The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 24

Yount, a farmer in Reinke, had stayed up all night yesterday.

It wasn’t because he had some work that required him to pull an all-nighter. It was simply because… he had to go give a face-to-face report to ‘that Duke’ the next day.

Yount was in charge of a project to introduce new crops and test if they were suitable for Reinke’s soil, and then improve them, as per the Duke’s orders. It was an honor to be entrusted with this task, having been recognized as the most knowledgeable person about farming in Reinke, but… at this point, when he had to give a face-to-face report to the Duke, Yount couldn’t help but think about how insignificant honor was compared to a peaceful and stable life.

If it had been any other task, he could have somehow passed the report on to someone else. Like… to Ruan, the assistant that the Duke had been keeping close and doting on recently.

The thought of His Grace having a romantic partner was surprising. Even considering it might be a foolish first love of youth, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for the person, thinking, “What is this kid trying to do?” But… separately from that, Ruan was the Duke’s lover after all, so he probably wouldn’t receive severe punishment even if he slightly offended His Grace.

Or maybe not. Come to think of it, His Grace might be just as merciless to his own lover.

Yount shuddered as he recalled the Duke’s ice-cold face.

‘Let’s just come back alive…’

Although he was so afraid that he couldn’t even sleep, Yount had no choice but to go and report in person.

Introducing various crops to increase Reinke’s self-production was one of the important projects the Duke was pushing forward, and because he valued this project so much, the Duke insisted on receiving face-to-face reports from the person in charge.

Yount, with dark circles under his eyes, tightly hugged his beloved wife before leaving the house.

‘This is the kind of warm person you should fall in love with, how did that Ruan end up…’

After unnecessarily worrying about someone else, Yount headed towards the Duke’s castle with timid steps.

The Duke he faced… was emanating a frightening aura as usual today.

‘How on earth did Ruan end up with someone like that…’

Yount, frozen stiff by the Duke’s cold atmosphere, began his report.

“These are the crops we’ve started cultivating recently. Although the aroma and quality are significantly lower compared to when we first brought them in, the yield itself…”

Yount, with trembling hands, took out the crops he had brought and placed them on the Duke’s desk.

The Duke then leaned slightly forward to look at them.

He slightly opened his mouth and furrowed his brow.

It was an expression that seemed to convey utter disbelief or incredulity.

What might have been an insignificant expression on anyone else’s face looked almost like a death threat when placed on the Duke’s intimidating face.

The Duke was famous for having no change in expression, although his face itself was scary. Even during the grueling times of reclaiming Reinke, when he personally beheaded the madman who committed embezzlement just to save his own skin, the Duke maintained his usual expressionless face without the slightest change.

But for such a Duke to make such a ferocious expression…

‘Just how angry is he…’

Sensing the Duke’s terrifying rage like hellfire, Yount clasped his trembling hands together and thought of his wife who had hugged him warmly before he left.

‘I’m sorry, Anita… I might not be able to come back…’

* * *

Ruan, watching the pitifully pale farmer Yount, squeezed his eyes shut.

‘That’s not what it means…’

Unlike humans who only have noses as olfactory organs, cats have another olfactory organ besides their nose. It’s an organ located on the roof of their mouth, used to analyze smells and gather information.

But because this organ is located inside the mouth, to detect smells, they have to open their mouth and wrinkle their face…

And that’s what the Duke’s facial muscles were doing right now. It was a movement to analyze the smell of the new crop and gather information.

Therefore, it was absolutely not an ‘expression’ meant to show any emotion, especially not a negative one.

However.

‘I can see why it would be misunderstood…’

Honestly, even to Ruan who knew everything, it looked like an angry expression on the scary Northern Duke’s face. So to people who didn’t know the truth and were already terrified of the Duke, it could only be perceived as scary.

A cat with no intention to threaten, and a human trembling in fear, interpreting that appearance as a great threat. Watching the two, Ruan could understand how the cat Duke’s image had become so distorted.

