Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: The Cat Wearing a Mask
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Derong derong.
Neru was still hanging upside down in midair, barely clinging to the straw mat that was precariously slipping away.
Her face was flushed bright red, and her lips were twitching nonstop.
“…Nyang.”
In Caramel’s workshop, which was deathly quiet.
A bizarre syllable—“nyang”—kept dropping, one after another.
“…Nyang, nyang.”
I stood in front of her with my arms crossed, staring blankly at Neru.
The sight of her dangling upside down, clutching her clothes and mumbling “nyang…”
…was pathetic.
‘Why is this here?’
This was Caramel’s workshop.
The studio of one of the top eccentric alchemists, a place for an alchemist whose talents hadn’t even shown a glimpse yet.
But Neru, who hadn’t even grasped the basics of alchemy, was here?
…I couldn’t make sense of this situation at all.
“…Adel?”
Neru blinked rapidly as she asked.
She seemed flustered too… but her eyes suggested my presence here was even stranger.
…Of course, I felt the same.
[Why are you here?]
I wrote that on the whiteboard and held it up.
Then… Neru’s perked-up ears flattened, and with an extremely embarrassed expression, she averted her gaze and opened her mouth.
“It’s just that…”
After a brief pause, Neru—still hanging upside down—spun slowly in midair and swallowed hard.
Then, clutching the hem of her clothes tightly, she mumbled softly.
“Daddy’s errand…….”
[Oh.]
I wrote that single word on the whiteboard.
But the emotions packed into that short “oh”…
Resignation, like ‘Ah, I see.’
Suspicion, like ‘Ah, but that’s still weird.’
And emptiness, like ‘Ah… so that’s all it was?’
Three meanings crammed into one letter.
‘…What kind of errand is it?’
This was the outermost edge of the gray zone.
A ruined workshop covered in dust, with even the lights out…
No way that “errand” sounded convincing.
[You’re not Neru.]
I was certain.
The cat-eared creature in front of me wasn’t Neru.
“Nya, nyang…?”
As if one “nyang” would convince me she was Neru…
I’m not an idiot.
[Who are you?]
I wrote that on the whiteboard…
And poked her side. Poke.
“Nyaack…!”
The little creature twisted and writhed.
She rolled like a cat… but I wasn’t fooled.
Swoosh.
“Nya, nyat…!?”
I mercilessly placed my hand on top of her ear.
Fluffy.
Slightly warm and soft to the touch.
And then…
“Nya… nyaaack…! That’s sensitive…!”
The moment I touched her ear, the cat melted away in tears and snot, going limp.
Dangling upside down, completely powerless…
If someone who didn’t know the situation saw her, they might think she was dead.
‘She’s pretty good.’
Who knew she could mimic Neru this well.
It’d slap a decent theater actor in the face.
But my suspicions only grew.
Finally…
Whing.
I opened my inventory and pulled out my ultimate weapon.
“…!”
Churu.
Not just any churu…
The premium churu specially sourced from the Delbar Ducal House.
“Th-that’s…!”
If it were Neru, her tail and ears would twitch, and her eyes would lock onto the churu.
Not just cat instinct.
Neru’s instinct.
‘No way.’
Even if she mimicked it, a fake couldn’t react exactly the same.
But…
“Hek hek….”
Perk perk.
Swish swish.
…Her ears twitched, and her tail swayed.
‘Huh.’
That expression, that reaction, even drooling…
It was Neru.
***
“Omnomnom…….”
Neru was slurping up the churu with gusto—lick lick, nom nom.
The teary, snotty cat was gone, replaced by one standing firmly on the ground…
Lost in bliss, focused solely on the churu.
[So what’s this errand that brought you all the way here?]
Even if the gray zone was the brighter side of the shadows…
Its light didn’t reach this dark outskirts.
At first, I wondered if someone had messed with her…
But the Neru I knew would’ve sliced them up before they even approached.
“Th-that’s… a secret…?”
Neru mumbled around the churu in her mouth, tilting her head.
[Is it really an errand?]
“Y-yeah… it is…”
…Yeah.
She’s lying.
I know Neru’s dad, Uncle Beru.
He helped me when I first arrived in this world.
A gruff man who cherishes his daughter more than anyone—he’d never send her alone to a place like this.
[Okay.]
I didn’t ask more.
I just pretended not to know… acted like it was no big deal.
Then Neru blinked, and in an instant, she was right beside me.
“…….”
She was chewing the now flavorless churu stick, crunch crunch…
After hesitating a bit, she cautiously spoke.
“A-Adel…”
[?]
“If Neru… suddenly disappeared… what would you think, nyang…?”
At those words, I glanced down for a moment.
Then indifferently wrote my answer on the whiteboard.
[I’d be sad.]
“……!”
Even if a vicious pet fish vanished from home, it’d feel empty…
If the cat who always played pranks, cried and laughed by my side, disappeared…
That wouldn’t be mere “emptiness.”
“R-really, nyang…?”
Her expression didn’t change, but Neru’s reaction was clear.
She hung her head and pressed close to my side.
Her tail brushed tentatively against my leg.
“I see…….”
Instead of answering, I opened my inventory.
Swoosh.
A cold sensation gripped in my fingertips.
A single dagger.
‘…….’
I was certain.
This moment… was a turning point.
