Chapter 49

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At the same time, Cordelia was calming the flustered maid.

In a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of the capital, the kidnappers were suddenly on edge.

"The cat escaped, you say...?"

"Yes, sir. When I noticed, it was gone from the cage in the next room."

At the leader's stern glance, the subordinate trembled.

"The lock on the cage seems to have broken."

"Didn't you check the cage thoroughly before using it?"

"Of course, sir!! But look at this!! The lock is warped!!"

The subordinate, trembling, presented a large iron cage that could be carried with both hands. Upon closer inspection, the lock, which should have secured the cage, was deformed as if it had been melted by fire, rendering the cage useless.

(What is this? For an iron lock to warp like this, it must have had a crack inside...?)

Even so, it seemed unlikely that a small cat could have broken the lock. The leader, finding it puzzling, ordered a search of the surrounding hiding places. However, no suspicious figures were found, and the mystery only deepened.

"Damn, this is creepy... But it's fine. We still have one more cat here."

Glaring at the subordinates who had made a mistake, the leader looked at the corner of the room. There, the cat with golden fur—what the kidnappers believed to be the cat—twitched its tail.

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When the sun had set and the sky was covered in a deep blue, Cordelia arrived at the outskirts of the capital, as the kidnappers had instructed, in an uninhabited place.

"As agreed, I came alone."

She spoke into the night sky. After a while, several men appeared.

"Heh, you're quite punctual. I didn't expect the fiancée of the prince to come alone."

The kidnappers held swords, showing no intention of hiding their hostility. One of them held a cage, and Cordelia clearly saw the golden fur inside.

"There were supposed to be two cats taken from our mansion, right?"

"Heh, don't get cocky. We left the other one as insurance. We wouldn't bring both here, you fool—"

"Meow!! Meow!!"

A cute meow, out of place in the tense atmosphere, interrupted the kidnapper's threat.

(The meow twice... So, Nini must have escaped as planned.)

Cordelia felt a weight lift from her chest. Now she could confront the kidnappers without hesitation.

"Hey! Shut up!! You're just a cat!!"

The kidnapper, visibly irritated, struck the cage. The harsh sound echoed, and Cordelia frowned.

"Stop it. That's disrespectful to the cat."

"Hah!! Respectful? You must be quite fond of your cats."

The kidnapper looked down on Cordelia with disdain.

"I heard that Cordelia dotes on two cats. It seems to be true. I didn't expect you to come here alone just for a cat."

"…If I had abandoned Nini and made the kidnapping public, what would you have done?"

"What could we do? It's just a couple of cats. No one would care."

"……"

The kidnapper's words were, in a sense, reasonable. In this country, cats are legally treated as objects. The severity of kidnapping or abusing a cat is far less than that of a human.

(If I had raised a fuss about a threat from Princess Femina, it might have been dismissed as 'childish mischief' or 'the cat just wandered off, and Femina didn't kidnap it.')

Frustratingly, to others, it would just be 'a mere cat' and not taken seriously. In the Wolfwald Kingdom, where many beastmen live, it would be treated as an object and nothing more.

(They must have kidnapped Nini to harass me and set an example.)

By kidnapping Nini, they were threatening that if they could do this to a cat, what would they do next? Outraged, but aware of the plan, Cordelia and her allies decided to turn the tables on them.

(When Prince Leonhardt told me about the plan to kidnap Nini and how to handle it, I was surprised.)

Leonhardt was not neglecting his sister, Femina. Through his investigations, he discovered that Nini was to be kidnapped to harass Cordelia.

"Stopping the kidnapping of Nini is easy, but if we do, there's a risk that Nini or someone close to Cordelia will be kidnapped at another time. So, we want to let the kidnapping proceed to a certain point and gather evidence. Specifically—"

Cordelia agreed to cooperate, thinking that if it would ensure Nini's safety and corner the kidnappers.

(For this, Prince Leonhardt had to pretend to be my pet cat...)

When asked to treat Prince Leonhardt as a pet cat, Cordelia felt a bit dizzy. Leonhardt didn't seem to mind, but it was a daunting task for her.

(I was also worried if it was appropriate for Princess Femina to pet him, even in the form of a lion cub...)

In the end, there were no major issues, and Leonhardt successfully pretended to be a cat. Although his ears were round, his limbs were thick, and his face was different from a real cat, no one questioned the explanation that he was a rare breed from the Southern Continent.

(Thanks to the Southern Continent...)

About 40 years ago, the discovery of a new route to the Southern Continent brought various spices and other rare items to this continent. Various animals and plants, such as the scale horse, a lizard used as a mount, which does not exist here, also arrived.

Among the nobility, keeping such rare creatures as pets is a status symbol, so Leonhardt, in the form of a lion cub, was easily accepted as a type of cat.

(When we learned that Princess Femina was visiting our mansion, Prince Leonhardt pretended to be my pet cat as a lion cub.)

Thanks to this, Femina and her group mistakenly believed that Cordelia kept both Nini and a lion cub, and decided to kidnap both.

Cordelia informed Femina that she would be away at Zist's mansion, and deliberately relaxed the security at her own mansion on that day.

As a result, the kidnappers, as expected, took both cats. Leonhardt then used his ability to control fire to break the lock on Nini's cage and helped her escape.

(Nini and Prince Leonhardt must have become quite close...)

At first, Nini was afraid of the unusual lion cub, but once she understood that it was harmless, they got along well.

Leonhardt, in the form of a lion cub, could communicate with Nini to some extent. Today, he told Nini, "I'll break the cage, so hide in the trees near the building," and successfully helped her escape.

Thank you for reading.

The next chapter will be updated tomorrow, Monday, at noon.