It’S A Cat, Adopted By A Wolf Family? [EN]: Chapter 11

“Cleed! What disrespectful language are you using towards the young lady!”

Sir Elliot immediately subdued Cleed. When Lord Jackal took half a step forward, the knights’ faces stiffened.

“Cleed.”

Lord Jackal uttered just three words in a flat voice. Cleed stopped growling at the heavy tone.

I wasn’t sure how influential the heir of the Fox family was, but he seemed to flinch at Lord Jackal’s and Sir Elliot’s scolding.

“I apologize, young lady. I misspoke.”

When Cleed apologized politely, Lord Jackal looked at me, as if asking if I accepted the apology.

‘Thank goodness. He doesn’t seem to think I’m a cat.’

Looking around, everyone seemed to think nothing of my ears sticking out.

‘I guess foxes’ ears stick out when they’re surprised too.’

I had bitten Cleed, and Cleed had apologized, so there was no reason to be angry anymore.

“D-Don’t do that again.”

I tried to act as if nothing was wrong, and Lord Jackal took half a step back again. Behind me, Theo and Deon were even angrier than I was.

“Hey, Cleed! Are you going to be rude?”

“Kitty, were you very surprised?”

“I was a little surprised, but I’m okay. But why is the heir of the Fox family at the Wolf mansion?”

Theo summarized it simply enough for me to understand.

“The foxes are in a difficult situation because of the panthers, so they’re temporarily staying at the Wolf mansion as a platoon. The fox platoon members are more sensitive to magic than we are, so they’re helpful.”

Sir Elliot apologized repeatedly, saying he would definitely educate Cleed. The knights who followed were all fox platoon members.

Wolves and foxes are known to have as bad a relationship as bears and wolves, so if a fox is asking a wolf for help, is the situation that dire?

‘I should ask my tutor about this later when I get one.’

At the very end of the line of servants who arrived a while later was a familiar face. It was Mrs. Lena, who had washed me.

“Lena. This is Kittyia Gridwolf, our youngest daughter. I trust and entrust her to you.”

Lady Caris explained in a much louder voice than before. Mrs. Lena wore a gentle smile.

“I am honored to serve such a lovely young lady. I’ll introduce myself again. I am Lena Gray. I have been ordered by the Lady to serve the young lady most closely.”

Most closely? I excitedly tried my best to keep my tail from popping out.

“So, does that mean Mrs. Gray will be with me every day?”

“If the young lady needs me, that’s what I intend. Please call me Lena from now on.”

“Yay—! I’m so happy, Lena!”

Lady Caris stroked my head, saying she was glad I liked it.

* * *

After greeting all the family members and saying goodbye to Lady Caris, wishing her well at the Grand Conference, I returned to my room with Lena.

In the meantime, all the wooden wolf teeth on the door had become dull. If the teeth are this dull, I can rest assured even if they suddenly bite my hand.

“Then good night, Lena!”

As soon as I entered the room, I put one foot on the bed with a grunt, but Lena stopped me.

“You can’t do that, young lady.”

Lena scooped me up and took me to the bathroom. Last time, I used the bathtub that the servants had brought, but my new room with the wolf handle had a large bathroom attached.

Wait, bathroom?

“Um, Lena. Are we going to take a bath?”

“Of course. You should always take a bath before going to bed, shouldn’t you?”

I hate baths! I hate getting into hot water and having my fur get stiff!

‘If Lena applies a lot of fragrant oil like last time, it’ll become soft and fluffy, but…….’

I clung to Lena’s arm, who was stripping off my clothes way in front of the bathtub, and acted cute.

“Lena, Lena! Can we sleep first and take a bath tomorrow?”

“No. Even if little baby wolves like the young lady don’t wash for just one night, they’ll turn as dark as charcoal.”

“Hmph…….”

If I turn dark, I’ll be exactly the color of a wolf.

