The moment her feet touched the water, a shiver ran down her spine. Rose struggled with all her might, but Evelyn and Amelia held her firm, dunking her into the basin without mercy.
[Save me, Rose!!!!!]
Even just getting wet, Rose felt her life was in danger. The feeling of the water slowly soaking her fur and seeping into her skin was unbearable. Rose managed to overturn the basin with all her strength and escape, but Amelia immediately grabbed her.
“Please be still, Lady Rose.”
[How can I be still when I feel like I’m going to die!]
Rose had been wondering where all the water was coming from since the basin had been knocked over. It turned out Noah’s large bathtub was filled to the brim with hot water.
[You meticulous maids!]
“I won’t give you any more beef next time!” she thought angrily, but of course, it had no effect.
“Lady Rose, you need to be bathed. How can you be so grubby while sleeping on His Majesty’s bed?”
Rose paused at that, but her feline instincts were stronger than her sense of human dignity. After several attempts to knock over the basin and running around the bathroom, the bathroom door opened with a creak.
‘Now’s my chance!’
Rose shot out of the bathroom, only to crash into something solid and bounce back, sprawling on the bathroom floor.
“What’s all this commotion?”
“Your Majesty…”
“His Majesty, you’ve arrived.”
She had collided with Noah’s body as he opened the door to see what the noise was about.
‘Wow… my Noah’s body is like a rock.’
Ack! That’s not what’s important right now!
Amidst her brief admiration for Noah’s rock-like body, Rose ran toward him and clung to his leg.
“Meow. Meow meow meow. (Noah, save me. sob.)”
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Noah reached down and picked up the wet Rose. Evelyn and Amelia made a fuss, saying his clothes would get wet, but he didn’t mind at all.
‘As I thought… there’s no one but Noah.’
He stared at her, all wet, for a long time.
‘Noah loves me even when I’m this grubby!’
She was touched, but that wasn’t it. Noah slowly knelt down in front of Rose’s small bathtub and placed her in the water. Then, holding her belly with one hand, he began to pour water over her body.
‘Noah…?’
Rose was in shock, as she had expected him to save her. It was so shocking that she felt all the energy to make a fuss had drained out of her.
Betrayal. This was a clear betrayal.
Rose felt a sense of betrayal toward Noah, who she thought would save her, but was instead determined to wash her. However…
“Your Majesty! We will do it!”
“We can do it, Your Majesty! You shouldn’t have to bathe her yourself!”
Even though she was half-submerged in water and had water running down her head, she didn’t mind it as much.
“Your Majesty! There’s blood on your arm…!”
“I’ll go get the doctor… I’ll bring the doctor!”
In her shock, she hadn’t noticed, but she must have grabbed his arm with her claws when she was put in the water.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it and stand by.”
Even with the clear claw marks and blood flowing from his arm, Noah didn’t care at all. He focused only on bathing Rose, as if finishing the bath quickly was the priority.
As she gave in to Noah’s careful touch, her stiff body began to relax. Part of her still hated and feared the water, but she felt a strange sense of security in Noah’s arm that held her so firmly.
Noah would never do anything to harm me.
That unwavering belief made her endure something she hated, surpassing even her instincts. She also didn’t want to smell bad, as Evelyn said, since she would be in Noah’s arms all the time.
When Rose became calmer, Noah reached for the rose-scented soap and lathered up her back. His hands, which massaged her body with the foam, made her feel embarrassed and so grateful she was almost overwhelmed.
‘Huh?’
Noah suddenly stopped his hand as he was about to put foam on Rose’s belly and lower body. When Rose looked up to see why, she saw Noah looking flustered with the tips of his ears slightly red, as if he was feeling warm.
She thought, I’m just a cat, so why is he so awkward about touching me? but at the same time, Rose’s face also turned red. If a cat’s face could turn red, that is.
‘Is it because he’s the Emperor, and he does physical training?’
Because of Noah’s reaction, she became self-conscious of his forearm touching her belly. After a while of this strange atmosphere, Noah suddenly entrusted Rose to the maids and left.
‘Why is he acting like that?’
Rose wondered, but then thought,
‘And why am I acting like this!’
Rose’s cheeks, once flushed, didn’t cool down either.
‘This hallway is so narrow it’s suffocating, no matter how many times I see it.’
After her bath and breakfast, Rose, held in Noah’s arms, came out into the hallway and had the same thought as the day she first stepped out of the bedroom with Jonathan.
When you open the bedroom door, there is a wall in front of you, and a narrow, long hallway stretches out on both sides. The hallway looked so narrow that two people would have a hard time passing each other, and there wasn’t even a window on the wall. As you turn and walk to the right, you can only see a few doors on your right.
‘The former Emperor. Why would he build the Emperor’s private quarters like this?’
When she didn’t know what this novel was about, she thought Noah, being a tyrant, built it this way because he felt threatened by assassination. But this space was originally built this way. It was the work of the former Emperor, who felt threatened by assassination and lived in fear, even though no one intended to harm him.
‘That former Emperor had a strange personality, too.’
Just like when she was in Jonathan’s arms and walked out of the hallway, when Noah opened the door at the end of the hallway, she saw armed knights guarding a large hall.
‘But where are we going?’
Rose looked up at Noah. It seemed like Noah had bathed her because he had to go somewhere. In addition to her collar, Rose was wearing a pink dress with a lot of frilly decorations.
“You’ve come out, Your Majesty.”
As Rose was held in Noah’s arms and stepped out of the entrance, she saw a large carriage and Jonathan waiting. Her question of where they were going was easily answered.
“Is everything ready?”
“It is. We have stationed the knights near the lake and have restricted people’s entry.”
It seemed like they were going out for some fresh air. Noah seemed to think that Rose’s running away was an act of frustration from being cooped up in her room.
‘A picnic is nice and all…’
The thought that now was not the time for that disappeared as soon as they got into the carriage and left the imperial palace. Rose, who had her front paws on the window frame, was completely captivated by the passing scenery outside.
‘Wow!’
The shopping district where she first opened her eyes was interesting, but since it was the capital and near the imperial palace, the buildings were magnificent. As she looked at the chapel with its impressive spires and the old-fashioned mansions, she felt as if she was in Europe, a place she had never been to in her life.
‘This is so exciting!’
Noah, perhaps worried that Rose might fall out of the window, carefully held her torso with both hands.
The warmth, the cold but refreshing wind that brushed past her nose, and the new and different scenery made Rose’s heart swell even more.
In her previous life, she had never even been on a trip to Japan, let alone Europe. She didn’t want to miss a single detail of the small fences she was seeing for the first time.
As if he could read her mind, Noah didn’t force Rose to sit down. He also didn’t let go of the hands that held her torso, and Rose purred happily.
‘Just for one day…’
It’s okay to rest for one day, right? The food thief isn’t going to run away in one day.
Rose proudly faced the wind, which felt a little warmer than when she first opened her eyes as a cat, and puffed out her chest.
It was the most pleasant wind she had ever felt in her entire life, including her past life.
