Chapter 197 A Good Cat, A Good Person, The Hearth House...
"Mimi".
All the pain was perfectly hidden beneath that cat skin.
The Maine Coon, its tail severed, abandoned the bewildered mother and daughter, and with its four paws outstretched and head held high, chased after the black-haired young man who was hurrying past.
"Meow".
"What jumped on me?! Oh my god..."
"I'm going to be late for work! What are you doing stopping?"
"I know I'm going to be late, but it's rare to see such an enthusiastic cat... I have to stop and pet it! This big guy is sniffing my hand, hehehe..."
He grinned foolishly, trying to stroke the cat's soft, long fur, but was annoyed by its refusal.
"Wait, why did you suddenly run away? Didn't you approach me first? How heartless!"
Completely unaware that it contained a heart on the verge of breaking.
There was a moment of silence in the opera house, and after a long while, an audience member gritted their teeth and read a line:
"At least it's better than living in a fireplace house."
In the video, Mainkuhn is seen following behind another young man with dark hair; it's obvious to anyone with eyes that he's looking for his brother.
Claude recalled briefly, "The Duke was probably around twenty years old at that time... and had only been in office for a short time?"
"almost."
"Then he won't be able to find you?"
Clarinde's expression instantly became complicated as she watched the cat chase after the next person.
"A futile effort."
"...I think it's better for him not to find me too soon 'now'."
"Why? He misses you so much!" Paimon exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yes, he misses me terribly, to the point that finding me has become the sole purpose of his life. But what happens after he finds me? The emptiness that follows will engulf him."
Does hard work guarantee a long and happy life? Unfortunately, Leosley is no longer a child who can believe in fairy tales.
He watched as Maine, obsessed with seeing himself as unique, found a mixture of happiness and anxiety mixed with fear. Ah, the bittersweet joy that is often reserved for adults.
"I miss him and long to reunite with him, but if meeting him would only bring him deeper pain and eternal separation, then I would rather spend my whole life on the road to finding him, never stopping."
"Duke, Duke..."
Paimon was at a loss for words after his sudden revelation of his true feelings, but thankfully the wind heard his call and brought timely, refreshing comfort.
"Relax, brother cat!"
Wendy winked at them from the audience below.
"Believe in your brother's charm. He was able to become a little king when he was imprisoned and insignificant. Now that his four paws have the right to tread every inch of Fontainebleau's grass, how can he not be loved by all the people?"
"The more love there is, the less pain there will be. This is an unchanging truth in the world. Come on, friends from all countries, let's guess who will be the first person to steal the Duke's attention?"
"Although I didn't quite understand, bard, you're asking who was the first person to become friends with Mr. En, right? Right?"
Linnie's eyes lit up instantly. "That must be me and my dear sister Lynette, the ones who found the silver-gray elf on that early autumn night!"
"The black tiger stripes are majestic and imposing, clatter! They make a mysterious entrance."
“No!” Fimini raised her voice, unusually. “I was the first to meet Brother En, on the golden beach, Mora, Mom, and the wet, fluffy…”
"Huh? That can't be right. Thinking about it carefully, the time I met that guy was around this time in my memory. I might even be his first friend!"
Navia exclaimed, gesturing wildly to Clarind below, "Remember? You were the one who carried the great gentleman back from White's... wait??"
Was White the first friend he made after gaining his freedom? It's not that I have a problem with that, it's just that White's fate... Forget it, he finally opened his heart to him, only to have him pass away so quickly...
It has to be me!
"It's me!"
"It's me!"
"They're really popular."
Amidst the lively scramble, Naxida smiled and announced the answer.
In the video, a little girl with purple hair, dressed in thin clothes, stands blankly to the side, watching her father being flipped over by a cat and thrown into the autumn sea.
“It’s Ms. Xia Worei! Congratulations!” Nasida clapped her hands.
Xia Worei's hand trembled: "Huh?"
Her father, Donatello: "Huh?"
Linni and the others remained silent for a moment.
"Huh???"
"Wait, wait a minute? I think I was helped by a cat... but how could it be him??" The current special patrol captain investigating the lynx case stared in shock at his younger self. "This is the reason for the causal imaging machine I received? So my contact with Mainkuen is here??"
"I... I was hit by a cat." The former special patrol captain investigating the lynx case was shocked. "But how come it's the murderer I'm currently investigating???"
"No, he hadn't committed any crimes as a lynx at that time."
Chiori calmly analyzed the situation for a while, then suddenly realized something was wrong and turned to glare at Donatello.
"You're forcing such a young child to go winter swimming?"
"It wasn't winter yet, but so what?"
Donatello didn't see anything wrong with it.
"Winter swimming can cultivate a strong will and a robust physique. I'm doing this for Xia Worei's own good."
Even if she was unwilling, very scared, extremely terrified?
“This is what I want her to overcome.”
Chiori watched as her father repeatedly tried to throw his rebellious daughter into the water, only to be stopped by the cat time and time again, and she was filled with rage.
"Tch, listen up, old man."
