How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 63

“Your Majesty! Look at this cat. Doesn’t he look exactly like William, the one you kept when you were in your teens?”

A little over ten minutes later, Louisa opened her eyes at the commotion. She had been resting in her bedchamber with them closed, and the sight of her familiar maid excitedly carrying in a silver-haired man with cat ears gave her pause.

Described aloud, the scene would have sounded very strange to anyone else. Not to Louisa. Her eyes saw the truth. Although a silver-haired, cat-eared man was what appeared before her, she could also faintly perceive that his original form was a white cat. There was nothing peculiar about the maid being able to lift him. In Louisa’s vision, the two realities overlapped in a space impossible for others to imagine, and the sight seemed perfectly ordinary.

The silver-haired man was watching her now, nervous and at a loss. His mismatched eyes, one gold and one blue, were utterly sincere. He looked far more mature than he had twenty years ago, but Louisa still knew him at once. A person’s eyes never truly changed.

“I found him in the garden. At first, I honestly thought my eyes were deceiving me,” the elderly maid said ruefully. “But… now that I think about it, William could hardly have lived this long. This cat really does resemble him, though, doesn’t he? Your Majesty, do you suppose he might be one of William’s kittens?”

Louisa held Carter III’s gaze. She could see his emotions and thoughts with perfect clarity. By all rights, there was no reason for her to feel uneasy or nervous when every advantage lay in her hands.

Yet after more than twenty years apart, the sight of his face made her heart quicken beyond her control.

She looked straight at the man in the maid’s arms, never wavering from his eyes, and answered distractedly, “…Yes. The resemblance is remarkable.”

He was, after all, the very same cat. The very same man.

“Isn’t it?” The maid beamed. “I looked him over, and since he wandered into the palace alone, he probably has no owner. Your Majesty hasn’t kept an animal for years. You’re always alone in your rooms, and sometimes I worry about you. You smiled most often when William was at your side. Why don’t we take this opportunity and keep this cat the way we kept William?”

Louisa paused at the concern in the maid’s eyes.

She could read the human heart. This maid had practically grown up alongside her, serving as childhood companion, friend, and loyal aide all at once. The bond between them was singular. Even so, hearing those words from her came as a small surprise.

Had she always… appeared so lonely?

“…Let me see him first.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Louisa gestured toward the cat and spoke softly.

When she extended her hands, Carter III’s heart began to race. In truth, it had been beyond his control from the moment he finally saw her again after more than twenty years.

The maid might now address her as *Your Majesty* rather than *Princess*, but Louisa looked almost unchanged. No—she was more beautiful than before. The ethereal clarity that had always set her apart had not faded with age. Experience had only added a mature, captivating grace.

He wanted to tell her, *We have met before. My name is Carter III. Thank you for saving me. I have missed you all these years.*

But cats could not speak. Carter III could only stare earnestly at Louisa, his tail making a small sweep through the air where it dangled from the maid’s arms, and try to meow as gently as he could.

“Meow… meow…”

Louisa burst out laughing.

Carter III did not know what amused her, but she looked delighted. He went rigid in the maid’s arms, utterly at a loss.

“Forgive me.” Louisa narrowed her eyes and covered her mouth as she laughed. “Give him to me.”

She reached toward the maid again, intending to take the white cat from her.

It had been so long since the maid had seen her queen laugh this way.

She faltered, then smiled with mingled heartache and relief. Ever since William left and Louisa ascended the throne, Her Majesty had handled every duty with apparent ease. Yet she spent each day surrounded by stern, cold ministers, many of them far older than she was. It was impossible that she felt no pressure at all. Her Majesty clearly needed an adorable pet to relieve the strain and dispel her loneliness.

Cheered by the thought, the maid promptly held out the white cat. The queen brought her hands closer to receive him. As Louisa’s pale, slender fingers approached, Carter III grew steadily more apprehensive.

“Ah! Wait!”

The elderly maid suddenly remembered something. With a cry, she snatched the cat back and pulled him out of the queen’s reach.

His Majesty Carter III, disappointed and faintly irritated: …

“Forgive me, Your Majesty!” the maid said in a panic. “I was so excited that I carried this cat straight in from the garden. He hasn’t been washed, and the veterinarians haven’t examined him for disease. I should never have allowed him near you. This was a failure of duty. I will go find—”

“That will not be necessary.”

Louisa interrupted with a smile.

