The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 4

Ruan Daen actually had little awareness that he had been possessed into a “fantasy novel.”

It was understandable, as it had been two years since Reinke, which had fallen after being caught up in the political machinations of the protagonists, was reclaimed from monsters. At this point, a significant portion of the collapsed castle walls had been repaired, and a system had been established where knights stood guard in places where repairs were still inadequate and dangerous.

Naturally, Ruan, who only stayed inside the castle walls, never had the chance to directly see the monsters that were Reinke’s archenemies. As a result, he had never seen the fantasy world knights using their powers to face monsters.

Moreover, when Ruan was possessed, it was spring in Reinke. It was a time when monsters were at their quietest, long before the winter when the monster wave would occur.

Therefore, while he felt that the usual lifestyle had a medieval Western fantasy world vibe, there weren’t many elements that made him realize he was in a “fantasy novel” world.

‘To begin with, “Tales of the Sirah Empire” itself was mainly a political drama about revenge leading to destruction, not a novel where fantasy elements were prominent.’

As a result, around two and a half months after being possessed, Ruan forgot that this was a fantasy world where anything could be possible.

Even when he encountered a massive cat over 1m in body length while walking, he initially thought, ‘What’s that? Some kind of spiritual beast?’ But then he laughed at himself for such thoughts, thinking, ‘What am I saying? It’s probably just an unusually large cat. A big-eared cat.’ He even tried to befriend it.

He even spouted nonsense like “I wish the Duke was a cat” just because the other party was a cat.

Of course, under the dark night sky, the cat looking at him seemed to understand human speech, and it felt a bit strange… but cats are inherently great beings, so such things were common sense to him.

Or so he thought.

But when he faced the Duke at work the next day,

Ruan Daen had no choice but to realize.

This was a fantasy world, and in a fantasy world, there should be a Neapolitan ghost story saying, “If something looks a bit strange, never just let it go. This is a fantasy world where anything is possible.”

Ruan followed the Duke’s gaze with trembling eyes as he received a report from the administrator.

The bracelet charm on the administrator’s wrist was swaying gently as he earnestly gave his report.

And the Duke, with an even fiercer gaze than usual… was following the movement of that charm.

‘What’s going on?’

The Duke’s eyes, with their strict, solemn, and serious expression, moved right, left, and right again, following the swaying of the charm.

With each movement, his pupils dilated and contracted repeatedly.

As Ruan followed that gaze, feeling tense,

At the moment the charm was perpendicular to the ground,

The ratio of black pupils in those sharp golden eyes suddenly increased.

Tap.

The tip of the pen the Duke was holding touched the administrator’s bracelet charm.

In other words…

Being captivated by something swaying, unable to resist and eventually attacking it…

Just like a cat.

‘What’s going on?’

But it seemed Ruan was the only one who thought this way.

“Eeeek!”

Startled by Your Grace’s sudden contact, the administrator prostrated himself on the floor and cried out.

“I’m sorry! Such an untidy appearance! I must have been out of my mind!”

The administrator, with trembling hands, almost tore off the bracelet from his wrist and repeated words of apology numerous times.

“That’s enough. You may go.”

Until the Duke, who seemed to lose interest as the bracelet charm disappeared from view, said so while turning his gaze to the documents.

“I’m sorry! Thank you for sparing my life! I’m sorry!”

Although the sight of the trembling administrator seemed pitiful…

That wasn’t the important thing right now.

As soon as the Duke finished speaking, Ruan shifted his gaze from the back of the administrator, who was running away after leaving a greeting, to the Duke.

Especially to the Duke’s eyes as he looked at the documents.

The pupils that had dilated like a cat at the peak of its playful aggression before striking the administrator’s accessory were now reduced in size.

Not shrinking into a round shape… but thin vertically.

‘What on earth is that?’

Even upon closer inspection, the vertically elongated pupils were a shape that could never appear in human eyes.

Rather…

‘It would make sense if they were cat eyes.’

He tried to remember if the Duke’s eyes had always been like that, but perhaps because he had been too intimidated every time he saw the Duke, he couldn’t remember anything other than them being threatening.

But what was certain was that, regardless of the past, his superior’s eyes now clearly showed a shape and reaction that could only be described as cat-like, not human.

And that Northern Duke, who was a figure of fear for everyone…

Had suddenly started behaving like a cat overnight.

Yes, like a cat.