I pouted, but Lena stripped off all my clothes with a merciless touch.

“People will be coming tomorrow to fit the young lady’s clothes. The basics of preparing to greet guests is cleanliness.”

“My clothes?”

“Yes. If you want to choose a hair ornament, you’ll have to trim your hair too. There’s no time, so we’ll do that tomorrow morning.”

Lena lifted me up in one hand, who had become naked, and opened the curtains to reach the bathtub. But something interesting was happening in the bathtub.

“Oh my, Lena! There are pretty bubbles floating in the water!”

“From today, it’s a bubble bath, young lady. The young masters got bath bombs for the young lady.”

Lena carefully put me in the water. Since there were soap bubbles shining in a faint rainbow color, there was no time to feel terrible about touching the water.

I love bubble baths!

“There’s also a squeaky duck toy here. By the way, why does it smell so savory in the bathroom…….”

“Le, Lena. Please wash me quickly!”

Lena quickly washed me while I was distracted by the toys and soap bubbles, all while nagging that I’m still too thin, so I should eat a lot of delicious things and grow quickly.

After washing thoroughly for a long time and applying fragrant oil, I was touching my chewy skin when Lena put a nightgown on me and chuckled.

“Young lady. The fragrant oil applied to your face is absorbed when you pat it like this.”

“Like this?”

Tap, tap, tap—

I patted my cheeks three times with my soft hands and looked at Lena. Lena kissed my cheek with a very satisfied face.

“You have to sleep quickly to grow quickly, young lady.”

Lena said as she covered me with a blanket after I lay down on the bed.

I think Lena thinks I’m a bean sprout.

I wiggled my toes, which were still throbbing because my toenail was broken, and suddenly thought of Cleed.

‘But why is there a fox platoon in the Wolf family?’

I couldn’t ask because I was greeting the servants earlier, but it was different now. Lena is old, so she probably knows a lot about the wolves’ affairs.

“Lena, Lena. I have a question.”

“But I can’t answer it. Because now is the time for the young lady to sleep.”

Lena mimicked my tone and stroked me as softly as a feather. Oh, I’m going to fall asleep like this…….

“Haaam— Lena, what’s the situation with the fox demi-humans [human-animal hybrids] that they’re at the Gridwolf mansion? I can’t sleep because I’m curious.”

Lena chuckled, perhaps because I yawned and said I couldn’t sleep.

“It’ll be difficult for the young lady to understand yet. The Lady will be assigning a tutor to the young lady soon, so it would be better to ask the teacher.”

“Can’t you tell me just a little bit?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the authority to do that.”

She said in a kind but firm tone. It didn’t seem like Lena would spill secrets just because I acted cute.

‘I guess she’s tight-lipped.’

I didn’t get the answer I wanted, but I somehow liked Lena even more. Lena seemed sorry that she couldn’t tell me the story I wanted to hear, so she asked slyly.

“Young lady. Shall I sing you a lullaby?”

“Ah…….”

I love lullabies!

I focused my hearing and closed my eyes tightly.

Prick up—

“Oh my. The young lady’s ears are really cute and perky.”

“Hehe, thank you. I really like my perky ears too.”

If I didn’t have these, I wouldn’t have been adopted into the Wolf family. Yesterday, I thought that the special power my mom was talking about might be my perky ears.

Lena stroked my ears and head at once with her big hands, making my body feel even more relaxed.

“Then I’ll sing it for you.”

Mom said this song was a lullaby that any demi-human would know.

A lullaby about the story of a goddess who disappeared from the world long ago.

I sang along to the song Lena was singing in my heart.

[The goddess’s hair flutters.

A bow in her left hand, a mirror in her right.

The cat diligently pulls the carriage.

A clear sky like a blue necklace.]

I was very proud to think that a cat appeared in a lullaby that was famous to all demi-humans.

Lena kissed my forehead, which was pulling up the corners of my mouth, and gently stroked my hair.

