I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 243

Chapter 122.1

Dimitri was at the back of the building, as expected. He wore crinkled trousers and a similarly crumpled shirt, with the buttons carelessly undone around his arms.

Moreover, he even had both hands clutching Esca’s long hair.

“What… are you two doing?”

In response to my question, Esca, whose hair was being grabbed, calmly patted Dimitri’s shoulder.

“Calm down. Don’t get annoyed.”

At his words, Dimitri glared at him and tugged at his hair again.

“Don’t act like a monk. It’s annoying.”

As he scoffed and let go of his hair, Esca straightened his disheveled hair and adjusted his clothes with an indifferent expression.

“Wait a moment, Rowaine.”

Dimitri also turned away from me and buttoned up his shirt.

‘What exactly is the relationship between those two…?’

While Dimitri straightened his appearance, I discreetly pulled Esca’s arm towards me and asked cautiously.

“Did you guys have a fight?”

“No, we didn’t. We just played for a while.”

“Yes…?”

Listening to his words, I alternated my gaze between Esca and his silvery hair, which had scattered on the floor.

“Played? You weren’t being harassed?”

Then, he, who usually maintained a poker face, cracked a rare smile.

“Isn’t he cute?”

What was the relationship between this foolishly kind wolf and a spoiled cat? Esca seemed to be defending Dimitri to me as if he needed to justify him.

“He’s more affectionate than he looks.”

“Ah… yes…”

I couldn’t believe the person who was caught by his hair would say such a thing. In the meanwhile, Esca looked back and forth between me and Dimitri and spoke meaningfully.

“Since it seems like you two have a lot to discuss, I’ll take my leave.”

Feeling anxious about being left alone with Dimitri, I hastily grabbed hold of him.

“Wait, wait a minute! Don’t go, Esca. Stay with me.”

Then, the towering figure of him pierced me with his characteristic penetrating gaze before he calmly stabbed me in my heart.

“Are you afraid of reciprocating his feelings?”

“….!”

I’ve always suspected it before, but there was no doubt that Esca was definitely a mind reader. Still, I racked my brain and came up with an appropriate answer.

“W-what, what are you talking about? We’re married. Where do reciprocating feelings come into play?”

“Just because you’re married doesn’t mean they are lovers.”

“Did you… hear something from Dimitri?”

“When it comes to the Duchess, he’s so cautious that he’s flailing about it.”

I wondered if Esca had mistaken Dimitri for someone else.

‘He’s trembling because he’s being cautious? Dimitri…?’

That was definitely not his character.

At that moment, Dimitri approached us, his clothes still quite rumpled but at least as neatly organized as possible.

“What are you doing taking my wife into a corner?”

Esca glanced at Dimitri like that for a moment, then rolled his eyes as if pondering something. Suddenly, it seemed like he was casting a barrier, trapping Dimitri.

“What is this…!”

Dimitri’s voice was instantly swallowed into the opaque glass dome of crystals.

I looked at Esca with confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“The Duke’s abilities are exceptional, so this barrier won’t last long. I’ll tell you quickly before it breaks.”

“….?”

“As I mentioned, the Duke is more affectionate than he appears. If you’re not going to reciprocate his feelings, it’s better to leave him quickly.”

It sounded like a warning.

“He’s a pretty merciless cat.”

A warning signaling danger.

At that moment, the page with Dimitri’s past from the novel I was reading vividly appeared in my mind. Esca might think I didn’t know anything about Dimitri’s past, but I do. I’ve read about it.

When he was abandoned by Cayetana, there was a benefactor and mentor who took him in.

He was Esca’s father.

The territory where the White Wolf clan lived was in the highest mountains of the north, particularly in areas perpetually covered in snow. Occasionally, wolf-human shapeshifters would venture down to find food, and sometimes they stumbled upon inhabited areas, but one greedy lord came to hunt and found them.

“White wolf, huh? Beautiful wolves indeed, but aren’t they just mongrels in the end?”

He was a man who enjoyed dogfighting with his slaves. So, wouldn’t it be amusing to put his strongest dog shapeshifter against the wolf shapeshifter?

That insatiable curiosity led to tragedy.

Dimitri’s mentor went to confront the lord to retrieve the young wolves of his clan taken captive, only to tragically sacrifice himself.

Enraged, Dimitri invoked that anger to make a pact with the demon Samael and exacted his revenge. The gates of the lord’s castle were adorned with countless human heads. The number was large enough to encircle the castle walls twice—the lord’s family, vassals, his knights…