"Xia Worei's achievements are entirely due to her own strength, and have absolutely nothing to do with your violent parenting methods!!!"
"What do you know? If it weren't for me..."
"Meow." The cat in my memory meowed.
"Abuse. 』
"Look! Even the cat knows!"
You listen to what a wanted criminal says??
They argued until the cat looked at little Xia Wore, who was shivering in the cold wind, and the device conjured up a few clear thoughts.
“It’s so hard to be a human being. 』
Being a child is the hardest thing.
"...They've stopped being human."
...
With a sudden tightness in their chest, everyone present instantly fell silent. The arguing stopped, the bewildered were no longer bewildered, and they all fell into a brief period of melancholy.
"Father."
After a moment of silence, Chavorei took a light breath and turned her head toward Donatello.
"Even today, when I think back to the shores of my childhood, I still feel angry and powerless."
Years later, the grown-up daughter once again described to her father how she felt back then.
She didn't ask for any comfort; she simply stated the facts.
"Big cats, big cats."
The little purple-haired girl wiped away the tears that had flowed from her coercion and revealed a cheerful and innocent smile.
"You helped me."
She reached out to touch the stripes on the cat's forehead.
"Then we're friends, right? I'm Xia Worei, and you... oh dear!"
"Watch out, you might get bitten!"
Her father roughly snatched her small hand and carefully pulled her away, saying, "Be careful, wild animals carry germs... We're not going swimming today, let's go home."
"Yay!"
The girl cheered and skipped forward a few steps, then remembered something and hurriedly turned back.
'Thank you. '
She silently mouthed the words to the cat, a smile playing on her lips.
Let's play together again next time!
The cat's ears twitched slightly forward, even the lynx fur on them twitched deftly.
Qi Liangliang immediately raised her hand, "Me! Me! It means I'm in a good mood, isn't that obvious!"
"Ah, that's wonderful. I love seeing him happy."
Navelette immediately relaxed her brows, let out a long sigh of relief, and gained a brief respite.
Does it bring joy to help young children...? A pang of pity rose in Navelette's heart, and he solemnly bowed his head to look at Donatello.
“Sir, you really shouldn’t have done this. Young children need protection and comfort. They can’t grow into healthy adults if they are in fear and oppression. Do you understand what I’m saying? This is harmful.”
The dignified judge, the girl protesting for her friend, the disapproving gazes of the audience, and... the cat with its tail slightly raised—all these factors combined finally caused Donatello's unwavering stubbornness to begin to waver.
"Okay, I'll think about it carefully... Maybe I really did something wrong?"
"It's rare to hear you say something like admitting defeat."
Xia Wore sighed, no longer insisting, and focused all her attention on the images.
"Besides that mother and daughter, I'm actually the second person I had a conversation with? I have such mixed feelings."
Honestly, so much time had passed that she had almost forgotten what the magical big cat looked like, and she never expected the truth to be revealed at this moment.
“Lynx…”
She whispered the code name of the perpetrator.
"What? You've softened your heart?" Chiori raised an eyebrow. "But you're already in court, so softening your heart won't change anything."
"No, I was just thinking."
She glanced at the cat with its short tail swaying as it walked alone from the beach back to Fontaine.
"If he had been raised normally, he might have become an extraordinary good person."
"What are you saying! He's already an incredibly good person!"
The three Linni sons expressed strong protests.
"look."
Image of Lynette's tail tip.
There, the shivering siblings forcibly hugged the big cat to keep warm.
"...I want to leave."
The cat kept its eyes open all night without sleeping.
"look!"
Linni smiled and took off her hat.
The next morning, the cat glanced at the hard bread Linni had fed him and, with utter helplessness, caught a snowwing goose to feed them.
"...Just doing it casually."
"look…"
Fimini earnestly struck a pose for the demonstration, recalling how a large cat, almost as long as a child, had carried him ashore.
"I'm so sorry I scared my mom... Waaah!"
To his astonishment, he saw the big cat slap him hard across the face with its paw after he left.
"Are you crazy?! Whose cat can save someone?!"
It then shoved its head into the fish basket and swallowed a crab like a wild beast. Blood seeped from its mouth, which was scratched by the shell, staining its hairy mouth red.
He licked it clean without paying too much attention, and his mood calmed down a lot.
"That's right, that's very cat-like."
"...So that's what happened back then...Eun-gege really tried his best to be a cat..."
Fimini was very sad, but she looked up seriously and emphasized to Chavoret.
"So, do you understand what I mean? Mr. Mainkuhn, he has always been a very, very good person... super good!"
Instead of receiving an apology or rebuttal, he was met with many complicated gazes.
Chiori looked at each person in the fireplace house, from the expressionless executive officer and her deputy to the third son whose childhood footage had just been shown and Maine who was still asleep in the dock. She couldn't help but slap her head and sigh.
"Sigh, a bunch of little bitter gourds."
As soon as she said that, Arecino knew that the sinister and terrifying image of the House of Hearths was completely ruined.
"How about we open a daycare center instead? I feel like we'd gain more client trust that way than running an intelligence organization!"
...Shut up, Clementine.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
