The night in the forest was terribly cold.
Even though this animal was wrapped in fur, it would certainly also perceive the night to be cold like that. Crown Prince Calix was convinced of this and stared at the tiny little life form.
The cat, with its shiny, flowing black fur, was curled up and slept. Its chest was rising and sinking rhythmically. It was in a deep sleep. Watching it occasionally twitch the bridge of its nose and move its forelegs, he wondered what it was dreaming about.
After a while, as the cat was shivering in the cold, it climbed on top of the crown prince’s belly. He was convinced that it was still asleep, as it didn’t even open its eyes. As it was constantly tossing and turning, searching for an even warmer heat source, the crown prince put a blanket over it. Only when it was wrapped up in the space between the crown prince’s belly and the blanket did the cat fall back into a deep slumber.
The cat slept even fearlessly on top of a strange human’s belly and was very small. It seemed to be on the smaller side, even in comparison with ordinary cats. Its body temperature was a bit higher than that of a human. The area of the belly, which the cat was taking up and on which it was lying, was warm.
‘It’s amazing,’ thought the crown prince and stared at the cat.
Originally, it was the natural order that animals were sensitive to the scent of blood in order to stay alive. From an early age on, he had wandered around the battlefield. Whenever the crown prince approached, both wild and domesticated animals alike were frantically running away. No, he wasn’t even sure if it was the scent of blood. The cause might instead be his own energy with which he was born.1아니, 그보다는 타고난 기운 자체가 그러하지도 모른다.: literally, “No, even more so, he didn’t know whether it was not his own energy with which he was born.”
[T/N: I paraphrased to clarify what the author wanted to convey.] Even when he was young and didn’t know the scent of blood, animals strangely avoided him. Because of that, the crown prince had always been unable to touch soft animals. At least living ones.
Had it sensed his attention? The cat suddenly tossed and turned a tiny bit. Calix thought that he might have woken it up, but this seemed not to be the case. The cat moved sluggishly for a moment, but soon after, it once again started to breathe softly. It was a relatively small animal and slept comfortably on top of Calix’s belly. Not only did the crown prince feel amazed, but even weird, and he stretched his hand carefully out.
Erasing his presence, he slowly moved his hand, but halted for a moment above the black fur. The crown prince’s golden eyes peered carefully into the cat’s face. His gaze was stuck for a while on the cat, as he was wondering whether he was really allowed to touch it, but the cat continued to sleep serenely. The crown prince then continued to move his stopped hand.
He touched the fur underneath his hand. With a long caressing touch, he grazed the tips of the cat’s fur, which felt like the finest silk. After gently caressing only the ends of the fur a couple of times, he used a little bit more strength in his hand and stroked the warm and tiny body. When he stroked the cat from the top of its head, which was smaller than a fist, over the rounded back down to its butt, a slight groaning2끄응: (kkeueung) also 끙 (kkeung) or 끙끙, a groan, a sound made when very exhausted or in great pain. sound flowed out of the cat.
The bridge of its small nose twitched multiple times, and the closed eyelids slowly opened. It blinked its eyes a couple of times and examined the crown prince’s face. It opened its mouth wide and yawned. And then it buried its face again and closed its eyes. It seemed as if it considered the current location to be a very safe place.
The crown prince started to stroke the cat again. In contrast to a while ago, he was gentle with his hand but didn’t hesitate anymore. It was the first time that he had experienced something like this. The body heat of the small and tender animal was warm, and the fur underneath his hand was exceedingly soft.
“You seem to be a strange fellow.”
The crown prince muttered quietly and felt like softly melting. Simon, who noticed this without difficulty, knitted his brows and glanced at the cat, which was sleeping on top of the crown prince’s belly in a curled-up position.
It was quite a strange cat. It was difficult to see it simply as a fearless and clever cat. There was this famous old story of the pet dog, which loved humans to death. But whenever the crown prince approached, it would tuck its tail between its legs and try to escape. This behavior of animals was so excessively harsh that the crown prince could not even own a hunting hawk. The reason was that even well-trained, gentle fellows would be frightened witless as soon as they approached the vicinity of the crown prince. Besides, this was not only true for animals. From newborn babies, who couldn’t even drink from their mother’s teat, to even young children, whenever the crown prince approached, their breathing became rough, and they started to cry loudly and make a fuss, as strange as it might seem. But this cat was not only pestering the crown prince for food on its own accord, but also fell asleep on top of the crown prince’s belly.
Simon looked over at the cat with a doubtful and vigilant mind.
Even when only considering how it approached the crown prince without reservation, this could not be an ordinary cat.
Simon diligently suppressed the urge to rip this cat off of the crown prince immediately. This was the crown prince, who mysteriously lacked emotional expressions from an early age on. But at this moment, a very faint happy expression was blooming on this person’s face. Even Simon, who had been at his side for a very long time, had never seen him be like that.
Anyway, it was just for a single night. As they had to depart for the imperial palace3황궁: (hwanggoong) imperial palace, royal palace
[T/N: At the end of the second book, Calix is referred to as 황제 (hwangje), emperor or king. As this is most often used for emperors and empresses, I will go with “imperial palace.”] early the following day, the unpleasant cat situation would naturally resolve itself. They were all knights and soldiers, who were only riding horses and had no carriages, so there was no way to take it with them. However, even if it was an agile cat, it was impossible for it to follow them, as they would be riding in the direction of the distant imperial palace on galloping horses. This was what Simon thought as he closed his eyes.
***
T/N: Sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter. The reason is that the next part is a change of scene. Combined with this part, it would be a bit on the long side. As the first part with 3.5 Korean pages was approx. 1,720 English words, and this second part with 2 Korean pages approx. 1,200 English words, the third and last part of Chapter 1 with 2.5 Korean pages should be roughly 1,400 to 1,500 English words. I don’t want to break them up differently, as these are the natural breaks in the story, and it would disrupt the flow. Thank you for your understanding.
I’ll also add a Ko-fi link, in case anyone wants to send me a donation. You don’t have to donate anything, and I won’t change my update frequency as a reaction. It’s only there, if you feel like it. ^^
~ Souricelle