by misacchi
The announcement came on at exactly seven in the morning.
「Hello, university student volunteers. Did you sleep well? It's a clear and sunny morning. Everyone, get up, stretch, and start a new day. Breakfast is provided on the first floor…」
"Hey. Wake up."
Rudin opened his eyes when he felt someone shaking him lightly. As his blurry eyes focused, he saw a man wearing a flamboyant tracksuit with a chroma key screen-like bright green color and orange and yellow camouflage patterns.
"Umm… Hello, Calevik."
Rudin smiled slightly and rubbed his eyes, fidgeting with his hands. Compared to him, with his disheveled hair and a face swollen with fatigue, Calevik was perfectly prepared from head to toe, like a celebrity who had just come out of a shop.
Rudin, still half asleep, got out of bed as if possessed and staggered. Just as he reached for the doorknob, Calevik grabbed his shoulder.
"Where are you going?"
"Huh? I heard yesterday that we should come to the first-floor restaurant to have breakfast…"
Calevik was dumbfounded. This Snicat must be an idiot when he's sleepy. He grabbed Rudin and pushed him into the bathroom.
"Wash your face and brush your teeth first. Change your clothes too."
"Oh, right. Calevik, you're just like my brother."
Rudin, who laughed foolishly, went into the bathroom. Calevik went out to the veranda for a while so that Rudin could change his clothes comfortably. Compared to Cairn, this place was close to the countryside, so the air was very clear.
"Calevik, I'm all ready. Thank you for waking me up."
When he went into the room at the sound of his voice, Rudin looked as neat as usual.
While walking down the hallway after leaving the room, Rudin gave Calevik a long, unnecessary excuse, saying that he usually woke up early but had slept in because he was very nervous yesterday and had even taken a plane.
"But did you perhaps not sleep well yesterday?"
Rudin asked in the elevator going down to the first floor. Calevik suspected that he had dark circles under his eyes.
"Why?"
"You seem to have woken up too early."
The mattress was uncomfortable, and the people next door were noisy until midnight, but thanks to the physical labor he had done all day, he had managed to sleep fairly well. Even though he had slept a lot, it wasn't even five o'clock, so he had jogged around the youth hostel and even done strength training in the empty fitness room.
"I usually wake up early."
Rudin's eyes widened at Calevik's blunt words as he got out of the elevator.
"You usually wake up early? But you're still so late for class?"
Calevik only wore a brazen expression without explanation to that question.
When Calevik entered the restaurant, the eyes of everyone inside gathered at once. Sounds of admiration for his appearance could be heard here and there. Of course, there were also comments about why his clothes were so terrible.
The breakfast menu was bread and stew, bacon and boiled eggs, salad and fruit, and hot coffee and tea. Rudin's face brightened when he saw the tray full of various kinds of bread.
While eating while sitting across from Calevik, Rudin could feel that he was also constantly receiving the gaze of an unspecified number of people. He thought that the reason why Calevik came to school just barely on time or was late at all, even though he woke up early, might be to receive as little unwanted attention as possible.
"Oh, this is really delicious. What kind of stew is it?"
Rudin tilted his head. Calevik, who had been silently eating, opened his mouth.
"Kanakana."
"Huh? Kanakana? What's that?"
"A fruit that only grows in Aviria."
Rudin quickly took out his phone and searched for Kanakana. Watching him do that, Calevik felt as if he had time-slipped from the past and become an ancient person who didn't know what a smartphone was.
"Wow, it's true! 'It's a fruit that tastes like a mix of tomatoes and strawberries, with a high sugar content and a sweet and sour taste. Kanakana stew, made with potatoes, onions, carrots, etc., is a typical Avirian breakfast menu!' it says!"
Rudin's big eyes sparkled. When Calevik continued eating without responding, Rudin read more of the information he had found.
"'Red chick-shaped Kanakana cookies are popular as Avirian travel souvenirs.' Oh, I have to buy this when I go home! Calevik, how did you know this was Kanakana stew?"
He seemed to find it amazing that Calevik knew anything since he was so bad at studying at school. Calevik answered indifferently.
"I've eaten it before."
"In Aviria?"
"Yeah."
"I see. I have to take a picture and show it to my family."
While Rudin was excitedly taking pictures, Calevik briefly recalled his childhood.
Kanakana stew was one of his mother's best dishes. Even though many memories had been damaged by time and had become old and faded, the feeling of holding the red and fresh Kanakana that he had chosen with his mother at the market, filling his small palm, was as vivid as if it were yesterday.
"We'll probably only meet in the evening after we go to volunteer."
Rudin, who was blowing on the hot stew with a spoon, said. When Calevik didn't answer, Rudin swallowed the stew and continued.
"The construction site must be very dangerous, so be careful not to get hurt, Calevik."
The kind words of 'You be careful too and have a good day' were too hot to hold on Calevik's cold lips, and he felt like he would get burned as soon as he said them. Just arrogantly tilting his chin was the best he could do to react.
Even so, Rudin smiled brightly, curving his eyes.
It was a strange smile that made Calevik's heart feel inexplicably anxious.
It was amazing that the site felt familiar after working for only a few hours yesterday afternoon. The avian beastmen workers greeted Calevik with delight.
Today, the Canidia volunteer group, a country of canine beastmen, also sent some university student volunteers, who were said to be gray wolves and wild dogs, which are relatively large among canines.
The Aviria workers, including the Eagle Foreman, didn't know any Canidia, so Calevik had no choice but to act as an interpreter. As a result, Calevik suddenly became like a representative of the volunteers.
Calevik hated stepping forward and wearing an armband, so he wasn't happy at all, but he was the only one who could understand and convey both sides' words, so he couldn't help it.
After working for three hours in the morning, it was lunchtime. The Aviria workers said they had been working since sunrise. While eating the honey-like lunch, a wolf beastman volunteer asked Calevik to interpret.
[These people are asking if you are professional workers, not volunteers.]
[That's right. This is our job.]
[Excuse me, they're curious about your earnings. They want to earn money for a backpacking trip after taking a leave of absence, and they heard that construction work is hard but the pay is high.]
The canine beastmen's eyes shone with anticipation. The Eagle Foreman distinguished and explained the income for simple labor and work that requires skills. He added that they are Aviria citizens, so they work here, but if they worked at construction sites in Feladia or Canidia, where labor costs are much higher, their income would be more than double.
While translating those words, Calevik imagined himself, having escaped from the Alstadt Family, wandering in faraway countries and working at construction sites or on deep-sea fishing boats.
If he had only a healthy body, he wouldn't have to worry about starving. Even if it was a much more uncomfortable and shabby life than being cramped in an economy seat for hours and sleeping on a cheap mattress in a youth hostel, he could endure it.
If his skin was damaged and the luxurious feeling disappeared from his body due to the hard life, he would just look like an ordinary man who is tall and has somewhat distinct features. No one would know that he had grown up as the youngest son of a prestigious conglomerate family for nearly twenty years.
