“My lady, we’ve arrived at the duke’s residence.”
After a little while, the carriage stopped in front of a mansion that looked incredibly lavish.
The coachman really was skilled. The roads in the city weren’t especially rough, but Itefeil had barely felt a bump the whole ride.
Franny helped Itefeil out of the carriage. La Luna was still resting quietly in Itefeil’s arms, not once making a fuss or meowing during the entire journey. She’d been very well-behaved.
“Itefeil, when did you get a cat?”
Franny was curious. Before she got married, she’d never known Itefeil to be interested in keeping pets.
“You mean this little one? Her name’s La Luna. I found her on the Divine Road not long ago, while I was on a mission.”
Itefeil lifted La Luna’s little paw and waved it.
“Say hello to our Franny!”
“Meow~”
(Hello, beautiful lady.)
La Luna gave a casual meow. It wasn’t as if they could understand her anyway. Even if she suddenly started spouting eloquent compliments, neither of them would take her seriously.
“Haha, what a good kitty! I’m sure Feilin will love her. Too bad my fool of a husband only likes pets like hunting dogs. He has no interest in cats at all. Though I can’t say I’m eager to get one myself, either.”
Franny watched La Luna curl up obediently in Itefeil’s arms with a hint of envy. La Luna snuggled even deeper into Itefeil’s embrace, then glanced at Franny’s ample assets.
(That woman’s embrace definitely isn’t as spacious as this one.)
La Luna thought, with no regard for manners.
Still, young women really were lovely.
As an artist, La Luna could tell at a glance that Feilin’s measurements were way higher than Itefeil’s.
How could she tell, you ask?
La Luna would say that anyone who’d studied human anatomy could look at someone fully clothed and see them almost as clearly as if they were naked. She could even sketch the full outline of Franny’s figure.
“Franny! Itefeil!”
Not long after the two entered the ducal residence, an excited woman in a short formal dress hurried out to greet them.
“Franny, it’s been ages! Next time you come to Sville City, make sure to let me know ahead of time! If Nivina hadn’t told me you were back, I’d still have been completely in the dark!”
The woman in the short formal dress was Feilin, the earl’s daughter.
(This girl is so pretty.)
La Luna peeked at Feilin from Itefeil’s arms.
Her wine-red hair looked even more captivating in the midday sun. Her eyes were clear and bright, and she had the natural air of nobility that came with being an aristocrat. The dimples that appeared when she smiled were another point in her favor. And she was so petite, too. La Luna couldn’t tell how old she was, but judging by her appearance, she looked around sixteen to eighteen.
“My little Feilin! Come here and let your big sister hug you!”
Franny swept Feilin into her arms and buried her head between her breasts.
“Mmph!”
Mm. Compared to Feilin, Franny clearly leaned more toward the mature… married-woman type? If La Luna hadn’t known Franny was married, she might’ve thought she was simply a mature big sister. Her golden curls, her stunning figure, and that face with the word mature practically written all over it.
After struggling for quite a while, Feilin finally escaped Franny’s clutches and hid behind Itefeil, looking shaken.
“Big Sister Franny comes back and bullies me right away! Itefeil, please punish her for me!”
Itefeil sighed and let the two of them fool around beside her.
“You two are grown women now. How come you still mess around like you used to?”
The two of them immediately took offense. They stopped fooling around, teamed up, and turned their attacks on Itefeil.
“You’re only in your twenties yourself, but you sound like somebody’s mom. Itefeil, you big dummy!”
“Itefeil, keeping a young heart no matter how old you get is the secret to a long life!”
Under their fierce onslaught, Itefeil took a step back. La Luna’s tail slipped out from the crook of her arm.
“Huh? Is that a kitty?”
Feilin stared in surprise at the bundle of white fur with black stripes in Itefeil’s arms. She hadn’t noticed what Itefeil was holding while she and Franny were fooling around. But now that they’d both turned their attention to Itefeil, Feilin immediately spotted something unusual.
“Meow~”
“Wow! What a mighty little kitty!”
Feilin’s eyes lit up at the fearsome tiger stripes on La Luna’s head, and she immediately reached out to pick her up.
Itefeil would never refuse a request from a friend, so she readily handed the cat over.
“Whoa, your kitty’s heavy!”
Itefeil looked at La Luna in surprise.
“Huh? Is she?”
“She is! She looks so small, but she’s really heavy to hold.”
“Maybe she should go on a diet…”
Feilin gave La Luna a little squeeze. Uncomfortable, La Luna turned over in her arms. This girl seemed even flatter than Itefeil…
“Itefeil, is your cat a stray?”
“Huh? I guess so. I found her on the Divine Road.”
Itefeil didn’t understand why Feilin was asking. Feilin handed the cat back.
“Your cat has really strong muscles in all four legs. She seems like she’d be a good fighter. Maybe you could take her with you the next time you patrol outside the city.”
“Huh? You think so?”
Itefeil looked at La Luna in her arms. She still seemed completely harmless. If not for those bold, imposing tiger stripes, she didn’t look at all like a cat that could fight.
“Still, you managed to tame a stray so well! That’s Itefeil for you!”
Feilin gave Itefeil a thumbs-up.
“Oh, it’s nothing. La Luna was well-behaved to begin with…”
Just then, a guard came in.
“Miss, Miss Miller and Miss Nivina have arrived.”
“Then let them in! Haven’t I told you they can come in without being announced?!”
Feilin shot the guard an irritated look, though she understood what this meant. Her friends—Itefeil, Nivina, and Franny—were all free to come and go as they pleased. Itefeil was a well-known police inspector in the city and had recently been promoted to chief inspector, with a good chance of becoming a noble someday. The other two were already nobles. But Nivina had arrived with Miller, and although Nivina could come straight in, Miller had to be announced. She came from a commoner family and had little chance of ever becoming a noble.
Still, the guard had been at this long enough to have some tact. He knew the routine and had left Miller a little dignity by having both women wait outside together. Feilin couldn’t really complain; the earl’s residence still belonged to her father, and there were rules she couldn’t change just because she wanted to.
