The Duke’s Companion

Jonah hesitated, as if trying to say something strange, and opened her mouth, “Did you know this is the third time?”

“Third? What?”

“You refused to see the Lord. You’ve never done this before, so the Lord must have been very sad.”

“…My brother? Did you say that by any chance?”

“No. It’s not like that, but somehow the Headmaster’s atmosphere is…”

Jonah’s face turned white. Jonah, who shook her head as if thinking about something, looked at Mamella.

Mamella relaxed her arms holding me, and said with a smile, “There must have been some work that didn’t go well.”

She added a few words, “Originally, my older brother was the one who spends 20 out of 24 hours in the office. He probably won’t have enough time to sleep, but he wouldn’t say that won’t meet me.”

I was astonished to hear Mamella’s words. Twenty-four hours a day. But do you mean he works 20 hours a day?

Then, how about sleeping? Even if he works a lot, he only has four hours to sleep. I don’t know if it’s because I’m still young, but I sleep all day, and when I wake up, I doze off again.

Mamella’s family seemed to be great human beings. 

While admiring, Jonah said with a worried expression, “Are you okay, Lady?”

“Huh? What?” Mamella asked with a smile. 

Jonah stared at her with a slightly strange look, and then she smiled lightly at Mamella.

“No. Now that I think about it, your nose has stopped bleeding.”

“Huh? Oh, you’re right.” Mamella answered.

“Just in case, keep blocking it in. I’ll get going now.”

“Yes.”

When Jonah left the room, Mamella immediately took out the tissue on her nose and threw it onto the shelf.

She took a few big breaths and then exhaled, perhaps frustrated.

In the meantime, Mamella had a rather gloomy complexion and started to fiddle with my fur.

I couldn’t figure out why she had lost her energy, so I just calmly surrendered myself to Mamella.

Mamella said abruptly, “Aryl, you know what?”

“Meow?”

“My brother likes to work more than me.”

I looked at her with round eyes. 

Mamella laughed and added, “Maybe my thoughts soon showed on my face.”

Then after a sigh, she continued, “Of course, it’s just my opinion.”

Her words gave me a deep sigh of relief. I was really surprised. No matter what, I knew for sure that he loved Mamella.

Whenever he left in the carriage, he always looked out the window of Mamella’s room.

Every time I had to hide by the window, but I was vaguely aware of the close relationship.

‘But now that I think about it, Mamella spent most of her time alone. Mamella’s family used to come back after a long time once he went out.’

Although Mamella used to play with me now, she would have spent time reading alone in this room.

When she goes to class, she’s just quiet and lonely even for a while, but how was she before I came?

Mamella sighed sadly, “I know best why my brother has no choice but to be obsessed with work. It’s really funny.”

Mamella’s expression calmed as she stared blankly at the canopy of her bed, but there was a strange rumbling in her voice.

I sat down on her arm and wept softly. Mamella gave a short, trembling breath and said with a big smile.

“As expected, it’s nice to have a companion. I’m glad that Aryl is here by my side.”

Why do you feel so sad and lonely?

I held Mamella’s hand tightly with my little front paw. I had the illusion that the ripple of Mamella’s feelings was being conveyed.

I lay face down next to her and buried my head. Then Mamella burst into laughter.

“Want to take a nap? I don’t have a class, so can I take a nap with Aryl?”

“Meow!”

After a while, I looked up slightly and saw her already closing her hazy eyes. It was after the breathing had already turned slow and calm.

‘You fall asleep fast.’

Mamella, who slept on her back, looked a little absurd, but I raised my front paws and slowly began to pat her arm.

‘I want you to have only good dreams.’

So that you won’t feel lonely even when you’re asleep.

A couple of times, my front paws patting her stopped. I slowly pushed the clear energy that had circled my body from my front paw, which was in contact with her arm.

I felt the cool and clean energy draining away, but the feeling of being quickly refilled was also vivid.

As it was, I waited for Mamella’s negative thoughts to be erased and filled with clean energy.

“Umm….”

All of a sudden, Mamella was smiling as if she were dreaming a pleasant dream.  I pulled my front paws out of quiet satisfaction.

‘Mamella, are you okay now?’

I didn’t wonder how I could do this. There was a belief that, of course, I could do it. I leaned over Mamella’s arm with a light heart and closed my eyes. Drowsiness swept over me.