In a place where no one recognizes him, where there is no surveillance from that tiresome Charlotte, if he could live as someone other than Calevik Roshaff Alstadt, for example, as an anonymous man K.
If he could be praised for doing a good job just by carrying several bags of cement at once or pulling in a net full of fish in one go. If he could finish the day's work and have a simple meal without worrying about the two-edged potion and fall asleep without any thoughts.
If ten, twenty, or thirty years passed like that, and even his life or death became unknown, wouldn't the Alstadt Family get tired and give up on him?
[Work will start again at three o'clock, so take a nap until then.]
At the eagle foreman's words, everyone came out of the cafeteria and scattered. He wondered why lunchtime was three hours long, but that was normal at Aviria construction sites.
Calevik had nothing to do. The village where he was working was the most severely damaged area by the earthquake, so there were no shopping districts left to see. He didn't have a cell phone, so he couldn't search for anything nearby.
The only place he knew was the 'meeting place' within walking distance. Rudin would be at the residents' temporary shelter there. Since he had plenty of time and was full, it seemed like a good idea to take a walk.
While excusing himself that he wasn't going to see Rudin, he walked for a while when Calevik spotted a familiar silhouette approaching him. The anger that ignited in Calevik's blue eyes spread throughout his body in an instant.
"Young Master! Are you alright? You're covered in dirt and dust…!"
Bernard, with a look of bewilderment on his face, hurriedly ran to Calevik. It hadn't even been 10 minutes since he had imagined a life as an anonymous man K, escaping from Alstadt and working at construction sites and on deep-sea fishing boats.
The clever Bernard quickly realized that the tiger in front of him was extremely angry. How could he not know? The youngest master was a person who was in a bad mood much more often than in a good mood even on normal days. He cleared his throat a couple of times to shake off his instinctive fear.
"Ahem, well… you left the country without saying a word, so Madam is very worried."
"..."
"She told me to bring you back as soon as possible. I'll talk to the organizers…"
Bernard muttered, fixing his eyes on Calevik's broad and firm chest. When he trailed off at his master's ominous silence and raised his gaze, he couldn't help but feel the fear that he would be torn to pieces in an instant once again.
"Go back."
"Young Master…"
"While I'm talking nicely."
What would happen if he didn't listen while he was talking nicely? Goosebumps rose on Bernard's arm.
Bernard lamented why he was the only one whose back was broken every day among the tigers with bad tempers. If it weren't for the high salary, which was sweeter than honey and melted away all his hardships, he would have quit this job, where he felt his life was threatened every time, ten times over.
"Young Master. As you may have already read, I reported to Madam that 'it doesn't seem like this relationship will progress any further' regarding you and Rudin Greenwood."
Bernard said, reminding himself that fights should always start by attacking the weak points. Calevik's eyes narrowed sharply.
"And?"
"Madam is very puzzled that the two of you came to do volunteer work overseas together this time. She already hates Snicats very much, so she is very worried."
"..."
"So, if you don't return home immediately, I don't know where the sparks will fly, cough…!"
Calevik's large hand shot out in an instant and grabbed Bernard by the collar. A cold chill emanated from the close-up blue eyes. Bernard felt as if his brain was shrinking from the literally suffocating fear.
"Tell her to kill me."
A low, emotionless voice echoed softly in Bernard's ear.
"Cough… cough… Young, Young Master…!"
"Go back and tell her right away. Don't bother threatening me, just kill me. Getting rid of one Snicat isn't a big deal for that woman, is it?"
"Kgh, kh…!"
"If I see you here again, I'll kill you first."
He wouldn't be afraid of becoming a murderer. It would only be a matter of how luxurious it was, but whether it was a penthouse in Cairn or a prison, it was all the same as a prison to him.
As soon as Calevik released his hand, Bernard collapsed to the ground. Calevik glared at him with cold eyes for a moment as he clutched his neck and gasped for breath, then indifferently walked past him. His fingertips were still trembling with anger that hadn't subsided.
Was there no escape as long as he was alive? Would this tiresome surveillance and control only end when Charlotte and he, one of them, died? If he could, he wanted to extract all of the Alstadt genes from his body and throw them at Charlotte's feet.
The fact that Charlotte, who was not related to him by blood, clung to him while talking about the Alstadt bloodline was probably out of hatred for his father, who had brought in an illegitimate child. What was surprising was that the hatred burned fiercely without any sign of fading, no matter how much time passed. As if there was no other pleasure in life other than tormenting and tormenting Calevik.
by misacchi
As he got angrier and walked faster, he arrived at the meeting place before he knew it. The huge prefabricated building that the residents were using as a temporary shelter was in front of him. Calevik opened the door and entered with a face that was more hardened than usual.
Inside the spacious room, there were many square tents. The Alstadt logo was printed on the top of the tents. It seemed that the Alstadt Family had sent a large number of tents and air mattresses as relief supplies immediately after the earthquake. These small tents were the only resting place for the displaced people who had lost their homes overnight.
[Uh, this, goo… good?]
Aviria with a clumsy accent was heard. Calevik's head turned involuntarily at the familiar voice. About twenty children were gathered in a vacant space on the right. Feeling the heartbeat that had been pounding with anger slowly slowing down, Calevik leaned against a corner far away from them.
[It's good! It's very comfortable!]
[Please put it on me quickly too!]
[Me too!]
Some of the young children, who were not yet fully capable of humanization, had bird wings on their backs. Rudin was attaching Velcro tape, also known as 'sticky tape', to the children's tops that he had received as relief supplies from other countries, so that they could easily take out their wings without tearing their clothes.
[You, pants, big. I, cha… change? Will change?]
Rudin said hesitantly to a child who was wearing pants that were too big for his body. The child seemed to understand and took off his pants. Rudin wrapped a thin blanket around the child's lower body and began to mend the pants with quick movements. The children gathered around the sewing machine and watched Rudin's movements in silence.
"Okay, now it's all done… no. Hmm… [Finished!]"
When Rudin handed over the pants, the child quickly put them on. When the child, wearing clothes that fit him well, smiled brightly and jumped up and down, all the children around him clapped and cheered.
[I, doll, many. You, doll, like?]
When Rudin said that, the children gathered around him even more and shouted.
[I like it!]
[I want it!]
[Show me!]
Rudin pulled a large carrier that he had placed behind him towards the children. He looked at the phone screen and said falteringly.
[There are dolls I made here. It's not for sale, so you might not like it, but I want to give it to you. You can get hurt if you crowd around at once. I want to let the youngest person choose one by one in order. Do you agree with what I say?]
This story was too long and difficult, so it seemed that he had written it in advance using a translator. The children all answered [Yes!] at once and their eyes sparkled. Only then did Rudin smile and open the carrier.
[Wow!]
The children cheered. Relief supplies to disaster areas were mainly daily necessities and medical supplies, and even those were in short supply, so it was the first time they had received dolls.