“Give him directly to me. I will wash him myself. As for a veterinarian… hmm… we can discuss that later.”

The maid grew more agitated. “No, Your Majesty, you cannot. What if he bites you?”

“He will not.”

Before the maid could react, Queen Louisa took two swift steps forward, swept Carter III from her arms, and planted a quick kiss on his mouth. The movement was light, gentle, and perfectly natural.

“You see? He will not bite me.”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

The maid tried to stop her, but it was already too late. Louisa’s lips had touched and withdrawn in an instant, yet the contact was enough to alarm her.

The maid was not the only one left stunned. Carter III himself froze. Two unconscious meows slipped from him as his round feline eyes—one gold, one blue—widened at Queen Louisa.

From the days he had spent with her, Carter III knew that Louisa had always been fastidiously clean. She was uncomfortable with excessive intimacy even from a beloved pet. At first, merely picking him up had posed a considerable challenge. She would circle him several times without knowing where to put her hands, visibly troubled by the problem.

Once she grew accustomed to it, however, Carter III had been forced to admit that no one held him more comfortably than Louisa. She never squeezed or handled him roughly. She treated him as carefully as she would a person.

For that very reason, Louisa had rarely shown him excessive affection. Even so… there had been one other time when she kissed him.

The air around Carter III seemed to soften.

It was the memory he treasured more than any other in his life: his one brief romance, impossibly sweet and weightless, touched by the faintest sorrow, and his alone.

It happened on the night before he left Micks and returned to Beast to end the war. His injured leg had finally healed, and the moon was bright enough to break one’s heart. Knowing this might be the last day he would ever spend with Louisa made him treasure every moment. Even late that night, he lingered at her feet.

Louisa lifted him onto her bed. Her pale golden eyes regarded him with an inexplicable sadness. While he stared, bewildered by that look, a kiss as brief and bright as a musical note came without warning.

“You should still be more careful, Your Majesty!” the elderly maid scolded anxiously. “Please wait. I will summon a physician at once…”

The queen smiled with the cat in her arms.

“There is no need. Leave this cat to me. I will clean him myself. Later, I will take him to a veterinarian, and I will have a physician examine me as well. Of course… I do not expect there will be any problem.”

As she spoke, Louisa’s gaze swept meaningfully over Carter III. His heart trembled.

“Go and rest for now. You need not worry about me.”

With that, Queen Louisa brought the conversation to an end.

“A-are you certain?”

The maid gradually calmed as Louisa accounted for every concern. Still, she knew the queen had possessed a poise and gravity unusual even in young girls long before her coronation. She could not understand why Her Majesty had suddenly abandoned that restraint to act so rashly.

But Louisa’s years of steady judgment had earned absolute trust. The maid hesitantly nodded and merely reminded her, “Please do not forget, Your Majesty.”

“Rest assured.”

Louisa inclined her head.

After another moment’s hesitation, the maid left. One woman and one cat remained in the room.

Louisa set Carter III upon her bed and settled him there quietly.

Alone with her, Carter III could not help growing terribly uneasy.

J-just now, had Louisa said she intended to… clean him?

Did cleaning mean… a bath?

Carter III watched the beautiful woman warily. His emotions grew complicated. He could not decide whether he ought to struggle free and escape his present predicament—or whether this should be considered his predicament or Louisa’s.

Suddenly, Louisa crouched until her eyes were level with his.

Carter III’s heart lurched beneath the gaze of those clear, pale golden eyes.

He had no idea what Louisa saw. To her, a silver-haired man in splendid robes sat upon the bed. His brows were faintly drawn as he stared directly at her with one gold eye and one blue. Yet his fluffy white animal ears twitched uneasily, as if he were on guard against something.

Louisa tilted her head and closed her eyes, exposing the graceful line of her pale neck. Glittering silver hair spilled from her shoulder like a waterfall as she leaned toward him.

The next instant…

Their similarly colored hair flowed together until there was no telling one from the other. Man and woman pressed their lips together and leaned into each other.

Carter III’s eyes widened. All he could see was Louisa’s pale skin, so close after haunting his thoughts for decades, and the long white lashes trembling above her closed eyes.

Then Louisa drew back.

She smiled at the astonished man before her, her tone playful with an almost girlish innocence.

“It has been a long time, Your Majesty,” she said lightly. “Or should I say… Beast Emperor?”