A light drizzle had been falling since morning.
On the windowsill sat the soft cushion Aria had bought for me. I settled on top of it and watched the rain outside.
Aria was making breakfast in the kitchen. Cream stew, judging by the smell.
I sniffed appreciatively at the delicious aroma wafting over and stretched—
when I spotted someone approaching from the direction of the forest.
Judging by the broad build, it was probably a man.
Doesn’t look like a customer at this hour.
The man was wearing a robe and stopped in front of our shop, apparently to get out of the rain for a moment. All I could see was his back, but I recognized him immediately.
The male lead!
“Roro, time to eat.”
As if on cue, the heroine came out of the kitchen.
Aria was walking toward the window where I sat when she noticed someone standing outside the door and hesitated.
“...Who is that?”
With that dark, dingy robe pulled over his head, I couldn’t blame her for being wary.
But when the man simply remained there, sheltering from the rain without doing anything else, Aria apparently began to feel sorry for him.
“He must be cold.”
She murmured under her breath, then seemed to make up her mind and walked toward the door.
When the locked door suddenly opened, the man outside turned around in surprise.
“Hello.”
Aria greeted him first.
When a beautiful blonde woman with gentle green eyes spoke to him so kindly, the man apparently decided it would be rude to keep his hood up and pushed it back.
“...Hello.”
Even from another guy’s perspective, the face revealed beneath his rain-soaked dark-blue hair was handsome.
“You don’t seem to be from this village. Are you traveling?”
“Yes. I was passing through. I apologize for blocking your doorway. ...I’ll be leaving shortly.”
“Oh, no. We haven’t opened yet anyway. Would you like to come inside?”
“No. I don’t have any money on me at the moment. I couldn’t impose—”
“It’s fine. Come in. Like I said, we’re not open yet, so I wasn’t planning to charge you.”
Aria smiled lightly and held the door open.
A beat later, the male lead stepped inside.
A scene straight out of the webtoon was unfolding right before my eyes.
I stayed quietly on the windowsill and watched without getting in their way.
Aria went upstairs, brought down a towel, and handed it to him. The male lead accepted it, dried off the rainwater, then sat exactly where Aria told him to without complaint.
“If you haven’t eaten yet, would cream stew be all right?”
“...No, thank you. You’ve already allowed me to shelter from the rain. There’s no need to provide me with a meal as well—”
“I accidentally made too much. If you don’t mind, please have some.”
The male lead kept refusing like some stiff-ass robot, but our softhearted heroine happily gave him a steaming bowl of cream stew anyway.
“Enjoy.”
“...Thank you.”
Look at this guy’s face.
He already looks like he’s fallen for her.
“Roro, you need to eat too. Come here.”
At Aria’s call, I hopped down from the windowsill.
Only then did the male lead seem to notice me. His gaze followed me across the room.
Aria pulled out the chair beside her and set a plate on it.
I sat next to her and looked down.
Today’s menu was fluffy potato salad made from mashed steamed potatoes, along with boiled chicken shredded into bite-sized pieces.
I want cream stew too!
I hopped onto the table in protest, and Aria laughed helplessly.
“...Ah.”
Then she noticed the man watching from across the table and hurriedly spoke.
“I’m sorry. If having a cat on the table bothers you, I can move him somewhere else.”
“It doesn’t bother me. It’s fine.”
The male lead answered just as quickly.
His blue eyes remained fixed on me.
“...I was only staring because I found him unusual.”
“Is this your first time seeing a cat?”
“Yes. I’ve never raised one.”
“Myaak!”
Give it to me already!
I tapped the spoon repeatedly with one paw.
Aria laughed, picked it up, scooped out a bite of stew, and placed it in a small bowl for me.
“Is it good?”
“Waooow—. Waowk-oong.”
The milk and cream made it rich, smooth, and savory.
Exactly my kind of stew.
“I’ve never seen a cat steal human food like that....”
I heard the male lead mutter in disbelief.
Well, obviously.
There was no way a son of some lofty ducal family had ever been exposed to such atrocious table manners.
Hey, get your facts straight. You’re the one stealing food. I’m a member of this household, so I’m eating mine with full legal authority.
“Roro really likes human food. Whenever I’m eating, he comes over and cries until I give him a bite.”
I finished the little bowl in an instant and lifted my head.
More.
Apparently I had stew on my whiskers, because Aria wiped it away with a handkerchief.
“I can’t give you too much or you’ll get an upset stomach. All right, get down and eat your own food now.”