As promised, the children kept order and chose dolls one by one and thanked Rudin. Rudin's dolls were all pretty and cute, so even the last child who received a doll was satisfied. Fortunately, the number of children and the number of dolls matched perfectly, so Rudin was very relieved.
[Sniff, sniff… sniff…]
Suddenly, someone was heard crying. A boy holding a teddy bear doll was sobbing. Rudin, flustered, searched for and ran the translator app on his phone. He tried not to use the translator as much as possible because it seemed to consume a lot of data, but he couldn't help it now. Rudin hurriedly held out his phone and the children spoke into it.
[His sister is very sick and is in the hospital.]
[He doesn't want to give his doll, but then only his sister won't have a doll, so he's crying because he feels sorry.]
Rudin's cat ears drooped to the sides as he read the translated words. He didn't have enough materials to make a doll right now, and he didn't have any light and fluffy high-quality cotton to fill it with.
Then, Rudin's ears suddenly perked up again as he remembered something. He looked at the crying child.
[You, airplane, good?]
At Rudin's sudden words, the boy sniffed and replied.
[Huh? Airplane? Yes, I like airplanes.]
Rudin quickly ran to where he had placed his black crossbody bag. After rummaging through his bag for a while, he returned to the children with something wrapped in clear plastic in his hand.
[Bear doll, sister. Rabbit doll, you.]
The doll Rudin handed to the child was a large Shubunny keyring that he had bought at the Feladia airport duty-free shop. The boy's eyes widened at the sight of the cute and fluffy rabbit doll wearing an airplane pilot's hat and uniform. The boy, who had been dazed for a moment, soon smiled brightly.
[Thank you!]
Rudin smiled brightly and stroked the child's head. Then, he handed out colored pencils and sketchbooks that FDS had provided as donations to the children. The children soon lay down on their stomachs and began to draw their own pictures. Some of the children drew the dolls they had just received from Rudin.
Rudin taught the children who couldn't draw how to draw simple objects or animals. He drew an airplane for the child who had taken the Shubunny keyring.
Calevik, who had been watching the scene, quietly walked out of the prefabricated building.
How did that harmless Pussycat become the basis for his stepmother's threats?
If Bernard had read the investigation report, he would have easily known that Calevik and Rudin were not in any kind of relationship. Nevertheless, Charlotte's intention in mentioning Rudin was clear. Calevik would never stand by and watch an unrelated person get caught up in his family affairs.
Calevik recalled Rudin's appearance, who was delighted that he had bought the keyring that was only sold at the airport and said that he had wanted it for a long time. Calevik didn't like dolls, but he would never have given up the keyring if it had been him. Whether the child gave his doll to his sister, or the two of them played with it together, that was their business.
Rudin Greenwood didn't suit him. His way of thinking itself was too different. If Calevik was a hedgehog, Rudin was a marshmallow. Calevik hurts everyone who approaches him, and Rudin has the opposite tendency to endure and consider others first, no matter how many scratches and scars are left on his body.
Even though he was so different from him, when he looked at Rudin, the solid lump that had been tightly blocking his chest, filled with anger, unknowingly loosened. The anger that had risen to the top of his head because of Bernard had also subsided. That was probably because of Rudin's unique harmlessness. Only a psychopath would hold a knife in his heart while looking at a small cat playing peacefully.
Feeling strangely restless, Calevik looked down at the watch on his wrist. There was still plenty of time left for lunch. It wasn't easy to vaguely kill time in a foreign land where there was nothing.
"Have you had lunch?"
Calevik turned his head at the sound of fluent Feladia. It was the Peregrine beastman Falcon. Calevik replied indifferently.
"Yes."
"How is the building repair volunteer work going? It must be very difficult, right?"
It was surprising that he, who was in charge of a volunteer group of hundreds of university students, accurately remembered that Calevik was volunteering at the construction site. He didn't know if it was because volunteers were rarely sent to construction sites as he said, or if it was because Calevik's presence was so great. Calevik replied briefly.
"It's manageable."
"I see. That's a good thing. By the way, what brings you here?"
"Lunchtime is too long, so I came for a walk."
"Is that so? Until what time?"
"Three o'clock."
At Calevik's answer, Falcon asked with a bright expression as if it was a good thing.
"Do you have a driver's license?"
"Yes."
"Then could you go to the supermarket in the city with my car? I need to pick up the items I ordered, but I'm in a difficult situation because something urgent came up suddenly."
He added that the supermarket was a fifty-minute drive from here, and all he had to do was receive the items from the designated pickup location inside the building, load them into the car, and return.
Calevik had an international driver's license, and the road traffic rules here were almost the same as in Feladia, so there was nothing difficult about it. Since he had plenty of time, Calevik readily accepted the car keys.
The disaster area was a small coastal city, and the place where the supermarket was located was the downtown area, which could be said to be the most prosperous area in the city. It was also not far from the youth hostel, which was the accommodation for the university student volunteer group. Following the navigation's guidance, Calevik arrived at the supermarket, parked the car in the parking lot, and entered the building.
It was called a supermarket, but it wasn't like a modern shopping mall in Feladia. The interior was more like a chaotic agricultural market. Still, it was equipped with daily necessities and other items.
Before going to the pickup location, Calevik bought cool ion drinks for the construction workers and chocolates for the children. On the way to the checkout counter, he saw Kanakana cookies and put a few boxes in the cart. He hated the fact that Bernard would check the card usage details one by one and report them to Charlotte, so he paid for the snacks with cash that he had exchanged in advance.
Cale put the purchased items in a paper bag and went to the item pickup desk. A kindly-looking woman, who appeared to be in her sixties, asked with a warm smile.
"Are you here for a pickup? What's your order number?"
"A-185."
"And the name of the person who placed the order?"
"Hestius Felcon."
The woman, who was quite small compared to the average adult, tilted her head.
"I know a Hestius Felcon, but who are you?"
"I'm a volunteer from an overseas service group, here on his errand."
"Then could you write your name in the recipient signature field?"
Cale, holding the pen, hesitated for a moment before writing 'Cale Henders' in the confirmation box. It was just picking up groceries from the mart, and he was really here on Felcon's errand, so he didn't think he necessarily had to write his real name, Alstadt.
"Cale, Cale Henders… are you perhaps from Feladia?"
The staff woman, seeing the name Cale had written, widened her eyes in great surprise. Cale, startled, furrowed his brow. The name 'Cale,' not Calevik, was quite common, and Henders was also an ordinary surname completely unrelated to Alstadt, so he couldn't understand why she was making such a surprised expression.
"Yes, I am…"
"Then is your mother's name perhaps Senyar… Senyar Henders? With light brown Jaguarcat ears like this…"
When the woman made a triangle shape with her hands and raised them to either side of her head, Cale dropped the paper bag he was holding to the floor with a thud. A tingling shock, as if he had been electrocuted, swept through his entire body. His eyes widened as if they would pop out, and he quickly leaned his upper body towards the woman.
"How, how did you know that!"
At that moment, the woman took a deep breath and reached out, grabbing Cale's hands tightly. Pure joy filled her face.