The Duke was doing cat things, and from the perspective of humans viewing it through the frame of ‘scary Duke’, it just looked like ‘scary Duke’ behavior, which in turn reinforced the ‘scary Duke’ frame. That must have been repeating over time.

‘Why did God give a cat the shell of the Northern Duke…’

But he couldn’t just blurt out that this Northern Duke-like Northern Duke was actually just a cat and that was a Flehmen response, given the situation.

‘I guess I’ll have to act as a bridge between the two for now.’

Ruan, swallowing a sigh internally, intervened between the two who seemed to be in completely different genres.

“Mr. Yount. Is this the one you said was delicious when cooked into a stew last time?”

Yount’s gaze, which had been trembling as if he was about to die, landed on Ruan, then on the Duke who was looking at the suddenly intervening Ruan, then back to Ruan.

His expression seemed to say, ‘What are you trying to do by stepping in here, can’t you see that look? At least you should survive.’ Ruan forced a smile and continued speaking.

“Even if the aroma is a bit weaker, you said the texture was okay and it would be fine if mixed with other ingredients, right?”

As Ruan persistently continued, Yount timidly responded.

“Ah… It’s true that it’s lacking in terms of aroma and size, but in those aspects…”

“I see. So even though the size has decreased a bit, the yield itself isn’t bad, right?”

As Ruan kept asking questions, and the Duke remained silent, Yount, perhaps seeing this as an opportunity to somehow survive, cautiously began to elaborate on the results he had achieved. However, he kept glancing nervously at the Duke.

Finally, after finishing the report he had prepared and confirming that his head was still attached, Yount looked at Ruan with an expression that seemed on the verge of tears. When the Duke, who had been sitting quietly, gave instructions about future directions and told him to leave.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Ruan learned what the face of a truly grateful human looked like.

Yount, who had shouted with all his heart several times, left the place with a face that seemed unable to believe he was still alive.

‘Though the Duke seems to have become displeased by that loud voice at the end…’

As Ruan was thinking that he should tell Yount later that it’s better not to raise his voice in front of the Duke, he turned around. He saw the Duke, who had already brought out his fluffy ears and tail. His ears were slightly tilted back, apparently displeased by the loud voice that had just sounded right in front of him.

Since revealing his identity to Ruan, the Duke had started bringing out his cat ears and tail when they were alone. At first, Ruan thought what a bizarre combination of words ‘Northern Duke with cat ears’ was, but…

As he kept seeing it, Ruan couldn’t help but realize.

That overwhelmingly harmonious features could make even seemingly incompatible things harmonize.

Just as cats are cute and lovable even when they do silly things simply because they look like cats, the Duke’s handsome face looked like a dignified and majestic handsome man even with cat ears.

And that appearance had an unexpected effect…

Ruan’s gaze turned to the fluffy tail thumping on the floor.

With the ears and tail visible, the Duke’s expressions of intent became easier to understand.

‘When I first became an assistant, I felt like I was holding onto a bomb that could explode at any moment because I couldn’t tell what the Duke was thinking.’

Now, Ruan had reached a point where he could understand the Duke’s thoughts just from his small movements.

‘I didn’t know he was such an easy-to-understand person…’

The Duke expressed his emotions very honestly and transparently. There was nothing particularly hidden.

But it was in his way as a cat, so everyone else just couldn’t understand.

Ruan sighed as he recalled the scene from earlier where misunderstandings were created in real-time just because a cat was doing cat things.

‘Our cat is so honest and pure… it’s a shame he has to be misunderstood like that.’

He knew it couldn’t be helped.

A cat’s expressions of intent were fundamentally different from humans’ in many ways. That’s why even with ordinary cats, people who don’t know cats well often misunderstand them as being unaffectionate or strange. And on top of that, they didn’t even know he was a cat. There was no way the Duke’s expressions could be properly understood.

But you can’t ask a cat to communicate in human ways…

No, wait.

‘That cat… originally knows how to speak human language, doesn’t he?’