Neru’s first step toward becoming a “villain.”
A spy for the cradle, the worst assassin.
And… that future depended on what I chose now.
[Yeah.]
I wrote that on the whiteboard.
Hiding the hand with the dagger, adjusting mana with the other.
…And in front of me, the oblivious cat walked on.
‘…Yeah.’
In the original “Akarejang”… Neru definitely becomes a villain.
An absurd talent called “Assassination (S+).”
One that grows stronger over time, making someone else more miserable.
Even in “Akarejang,” Neru was a variable best dealt with early.
But…
There’s a route where she becomes a protagonist.
‘….’
…The problem is, I don’t know that route.
‘…Ah.’
The hand gripping the dagger… was trembling.
Conflicted.
‘…Why.’
Why was I hesitating?
Just cut her down now, and it’s over.
Kill her, and it’s done.
No darkening future for the cradle, no empire plunged into chaos.
…The happiness of the many through the sacrifice of the few.
A perfectly rational choice.
But…
‘….’
Why.
Why wouldn’t this hand move even an inch?
Why was the me behind the mask… unable to pick any answer, just walking silently?
‘…….’
No words.
I couldn’t speak.
So when my heart hurt, when I was sad, when I was tormented…
I always clutched the whiteboard quietly.
Pressing emotions into letters, conveying them only through words.
But now, I couldn’t even do that.
Just… quietly.
…Step.
I followed the small cat’s back.
Each footprint seemed to crush my heart.
Why did seeing this tiny cat’s back make it hard to breathe?
‘……Now.’
If I stabbed her now with the dagger in my hand… every problem vanishes.
Villain… traitor… assassin…
All possibilities, all future threats… end cleanly right here.
But why.
Why couldn’t I do anything?
Why did Neru’s words keep echoing in a corner of my heart?
—“If Neru… suddenly disappeared… what would you think, nyang…?”
…What would I think?
More than I expected……
It’d feel really, really bad.
I didn’t know why I felt that way.
It didn’t make sense.
I didn’t know when I’d grown attached, or when I’d gotten tangled up with this cat.
But one thing was clear.
Facing that small back… my heart was too noisy.
‘……I know.’
If I let her go now, I’d regret it for sure.
Even after killing her, I’d regret it.
‘Why did I do that. Why did I do that. Why did I do that.’
I’d repeat it endlessly behind the mask.
“Ha…… you fucking idiot….”
In the end… I put the dagger back in my inventory.
Quietly… without a word…
Postponing the choice.
Not picking an answer.
But I carefully reached out toward those small, narrow shoulders.
Tap.
“…?”
[Something wrong?]
The question I least expected from myself…
Slipped out first.
…I might have embraced something like affection in this damned world.
“…….”
[Are you hurt?]
I kept asking.
Persistently, to the point where even I was puzzled.
…I wasn’t this kind of person originally.
“…It’s nothing.”
It’s nothing.
I knew better than anyone how much emotion was crammed and suppressed into those words.
I want it to be nothing.
I want to smile like nothing happened.
Just play around, bicker.
Lie on the sofa, stare at the ceiling, share pointless talk…
I want those ordinary days to continue.
“…It’s nothing, nyang.”
Pretend there’s no wound.
Pretend to smile through the anxiety.
Even with tears welling… pretend to joke brightly.
Those pretenses crushed the being called Neru.
I couldn’t not know that feeling.
Because I lived every day pretending behind my mask too.
[Okay?]
“……Yeah.”
That “yeah” held countless words.
Believe me… let it pass casually…
And maybe, even that this was the end…
“…….”
I didn’t ask anymore.
Neru bowed her head silently too.
We just… walked quietly.
With something indescribable lingering between us.
“Oh, I have something to do…”
[Got it.]
Without even turning at those words, I stepped forward.
I didn’t question their truth, didn’t hold her back.
Just… kept walking ahead.
“…Bye.”
…I didn’t answer that farewell.
Leaving only my back… I slowly moved away from Neru.
“…Take care.”
I pretended not to hear what was in those words… even though I knew.
No, maybe… I wasn’t ready to respond yet.
But…
‘…….’
Even if not now…
If we meet again someday.
Then I could give my own answer to this “bye.”
And that answer…
I quietly… cherished deep within the mask.
***
The next day.
Neru didn’t come to school.
The cat who’d always burst through the door on her whim…
Perking her ears proudly, swishing her tail, running around wildly.
That sight was nowhere.
“…….”
No one brought it up first.
It wasn’t intentional.
It was just like… there was no need to mention Neru’s absence.
She probably pulled some prank, got scolded, and ran off like always…
Or maybe slept in…
Or skipped out of laziness…
Yeah… just like Neru.
Such thoughts brushed by, and we lived the day as usual, like nothing happened.
But…
“…….”
The day after that.
Neru didn’t come.
No one asked, no one worried.
Even when about to speak up…
‘She’ll come tomorrow, probably.’
An ambiguous certainty weighed down the heart.
“…….”
The day after that.
And the one after.
Days passed, two days, three days.
Time flowed as always…
But in that flow, Neru’s traces had stopped in place.
“…….”
A week passed.
No perked ears.
No swishing tail.
No sleeping sprawled on the desk.
No panting while chasing churu.
All of it.
Nothing.
Gone.