"Cale! Don't you remember me? It's Auntie Matilda! The nanny who took care of you until you were five!"
Cale's expression went blank. He had spent so many years dwelling on memories of his mother that it had disappeared from his memory, but there was definitely a middle-aged woman who had taken care of Cale all day while his mother was at work. The image of the nanny, who was a silvereye, vaguely overlapped with the woman in front of him.
"Martil… Auntie Mari…"
"Yes, that's what you always called me. Goodness, it's been so long!"
Matilda even ran out from behind the pickup desk and hugged Cale, patting him on the back.
"Oh my, what a touching thing! You were so small, and now you've grown so big. But if I look closely, you still have the face you had when you were little. You were so pretty back then, and you've grown up so wonderfully!"
Matilda, who had let go of Cale, even had tears in her eyes. Cale, who had never dreamed of meeting someone who knew his mother and him from the past, was still in a daze.
"You went back to Feladia, right? How is Senyar doing? She wasn't doing so well when I quit being a nanny."
Matilda asked with an expectant face. Unfortunately, Cale couldn't give her good news. But he couldn't bring himself to say 'She died of a drug overdose,' so Cale tried to be as vague as possible.
"I was separated from her in an accident when I was little, so I don't know anything about her."
"Oh dear! Oh, how did that happen! You must have had a hard time!"
Cale gave a bitter smile. Then, suddenly, he thought that maybe this person knew information about his mother that he didn't know.
"I was too young to remember, but do you remember the name of the neighborhood my mother lived in?"
"Of course. Of course, I remember. It's the neighborhood I used to live in for a long time."
Cale borrowed a notepad and pen from the desk and wrote down the name of the area Matilda told him.
"What about the name of the company my mother worked at?"
"Let me see… I don't know exactly, but it was a factory that made something like pottery or ceramics. The commuter bus came at eight thirty in the morning, so I had to get to your house before that."
There would be fewer factories than general offices, so it would be relatively easier to find. Cale quickly scribbled 'Pottery, Ceramics, Factory, AM08:30 Commuter Bus' on the notepad.
"You're trying to find your mother? Did you report it to the police? Did you put up flyers or anything?"
"No, not really… I don't have any pictures either."
Answering Matilda, who was looking up at him with a worried expression, Cale felt as dazed as when she had said his mother's name.
That's right. Logically, when a person suddenly goes missing, you do those things. You ask around among acquaintances, report it to the police, and make flyers with pictures and hand them out to random people on the street every day.
But Cale had grown up in an environment where he couldn't do that at all. The situation wasn't much different now than it was when he was a child. As he could see from Rudin's case, even if he just appeared in the front yard of the police station, reporters would swarm like hyenas, and eyewitness accounts would be posted on the internet every minute.
by misacchi
His adoptive mother said that his birth mother had left Cale of her own will. She said that she had made billions by selling Cale and was living well. His father said that she had died of a drug overdose, but he didn't know if that was the real reason.
Cale wanted to know exactly how his mother had died. Until now, he hadn't even dared to find out about his mother properly, but if there was a will, there might be a way.
Cale's meeting with Matilda was purely coincidental, and the Alstadt Family would never know about it as long as he didn't keep in touch with her. So he had to get as much information from her as possible.
"Do you perhaps have any pictures of my mother?"
Cale asked, trying not to get his hopes up. It was unlikely that many people in Aviria had cell phones that could take pictures 20 years ago. Even if they did, the chances of them still having that cell phone were very slim.
Matilda, tilting her head to the side and thinking for a moment, said.
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"I didn't have a cell phone back then, so I used to take pictures of you playing with a disposable camera sometimes, and Senyar might have been in them too. I gave most of the developed photos to Senyar, but I'll have to go home and look through the album to see if there are any left. How long will you be here?"
"I'm going back in 5 days."
"Then I'll contact you before then. How can I reach you?"
Cale hesitated for a moment. He had left his cell phone at home, and he was worried that Bernard would secretly look at his emails from time to time.
Then, a number that he had repeatedly memorized to avoid saving it suddenly popped into Cale's head.
"I left my cell phone behind, so I'll give you the phone number of a friend who came to volunteer with me."
Cale wrote Rudin Greenwood's phone number on the notepad and handed it to Matilda.
"When your friend answers the phone, say that you're a friend of mine and just say 'Found it' or 'Didn't find it.' Then that friend will pass it on to me."
"I'll do that. I hope you find Senyar."
It was a suspicious request, like something out of a spy movie, but Matilda seemed to think that it was because her friend couldn't speak Avirian. Seeing the familiar smile on her kind face, Cale let out a short sigh of relief.
It didn't matter if it took longer than he thought. His mother might already be gone, but at least he might be able to find out the exact cause of her death.
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Who knew, that alone might melt away the old indigestion that was clogging Cale's chest.
Back in the disaster area, Cale parked the car where Felcon had asked him to, turned off the engine, and locked the doors with the car keys inside. Felcon said he had a spare key and would use that to open the door. It was the first time he had seen a car key that you actually had to put in a hole and use, not a smart key.
He heard laughter from behind and turned around to see Rudin coming out of the prefab building with the children. They were flapping their arms like wings and dancing a waltz-like dance in the open space.
"Like this? Like this?"
"No, a little lighter and more graceful!"
Cale recognized at a glance that it was the 'courtship dance' of the crane species. Rudin had no talent for using his body, and his limbs were awkwardly clunking around. Several children who had transformed into birds were flying busily around Rudin.
"You're a hopeless klutz. How are you ever going to have a proper romance?"
A boy who seemed to be a crane species, with long, lanky limbs, said teasingly. Rudin, panting heavily from what he considered exercise, looked at the translator app again and replied through the translator.
"We don't court with dances in my country."
"Then how do you do it?"
"We say it. We say, 'I like you.'"
"We do that too. We're not real birds, after all. It's just that people who are good at the courtship dance are more attractive and popular. What are you good at, hyung?"
The crane boy looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. He seemed to be very interested in romance, perhaps because he was going through puberty. Rudin, catching his breath, replied in an unsure tone.
"Um… making clothes…?"
"Then you'll have to court with clothes."
"With clothes? How?"
"You make pretty clothes for the person you like."
"And then?"
"You say that if they go out with you, you'll make them more things like that."
Cale almost bit his tongue to keep from bursting out laughing. But Rudin didn't seem to find it funny at all, and replied with a very serious face.
"Then will the other person accept?"
"I would. People with skills will at least never starve to death. Besides, you're good-looking too."
"Really? You think I'm good-looking? Even with the cat ears and tail?"
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"What's wrong with that? There are a lot of people who like cats so much that they spend money to raise them on purpose."
"Oh… I see."
Being a real cat and having cat ears on a person's head were different matters. But the boy's confident words were strangely persuasive, and it sounded like someone as weak-hearted as Rudin would easily fall for it.
"You guys! Get inside and put on your clothes!"
