The sip of moistness flowed down my throat. Taste delicious.
I looked at his face again; then I began to realise something.
"Roderick?" I called him.
"Yes, correct," he responds.
I remembered a story in a newspaper back in that old residence.
A story about the Nathan family: they had five siblings; their mother and father were murdered at home on the 23rd of February. Because of that, the family fell into bankruptcy after the eldest son was killed the next day by an assassin, and they were chased out of the capital on the 2nd of March.
Roderick Nathan. He was the third child of the siblings. People called him The Devil.
He did indeed look like a murderer, but he had something that made me deny the commentary. Virtue, maybe.
The news was out last year before I was in this human-man body. So, in my calculation, it's already been one year and nine months.
Maybe I should pretend I never read the dispatch.
"Mr White, I have a question for you." he requests, his eyebrows almost touching each other as if bewildered.
"Continue," I replied shortly.
"Why are you here? I mean, moved here," he asked as he put his cup on the table after a second sip.
"Nothing in particular."
"To be here in town?" he asks again.
I don't know why it is so confusing for him that I am in town, but I answer it anyway.
"Actually, to buy a book," exemplified me.
"Oh! I don't know Mr White was interested in books before," he says with a smiling face but an enthusiastic pitch.
"What do you mean?" I said, feeling confounded.
"Well, I don't have much to say, but before I came here, I was in the capital."
Undoubtedly. I thought.
"Our status gap was big, so we never encountered each other." he continues.
"That does not justify anything."
"Well, true, but listen first," he said, signing me to be patient.
"Alright, I will be uncomplaining," I said as I crossed my hand and then led my body to the chair.
"Rear then, you constantly participated in every social occasion."
I say I would listen, but, something, you need things to be clarified. I would say this man, Mr White, might have gone to many social events, but as for my understanding, this man in front of me was not on any of his friend lists. So he is a stranger.
"How do you know that if we never called upon each other?"
"You are famous in the capital. It was normal for someone like me to know you, and I've seen you at a gathering at the palace once. You look drunk while smoking cigarettes, and more than four women are climbing your chase. So I thought it was new for me to know the type of person who will read books." elucidates him.
"WHAT?!" I yelled. Stun by the insanity account.
This Mr White is nearly identical to the Crown Prince, but there is also an unsure thing, such as smoking a cigarette. He never had any cigarettes in his room, nor did he smell cigarettes and the same with drinking what the maid always prepared him food; they never served him wine but milk.
Furthermore, I acknowledge this man should be engaged soon, but the girl he was supposed to be with was stolen by his so-called friend. I assume it was just a rumour
"Did I say something wrong? Drinking and women are what they call status. People will be pleased if they hear it like that. Is it wrong?" he tried to respond calmly as he blurred himself.
"It wasn't wrong nor right, but this is humiliating. I...Ugh! What else?" I feel frustrated while questioning him again.
Humiliating by the doubtful information.
"That's it."
"No, you are lying." while drinking all the water in my cup, trying to fill in my drained soul.
"Are you perhaps lost your memory? Is that the reason you moved?" he declared out of nowhere.
"I indeed wasn't," I responded shortly, then crossed my hand again and what made him think it that way?
"I see; you look unfamiliar from what I've seen before."
"That's because it wasn't me," I answered while raising my right eyebrow.
He hesitated for a moment, then he asked.
"Are you serious?" while pointing his finger toward me.
"Forget about it," I said as I figured out what he wanted to question me after a long pause.
Then he responded by simply nodding his head. From the expression on his face, I believe he was still confused and curious about what I had said.
The fact the story was untrue is still hard to explain because I wasn't the person who embraced the remembrances.
If I tried to tell him I wasn't the human Mr White, it would sound nonsense, and they would think I was crazy. Even the fact that I was a cat is not a secret in any way, but for the sake of dignity, I might just shut my mouth.
So, I refuse to talk about it to avoid being belittled, if that makes sense.
Anyway, this man, Mr White, I mean. He was like a puzzle that I needed to solve. It is very troublesome, to be honest.
"Anyway, thank you for getting me out of the crowd."
"No need to thank me. I understand your situation." He smiled slightly and then returned to his usual expression.
If you glanced at that face, people walking at night would be scared if they saw him and if they saw him again. I said it before, but he was more normal than the man who called himself the Crown Prince. Only his hair was beautiful, and everything else was very irksome.
"Do you want another cup?" he asked politely.
"I need a favour," I said after silence while gaping at him.
"A favour?"
"Yes, can you take me to a library?"
Maybe I shouldn't just wait here. As I recall, Ms. Hazel, the handmaiden, has the paper that the delivery man drew.
"Are you in a hurry?"
"Well, I am not."
"I see; wait here," tell him, then rush to the door next to the counter. It was a few steps away from where I was sitting.
While looking at the door, suddenly, the lady at the counter waved her hand toward me with a bright smile complexion.
I waved at her back with a hesitation, then turned my eye toward the window.
It began to feel chilly momentarily as I tried to remember today's date. Is it already in January? As I said before, the seasons here are different from other places, especially in winter.
Winter will most likely end in at least six months. And today's date was already 6th January. I believe the capital was already winter by now, and maybe it will be the first snowfall today.
Snowfall?
I halted.
"Are you ready? Your clothes are too thin. Put this on; today might be snowing outside." he said while handing me his fluffy coat.
"I might doomed today if the snow falls." while slowly moving my head toward him.
I have only just moved to this area three days ago. I have already prepared all the other things that we need.
A stables for the horses and a shelter to live in, the mansion in other words, but one thing I have not yet prepared is a food supply. For me, who now has dozens more people to provide for, the food I have left will only last a month.
"Pardon?" he said, perplexed.