It’S A Cat, Adopted By A Wolf Family? [EN]: Chapter 15

Just as the wolf knights, pressed tightly against the wall, were subtly preparing to strike, someone exclaimed, “Kya!”

It was Mrs. Weila, the female designer, who stood at the very front, gazing at me with adoring eyes.

“What an absolutely lovely young lady! I will tailor clothes for you with all my heart.”

Her husband, Mr. Weila, standing beside her, was equally pleased by his wife’s happiness.

“If my wife says so, then I will do my best as well. It’s an honor, Lady Gridwolf.”

Hmph, these wolves.

They really only have eyes for their wives. Sir Jackal was always glued to Caris, though with an indifferent face.

Most of the atelier staff behind the designer seemed to like me, but I wasn’t about to let my guard down. They might simply be echoing the opinions of the Weila couple, who were the bosses.

I’m still small, so I must look like a toy to the wolves. Of course, the Gridwolf family cherishes me, but there’s no guarantee that other wolves will too.

“Well, then… shall we call you Lady Kittia?”

“Yes, you can!”

When I answered, Mrs. Weila patted her husband’s shoulder and exclaimed, “The doll is talking! No, she’s speaking!” while stamping her feet.

A doll to a cat whose fangs have grown to the size of rice grains. She doesn’t yet know how scary cats can be.

Mrs. Weila knelt in front of me and moved the measuring tape here and there to take my measurements. I helped her by raising and lowering my arms as she instructed.

“I’ve taken all the measurements. I’ll show you samples of clothes that would suit your, um, petite figure.”

A petite figure. She must have been struggling to find a polite way to say ‘tiny’.

I was in human form now, but I was definitely smaller than the wolves my age. I also couldn’t eat much…

“Thank you, Mrs. Weila.”

Mrs. Weila patted her husband’s shoulder again, then, noticing Mrs. Grey and the knights, apologized for being so frivolous.

A little later, three large trunks arrived along with orange juice for me to drink.

The Weila couple began to take out the clothes from the trunks and display them with swift hands. I sipped my orange juice and watched the scene.

“Wow… Lena, look at those. They’re so cute!”

“I heard that Mrs. Weila makes those doll clothes sets as a hobby. They’re made with real jewels and expensive fabrics, but I guess they didn’t sell well to wealthy people.”

“But I won’t be able to carry a doll that fits those clothes. The doll would be as big as me!”

Lena took the orange juice cup I had finished and gave me a kind smile.

“Mrs. Weila wants you to wear those clothes. I thought it was just a suggestion, but seeing the pretty clothes makes me think differently.”

Just by looking at the glittering decorations and elaborate embroidery, I could tell how much care the Weila couple had put into making those clothes.

It’s a bit embarrassing to wear clothes made to fit a doll, but this time, I was glad that I was small.

As Mr. Weila was finishing up the display of clothes with neat hands, Mrs. Weila came in front of me and lowered her posture.

“Lady, how about trying on all those clothes?”

“All of them?”

“You would look so lovely…”

Mrs. Weila couldn’t take her eyes off me, giving me the same adoring smile that Theo and Deon always gave me.

“Lady, do you have any preferred designs? How about pants? It’s trendy among ladies these days to tailor riding breeches.”

I imagined myself wearing pants. It would be comfortable and nice usually, but it would be a disaster if my tail accidentally popped out.

‘I can hide my tail inside a skirt, but not pants!’

If my tail popped out while I was wearing pants, my butt would look like a duck’s.

I shook my head.

“I’d prefer a skirt. The more frills and the fuller, the better.”

That way, it would be easier to hide my tail. I should also buy a hat to cover my ears, which could pop out at any time.

Fortunately, Mrs. Weila treated me like an adult. She let me touch several fabrics and choose the material I wanted, and she carefully asked what kind of activities I usually did.

“Lady, do you have a favorite color?”

“I like the color of a ripe peach.”

“Oh, my… how wonderful that you like the color of a ripe peach.”

“…?”

“Ahem, I’m sorry. Then, how about this kind of velvet… Kya!”

As I was looking at the velvet this way and that, I accidentally touched Mrs. Weila’s hand, and a blissful voice flowed from her.

“Lady, your hands are so soft! You would look so cute wearing white lace gloves or red knitted gloves.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Madam.”

“You are really something— oh my.”

Mrs. Weila, who had been holding her hands together as if praying, noticed something and hurriedly stood up.

Sir Jackal and Sir Elliot, carrying a pile of documents, were walking over from afar.