At that moment, a middle-aged woman suddenly ran up to the young boys, who had become naked because they had suddenly turned from birds back into human form, and shouted. She scolded the children, who were giggling and running into the prefab building, saying, "Didn't I tell you not to transform into animals outside without permission?" The crane boy also quickly followed them into the prefab building to help them put on their clothes.
Cale, holding large paper bags in both arms, approached Rudin, who was left alone. Rudin, who noticed him, asked in surprise.
"Oh, Cale! How did you get here? What about the construction site?"
"It's lunchtime, so I ran an errand."
Cale handed one of the paper bags he was holding to Rudin. Rudin, who took it in a daze, perked up his cat ears.
"What's this?"
"Eat it with the kids."
Seeing the chocolates and cookies in the bag, Rudin raised his ears and tail high and smiled brightly.
"Wow, did you buy these? Thank you! I'll enjoy them."
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Rudin took a Kanakana cookie box out of the bag and turned it around curiously. Cale, watching him for a moment, hesitated and opened his mouth.
"I have a favor to ask."
Rudin raised his head sharply. A favor, from Calevik?
"What is it? Feel free to tell me."
"I happened to meet an acquaintance here and asked them to find something for me. But I don't have a way to be contacted after they find it, so I gave them your number."
He should have felt unpleasant that someone had given his number to someone else without permission, but Rudin owed Cale too much in his heart to feel that way. He was even happy that he could be of help to Cale in some way.
"Oh, okay. It's okay. When that person contacts me, I just have to let you know?"
"That person will answer with one of two things: 'Found it' or 'Didn't find it.' Just tell me that answer."
"I'll do that."
Rudin didn't know the details, but he didn't think that Calevik, the son of a prestigious family, would be doing anything dangerous like drug dealing, so he readily nodded.
"I'm going."
Cale turned around without saying thank you. After taking a few steps, he heard Rudin calling from behind.
"Cale!"
Rudin shouted to him, who had stopped and turned halfway around.
"You, you memorized my phone number?"
He was just curious how he had told his number to an acquaintance without a cell phone. But surprisingly, the tips of Cale's ears turned red. He left the spot at a fast pace without answering.
"What the…"
Rudin, tilting his head, realized that he was holding snacks in his hand. Excited again, he diligently moved towards the prefab building where the children were.
Until the evening of the fourth day of volunteer work, he hadn't heard anything from Auntie Matilda. Cale became anxious that she might have forgotten his request. He regretted not getting her contact information.
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Cale was sitting blankly on his bed in the youth hostel. He had a book open, but he couldn't focus on it. He was thinking about going to the mart to look for her if he didn't hear from her tomorrow when Rudin's cell phone, which he had taken into the shower, buzzed on the bedside table.
Could it be Matilda?
All Avirian phone numbers started with 040, so he could predict the possibility by looking at the screen. Cale got up and glanced at Rudin's cell phone screen.
「Leon M. Krueger」
"Huh…"
He didn't know that Leon's number would be saved on Rudin's cell phone. What could he possibly need to call him for during the golden holiday, at a late hour that was almost eleven o'clock by Feladian time?
A moment later, the vibration stopped, and Rudin, who had finished showering, came out of the bathroom. The dark navy pajamas he was wearing didn't suit Rudin as well as the cream-colored ones he had seen before. Rudin always looked good in bright colors.
"Oh, shoot…"
Rudin, checking his cell phone, took it and went out to the terrace. Cale's ears naturally turned towards the terrace.
"Hi, Leon. It's Rudin. Did you call? Yeah, I'm in Aviria. The volunteer work is fun. The accommodations are nice, and the food is good. Yeah. There are various fields, but I'm mainly playing with the kids or repairing clothes for the residents. I brought my sewing machine."
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There was no way Leon would be curious about the detailed activities of the disaster area volunteer work. Even if he was interested, he could just read the detailed reviews posted on the blog. Why would he call Rudin specifically?
"Oh? Calevik? He came with me, but…"
Rudin's voice became smaller. Cale's brow furrowed at the mention of his name.
"Well, I don't know… I think it would be better to hear about Cale directly from him."
Rudin was careful with his words. Cale wondered why Leon Kruger would ask about him. He and Leon had exchanged short conversations when they met at school, but they weren't close enough to contact each other separately on holidays to ask how they were doing.
"Um, is it okay for you to tell me that Bertha likes Cale? I feel like it's not polite to Bertha…"
So that was it. The puzzle pieces fell into place in Cale's head.
The Jaguarcat Bertha Mila Hindberg had made a surprise confession that she liked Cale when they were in middle school. She hadn't confessed formally since then, but she had always been hovering around him, from high school to college.
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Since Cale had gone on overseas volunteer work for the first time, she must have been worried and curious, but since he wouldn't answer even if she contacted him directly, she had contacted Rudin through Leon.
Cale's head throbbed because he couldn't tell whether he was annoyed by Bertha or annoyed that Leon and Rudin were talking on the phone so casually at night about such a trivial matter.
"Still, I don't feel comfortable giving out information on Cale without permission. Um, how about I ask Cale instead? I'll ask if it's okay to tell you that Bertha is curious about his recent situation. Maybe Cale will call Bertha himself. Wouldn't that be better for Bertha?"
As if. Cale covered his face with the book and snickered. He couldn't help but laugh as he imagined Leon's troubled expression across the sea. There was no way Leon didn't know that 'Cale calling Bertha directly' would never happen, even in a parallel universe.
"There's no way? Still, people's minds can change from moment to moment. I don't know Cale very well, but he might be more upset about finding out secretly through someone else like this than being told directly."
No, Cale thought that was a pretty good understanding of himself. He certainly didn't like saying things outright, but he found it even more dreadful to scheme behind people's backs.
"Sorry for being stubborn. Yeah, sure. Me? You can ask me anything you want. Haha, what's with all the hesitation?"
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Rudin chuckled lightly. It seemed that Bertha and Cale's conversation was over, thankfully. But the fact that the call hadn't ended yet bothered him for some reason.
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"Huh? Oh my god… No way. Cale never told me beforehand. I only found out when I met him at the airport on the day of departure. Are the others suspecting that I applied for volunteer work on purpose because I knew Cale was participating? Everyone's being too harsh…"
Rudin's ears and tail drooped powerlessly. The annoyance Cale had been barely holding back surged all the way to the top of his head. He shot up from his seat, seized by the urge to snatch Rudin's phone and yell at Leon Kruger to shut up and go to sleep.
It was then.
"Ah, Leon, I'm getting another call. Let's talk later. Yeah, get some rest and see you at school."
Rudin hastily ended the call with Leon and touched the screen to answer a new call. Cale's eyes widened with a glimmer of hope.
"Hello. Ah, [Yes! I am, Cale's, friend. Yes! Thank you!]"
Rudin hurriedly pushed open the terrace door and shouted to Cale, who was standing awkwardly.
"Cale! The call you were talking about just came! He definitely said [Found it]!"
The next day, Cale waited impatiently for lunchtime.
