I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 184
Chapter 92.2
Dimitri’s brow furrowed as he gazed directly at me once more. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, narrowing the gap between us while I instinctively leaned back, recalling the memories of yesterday. Though as he motioned for me to come closer, I hesitantly leaned forward in response.
With emerald eyes glinting fiercely, he whispered softly.
“I can’t do that.”
“….?”
“Our kiss happened. It’s not something we can just get rid of like that.”
“….!”
“Keep it in your heart, Rowaine. Next time, you won’t be able to just brush it off as a mistake like now.”
[ T/N: (ノ ω 〃) ACK I’M DEAD— ]
‘…Next time?’
What could that mean? Did he imply that there would be a next time?
‘Is it possible that I have a habit of impulsively kissing when I’m just drunk? No, even if that’s the case, why does he talk about the next time as if it’s certain…’
Seeing me flustered, he smiled slowly.
Just then, the butler came to find me, bringing our conversation to an end.
“Madam, there you are. Baron Placen has something to report.”
“Where is he right now?”
“He’s in your office, Madam.”
“Let’s go.”
As I glanced at Dimitri once and got up from my seat, he lightly tapped on his head. His gesture felt like he was saying, ‘Don’t forget about it.’
̊ · : * ✧ * : · ̊
It wasn’t until we reached my office that I remembered I had something to ask Dimitri.
‘Ah. Come to think of it, I wanted to tell him that I saw his demon.’
It was originally known that demons were invisible to humans, and only cat shapeshifters and dog shapeshifters could see them.
‘But it appeared so clearly. It looked like a huge snake…’
In the novel, Dimitri dealt with two demons. The first was named Shedim, who had a humanoid shape similar to a human and specialized in combat, while the other was Samael, who served as both a minion and a messenger.
Shedim didn’t have a contract with Dimitri; instead, he was more like an extension of Samael. Additionally, he was portrayed in the form of a giant snake.
‘If I really saw Shedim, maybe it wasn’t a mistake that I thought I saw Samael that one day.’
I distinctly remember seeing Samael the day I went to Count Larscel’s mansion and witnessed the battle between the Emperor’s hunting dogs and Dimitri.
‘I’ll ask him about it later since it’s not that important right now.’
Even though it was an interesting experience to be able to see demons, it didn’t seem to bring about any significant changes. Moreover, there was something even more urgent waiting for me.
“Baron Placen, what’s the matter?”
Baron Placen, who had been waiting for me in my office, turned to look at me.
“Oh, you’re here. The renovation of the shapeshifters’ shelter has been completed. I figured the Madam would be waiting, so I came to report right away.”
“The remodeling is finally done! Let’s go tell Avila to move in right away and move the cats from the annex.”
“Yes…”
Baron Placen’s response sounded less enthusiastic.
Excited and motivated, I looked back at him, feeling puzzled.
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s not that, but…”
The Baron, elongating his words, cautiously asked.”
“…Is the Madam really going to operate the shapeshifters shelter?”
“If not, why else would I have asked you to fix that boarding school?”
“As I mentioned before, it will definitely cause a commotion. The council of elders won’t just let it go.”
“I know.”
Despite the fact that I knew that the council of elders wouldn’t miss the chance to use this issue to corner me, I couldn’t back down.
‘I can’t take responsibility for the entire lives of so many shapeshifters.’
At first, all I could think about was how to rescue them from the slave traders, place them under my protection, and provide them with shelter. We had to stand against Count Bilbao and dismantle the slave traders, leaving the shapeshifters with nowhere to go. I couldn’t just abandon them stranded in the process like Dimitri wanted.
For me, bringing the shapeshifters to the shelter was the best option for now.
Yet, when I thought about finding people to take responsibility for their lives after doing all this, the idea of transferring ownership of a handful of the shapeshifters made me uncomfortable.
‘…In the end, it’s like condemning them to a life of slavery elsewhere just like before.’
I wanted to free them from their status as slaves, but right now, I couldn’t even do that for Coco or Sasha. Since shapeshifters were considered slaves, they didn’t have identity documents. This meant that if someone caught a slave without papers, the captor would automatically become their owner. Only in rare cases, like Dimitri’s, where he was born into a noble family but recognized as an illegitimate child, could some shapeshifters escape slavery. Additionally, children born between commoners and shapeshifters were automatically enslaved and became the property of the commoner parent.
In other words, while a very small number of shapeshifters might attain noble status, they could never achieve the status of a commoner.
In reality, Dimitri was one of the very few shapeshifters who had managed to retain his noble status.
‘Until I find a way, I have to protect the shapeshifters I’ve brought here and help them integrate into society.’
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