Hanging from Sir Jackal’s sturdy arms were Theo and Deon, who had said they couldn’t come out of their rooms because they had to study today.

To be exact, Theo and Deon were grabbing Sir Jackal’s arms and wouldn’t let go.

“Father, that’s unfair!”

“You’re making us study and then trying to watch Kittia’s fashion show by yourself!”

“She’s my daughter. If you’re upset, get married and have a daughter too.”

Sir Jackal, after receiving greetings from the designers, sat on the sofa more confidently than anyone else. Theo and Deon also took a seat each.

The three of them sitting side by side on the sofa made the mannequins wearing men’s suits suddenly look shabby.

“Brothers! And Sir Jackal too!”

I waved my hand lightly to greet them. At that moment, Mr. Weila, who had been watching me, seemed to remember something, and his eyes sparkled.

“Indeed, you must try on the gloves…”

While the Weila couple were instructing the atelier’s apprentices, I got to see the accessory samples.

They were all for adults and looked very expensive with large brooches and decorations.

The employee guarding the accessories didn’t seem to be very close to the Weila couple, as she stared at me instead of joining their emergency meeting.

When our eyes met for about 3 seconds, a pretty but cold smile appeared in her eyes.

‘That look…’

I could immediately distinguish the smiles that people with no power but ambition made. It was thanks to seeing Jerian’s wicked smile many times since I was young.

The employee, who had eyes similar to Jerian’s, spoke in a gentle voice, but I felt like I could easily guess what she was thinking.

“Hello, Lady? Are you interested in accessories?”

“This hat is really pretty. It’s for adults, so I can’t wear it, though.”

“Don’t say that, try it on. The brooch decoration is the key to accessories, so we can remake the hat to a size that fits you and then attach the brooch.”

The employee showed me the hat herself. As I turned it around and touched it, it didn’t seem to be poisoned or anything.

There was a time when a cat who wore shoes that Jerian gave her got lacquer poisoning on her paws and was in pain.

After hearing that the jelly on her paws had hardened, I felt sorry for her.

‘First is paw [jelly] health. Second is paw health. I have to be careful.’

The employee put the hat on my head and held it up so I could see. The pink sun hat suited me very well.

“It’s really pretty!”

“Oh my, thank you. Lady, you have a good eye. The jewel on the brooch is the highest grade pink peridot [a type of gemstone]. It’s real. Thanks to that, the price is a bit high…”

After showing me a price tag with a lot of zeros, the employee glanced at Lena. Lena seemed busy introducing the Weila couple’s works to Theo, Deon, and Sir Jackal.

“If you like the hat, how about talking to Mrs. Grey? Gridwolf wouldn’t spare any expense for his daughter.”

“Um…”

“You won’t be able to find a brooch with such a large pink peridot anywhere else.”

I opened my eyes wide and looked back and forth between the employee and the pink jewel decoration.

The employee kept mentioning the five letters ‘Gridwolf’, making me anxious.

‘Is it because I’m small?’

Besides, I was confident in calculating numbers because of the document sorting Jerian had ordered.

But the clerk lowered her posture and whispered to me.

“It’s a perfect fit for Gridwolf’s dignity.”

“Umm…”

“If you add gray feathers here, even a mouse will feel like a Gridwolf.”

I looked at the employee’s eyes reflected in the mirror. This person might have noticed that I wasn’t a wolf.

‘Even if she knew I was a cat… trying to sell me something by threatening me.’

I wasn’t such a child that I would fall for the words that if you loved me, you would buy me this much.

‘I’m already six years old in human years.’

You can say I’m a complete adult.

It seemed like it would be better to leave before the clerk recommended more items to me.

As I was about to turn away, the employee covered one of the zeros on the price tag with her fingertip.

“I’m giving you a little discount because you’re cute. The previous price would be too much to ask you to beg for.”

I smiled and made eye contact with the employee, who was shaking the peridot back and forth.

I recalled the things I had seen when I worked with Jerian and said one by one.

“Thank you for the compliment. But you have to take out three more zeros.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know that the thing embedded in the brooch is not a real peridot, but colored glass.”

“…!”

For a moment, a crack appeared in the employee’s smile.

“So it’s wrong to say that you’re discounting it because I’m cute. And my cuteness is working too hard to just take out one zero, isn’t it?”

Good. I used the difficult word ‘overworked’, so I must have looked scary.

I successfully imitated what my brother used to say, turned my head with a ‘hmph’, and walked over to Lena.