He had never forgotten his mother's face. However, he wasn't sure if the image he kept recalling was really her face. The thought of seeing her picture soon made his heart race erratically.
As soon as it was lunchtime, Cale barely ate his food and headed straight to the mart. Thanks to rushing straight from the taxi, he managed to arrive at the pickup desk before Matilda's lunch break.
[Cale, you've waited a few days, haven't you? My daughter wanted to see old photos and took all my albums, so I was a bit late because I had to go to her house to get them.]
[No, it's alright. Thank you for your trouble.]
[It's nothing. Here you go.]
Matilda handed over a brown envelope. Cale opened it with slightly trembling hands and took out the photos.
"Hiss…"
Cale clenched his teeth, feeling something surge up from his chest.
There were three photos in total.
A young and beautiful woman smiling brightly while holding a child who looked to be about three or four years old, a picture of her standing in front of a small house covered in pink climbing roses, and a picture of her and the child sitting next to a cute little Christmas tree. The child was, of course, a young Cale.
[Your mother was very sensitive to pollen, but she was okay with roses, so she rented a house with climbing roses,]
Matilda said quietly.
The mother in the photos looked much younger than Cale remembered, almost no different from Cale now. The young Cale was also completely different from the gloomy face in the photos taken at the Alstadt estate. His bright, innocent expression, free of any shadows, was closer to Rudin's.
[Thank you, really…]
Cale managed to say in a dry voice. Matilda grasped Cale's hand.
[I was really happy when I took care of you. I wondered if there could be another child in the world as pretty and smart as you. Your mother was also a very bright and cheerful person. I didn't ask, but I felt sorry for her, wondering what kind of man would make such a precious wife and son suffer in a foreign land.]
"..."
[I really hope Senyar is doing well and healthy somewhere. I've written down my phone number and address inside, so please contact me anytime if you need help.]
Cale nodded, his lips tightly sealed. He didn't know if these photos could be a tool to reveal the truth about his mother. But he felt a surge of emotion, confirming that the time and memories he had with her were not just his own hallucinations or delusions.
After parting with Matilda, Cale bought an L-shaped plastic file and a wide tape used for packing moving boxes at the mart.
He carefully inserted the photos, the memo with Matilda's contact information, and the note with the information he had heard from her into the file, and then put it back into the envelope. He repeatedly wrapped the envelope with tape, making it impossible to open unless it was completely cut with a knife.
When Cale returned to the youth hostel in the evening, he said to Rudin.
"I want to entrust you with something."
It was an excessively brazen tone for someone making a request, but Rudin, who was used to Cale's way of speaking, didn't mind it at all.
"Yeah, what is it?"
Cale handed Rudin the envelope wrapped in tape.
If he kept it at home, there was no guarantee that Bernard or the cleaning staff wouldn't find it. They were good at finding things in every corner of the house, even things Cale didn't remember bringing in.
But he couldn't entrust it to just anyone. After much deliberation, he concluded that there was no one more suitable than Rudin.
Rudin had a rigid sense of ethics that prevented him from carelessly sharing even Cale's trivial news, let alone secrets. Cale judged that he wouldn't secretly open the package and steal the contents, or spread rumors that he was keeping Cale's suspicious item.
Rudin tilted his head slightly as he received the item from Cale. Could it be…? He hesitated and muttered in a small, frightened voice.
"I'm just asking in case, but it's not really, like, drugs, is it?"
Cale stared at him with a blank face. He was so dumbfounded that he wasn't even angry. Rudin quickly continued, as if making excuses.
"No, it's just that you asked someone to find something for you, and then suddenly you bring this and ask me to keep it…"
"It's not drugs. But it's important to me."
Cale's expression was more serious than ever, and Rudin couldn't bring himself to refuse.
"Okay. I trust you. Until when do I have to keep it?"
"Until I say I'll come get it."
"Okay, I got it."
It wasn't big or heavy, so Rudin decided to keep the item without asking any more questions. Cale was silent for a moment without saying thank you, then moved his lips a few times and said.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
Tomorrow was the sixth day, the day they would finally have free time. Rudin, who remembered that fact, replied in an expectant voice.
"I'm going to the Aviria Costume Museum in Bird City!"
"It's closed for remodeling."
"What? The construction was supposed to start in June!"
Rudin, startled as if he had been splashed with water, quickly took out his phone. Cale said calmly to him, who was frantically accessing a portal site.
"It was moved up due to internal circumstances."
Rudin hadn't searched for the Costume Museum separately since his participation in the volunteer work was confirmed, so he didn't know that fact. After checking the information, he complained with a tearful face.
"No way… It's true. How did you know?"
"It was on the news last night. When you were showering."
"I see. Thank you. I almost went there for nothing. Haa… What should I do tomorrow…"
Rudin's cat ears and tail drooped down, dejected by the sudden cancellation of his plans. Cale steeled himself to pronounce that name, which was too embarrassing for him to say.
"Do you know Fantastic Magic Land?"
Sitting in his study and reading the latest papers on fashion design, Professor Eduard Neuer Löwe took off his glasses and pressed around his eyes. As he approached fifty, his eyesight didn't seem as good as it used to be, and his eyes tired more easily than before.
He went to the living room, poured himself a glass of his favorite wine, and approached the window.
As he gazed at the city's night view, where the lights of buildings and cars twinkled like jewels, he thought of his precious friend, who had passed away nearly 20 years ago.
Senyar Merhendes. She had loved looking down from high places. Whenever he drank wine alone on quiet nights like this, he missed her even more acutely.
Suddenly, old memories flashed through Professor Löwe's mind like a revolving lantern.
Senyar Merhendes, bright, positive, and energetic, was the granddaughter of the Pussycat employees who worked at the Löwe family's main residence.
Her grandfather was a gardener and servant, and her grandmother was a maid dedicated to serving Eduard's paternal grandmother, Madam Löwe. Senyar was the granddaughter their daughter had as a single mother, and after the daughter died in an accident, the elderly couple took her in and raised her. The three of them lived and boarded in the annex where the employees resided.
As a child, Eduard stayed at the main residence every vacation. As a descendant of a prestigious family, it was taboo for him to associate with lower species Pussycat employees or their children, so Senyar was initially wary of Eduard and tried not to approach him.
However, after accidentally exchanging words in an environment where there were few people of similar age, the two quickly became friends. Although Eduard was a Tigercat, he had been disillusioned with and opposed to the species discrimination prevalent in Feladia society since childhood, so he treated Senyar even more openly.
The two, who seemed to have nothing in common other than being the same age, surprisingly got along well. They grew closer each year, avoiding the eyes of adults, and after Senyar, who majored in early childhood education at university, came to the capital Cairn to find a job, they contacted each other even more frequently.
Eduard had come to like Senyar without realizing it, but he couldn't confess rashly. There was no way his parents or grandparents would allow him to become in-laws with Pussycat employees who were still working as gardeners and maids at the main residence.
