MPBGS 3

Chapter : 03

“Meow?”

Pudding let out an adorable cry. I want to bite it! So what if it has three eyes? It’s still this cute. In my previous life I had to give up on having a cat due to circumstances, so I never imagined I’d end up raising one here.

I was planning to have it examined separately, but the butler brought some holy water and said it would be enough if the cat just drank this.

What kind of worldbuilding is this where a single bottle of holy water cures every infectious disease? Then why did they kill the cats? What’s going on with animal ethics in this other world?

When I poured the holy water into the water bowl, Pudding eagerly lapped it up with its tongue.

But why was it closing one eye?

Maybe because its fur was fluffy, but it just looked like it had two eyes.

Come to think of it, it always opened all of its eyes only when it was in front of me. Ah, so maybe two eyes are the default and the third eye only opens occasionally.

The butler checked that Pudding had finished all the holy water and then left.

So that’s it? Hooray!

“You drank your water so well. Good kitty.”

I placed Pudding on my lap and gave its butt a few pats.

Pudding seemed to think I wasn’t its owner but rather the innkeeper of an inn.

An inn with free room and board included.

Pudding had a free spirit. I was a shut-in who stayed locked in my room all day, but Pudding, the social butterfly, wandered around outside constantly.

Still, it always came back before sleeping and lay down with me.

Why does a cat like going for walks so much? Maybe because it used to be a stray?

I wanted to put a collar on it so it wouldn’t get into danger while wandering around. A maid brought me one.

It was made of soft cloth embroidered with the count’s family crest. She suggested I try embroidering Pudding’s name on it myself.

Apparently the original Evangeline had been good at embroidery.

But I’m illiterate and I can’t embroider!

Before I could even make an excuse, the maid handed it to me and ran away.

The maid who said she would bring me a book so I could learn letters hadn’t come for days either. She said it would take one day—so she must be deliberately not bringing it.

The servants trembled whenever they saw me, so I thought Evangeline must have been a tyrannical villainess. But it seems there was also a “being secretly bullied” setting attached.

Well, in recent romance fantasies even villainesses get bullied a lot. That’s why when people transmigrate into them they start by slapping people to establish authority.

Of course, I didn’t slap anyone.

“Sorry for being such a useless owner who can’t even write your name…”

I want to learn letters quickly. This half-hearted transmigration is too much…

When I woke up after sleeping, I could read.

What is this? A patch update? If this is transmigrator compensation, why didn’t they give it to me earlier?!

I was annoyed, but I decided to think positively—better late than never.

Maybe crying about not being able to read my pet cat’s name triggered the patch.

Tears streamed down my face.

Now I can read and write Pudding’s name!

I picked up a needle. Since I had suddenly learned the letters, maybe I could also do some of the embroidery Evangeline’s body had learned?

Yeah.

Nope.

The result was disastrous.

I wrote “Pudding,” but you couldn’t even tell what it said.

Should I throw it away and start again?

I hesitated for a moment, but Pudding meowed impatiently, urging me to hurry up and put the collar on.

This angelic cat!

I put the collar on Pudding.

They say a cat that wears a collar well means the owner is blessed. Maybe because Pudding was naturally calm, it didn’t resist the collar at all.

The size fit perfectly too.

Just in case, I made the seam weak so it would snap if Pudding pulled hard.

“Do you like it?”

Pudding walked over to the mirror and looked at itself.

Then it meowed, seemingly pleased.

Suddenly I realized something strange.

Pudding knows how to look in the mirror.

Are cats in this world incredibly smart?

…Or is our Pudding special?

Well, of course my cat is the best in the world.

Count Rohanson left for his territory.

In truth, it was closer to fleeing.

He left so hurriedly that he barely packed a few clothes, practically running away in the middle of the night.

While staying in the mansion, he had been terrified, saying that “eyes” were constantly watching him.

Not only the count, but a maid named Daisy felt the same way.

That maid wouldn’t even try to open her eyes anymore.

When asked if she wanted a recommendation letter to another household, she shook her head and said she wanted to go to a monastery no matter what.

With her eyes closed and hands clasped, she looked as if she were constantly praying.

Apparently the eyes disappeared once she left the mansion, so psychologically she would probably be fine at the monastery.

With the count absent, the mansion’s duties were entrusted to the butler.

Family matters would be handled by the count from the territory.

The butler had only one responsibility:

Lady Evangeline.

The elderly butler looked out the window at the weeping cherry tree.

The pale young lady was walking through the garden, with a cat following behind her.

That must be the cat she said she would raise.

At a glance, the scene looked peaceful.

On the butler’s shoulder remained a bright red handprint.

