Book 2: Chapter 9: Cats Paw Substitute (1/2)

There are three princes in the Kingdom of Ridill, but as of who will be the next king, the current king has yet to declare.

Currently, there was a strong movement among the nobles in the country to make the second prince, Felix, the next king.

After all, Felix had the backing of Duke Crockford's family, and his power was growing stronger by the day. If the power of the second prince's faction continued to grow, Felix would surely become the king.

That's why many young ladies from noble families have their eyes set on becoming Felix's fiance.

Compared to the unrefined first prince and the inconspicuous third prince, the second prince, Felix, possessed outstanding good looks. There were many girls who fell in love with him at the first sight upon seeing him.

For this reason, there were often girls wandering around the student council room, hoping to catch a glimpse of Felix. It's the same now. A few girls were gathered in a huddle, waiting gingerly for Felix to arrive.

As the girls gathered around, one of the girls approached from behind.

It was a student named Bridgette Graham, the daughter of Marquis Sheilberry.

Listed as one of the three most beautiful women in Serendia Academy, she coldly turned her beautiful face to the girls and told them.

”You're blocking me from getting through. Could you clear the way?”

With that comment, the girls dropped their heads in shame and walked away.

Bridget has excellent grades and has always been in the top three for three years in the academy. And she was particularly gifted in the field of foreign languages, where she ranked alongside Prince Felix, who has the highest overall score.

With her perfect appearance and family background, and being a childhood friend of Prince Felix, people around her naturally saw her as a potential fiance for Prince Felix.

Above all, Bridget was a student council member who had appointed directly by Felix. She was the only girl in the current student council that he had appointed. That was Bridget. A person that Felix trusts so much.

”Oh?”

Turning the doorknob of the student council room, Bridget furrowed her brow. The door was unlocked. She stepped into the room, wondering a bit if she would be the first one in today.

There was no sign of anyone in the student council room, but… she could hear a faint noise coming from the adjacent archive room. Bridget looked into the archives to see if anyone was working there… and was struck dumb for a scene what she saw.

One of the cabinets in the archive room was empty, and documents were piled up on the floor.

And at a work desk in the back of the room, a girl with light brown hair she didn't recognize was quietly reading a document.

”Who are you? With whose permission did you enter this room?”

Even after Bridget called out to her, her petite back didn't even budge.

”Answer me right away.”

Even after speaking in a strong tone, the girl still did not respond.

Just as Bridget was about to raise her voice even higher, two boys appeared behind her. Both of them were from the student council.

”Oh, so Miss Bridget is the first one to arrive today… What the heck is this?!”

”How could all the documents are… Um, who is that person over there?”

The tall young man with reddish brown-colored hair was Elliot, the secretary, and the small boy with light brown hair was Neil, the general affairs assistant.

Elliot looked at Brigitte and smiled a troubled smile.

”Uh, who's the girl over there? Is she one of your friends, Miss Bridget?”

Instead of replying, Bridget stared at Elliot with golden eyes that glittered like a wildcat's.

Elliot cowered, ”How scary,” and immediately corrected his words.

”Well, I guess she's not your friend. I mean, Miss Bridget doesn't have any friends…”

”From her attires, she's a sophomore like me… But I've never seen her before.”

Neil, who had been hiding in Elliot's shadow to see what was going on, took one step closer to the desk and called out to the girl's back.

”Um, excuse me. May I ask your name?”

As expected, there was no response, and the girl still silently flipped through the pages of the document, occasionally writing numbers on a small piece of paper and tucking it into the document. Her eyes were always on the documents, never looking back at them.

While Elliot and Neil were at a loss, Bridget raised the fan in her hand and… swung it down on the girl's cheek.

Pah! The girl's movements stopped for a moment as a flashy sound echoed.

Elliot and Neil both gulped and looked at Bridget as if they were looking at something terrifying.

In the midst of all this, Bridget unfolded the fan she had swung down and told the girl in a chilling voice.

”Have you woken up?”

”………”

The girl paused for a few seconds, but then began to turn the pages as if nothing had happened.

＊ ＊ ＊

——Ouch.

Still immersing in the world of numbers, Monica suddenly felt a strong pain in her cheek.

——Painful things are scary. And scary things are always depressing.

The more painful or scary the situation was, the more Monica's thoughts sank into the world of numbers.

Because as long as she thought about numbers, she will not feel depressed.

In the beautiful world of numbers, nothing can hurt Monica. It will never say horrible things or do painful things to her.

Hence, Monica, who felt a pain in her cheek, immersed herself in the world of numbers again, as if to distract herself from reality.

＊ ＊ ＊

This is baaaaad, Monica's completely out of her mind!

Nero, the black cat who had been exploring the school building, watched this scene from outside the window of the student council room.

He saw everything, including the part where Monica gets smacked on the cheek with a fan.

You can't! Slapping her is counterproductive! If you scare Monica, she'll get more and more lost in the world of numbers!

Nero has learned how to bring Monica back to her senses in this state.

——And that was using a paw.

If you give her a paw on her cheek, she will come back to her senses. For that reason, he wanted to get close to Monica somehow, but since the window was locked, he couldn't get inside.

Nero scratched the window and meowed.

The most petite boy was the first to notice Nero and shouted, ”Oh, there's a cat,” and the other two turned to look at the window.

Good, now my chance has come!

Nero sat down a little on the window sill then struck the cutest pose he could muster before squealed, ”Meow.”

How's that? It's my special move! Sexy dynamite pose with all my might! Now all the little girls are going to fall in love with me!

Once he strikes this pose, most humans should have melted into Nero so they would let him in.

In addition, I would let you groom and feed me! or so what he thought triumphantly like a spoiled child, but the lady with the fan said flatly.

”I don't like creatures who do nothing but begging.”

Meow… meow… meowhat!?

Nero was furious. Can this be allowed to happen? No, it should not be allowed at all. Because I'm so cute!

Who said I was only creatures who do nothing but begging, you little human girl! Let me show you how serious I am!

Even though Nero making a ruckus while stomping on the ground, Monica still hasn't noticed Nero.