068 – Heat Cycle

Having handed the corpse of the escaped convict over to the magical investigator, I escorted Miss Ella back to her manor.

“Are you leaving right away?”

“I need to find my runaway cat, so I have no choice for today.”

“I could come too…”

“She might not come back if she’s aware of you, Miss Ella. I want to try keeping my distance for now.”

Ordinarily, I would have spent the night at Miss Ella’s manor.

But I also needed to prearrange the story about ‘Isabella’ and the name ‘Seol-i’.

And discuss how to deal with the abandoned Heart Harvester I had sealed away in my heart.

So, I decided to return to the dorm first and wait for Isabella.

“Oh, right, should I tell my mother that a cat will also be coming when Mister Mihyeon visits?”

“No. Seol-i has something she needs to do that day, so it won’t work out.”

“…Haven’t you decided on a date yet?”

“Seol-i will be busy for roughly the next year, starting tomorrow.”

“Ah… …So she is, after all, a Primal Trueblood Vampire…”

‘Hah… That was close.’

I spoke without thinking and nearly made a mistake again.

Thankfully, I managed to avoid a situation where my sister Isabella and the cat Seol-i, who are the same person, would be together.

Speaking of which…

‘Where in the world did she go?’

Unfortunately, I hadn’t activated the surveillance skill on Isabella.

So, I had no idea where she was or what she was doing.

‘…She’s not not coming back, is she?’

This was the longest I’d been apart from Isabella, and like a pet experiencing separation anxiety,

I felt a little uneasy without Isabella by my side.

After all… wherever, whenever, her presence insured I wouldn’t die – or so it felt. This security has been quite assuring given all the near-death experiences I’ve had recently.

For me, who’s almost died many times recently, the world’s strongest talking cat felt like a comfort doll.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, if you come to the dorm tomorrow, we can decide when to visit the Eloise family with Isabella.”

…

“Hmm…”

I kept the light on in my room until 2 AM, preparing to welcome Isabella.

But she didn’t come back at all, as if she had something important to do.

“…I’ll put surveillance on her when she gets back.”

That’s it.

From now on, whenever the surveillance slot is empty, I’ll make sure to fix Isabella as the target.

“Haaam…”

After a day full of various events, I laid my weary body on the bed.

Just in case, I left the light on and began to doze off.

‘I guess she’s not coming tonight…’

I tried to stay awake until Isabella returned, but sleep began to overwhelm my entire body.

“Wake me… when you get here…”

I promised to cast a sleep spell on the talking cat when she returned.

Giving in to the rising tide of drowsiness, I closed my eyes completely.

…

Rustle rustle…

“Hmm?..”

I cautiously opened my eyes when I heard something rustling in my arms.

Mew… mew…

It was Isabella, rubbing herself against my chest with fervor.

“Are you here?..”

Judging from her actions, she looked like a child impatiently demanding to be put to sleep.

I was just about to lull Isabella to sleep when…

“No… N-No…”

“..Isabella?”

Her voice sounded serious.

I wondered if something was wrong… but…

“Master… that… do it…”

“..That?”

“That… you always… do…”

“…Always do that…?”

“Bottom…”

“Ah.”

I understood when Isabella asked me to spank her bottom.

Either she had suddenly become a masochist who wanted to be spanked, or the cat was currently in heat.

Of course, judging from the tone of Isabella’s voice, which was enough to melt your heart,

I could tell that she was most likely in heat.

Pat pat.

I patted the upper part of her bottom, intending to wait for the cat’s heat to pass…

Pat pat…

My body, still heavy with sleep, continued to crave slumber.

Pat… pat…

My hand, which had been patting Isabella’s bottom, stopped moving, and I fell asleep once more before I knew it.

*

“Isabella Lilithra,”

The memory of the man who spoke a name forgotten for hundreds of years surfaced.

I still cannot forget that day.

It was because the man had spoken my name, the name I myself had almost forgotten.

“Who gave you that name? It’s truly beautiful~.”

He said it was beautiful.

He said my name… was beautiful.

It was a first.

‘Hi…’

A being that showed neither reverence for the name Isabella Lillith,

Nor fear of the name Isabella Lillith.

It made me so very happy.

For I myself was the one who had given myself the name Isabella Lillith.

And to hear my name praised as pretty, it filled me with such joy.

For me, then…

“Seol it is.”

Someone giving *me* a name…

It stirred within me an emotion I had never known.

Knock, knock, knock.

Mya?!

In that instant.

The sound of Master tapping the wooden table where I stood felt like an activation.

For the first time… I felt ‘greed.’

‘Ah…’

I want it.

I want to possess it.

I don’t want to let it go.

