CSTB Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Mrs. Green immediately scolded the servant who asked out of ignorance, calling them “lacking common sense.” As a result, the young servant named Martin didn’t know where to put himself among the maids and scurried off toward the storage room.

“Maybe he doesn’t know whether lilies are dangerous to cats!”

He still seemed like a child. His face had probably turned red from embarrassment. Mrs. Green’s verbal abuse spared no one, regardless of age or gender.

“Mrs. Green, Mr. Wilson has come to see you.”

“Becky, didn’t Mr. Wilson tell you to just chase him away without saying a word to me? Why make me repeat the same thing? Are you brainless?”

She could have seemed quite refined if she had kept her mouth shut, but she opened it instead. Even afterward, every little word seemed to cost a fortune.

“Please, Mrs. Green. Have some mercy. You know the quality of our cheese is excellent. We were only two hours late on delivery, and now you’re saying you want to cancel the contract—what are we supposed to do?”

“I already told you that His Majesty asked for the cheese that morning. The chef was scolding me, asking why there wasn’t a single piece in the food storage. Do you know how difficult that was for me?”

The man named Wilson, who had told her to chase people away at the door, had pushed through and pleaded. For him, it was even worse.

“And then, after signing a three-year renewal contract just a month ago, you suddenly say you’re breaking it? I’ve already turned down all other clients because of this contract.”

“Why are you coming to me with that? Who told you to be late?”

Even as the elderly man, easily twenty years her senior, knelt and pleaded, Mrs. Green didn’t even flinch.

“What kind of person…?”

From the way she said it was “difficult,” it seemed like Noah hadn’t said anything separately about the missing cheese. It only looked like she was venting her frustration at hearing a comment in the middle.

This was blatant abuse of power.

“You can judge a person by a single action…”

Someone this cruel would probably even embezzle food for personal gain.

“Mrs. Green, the cart from James’ farm has arrived.”

“Already? Did you tell them to wait at the door and not come in?”

“Yes.”

For someone like her to light up at the news that a cart had arrived and rush out,

“Is this settled for sure?”

There was no need to think twice.

“Things are going smoother than expected.”

Noah planned to follow and check the scene, but suddenly a commotion arose near the maids’ quarters.

“They said I tried to harm His Majesty! I was just moving the potted plant to a sunnier spot!”

It seemed a maid had been caught after dropping a plant.

Earlier, it had gone smoothly, but Jonathan seemed like he might ask again later. Even while hurriedly returning to the palace on horseback, Jonathan’s gaze never left Noah.

Although Noah pretended not to understand what Jonathan was saying, he was secretly impressed by Jonathan’s cleverness. Jonathan had connected several situations with the book Noah was reading—no wonder he had always ranked top in the academy.

But Noah had no intention of revealing it to Jonathan. He wanted to keep his expectations for the upcoming events entirely to himself.

<On the day of the second spring, the beast becomes an adult.>
<When the beast becomes an adult, it fully transforms into a human form.>

As Jonathan had guessed, Noah was reading a book about beasts believed not to exist in the world because of Rosé.

―Rosé…?

One day last year, when the snow melted and spring arrived, Rosé had transformed into a human just once.

It was very brief, and she returned to being a cat before they could even speak, but that was enough. A Rosé who had transformed into a human for even a moment could not possibly be just a cat.

So Noah collected information about cat-beasts, hoping that one day Rosé would properly transform into human form and talk with him.

Rosé had been a beast Noah didn’t even know existed, and accepting her wasn’t difficult.

No matter the form, Rosé was Rosé—the only ally in the world.

For that Rosé, Noah couldn’t allow people to die in the palace for no reason if he wanted to become a perfect emperor.

“Open the gates! His Majesty has arrived!”

Noah sprinted to the palace and, without stopping, ran straight to the knights’ training ground on the right.

Melissa had once been determined to eliminate Noah’s opposition. Even then, nobles at least had a formal trial process; servants, however, rarely had the chance to plead before falling to the knights’ swords.

It was obvious Melissa had issued arbitrary orders like that again.

“Is that… Rosé?”

As he approached the training ground, the first thing Noah saw was Rosé.

Rosé was in front of the kneeling maid, restrained by knights, standing on two legs like a human with all four limbs spread, blocking the knight holding a sword.

“Move the cat!”
“It’s the Emperor’s cat.”
“So you’ll leave it there? Didn’t you hear the order to execute it immediately?”
“It’s a cursed cat! If you touch it recklessly, who knows what’ll happen!”

The knights couldn’t manage Rosé despite it being just a small cat they could easily push aside.

Even so, watching knights struggle before a cat was amusing.

“Haah! Wooooh!”

Rosé stood boldly in front of the maid, fearless, causing Noah to laugh involuntarily.

Yes, that’s my Rosé—the Rosé who isn’t “just” a cat.

By the time the knights noticed Noah laughing, his face had returned to its usual cold expression. They dropped their swords and bowed.

“Your Majesty has arrived.”

Seeing Rosé’s trembling hind legs, Noah immediately dismounted and asked the knights with a serious expression:

“Who allowed you to execute my maid without my permission?”

“Melissa….”
“Do you think my mother is the Emperor of this Empire?”
“Of course not! I thought the order given by Melissa was from Your Majesty!”

The knights, intimidated by Noah, lowered their heads without meeting his gaze. As they sheathed their swords, Rosé relaxed and put her front legs on the ground.

When Noah approached, Rosé showed a “Thank goodness!” expression, quickly shifting to “This is bad!”

She had been caught despite being told not to come out.

For a moment, Noah wondered if the Rosé he saw was a mirage.

But the clear, unmistakable expression wiped away any lingering fear in his chest, and he couldn’t hide the smile that spread across his lips.

“Your Majesty, what should we do with this maid?”

Luckily, Noah had hidden it from view.

“Ah! I definitely didn’t want to get caught today!”

She had intended that, but it was impossible. She knew the maid had done nothing wrong but couldn’t let her go.

Otherwise, people would assume Noah had given the order, and his image would be ruined.

“Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you!”

He was relieved to arrive on time, though he frowned at being seen outside again. If Noah ever decided to nail the windows shut, there would be no hope.

“Should I try being cute a bit?”

As he thought this while approaching,

“Huh…?”

Noah smiled.

“Ah…?”

Although he quickly covered his mouth, Rosé didn’t miss it—he really did see Noah’s lips curl into a small smile.