Nevertheless, one day, when his feelings overflowed and reached their limit, Senyar said to him during a long-awaited dinner together,
"There's something I've been keeping secret from you."
"What is it?"
"Actually, I'm a Snicat."
Eduard, who had a keen sense, had suspected on his own a few times that she might be a Snicat. But when he actually heard her say it herself, he didn't know how to react, so he pretended to be nonchalant and replied,
"So what? You're just you."
Senyar smiled brightly and said that she thought he would say that, and thanked him sincerely.
That night, after escorting her home, Eduard couldn't easily fall asleep.
In this desolate and vast Cairn, where nine species lived mixed together, could a twenty-four-year-old female Snicat really live safely on her own? He shuddered at the thought of what might happen if even a little bit of pheromones that hadn't been managed by medicine leaked out.
Snicats, with their very small population, were rare in themselves. Also, as the only feline beastmen who emitted sweet pheromones, spending a night with a Snicat was considered a kind of 'fantasy experience' in Feladia. Even crimes of imprisoning Snicats and forcing them into prostitution were secretly taking place.
If they had intercourse without contraception during their heat, Snicats had a high probability of getting pregnant. In this case, the more superior the paternal bloodline, the more paternal genes the baby would inherit.
In the case of Tigercats, the highest species, more than 90 percent of the paternal genes were passed down, with the Snicat mother passing down only about 10 percent. This was in stark contrast to ordinary parents, who each passed down half of their genes to their offspring.
Wasn't Senyar scared to be alone in this dangerous city? Eduard was worried to the point of anger. It might be an arrogant idea, but he felt like he wouldn't be able to rest assured unless he brought her over and had her sleep at his house right away.
However, there were limited job opportunities in sparsely populated rural areas, and the birth rate was lower than in the city, making it difficult to get a job at a kindergarten or daycare center under good conditions. It was, of course, rude and foolish to blame her for coming to the capital in pursuit of her livelihood and dreams.
But he was also uneasy about leaving her alone.
Eduard decided to confess his feelings to Senyar first and then propose living together. If she couldn't accept that, he would at least persuade her to let him assign her a bodyguard.
It wasn't that he was looking down on her. Knowing that Snicats were the most vulnerable beings in Feladia, regardless of gender, he couldn't help it.
He firmly resolved to call her out to the best proposal spot and confess to her in style with a large bouquet of roses, but on the day he contacted her, Senyar said as if she had read his mind,
"Ed. You're not going to propose to me because you're worried that I'm a Snicat and want to protect me, are you? If you do, I'll never see your ugly face again for the rest of my life."
That's how the confession failed. As much as she had ignited an inextinguishable fire in his heart trapped in his thick chest, Senyar was, as expected, no ordinary Pussycat.
For the record, Eduard was not ugly, and he often heard that he was handsome. Senyar was the only person in the world who called him ugly.
After that, Eduard's feelings for her continued to grow, but Senyar's will to not accept his heart was so firm that he couldn't do anything about it and only burned with anxiety.
He knew how burdensome it would be for Senyar and her grandparents to associate with a man from the Löwe family who had been working as a servant for over 30 years, so he couldn't just push forward. Eduard checking on her safety almost every evening was the limit Senyar allowed between them.
A year after Senyar worked as the youngest teacher at a Pussycat kindergarten, suffering from heavy workload and low wages, Eduard recommended her to change jobs. He had just heard that Alstadt Electronics was looking for an assistant teacher at its in-house daycare center. All of the regular teachers there were superior species, but most of the assistant teachers were Pussycats.
Even as an assistant teacher, the requirements for application were strict. You had to graduate from a four-year university with a degree in early childhood education and have at least one year of experience working as a teacher in a kindergarten or daycare center. As difficult as it was to get in, the salary and benefits were very good. This was because she would be hired as a regular employee of 'Alstadt Electronics', the best company in the country.
Senyar accepted Eduard's offer and passed the final interview. She worked hard taking care of the superior species children of Alstadt Electronics employees.
Senyar said that the children were raised so preciously that she sometimes felt like she was serving them, but she was happy because the working conditions were incomparably better than before.
As those peaceful days passed and the seasons changed several times, her face became gaunt and her complexion gradually worsened. When he asked if work was hard, she only said no.
One day, as he was worrying about whether to give her some tonic as a gift, Eduard received a call from Senyar. She said in a trembling voice,
"Ed. Don't be too surprised. I'm pregnant."
As far as he knew, Senyar didn't have a lover. If she had someone she was openly dating, Senyar, with her honest personality, wouldn't have kept it a secret from him.
Eduard suppressed his shock and replied calmly.
"Who's the father… no. First, tell me if it's something you wanted, and if the baby's father is someone who can definitely take responsibility for your and the baby's safety."
He had tried to soften the words as much as possible because he had a feeling that it wasn't going to be the case. Eduard's ominous premonition, which had always been exceptional, was, as always, correct.
"He doesn't know anything. If he finds out, he'll definitely take the baby away."
The other person was a man who didn't know anything about her body's changes even after impregnating Senyar, and a man who would definitely take the baby away from her if he found out.
The short phrase 'the baby will be taken away' contained many meanings.
The man had no intention of formally marrying her even after time passed, or he was not in a situation to do so. If so, there was a high probability that he was a married man.
Eduard, who had watched Senyar since she was a child, couldn't imagine her having an affair with a man with a family by her own choice. If so, the other party was likely a superior species in a position so high that she could never resist, with power and strength that couldn't be compared to Senyar.
It could also be inferred that he was 'someone with such an excellent bloodline and a strong obsession with genes that he would never allow Senyar to raise a child who inherited his blood alone'.
It was meaningless to ask Senyar 'if she really wanted to have the baby in that situation'. If she didn't want to, she could have an abortion without anyone knowing, since the other party didn't know yet. The fact that she didn't meant that she had no intention of letting the baby go.
Most importantly, once a Snicat had an abortion, she would never be able to conceive again. The academic consensus was that because they were mutant individuals who were born so weak and unstable, their bodies remembered the shock of the abortion and activated a defense mechanism to prevent the same thing from happening again.
"Just tell me one thing. Do you love him?"
More than anything, Senyar's heart was important. What Eduard would say would depend on her answer. After a silence that felt unusually long, Senyar's listless voice came over.
"Not at all."
However, her following words contained a more firm will.
"But I don't want to give up on the baby."
It was a word that was typical of Senyar, who loved children so much that she chose the path of a kindergarten teacher. If so, Eduard had only one thing to say.
"Then that's enough. Senyar, marry me. You know I've loved you for a long time. I swear I'll protect you and the baby for the rest of my life."
That was the only way for Senyar to live the rest of her life peacefully without giving up or being deprived of the baby. Eduard was confident that he could love the baby as if it were his own, just because it was 'Senyar's baby' and not the blood of some unknown man.
"Ed. What are you talking about? Do you think that just because I'm in this situation, I'm going to suddenly tell you to take responsibility for my life? Is that all I am to you?"