I want it by my side for all eternity.

It wasn’t just the desire to possess the man before me.

Even with the body of a vampire, incapable of bearing children, I felt the desire to have Master’s child seize my entire being.

‘…!’

If I remained like this, I would surely be consumed by this greed.

If consumed by greed… I would have devoured Master, heedless of the mistress who stood before me.

Therefore…

“Where are you going, Seol-nim?”

“I wonder.”

I fled that place.

Without even deciding where I should go…

I simply escaped from there.

‘What do I do? What am I supposed to do?’

Is this how my children felt?

Is this the feeling of wanting to conquer and invade humanity?

‘No… No, it can’t be…! Master wouldn’t like that…!’

An uncontrollable desire keeps blossoming from the depths of my heart.

To have to restrain myself from lunging at Master, sitting right there,

From biting his neck and turning him into a vampire, so that I could keep him by my side forever… to have to suppress such a desire…

‘I don’t know… I don’t understand… What am I supposed to do?’

It was a completely new experience for me, and realizing there was nothing I could do,

to somehow quell this need to have an owner,

not knowing where I was or what this place even was, I began to repeatedly slam my head against the wall before me.

Thump… Thump… Thump…

‘Just pass out already…! Just faint…!’

…

Thump… Thump… Thump…

“…”

Though I’d been slamming my head for hours,

forget passing out, the hole in the stone wall was only getting bigger.

This cursed body of mine wouldn’t die, nor would it even injure easily… not a single drop of blood was drawn from my head.

Thump… Thump… Thump…

Even so, I didn’t stop slamming my head because it helped, just a little, to subdue my desire.

Seeing that the desire to have an owner had lessened to about the same level as wanting to have a child,

I could tell this head-slamming behavior was having some effect.

However…

“..What time is it?”

Without a single thought, driven only by the desire to suppress my urges, I had been slamming my head for hours straight…

The sun that had been in the sky had disappeared, and the bright moonlight was shining high above, so

“..!!”

Realizing that I had wasted so much time here,

feeling sorry that my owner might be worried about me, I quickly started heading back home.

And the scene that greeted me as I arrived home was… my owner sound asleep with the lights still on.

Seeing the man who had waited up for me, unable to fall asleep until I returned…

Myaa… Mya…

Before I knew it, my body was moving, and I was burrowing myself into my owner’s arms.

After that…

I don’t really know.

I just spoke according to instinct,

I just acted according to instinct…

*

Squish…

Something soft and squishy was grasped in my hand.

This texture was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, so still not fully awake, I continued to enjoy the squishiness…

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, Miss Isabella’s faint voice reached my ears, and I opened my eyes to see…

“Th-th-that…”

“..Miss Isabella?”

“If you suddenly move your hand like that…”

Miss Isabella was… lying next to me in her human form.

“…”

Wordlessly, I lifted my hand slightly into the air.

“Ah…”

And so, I could see Isabella’s disappointed expression.

But there was a vast difference between accidentally touching someone in one’s sleep and deliberately touching them with a clear mind.

In order to not cross the line with Isabella,

“Please return to your cat form quickly.”

I should quickly tell Isabella to return to her cat form.

“Ah, ah…! I’m a human right now…!”

At the sight of Isabella, flustered as if she hadn’t realized it herself, transforming back into a cat.

I gained the lesson that a cat’s heat cycle can unintentionally cause them to transform into a human form.

Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.

Pat, pat…

Myaa… Myang…

Gently patting Isabella’s rump, now back in her cat form.

I was about to ask when her next heat cycle might be…

“Isabella.”

“…”

“Hmm? Isabella?”

“…”

“…Can’t you hear me?”

“Isabella… no.”

“…Then?”

“The owner’s pet… is Seol.”

“…Seol?”

“Now, honorifics are gone.”

“…Seol?”

Myaong~

“Wow…”

It seemed she really liked the name Seol.

“But I’m still going to call you Isabella.”

“I’m Seol!”

“Isabella Lilith, that is.”

“No! I… I’m Seol…! Master said Seol…!”

“Okay, Seol. But Isabella, next time you happen to go into heat…”

Hyaaak!!

“So, the day has come when my cat hisses at me…”

“S… Sorry…!”

“You were wrong, weren’t you?”

“…Uh-huh.”

“Then you must be Ms. Isabella.”

“No, I’m not!”

“…But what’s that on your head?”

“What is?”

“…Did you bump it somewhere?”

“Ah… a little?”

“…Just wait a moment.”

“No…! No…! The master can’t be kind right now…!”

“…What on earth are you talking about?”

“The, the demon inside me… it’s telling me to devour the master… telling me to… devour you…!”

“??”