Was the cat she raised really an ordinary animal?

His vision wavered.

The mansion he had lived in his entire life felt like the inside of a monster’s stomach.

He closed the curtains and sat down.

Across from him, a maid was drinking tea.

The hand holding the cup trembled violently, but she seemed better off than Daisy.

“I hear a cat.”

Hena was the girl who had taken over serving Lady Evangeline after Daisy.

After Daisy’s incident, no one wanted the position, so the wages had been raised.

Hena, who needed money urgently, accepted the job.

But it seemed difficult for her to continue much longer.

The butler looked at the girl sitting before him with pity.

A perfectly normal girl had come back mentally disturbed after just one day.

Finding another maid would now be even harder.

The butler opened his mouth and spoke, but to Hena it sounded only like a meowing cat.

She couldn’t hear what he said, but hoping her answer would be appropriate, she spoke.

“The lady asked if there were any cats. I said they were all dead. We definitely killed them all… so why do I hear them?”

Hena had once helped dispose of the cat corpses when the count’s household killed them.

It felt unsettling, but she volunteered because they paid extra.

There were several sacks filled with the bodies of cats lured by bait.

They were all dead—silent cats.

And now, belatedly, they were crying.

The butler could hear no such sounds.

While writing additional notes to report to the count, the butler asked if Hena would like a recommendation letter.

It was a kind offer, but Hena still heard nothing but cats crying.

The butler wrote the question on paper and showed her.

Hena shook her head.

If she said she heard cats here, where strange things were already happening, it might be accepted.

But if she transferred elsewhere, she would surely be labeled insane and dismissed.

“I’ll keep working. I can’t hear voices, but if I read lips, it should be fine.”

Hena had a younger sibling.

For the sake of her sick sibling, she needed to keep working.

A reply came back from the count.

He angrily ordered them to feed the cat holy water and confirm whether it was a monster.

Holy water hadn’t worked on Lady Evangeline—would it work on a cat?

Though doubtful, the butler followed his master’s command.

Holy water was extremely expensive.

Only nobles could buy it without hesitation.

Hena knew that and was shocked.

If they had holy water, her sibling could recover.

And yet they were going to feed something so precious to a mere cat.

“Do you want it?”

When was the last time she heard a human voice?

Hena turned her head and looked around, but no one was there.

The only thing present was a cat grooming itself.

The cat?

Was that the cat Lady Evangeline kept?

“I asked you something. You should answer.”

Huh?

“You said you wanted that water. You can take it. I’ll tell you how.”

The cat opened its eyes.

Three eyes looked directly at Hena.

A monster. It’s a monster.

Hena ran away.

She had to tell the butler.

Lady Evangeline’s cat was a monster!

If she reported it, maybe she’d receive a reward.

But then she stopped.

A small reward wouldn’t be enough to buy holy water.

What did the cat say?

It would tell her how?

She imagined her sibling healthy, laughing brightly and running around.

Then she turned back.

As if expecting it, the cat was waiting in the same spot.

Following the cat’s instructions, Hena switched the holy water.

She didn’t know how it had been prepared, but even the delicate patterns on the bottle were identical.

The butler watched the cat drink the fake holy water without reacting.

Unlike Lady Evangeline, the cat was affected by the real holy water.

Only Hena realized this.

After that, the cat occasionally came to Hena and asked her to do various favors.

Once, it told her to make sure the young lady embroidered the collar the cat would wear.

Afraid the lady would be angry, Hena handed over the collar and embroidery set and ran away.

Apparently the lady really did pick up a needle for the cat.

The cat proudly showed off the terribly embroidered collar.

The lady had written strange letters on the collar, yet she called the cat “Pudding.”

After spending the day serving the frightening young lady and the monstrous cat she could barely look at, Hena’s workday would finally end.

The pay for serving the lady was extremely high.

It more than covered living expenses for two people.

Thanks to that, on the way home Hena could stop by the market and splurge on foods her sibling liked.

They’ll like it, right?

Hena’s heart melted with warmth.

After drinking holy water, her sibling’s health improved day by day.

Just a few days ago they could barely eat soup, but now they complained about being hungry.

When she got home, her sibling was sitting in front of the door.

“Big sister!”

“You waited outside in the cold?”

“I missed you. You worked hard. Let’s go inside!”

“Okay. Kanna, stop fussing.”

Her sibling jumped into Hena’s arms.

Moments like this made it easy to forget the grotesque cat and the terrifying lady she served during the day.

Hena thought it had been the right decision to listen to the cat’s proposal.

Maybe it was because she kept the cat pleased.

Now she couldn’t hear the cat’s cries anymore.