The Duke’s Companion

‘Why? Why don’t you want to introduce me?’

Is it because I look so stupid? I was sad, but for that reason, I had no choice but to admit it. I’m small enough to get blown by a little wind at once, and I don’t look fierce enough to prey anywhere.

‘If I had been more stunning and cool, Mamela would have introduced me to her family immediately.’

At Mamela’s soft touch, I couldn’t act cute as usual. I felt depressed and wanted to go under the bed and be alone. 

However, instead, I organized my thoughts rationally. 

Whatever it was, Mamela took care of me with all her heart.

So even if Mamela is ashamed that I’d get caught, I have to obey her no matter what.

Mamela, whos my benefactor, shouldn’t be saddened by this.

I kept thinking as Mamela tickled me, then my worries lightened as I heard Mamela giggle. Hearing her clear laughter made me feel a little better.

“Aryl, I’ll be back.”

“Meow…!”

I grabbed Mamela’s dress from the door and pulled it.

‘Don’t go, Mamela. Play with me! Let’s play ball.’

Perhaps my heart didn’t reach her, Mamela pulled her clothes from my grasp and said, “Aryl, I’ll play with you later.”

She turned the doorknob. When the door opened, I slipped out through the door faster than Mamela. 

Mamela scolded me, and snapped at me, “I told you Aryl you can’t. Why do you keep trying to go outside?”

Then Mamela lifted me and placed me back in the room.

“…Meow.”

Sullen, I looked up at Mamela as she scolded me sternly.

This isn’t the first time I’ve crossed the door in front of Mamela’s eyes.

Whenever I crossed the door Mamela seems to observe my behavior, she would quickly turn around and sent me back into the room.

‘It was really like that…’

When I sat down, Mamela glanced uneasily and closed the door.

I decided not to feel disappointed, but whenever I think about it, I became depressed.

‘…No, I’m not upset! Let’s find something to do. I’ll be fine if I do something else.’

I stood up confidently and looked around. At least I had to play alone until Mamela returns.

Fortunately, Mamela’s room was perfect for exploration because there were many fun things around.

Walking around the huge room, what I saw in front of me was a desk.

‘Mamela always sat there and worked hard on something.’

I approached the desk out of curiosity. There was a large desk in front of me that I had to climb. I jumped, lightly, stepped on the chair, and climbed up to the top of the desk.

After arriving easily, I looked around the desk. There was a lot of paper with human letters written all over the place.

‘Wow. I guess it’s all Mamela’s handwriting.’

With a subtle expectation, I looked into the paper closest to me.

Soon my gaze turned cold. The ink that had dried on the papers that looked like letters made me speechless.

‘Is this Mamela’s handwriting?’

There was no doubt that Mamela always sat here and held the pen. I lifted the paper back and forth and put it down.

That’s terrible… It was really bad handwriting.

Originally, the complex-looking characters were more messed up, so it felt like the letters were spinning in front of my eyes.

Are these human characters in the first place? It was like an evolutionary form of language.

Shifting my eyes from the paper, I looked at the table this time with a pen and an ink bottle. I approached and smelled the ink this time.

‘Ugh!’

What’s this smell? It smells rotting.

I frowned with my nose covered with my front paw. Sometimes the subtle smell of Mamela’s pen was like this.

I rubbed my nose a few times to get rid of the strong smell, and then went on a quest again. I needed something to play with until Mamela came.

I moved and jumped hard and ran around on the desk and looked everywhere.

Then the place where I stopped running was in front of a piece of paper lying on the desk. I scour the paper.

‘I don’t think this is Mamela’s handwriting.’

The elegant handwriting caught my eye. At first glance, it felt a hundred times more wonderful than the printed letters seen in Mamela’s book.

‘Who wrote this?’

I looked into the paper because I was amazed by the letters written consistently like a rule.

Soon after that, I began to feel dizzy as if there was a hazy fog in my head.

‘It’s happening again… Why is my head so stuffy?’

I sometimes felt it when I saw human texts and listened to their language. I’ll have to figure out what I’m feeling this time.

At that moment, I heard Mamela’s footsteps in the distance.

Having been distracted in an instant, I jumped off the desk and ran to the door.

Today, I welcomed Mamela by jumping with joy that time passed exceptionally quickly.