“I’ll be leaving now, so please ring the bell anytime if you wake up tomorrow or if you need me.”

“Okay.”

I answered sleepily.

The deeper I fell asleep, the more I felt the warm energy I felt from my mom enveloping my whole body.

* * *

Late at night. A small conversation began in the fox platoon within the Gridwolf mansion.

“Young master. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“Huh?”

Cleed belatedly realized that his reaction was not like his usual self.

“I trust that you know that the sooner you grow stronger, the sooner our foxes will become independent.”

“I know, so stop it. It’s not like I’ll grow faster if you say that.”

“I apologize.”

The fox demi-human bowed politely. Cleed turned his head to look at the ceiling and consciously thought.

He knew very well that his role was important in rebuilding the fox forces that had been completely scattered after ‘that day.’

Only after he, the next head of the family and the only heir, came of age and possessed complete magic could he take his comrades and leave the Wolf mansion.

‘But there are too many comrades suffering to wait until adulthood. And I don’t really like living among wolves.’

The wolves’ helping the foxes was not a simple act of kindness. It was the result of a calculation to help the foxes, whose lineage was about to be cut off because of the panthers, incur a debt of gratitude and then receive it later.

Now that the panthers are trying to pacify the world of demi-humans by using the magic of the Blue Moon, the foxes, who are sensitive to magic, are the weakest beings. But they are also the race that knows the most about magic, so they have become a card that cannot be easily discarded.

‘Jackal and Caris must have judged that the fox demi-humans will definitely be revived once the Blue Moon situation is resolved.’

That was actually the case. Even if they only smuggled out the foxes who had been kidnapped by the panthers after going crazy seeing the Blue Moon, they would be able to recover their forces to some extent.

So they thought it wasn’t a loss to give shelter and provide living expenses to the fox demi-humans who had nowhere to go.

‘I thought they were guys who wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t profitable…….’

Cleed looked at his slightly stinging right index finger. There was a small tooth mark that looked like a dot.

When they summoned everyone in the mansion, saying they had adopted the youngest daughter, it was a bit absurd. That was because he could smell cat all over the skinny girl Caris was holding.

‘All the servants must have noticed that the little thing is a cat.’

But what was even more absurd happened when they were exchanging greetings. When he tried to play a little joke, the cat bit his finger.

Her body was weak and she had no strength, and she was missing some teeth, so it didn’t hurt, but it was a bit shocking.

The emerald eyes, which had been trembling with fear, had shown a spark of fighting spirit for a very brief moment, and it was still vivid.

‘A cat doesn’t know how scary a fox is.’

Everyone is pretending not to notice, so she seems to really think she’s a wolf.

‘It’s so funny that I keep thinking about it.’

Cleed chuckled without realizing it.

“Lord Cleed? Is something really wrong?”

The loyal fox Ben asked once more. It was hard to say that he had been laughing and not thinking about anything, so Cleed said what came to mind.

“That cat.”

“Ah. Are you talking about the youngest daughter the Gridwolf couple adopted?”

“Yeah. Why did they adopt her? Gridwolf is not in a situation to create something that will be a burden.”

“Um…… Isn’t it just because she’s incredibly cute? The Gridwolf couple only have two sons.”

Cleed thought of Kitty’s hair tied up in pigtails and laughed once more.

“I guess so.”

“I heard she came on her own feet and asked to be taken in, so they must have felt sorry for her.”

“Her palms were soft. But Jackal Gridwolf is not the kind of person who would create a weakness out of sympathy.”

After saying that, something came to mind. Cleed recalled the education he had received from the butler when the Foxtein family was still intact.

It was the legendary story that the goddess had given a special power to the cat who pulled the carriage. The cat was also the only animal that appeared in the lullaby about the goddess’s belongings.

‘Maybe she’s not an ordinary cat, but related to the Blue Moon…….’

His eyes narrowed as he noticed something.