endlessly for the Young Lady’s door to open. Hayla had already conveyed that they were waiting, after all.
But even when evening fell, such a thing didn’t happen. When Bern returned to the mansion later and heard all of this, he sighed and apologized, but Naro said it was fine since it was his own choice.
Even at the offer to serve dinner, not wanting to be a burden, Naro set up the next appointment and hurriedly left the ducal mansion together with Ray.
“Haah… Mellian really didn’t open the door even once?”
“No.”
Bern, who had come back in after seeing Naro off, ran his hand through his hair as if frustrated.
“She’s never shown this kind of reaction to people we’ve brought in before. Perhaps we should send that person away…”
Because Mellian’s reaction was more severe than what she’d shown to people brought in so far, Hayla added with concern.
“No, that’s precisely why I think that young man is the right person.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t the head butler just say so? That Mellian showed a different reaction than before.”
“But…”
“It’s fine. I know you’re worried, but we can’t leave Mellian like that forever. I can’t stay by my child’s side for life either. And… somehow I trust them. Maybe it’s just that I want to believe that, but still.”
Bern smiled with effort while staring intently at the spot Naro had left.
And Naro, who had left the mansion today without any progress, had just entered the inn.
“I didn’t even get to see her face today.”
Going up the stairs, Naro let out a heavy sigh. Ray’s eyes also sank accordingly.
“But I have to try as much as I can! I hope I can meet her next time for sure.”
However, Naro’s face, which had been gloomy, brightened immediately. Naro, who had raised his arm high into the air, was clenching his fist tightly.
A faint smile formed on Ray’s lips as he watched that sight. Naro may look fragile, but he’s not at all. Even when he could be gloomy, he immediately regains his energy like this and tries to move forward. The Naro that Ray knew was a truly strong human.
But making Naro’s clenched fists look futile, the two were turned away at the door the next time as well.
Like before, they said they would wait, but Mellian didn’t show herself once until evening came. This time, the Young Lady’s physical condition suddenly worsening also played a part. It seemed she’d had a fever since morning.
Ray thought deeply while watching Naro leave the mansion with a gloomy face again. If this was going to make Naro make such an expression, it seemed there was no choice but to drag out that human woman by force.
But Ray immediately shook his head. Even if he did that, it didn’t seem like Naro would be happy.
“This is the third time today.”
Naro fidgeted with his hands continuously, perhaps a bit nervous. This path riding in the carriage had now become familiar.
“Naro, it’s okay.”
Ray, who had been thinking that if it really didn’t work out they could just quit, didn’t bother bringing up those words. He wanted to respect the work Naro wanted to do.
“Yeah, I said I wouldn’t give up.”
Receiving Ray’s encouragement, Naro slowly got off the carriage.
But something about the atmosphere was strange. The ducal house’s mansion, which always showed off a quiet and orderly atmosphere, was particularly noisy today.
For some reason, several servants had come out of the mansion and were walking around outside.
“Is something going on?”
“Who knows.”
Naro grabbed a servant passing by and asked if something had happened at the mansion. The mansion servants also seemed to recognize Naro and Ray’s faces and opened their mouths without hesitation.
“The cat the Young Lady raises has disappeared.”
“A cat?”
Come to think of it, on the day he first came to this mansion and entered the Young Lady’s room, he remembered seeing a cat sitting quietly by her side, swishing its tail gently.
According to what he heard, the Young Lady usually cherished that cat quite a bit. But unavoidably, during today’s mansion cleaning, it seemed to have gone outside through the gap when the door was briefly left open, the servant explained with an urgent face.
“Pin!”
Just then, a familiar voice was heard from not far away. Naro and Ray’s gazes turned there simultaneously. Mellian had come outside and was looking around various places near the mansion while shouting. The Young Lady, who supposedly didn’t come out of her room often, was coming outside to search for that cat.
“Um, you two came to see the Young Lady today, right?”
The servant who had explained the situation asked back.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“It would be best if you went back for today. As you can see, the mansion is in chaos because of the missing cat.”
The servant said that and left immediately.
Certainly, as that servant said, on a chaotic day like today, let alone having a conversation with the Young Lady, it might be difficult to even enter the mansion.
“…”
Even so, Naro’s steps didn’t easily move away. At the end of his gaze was Mellian, desperately searching for the cat with a pale face while breaking into a cold sweat.
Just then, a cold wind blew. Mellian hunched her body and burst into a big cough. But even while pouring out small coughs, she didn’t stop calling the cat’s name at the top of her voice.
“You know, Ray.”
“Shall we look for it?”
“Huh? How did you know I was going to say that?”
Naro’s eyes widened. He had been about to suggest that they also help search together, but Ray had read his thoughts exactly, as if he could see right through his head.
“Just. Somehow I thought Naro would think that way. And if we find that cat first, we can also show off to that stubborn human.”
“Ray, your Imperial language is improving day by day.”
Of course, Naro hadn’t thought that far with such materialistic thinking, but as Ray said, they might be able to score points with Mellian. Naro approached that servant from earlier and asked if they could also help search for the cat. The servant readily nodded, saying they wanted to borrow anyone’s hands right now.
“Then where should we start looking…”
Naro slowly looked around the vast mansion grounds. According to what he’d heard from the servants, it was a cat with mixed black and white fur. But the mansion was so large that he worried whether they could even find it. He could understand to some degree why the servants, despite having all rushed out, hadn’t found the lost cat.
“Huh? Ray. Where are you going?”
Just then, Ray strode somewhere and tapped a servant.
“If there’s anything the cat used, I’d like you to give me anything.”
“Pardon?”
“Quickly. Don’t you want to find the cat?”
“Ah, just a moment.”
The servant who received Ray’s request, though flustered, quickly entered the mansion. In the hands of the servant who returned after a moment was a small handkerchief. It was an item the Young Lady’s cat frequently wore.
“But why this…”
Ray received the item from the servant and approached Naro again. Watching him put his nose to the handkerchief and smell it, Naro clapped his hands together.
“Can you tell by the smell?”
“Probably.”
Ray stopped smelling the handkerchief and this time began sniffing at the air. Naro followed behind Ray, who moved his steps as if possessed by something.
Ray was a dragon. It was natural that his senses were twice as developed as humans. Perhaps Ray really might be able to pinpoint that cat’s location.