“Myaoong.”
Tch.
I climbed back down onto the chair and obediently ate my actual meal.
Meanwhile, the male lead and heroine continued eating while making conversation.
“Come to think of it, we still haven’t introduced ourselves. My name is Raymon.”
“Ah, Raymon. I’m Aria.”
At last, the male lead and heroine knew each other’s names.
I finished eating before either of them and sprawled across my chair, enjoying the pleasant heaviness in my stomach.
Aria brewed a warm cup of tea and served it to Raymon.
“This tea helps relieve fatigue. You looked a little tired.”
“...Thank you.”
Raymon paused before answering, as though he was genuinely grateful.
Even after they finished eating, the two continued chatting quietly, while I perked up both ears and shamelessly eavesdropped.
“...You ran into bandits in the mountains?”
“Yes. They took my belongings, so I was in a difficult situation. Fortunately, I managed to escape on horseback and make it this far.”
The exact dialogue I remembered from the webtoon was unfolding right in front of me.
Raymon claimed he had encountered a group of bandits, but they hadn’t actually been bandits.
They were people who had come to kill him.
The male lead was exceptionally skilled with a sword and had barely survived after fighting off his attackers.
His innocent coachman and all the horses had been killed, so an injured Raymon had walked to another village. There, he’d spent every coin he had buying fresh clothes, a robe, and another horse.
Not that he could exactly tell Aria all that.
Calling them bandits was probably the easiest cover story.
The two talked for around an hour.
By then, the rain outside had stopped and the sun was gradually beginning to emerge.
“The rain has stopped. I should be on my way.”
“You can stay until your clothes are completely dry....”
“I appreciate the offer, but there is somewhere I urgently need to be.”
The male lead had been returning from an investigation carried out under secret orders from the emperor.
The attack had already delayed his return, so he had no choice but to hurry.
He looked reluctant to leave the heroine, but like a proper male lead who knew when not to overstay his welcome, Raymon offered her a courteous farewell.
“I won’t forget the kindness you showed me today.”
“I only shared some food I had left over. I enjoyed meeting you too.”
Aria walked him all the way to the door.
I stood beside her and looked up at Raymon.
“Take care, Raymon.”
“...I’ll visit again soon.”
“All right. I’ll be waiting.”
“Maong.”
Yeah. Come again.
******
After Raymon left, the heroine and I returned to our ordinary routine.
Maybe because the spring rain that morning had cooled the weather, hot tea sold like crazy today.
Aria spent an unusually busy afternoon moving back and forth between the kitchen and the dining area.
I had to give up my nap too, guarding the floor and entertaining customers.
...Why is today so damn long?
Business really wasn’t for me.
When it was busy, you suffered because it was busy.
When there were no customers, you suffered because there were no customers.
Watching Aria meticulously sweep and wipe down the places customers had vacated, all while earning what couldn’t possibly amount to minimum wage, left me feeling strangely miserable.
Stop working so hard!
“Myaaaang!”
Aria, want me to help with something?!
A faint smile appeared on Aria’s tired face.
“Did you come over to help? Aww, what a good boy.”
Then she glanced around the shop.
“Should we close a little early today?”
“Myaaang!”
Hell yeah! Let’s go upstairs and rest!
Aria rubbed my head.
“I’m done cleaning, so wait just a little. I’ll go lock the door.”
And right then—
Jingle, jingle.
The clear sound of the bell rang through the room.
I turned around.
The instant I saw that straw-yellow hair, a string of vicious curses erupted inside my head.
“Heh heh. I came back for more tea. I’ll have the same thing as last time.”
“...Ah, I’m sorry. We were planning to close early today.”
“I’ll drink it quickly and leave.”
The man walked right past Aria and sat down in the seat closest to the kitchen.
His pushy behavior made Aria’s brows draw together in irritation, but in the end, she swallowed her sigh.
“One cup of lavender tea, correct?”
“I knew you’d remember. Someone as sweet as Aria would....”
The man grinned lecherously to himself.
Then he started talking to Aria again as though they were already close.
“Don’t you get lonely? Must be even worse without your husband... Heh heh.”
“......”
“You’re such a beautiful woman. Seems like a waste. Haven’t you thought about marrying again?”
“...My husband only passed away recently. I’m uncomfortable discussing things like that.”
“Heh heh. I was only joking. Why are you getting so serious? Aren’t you going to make my tea?”
“...Please wait a moment.”
With that, Aria scooped me into her arms and quickly retreated into the kitchen.