I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 156

Chapter 78.2

“Forty-eight.”

“Oh, that’s a lot of people. Did any of them get sick?”

Avila’s eyes darkened.

“No. Most of them had skin diseases and ear infections, and in severe cases, there were shapeshifters who were bleeding as if they had been beaten.”

“Oh, my…”

That was to be expected. Most of the cat shapeshifters also had wounds, big and small.

It was a terrible feeling to imagine how the slavers treated them.

‘I’ll treat them with my powers a little bit every day so that no one would notice.’

No one would be suspicious if I had Dr. Tyra treat them with conventional medicine while also using my power to treat them at the same time.

Then, I asked Avila to take a moment to leave the dogs with the other employees.

“Could you go somewhere with me?”

“Where is it?”

“Follow me, and you’ll see.”

I smiled meaningfully and rode her along with my horse.

“Hold on tight so you don’t fall off.”

For Avila’s sake, I rode my horse slowly and moved to the place Viscount Villefranc told me earlier.

It was the site of an abandoned school dormitory.

“Since you can’t stay in this cramped makeshift place forever, I’m thinking of buying this place and letting the shapeshifters stay here.”

Avila, who got off the horse, ran about with her mouth wide open. Starting with the main building, she rushed through the men’s and women’s dormitories, dining halls, and annexes. She was very energetic as if she wasn’t tired in the slightest.

She came running to me a moment later, breathless.

“This place? The Duchess is giving this wonderful place to the shapeshifters?”

“I’m thinking of setting up a shapeshifter shelter here.”

“Huuk…!”

Clasping her hands together and bringing them to her mouth, her eyes widened.

“That’s a very unfamiliar word, but it’s a wonderful word that I can recognize at once! A shapeshifter shelter, I think that’s first!”

I blinked my eyes hard, thinking for a moment that I saw an invisible tail wagging from Avila.

While she wasn’t a shapeshifter, she was a very dog-like person. She had the same facial expressions so similar to Cadis when he was excited. She stood at attention with loyal eyes and listened to what I had to say.

“They say that Blois has a welfare budget allocated to me, so I’m planning to use it for the shapeshifter shelter.”

When I asked Dimitri to buy me a building for a shapeshifter shelter as a gift, he shared this information with me.

“How wonderful! Welfare for the shapeshifters… It’s something no one has ever tried before, and the Duchess, you’re a pioneer!”

I didn’t dislike the sound coming from Avila’s mouth.

For a long time, we happily discussed how to redecorate the school dormitory, which buildings should be given over to dog kennels, and which buildings should be given over to cat kennels. Then, out of the blue, I ran into an elderly couple who were managing an empty building.

“Excuse me, how can I help you?”

“This is the Duchess of Blois. I’m part of her entourage.”

As Avila introduced me to the old couple, we asked them if they had heard anything from Viscount Villefranc.

“Ah, welcome, Madam. Someone came before and told me that the ruler would be coming.”

They said that they have been guarding and maintaining this place since the school was full of students in the past. When we briefly mentioned that we were planning to use it as an aquatic shelter, the manager and his wife were unexpectedly delighted.

“What a good deed you do! It’s great if the cat shapeshifters come. We love cat shapeshifters.”

“Is that so?”

I expected that most people wouldn’t be happy when they heard that shapeshifters who were treated as slaves were gathered in one place to protect them, but it was an unexpected response.

The old man spoke in a shaky, senile voice.

“I hear the rat shapeshifters are on the loose these days, and many of my friends have been victimized by them. When you’re as old as we are, things that seem minor to the young can be a big deal.”

“I’ve heard of such things.”

I had heard similar stories from Blois employees several times.

While the damage in Blois wasn’t severe because Dimitri was guarding the territory, other areas were in a state of panic. Since this wasn’t mentioned in the original story and I was preoccupied with other matters, I hadn’t given it much thought. Still, I was grateful that Blois had been spared any real harm.

The old man went on.

“But if there are cat shapeshifters, the rats won’t be able to move, which is a relief, because rumor has it that the cats are good at catching the rat shapeshifters’ demons.”

I instantly thought of Coco, who had no talent for hunting and smiled awkwardly.

“Well… I wouldn’t say that.”

Still, if there were to be a rat shapeshifter’s infestation here, maybe one of the twenty or so would be able to save the old couple from them?

‘…Not all of them will be like Coco.’

After a short conversation with the elderly couple, Avila and I soon left the place with high hopes of turning this school dormitory into a wonderful shapeshifter shelter in the future.

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