There was anger in Senyar's voice.
Yes, she was originally this kind of person.
She had never tried to use or benefit from Eduard just because he was a son of a wealthy family with a good bloodline who liked her. She was always a confident woman who lived with her chest wide open, standing on the ground with her own strength.
Eduard loved that side of her more than anyone else.
"No, that's not it, I'm…"
His mind was eloquent, but his tongue kept stammering and twisting. Senyar said to the stuttering Eduard in a slightly softened voice.
"I'm really grateful for your heart. But that's not why I called. I just wanted to hear your voice one last time. Because I probably won't be able to contact you for a while from now on…"
Eduard's vision went dark.
She was thinking of disappearing while pregnant.
"Don't say such nonsense! Who decided that it's the last time! I'm going to pick you up right now, so stay home and don't move!"
"Ed… I was really grateful that you were my friend all this time. You don't know how precious you were to me."
"I'm really going to get angry if you keep doing that! I'm leaving now, so don't go anywhere and wait!"
"You have to stay healthy and well. Be sure to meet a good person and have a happy family. I'll live well too."
"Are you really going to do this? Hey, Senyar! Don't hang up, Senyar!!!"
That was his last call with her. When Eduard rushed to her house, it was already empty.
Senyar's grandparents, who worked at the main residence, also received a call at a similar time to Eduard. They said that they had circumstances and wouldn't be able to contact them for a while, so please don't worry or look for them until they contacted them later.
No one would be able to stay still with a comfortable heart after hearing such words as a blood relative. They immediately quit their jobs and searched the whole country for Senyar, but there was no result.
She disappeared like smoke, literally without leaving any trace.
At that time, Eduard, who had just finished his master's degree in FDS Fashion Design, traveled all over the country for a year after Senyar disappeared.
It was an excuse to broaden his horizons on design and recharge, but of course it was to find Senyar. However, even though he hired three skilled private detectives at the same time, he couldn't find her at all.
After that, five years passed. Senyar's grandparents sadly passed away one after another due to grief and old age.
Eduard was taking a doctoral course at FDS Graduate School. He should have forgotten by now, but Senyar still often came to his dreams and troubled him.
Was she even alive? Did she give birth to the baby safely? Would she have financial difficulties raising the baby as a single mother?
And, how on earth was she controlling her pheromones?
That was what Eduard found most strange.
Snicats without a partner had to take medicine to control their pheromones because they became very painful during their heat. To find the right one for their body among the many types of medicine, they had to undergo a complicated physical examination, and even if the medicine was determined through the examination, it could only be purchased with a doctor's prescription.
The private detectives Eduard hired to find her hacked into the computer networks of hospitals all over the country and dug up Senyar Merhendes' records. That's how they found the record of her last pheromone medicine prescription, and surprisingly, it was right before she disappeared.
How could a person not go to the hospital even once in five years? Had she really died? Eduard was just frustrated.
But then…
One day, her news came like a lie.
The person who told the story was unexpectedly Eduard's paternal grandmother, Madam Löwe.
While sharing various stories at her birthday family gathering, Madam Löwe suddenly brought up a thought that had occurred to her.
"Ed. Do you happen to remember a girl named Senyar? She's the granddaughter of Johanna, who has been assisting me for a long time."
Eduard was inwardly surprised that Senyar's name suddenly came up, but he pretended to be reminiscing.
"Ah, are you talking about that gardener Anton's granddaughter? I think she was about my age."
"Yes. She was a bit weak, but she was a very polite and sensible child. I don't know how well she greeted me. She was young, but she worked diligently to help her grandmother. Once…"
Eduard felt like his insides would burn black if he listened to all of his grandmother's reminiscences. He cut off her words at an appropriate point and interjected.
"Yes, yes, that's right. But why are you suddenly talking about her?"
Madam Löwe slowly said as she lifted her teacup and drank tea with a leisurely hand.
"Five years ago, she suddenly disappeared while working in Cairn. Anton and Johanna quit their jobs of forty years to find their granddaughter. I haven't heard from them since, but guess what, Senyar appeared a while ago. How happy her grandparents would have been if they were alive."
Eduard's heart was pounding like crazy. He tried to give the impression that he was asking purely out of interest.
"Wow… she was found after not hearing from her for as long as five years? What on earth did she do and where did she go?"
"I heard she's hospitalized at the Aviria branch of Schmeier General Hospital. Apparently, rumors have spread like wildfire that a very pretty Feladia person with cat ears and a tail is hospitalized there. But her body is so damaged, she's in a very serious state of malnutrition. Moreover, even when the doctor asked her questions to find out more about her condition, she kept her mouth shut and wouldn't say a word."
Schmeier General Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the country, had several branches overseas. It seemed that the news was conveyed through Madam Schmeier, the chairman's wife, who was a longtime friend of Madam Löwe.
Aviria, of all places. Why that dangerous place?
Aviria was a country of avian beastmen, where humans who had animalized into birds flew freely. The most notable characteristic was that half of the people living there were foreigners.
Perhaps because the tendencies of the citizens were so liberal and the proportion of foreigners was so high, Aviria was known among the countries adjacent to Feladia for having the most lax laws and the most unstable public order.
Eduard barely suppressed the urge to rush out immediately and said, "…Malnutrition in such an affluent era is surprising. Still, since she's hospitalized, she'll get better soon if she eats well and rests well."
Malnutrition can be improved simply by providing good nutrition. He hoped nothing else bad had happened.
Please.
"If only that were the case…."
Eduard Neuer Löwe had been exceptionally perceptive since he was young. And to add one more thing, the ominous premonitions he felt almost never missed the mark.
"They say she has some serious lung disease."
"..."
"Pneumoconiosis, or something…."
As if a flickering light bulb had completely gone out, Eduard's mind went dark.
Eduard immediately flew to Aviria and visited Schmeier Hospital.
When he entered the hospital room, Senyar smiled as naturally as if they had met just the other day and were seeing each other again.
"…Ed, you came all the way here. How have you been?"
As soon as he saw her bloodless face and her body so thin it seemed like it would crumble, a deep place in Eduard's heart welled up with heat.
Is this why you rejected my proposal? Just to show up looking like this? If you had stayed by my side, I would have pampered you until your cheeks glowed with a rosy sheen. I could have made sure you never lifted a finger. Even if it meant turning my back on the family, even if it meant losing the Löwe name, I was confident I could make you happy.
Resentment towards her for not even listening to him, the longing that had been just as deeply ingrained, gratitude and relief at being able to meet again like this….
Numerous emotions swirled together like a vortex, and Eduard couldn't bring himself to speak. As if she had read his mind as always, Senyar smiled.
"You look like you want to curse me out."
"You hit the nail on the head, so there's no room for excuses."
Senyar, who was about to laugh a little louder, coughed violently. There was a rattling sound as if something was stuck in her chest. Eduard, quick to notice, poured water into a cup, adjusted the angle of the bed so that Senyar could lean back comfortably, and handed her the cup.
"…Thank you."