The Duke that Ruan Daen had seen over the past five days was always watching with a grim expression, glaring with threatening eyes, or staring with a cold atmosphere.

But today’s Duke was different.

When he arrived at work, the Duke seemed to look at Ruan briefly before immediately turning his gaze away. And then he didn’t look at Ruan again.

The bewildered feeling of wondering what was going on lasted only for a moment. While Ruan was lost in thought about what the Duke’s suddenly changed attitude meant, the Duke began to use the time he had spent monitoring his assistant over the past few days on other things.

Like staring intently at swaying objects before grabbing them, as he had done earlier.

Or chasing after the shimmering light on the floor caused by sunlight reflecting off the ornaments in the office.

Or flinching when a bird flew close by outside the window.

Such…

Clearly cat-like behaviors.

‘No. How can a human be so cat-like…’

He knew this sounded like the doting of an idol fan. But Ruan didn’t mean it that way at all.

Of course, idol fans who compare their favorites to cats are surely sincere and full of genuine feelings… but Ruan was even more serious than that right now.

‘Is there any need to be that cat-like?’

This also feels like idol fan moe-fication as he says it, but Ruan really had no intention of moe-fying a full-grown man as big as a door.

Ruan didn’t want to think of a man who looked like the Northern Duke even from 100 meters away while doing a forward roll as cat-like.

He was starting to wonder if he was going crazy for having such thoughts repeatedly.

But as someone who had lived with cats all his life, and who, according to his mother’s testimony, learned to scratch his face with his foot following his older cat sibling before he learned to scratch it with his hands… Ruan couldn’t help but recognize the unique motions typical of cats.

He really didn’t want to think this way, but with all the Duke’s actions constantly overlaid with a semi-transparent cat image, Ruan was truly distressed.

And after a day of agonizing, when he finally witnessed the Duke’s eyes glowing like cat eyes in a dark corner of the corridor, just like the cat he had seen at night.

Ruan had no choice but to admit that the Northern Duke had really become cat-like.

* * *

Dietrich Reinke, the typical Northern Duke, had suddenly become a cat-man.

He wasn’t wearing cat ears and a tail like a cute girl in otaku media, but other than that, there was no other way to describe the current situation.

Faced with this extremely fantastical situation that came out of nowhere,

Ruan Daen finally remembered that what he had been possessed into was a “fantasy” novel.

Good heavens. I thought this was reality because there were black companies and terrible bosses.

Once he realized this was a fantasy world, Ruan began to get confused about what he should consider common sense and to what extent.

Come to think of it, wasn’t this a world with orcs, dwarves, and elves? Then what couldn’t exist here?

So…

‘Couldn’t there be spiritual beasts too?’

The cat he met the previous day suddenly came to mind in Ruan Daen’s confused head. A cat with an imposing atmosphere and unusual size that made one think ‘What is that?’ at first sight, difficult to see as an ordinary cat. And the Duke who had become cat-like the very next day after he said to such a cat, “I wish the Duke was a cat.”

‘This sounds too much like the introduction of a fantasy novel, but…’

This is really inside a fantasy novel.

In a world where humans have cat eyes and act like cats, what couldn’t happen?

He was aware that he was thinking a bit extremely after suffering all day from the cat-like behavior displayed by the stern and solemn-faced Northern Duke.

But it would be stranger to think rationally while your scary boss suddenly starts acting like a cat.

No, fundamentally speaking, in a situation where you’ve been possessed into a fantasy novel to begin with, what are you trying to solve with rational thinking?

In a situation where the line of common sense seemed to be crumbling, not knowing how to judge anything,

Even while thinking it might be too exaggerated, the only possibility that came to mind for the confused Ruan Daen was still that cat from the previous day.

‘Was it really a spiritual beast? No, how could such a thing exist? But if it really was…’

Because of me, Dietrich Reinke has suddenly become a cat-man out of nowhere.

What’s even scarier was that the Duke didn’t seem to be aware that he was acting like a cat. Ruan was even filled with fear at the grotesque sight of a solemn man as big as a door casually displaying cat-like behavior.

After spending a day full of confusion in a scene where common sense was being destroyed, Ruan headed straight to the place where he had met the cat as soon as he got off work.

How long did he wait there?

At exactly the same time he had met the cat the previous day, the cat finally appeared.

With its fluffy tail raised high as if it didn’t know its own grandeur, and its plump chest thrust out as if showing off.

* * *

The Duke was satisfied.