"Nyang?"
Translation: What?
We were in Soren’s office.
How we got here? Irrelevant.
What mattered was that just a few minutes ago, breakfast had turned into a full-contact sport.
Gawain rushed toward us, fork in hand, looking less like a man bringing food and more like soone about to commit a very specific, very personal cri.
For a split second, it genuinely looked like Mikael’s life was about to end... by cutlery.
Mikael, however, refused to die over breakfast.
Without even breaking his rhythm, he shifted slightly to the side—just enough for Gawain’s "attack" to miss completely—while smoothly bringing another piece of venison to my mouth like this was all part of a well-rehearsed routine.
I bit down again.
Gawain froze mid-motion, fork still extended, now stabbing nothing but air and his own dignity.
Mikael didn’t even look at him. He just continued feeding , entirely unbothered, like dodging attempted fork-based assault was sothing he did before breakfast every day.
Gawain turned imdiately and went in again, this ti faster, more aggressive, like a man who had decided that if dignity was already lost, he might as well go all in.
Mikael sighed internally but outwardly, he remained calm as ever, finally pausing his feeding duty to properly deal with the situation.
He raised his hand, holding a dinner knife and parried Gawain’s attacks with smooth, controlled movents, the faint clink of tal against tal echoing between them like they were dueling in so high-class, extrely unnecessary sword fight.
anwhile, I blinked because at so point, without noticing, Soren was suddenly beside .
’When did he get there?
How did he get there?’
No idea.
Because he had already picked up where Mikael left off, holding out a fork with perfect timing like this was a relay race and he had just received the baton.
I leaned forward and took the bite.
At this point, I didn’t even question anything anymore.
The world could collapse, the house could explode, these three could start a full-scale war in front of —
As long as I was being fed, I was willing to overlook everything.
Still, I watched.
Because this?
This was peak entertainnt.
But now—
Now we were in Soren’s office, and things had taken a tragic turn.
"What?" I repeated, staring at him like he had just personally offended .
"School will be starting tomorrow," Soren said again, calm, composed, and completely unaware that he had just ruined my morning.
’That fast?’ I thought, internally spiraling.
I grabbed my OmniSync and typed with the urgency of soone trying to escape a life sentence. "Do I really have to go to school?"
"Yes you need to."
I imdiately jumped onto his table and leaned towards him, refusing to accept this outco. "I don’t want to," I typed, rubbing my head against him in a last desperate attempt at persuasion. Then I looked up, summoning my strongest weapon. "Don’t you want to stay here with you?"
Puppy eyes.
Full power.
Maximum effect.
...Or at least, that was the plan.
Soren, completely immune to emotional manipulation, calmly reached out and closed my eyes like he was turning off a malfunctioning device—then, without a shred of hesitation, started playing with my tail.
Sowhere outside, Gawain was probably sensing this and fighting for his life to remain patient. If he were inside, Soren’s hands would’ve been gone already.
"Don’t give that look," Soren said, completely unbothered. "You need to learn. You don’t know anything other than carving." He paused, then added, almost thoughtfully, "It’s like you don’t belong in this world."
I went still for a second.
’Well... he’s not wrong,’ I thought.
But obviously, I wasn’t about to say that out loud.
"You’ll be living in the school’s dormitory until you graduate," he continued, as if casually discussing my impending suffering, "but you can co ho every weekend."
I frowned. ’That sounded... boring.’
Wait.
Dormitory.
More freedom.
More access.
More chances to et clients.
More chances to get paid.
My eyes slowly lit up.
Soren watched , his gaze narrowing slightly as if he had just witnessed sothing deeply suspicious. Then he reached out and pinched my cheeks.
"You have that weird look on your face again," he said. "Are you planning to start a war?"
I rolled my eyes, swatting his hand away. "My face is not weird."
"Yes, it is," he replied, smiling faintly as he poked my cheek again like he had no sense of self-preservation. "Whenever you glare or smile like that, you look like a villain."
I flicked my tail at him in retaliation because if I was going to be labeled a villain, I might as well start acting like one.
"See?" his smile widened as he caught my tail mid-swing like he’d been waiting for that exact mont. "You’re acting like a villain right now." And just to make matters worse, he squeezed it again.
