Chapter 6

However, the door that usually opened quickly remained quietly shut.

*What’s going on?* While Adrian tilted his head in confusion—

“……ay! You can’t!”

After what sounded like a clattering commotion inside, the door swung wide open. And the person who popped right out of the house was……

“Hello!”

“……Oh?”

It was a little lady with pure white silver hair tied neatly into pigtails. Her deep blue eyes were wide and round as she stared blankly up at Adrian. She was definitely a little girl he had never seen before. ……Yet, she curiously seemed to have an immense fondness for him.

‘Does this kid know me?’

Right as Adrian met the little girl’s gaze with a bewildered face—

“May! I told you that you shouldn’t come out—.”

Sabina came rushing out of the doorway. Her violet hair, which she usually kept neatly arranged, was completely disheveled and a total mess.

“……Sabina?” Adrian called out to her in a dumbfounded voice.

“Ah.”

At the same time, Sabina froze entirely like ice.

‘That fortress-like Sabina is showing such a disheveled appearance?’

While Adrian was floundering in his state of shock, his hem was suddenly and gently tugged from below. Lowering his head, he saw the little girl from before beaming with a bright smile. And then.

“I’m May!”

She leaned right in and gave Adrian a tight hug. The way she hung onto him was just like a koala clinging to a tree, causing Adrian to unconsciously stroke the little girl’s head.

“Haha…… Hello. I appreciate the love, but.” Adrian subtly lifted his head. His green eyes swirled with pure helplessness as he looked at Sabina. “Um…… Sabina? Could you please explain what on earth is going on here……?”

***

Right before Adrian’s visit.

Sabina had gripped my hands tightly, giving me strict instructions.

“Listen carefully. The Hero is coming today, so you must stay quietly inside this room, May.”

“Yes!”

When I nodded my head vigorously, Sabina’s face instantly filled with anxiety.

‘Tsk.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly. As expected, my sister knew me far too well. It was obvious she had realized there wasn’t a single shred of sincerity in my response.

“Can’t you just change back into a cat altogether?”

“No!”

“Ha, when did you become so stubborn?”

Sabina pressed a hand to her forehead as if she were getting a headache. But……

‘To make Sister and Adrian close, I have to humanize first!’

This was a judgment call based entirely on my experiences from my past life, thank you very much. The story went roughly like this: when we had first settled in the capital, Adrian and Sabina were completely awkward around each other.

“Um, Sabina?”

“If you have nothing to say, please do not needlessly call my name.”

My sister would bristle up her thorns like a hedgehog every single time, and Adrian would do nothing but walk on eggshells around her. At first, I had merely observed the atmosphere between the two from the sidelines, but we couldn’t go on living in such discomfort forever.

Unable to watch any longer, I had brought them toys, and I even bit the hems of their clothes to drag them into sitting side by side. I had even thrown away my pride to act cute for Adrian, but……

‘Still, a cat’s body had its clear limitations.’

Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t understand my sister’s feelings. She had always told me that mages who possessed familiars capable of humanization were incredibly rare, so I must never let anyone discover my existence. People associated mages with familiars, but regardless of that fame, only a small handful of mages with exceptional mana affinity could ever contract a familiar. Therefore, the mere fact that she had formed a familiar contract meant she was a highly gifted mage.

‘And my sister hates drawing attention from others.’

Even so, Adrian was someone who could be trusted. In my past life, I had eventually ended up exposing my humanized form to him. Looking at my frozen, utterly tensed self, he had……

“Wow, May! You’re truly amazing!”

He had given me a bright smile. With a pure face completely devoid of any hidden intentions or greed.

‘Which means it’s totally fine!’

Above all, if he met me as ‘Human Maybel’ from the very beginning, how would Adrian ever know that I was also ‘Cat Maybel’? It perfectly aligned with Sabina’s goal of hiding my identity as a ‘familiar’ anyway!

With the sharp eyes of a hawk, I watched my sister leave the room with an expression of deep suspicion. And then.

‘An opening!’

I bolted out through the half-open door.

“May?!”

My horrified sister called out to me from behind.

‘Sorry, Sister!’

Even though I wasn’t a cat right now, a few of my feline instincts were still very much alive! Running toward the entrance as swiftly as a cat, I threw the door wide open.

The moment the door opened, warm sunlight poured in dazzlingly. And basking in that sunlight was the man himself……

“……Oh?”

Above his well-defined forehead, his gorgeous blond hair was disheveled as if spun from strands of pure gold. The eyes looking down at me were a deep green, resembling a lush forest. A man who was like a warm spring, who had been kind to my sister and me throughout his entire life.

Adrian’s eyes widened in surprise upon seeing me. His vibrant appearance looked completely disconnected from the tragedy he had suffered before my regression, and so—

“Adrian!”

I had no choice but to hug him tightly.

***

“She’s my sister.”

Firmly holding the hand of the little troublemaker who had successfully broken out, Sabina spoke resolutely.

“Your sister?”

Was Sabina not someone who lived entirely alone with just her cat? Noticing Adrian’s bewildered gaze, Sabina declared with a face so stiff that not even a single needle could pierce it.

“My younger cousin.”

“Uh……”

To be completely honest, they didn’t seem to share a single resembling feature, but since she was being so incredibly firm, he had nothing to say. Adrian nodded his head readily.

‘By the way, this is……’

Once his fluster faded, he found this entire situation rather amusing. There was the flustered appearance of Sabina, who had always acted so rigidly toward him, not to mention this little lady who was treating him with immense familiarity for some unknown reason. If the house, which used to carry a strangely chilly air, had turned a bit more bustling and warm……

‘Is it just my imagination?’

Adrian suppressed a chuckle. Then, he struck up a conversation with the little girl in front of him in a relaxed voice.

“Did you say your name is Maybel?”

The lovely little child nodded her head rapidly. Her silver pigtails fluttered up and down along with her energetic nods. At that moment, Adrian felt a subtle sense of mismatch.

“Come to think of it, Sabina. That cat from before.” His green gaze drifted toward Sabina. “Isn’t the cat’s name May too?”

In that instant, Sabina and Maybel stiffened their shoulders in unison.

‘Sister, do something!’

‘Seriously, this is exactly why I told you not to come out!’

Exchanging a frantic look with Maybel, Sabina straightened her back. Then, pretending as if nothing were amiss, she opened her mouth.

“……It’s because I named the cat after Maybel.”

“You named your cat…… after your younger cousin?” Adrian’s expression turned ambiguous.

But Sabina didn’t even bat an eyelash. “Yes. Because she is a cousin I treasure deeply.”

“Is that so?” Adrian nodded his head without much suspicion.

Following that.

“By the way, where is May?”

He was referring to Cat May this time. Cold sweat rolled down Sabina’s back.

“She went out for a walk.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Adrian didn’t seem to give it much thought, letting the matter drop there. After all, it was a common occurrence for Maybel to regularly venture outside under the guise of patrolling her territory.

Seizing the opportunity, Sabina quickly shifted the subject.

“So, what brings you all the way here today?”

“Ah, well……”

Adrian subtly avoided her gaze. Sabina stared blankly at him, the outer corners of her eyes beginning to tilt higher and higher.

“Come to think of it, I heard you went out for a monster subjugation campaign recently.”

“Um, Sabina?”

“Don’t tell me you ran amok all by yourself like a wild colt again this time?”

“A—A wild colt……” Adrian chewed on the blunt expression with a slightly wounded face.

But Sabina was merciless.

“Honestly. I treat you, only for you to get hurt again, and again, and again……” Sabina crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side. “At this point I’m honestly curious how far you intend to work me to death.”