I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 89

Chapter 45.1

I headed straight to Cadis, who was locked up in the dungeon.

Even though it was nearly noon and the sun was warm, the dungeon was filled with a cool breeze drifting through the cold stone walls. As I descended, I could feel the damp, humid air, smelling faintly of rust, clinging unpleasantly to my skin. It seemed that the hounds were each kept in solitary confinement.

I peered through a small window into the cell where Cadis was held.

The hounds, hearing my presence, began barking wildly in their individual cells, without regard for who had started first.

Woof! Woof, woof!

Woof, woof!

The structure was already resounding, so it was very noisy, as if ten dogs were barking together.

“Can’t you shut your mouth?”

The knights pounded menacingly on the iron door of the cell, trying to silence them.

‘…I think that would be more counterproductive.’

As I expected, the stimulated hounds raised their voices even louder. The sound of large, frenzied dogs barking in the echoing dungeon was truly terrifying. They must have been trained to be so ferocious that, if captured by the enemy, they would fight relentlessly, never surrendering.

I stopped the knights, feeling nervous.

“Stop it. Everyone, don’t provoke them and be quiet.”

After that order, I finally found Cadis in the second cell.

I had planned to ask for him to be taken out first. However, his reaction when he saw my face through the small window was unusual.

Cadis, who had been barking fiercely in his dog form, immediately stopped when he saw me. He let out a low groan, turned in place, and then retreated to the corner of the narrow cell, curling up while glancing cautiously in my direction.

His body, looking at the other side and glancing sideways, was unnaturally rigid.

‘Why is he doing that?’

Curious, I asked the knights guarding the cell.

“Do you know why he’s like that all of a sudden?”

“No, this is the first time I’ve seen that. I’ve seen him bark nonstop every time he hears someone, but he’s so quiet…”

“Really?”

I went a little closer to the small iron cage.

But, as I stood on the fence, Cadis stared at me, making a sound that I did not know if it was growling or sobbing. It was as if you instinctively wanted to growl, although you have been trained not to do that, and you were barely holding it in.

I could feel a confused expression from him as though he did not know what to do.

As I watched him silently, I realized something.

‘Has he already been abused by Rowaine…?’

I did not think of that, but there was a possibility.

After becoming the Emperor’s lover, Rowaine took pleasure in abusing Cadis with the Emperor’s permission, treating it as a twisted hobby. She specifically targeted Cadis because she knew the female lead, the Princess, loved him.

Rowaine harbored a deep hatred for the heroine, and after mistreating both of the main characters, she was eventually executed by Cadis, who acted on the heroine’s orders.

‘…I had always assumed that Rowaine only began abusing Cadis after she became the Emperor’s concubine, but has it been happening since before?’

Rowaine had spent time with the Emperor, frequently visiting his palace even before officially becoming his mistress. Because of that, she may have already come into contact with Cadis.

The plot of the novel begins from the heroine’s perspective, and it was only later in the story that Rowaine’s character was fully revealed so I mistakenly believed her mistreatment of Cadis was something that would happen in the future.

‘Come to think of it, I remember that Cadis was already very wary of Rowaine when they met for the first time.’

How did I forget that?

I felt dizzy at the thought that I had forgotten something important and touched my forehead.

‘It was a pity that I was buried in the thoughts that I should not be taken to be Emperor’s mistress immediately.’

It would have been a big mess. Cadis, the male lead, already had a grudge against Rowaine, and without knowing it, I was living peacefully with Dimitri, who later resented the heroine.

‘It was God’s will to bring Cadis here.’

If I corrected it now, I could truly escape the fate of the villain. Oh, how fortunate I was to still have the opportunity! Still, I felt relieved yet complicated at the same time. How would I like to treat him, who must have been helplessly abused by Rowaine without being able to speak under the command of his master, the Emperor?

‘It would be better to soften his vigilance for now.’

It was best to eat, for either a human or an animal, to alleviate the vigilance. Believing that it would be the same for the shapeshifters, I spoke out loud to the guards so that Cadis could hear me.

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