I imdiately recoiled. "Bad! Bad Soren!"
He laughed, like this was the highlight of his day.
Before I could escalate things further, he simply picked up. "Let’s go have fun."
He carried toward the bookshelves, stopping in front of one section before pulling a book like this was so kind of cliché secret passage scene.
And of course—
The shelves moved.
A hidden pathway revealed itself behind them, dark and dramatic like it had been waiting its whole life for this mont.
I stared.
Then slowly pulled out my OmniSync and typed, "Why are we not taking the usual route?"
"We can’t enjoy our ti," Soren said as he stepped inside, "when a certain pesky fly keeps following us."
Ah.
That explained everything.
Gawain.
I almost felt bad for him.
...Almost.
I typed again. "So where are we going?"
"To the capital."
I blinked.
"Again?" I typed, because I distinctly rembered chaos the last ti.
"Yes," he replied without hesitation. "We didn’t enjoy our ti properly because of... annoying matters."
That was one way to put it.
I frowned slightly, suddenly rembering sothing important. "But I have to pack my belongings."
"Agatha will do that."
’Poor Agatha.’
Sowhere outside, Agatha was probably still running laps, questioning her life choices, while simultaneously being assigned packing duties.
Before I could protest—or feel guilty for more than half a second—we arrived.
Soren carried deeper into the hidden passage until we reached a familiar room—the portal chamber.
He stepped forward without hesitation and in an instant we were back at the capital.
Again.
At this point, I was just hoping it would be less chaotic than breakfast.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
I take it back.
It was chaotic as hell.
The mont we stepped out of the portal station, reality imdiately chose violence.
Soren, in all his brilliance, had apparently forgotten one very important detail.
His disguise.
Which ant that instead of a peaceful, quiet arrival into the capital, we were greeted by what could only be described as a full-blown stampede of admirers
Beastwon, dozens of them, no—hordes ca out of nowhere like they had been summoned by so invisible alarm that scread "Soren has arrived, gather imdiately."
One second there was fresh air and open space, and the next second we were surrounded on all sides by won with sparkling eyes, swishing tails, and smiles so bright they could probably blind soone at close range.
"My Lord! What a pleasant surprise to see you here!"
"Pray, what brings you to the capital?"
"Are you unaccompanied on this journey?"
"Perhaps you seek a companion to share your ti?"
I blinked.
Then blinked again.
Because surely—surely—this was so kind of collective hallucination.
Soren, anwhile, stood there like this was just another peaceful day.
The man didn’t even flinch as they closed in, voices overlapping, complints flying left and right like arrows in a very aggressive admiration battle.
And.
I.
Was.
Still.
In.
His.
Arms.
Which ant—logically speaking—that I should have been very visible, difficult to ignore, and yet not a single one of them acknowledged my existence.
Not one glance.
Not one question.
Not even a polite "oh, what is that creature you’re holding?"
Nothing.
I looked at them then down at myself, just to confirm that I had not, in fact, beco invisible sowhere between the portal and this very humiliating mont.
Nope. I’m still here and still being aggressively ignored.
At this point, I wasn’t even sure if I should be impressed or offended.
Actually, no—I was definitely offended.
So it’s true, then. Soren really is popular.
I already knew that, of course. It wasn’t exactly a secret. But seeing it like this, firsthand, was... sothing else entirely. The attention, the admiration, the absolute lack of awareness toward anyone that wasn’t him—it was almost fascinating.
Almost.
Because right now, I was stuck in the middle of it, being aggressively ignored.
And I didn’t like it.
Can’t one of these won even see ? I’m right here. Hello? Living, breathing, currently being carried like so kind of prize.
Or are they just choosing not to?
I narrowed my eyes slightly, staring at them as they continued to fawn over Soren like he was the main character of the entire world and the rest of us were just optional side content.
One of them leaned closer to Soren, her tail flicking elegantly behind her as she smiled sweetly. "My Lord, you must be tired from your journey. Allow to escort you sowhere more comfortable."
’Escort him?’ I narrowed my eyes.
Another one stepped forward imdiately, not to be outdone. "Nonsense, he should co with . I know a much quieter place, away from the crowd."
I glanced around. ’Gurl....You are the crowd.’
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