Get Married

“Meow.”

As soon as Giselle stepped outside with the cat food bowl, a cat came up to her as if it had been waiting. It had come to eat its meal today as well.

Chomp chomp.

As the cat began to eat the food, burying its head into the bowl, Giselle crouched down beside it to check on its condition.

The life of a stray cat could change a lot, even overnight.

“Meoow.”

The cat, oblivious to Giselle’s feelings, let out a long meow in annoyance and focused on eating its meal.

That was when Giselle, encouraged, cautiously reached out her hand.

“Screech!”

“Ah! Got it. Sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you while you’re eating.”

As soon as Giselle’s hand touched it, the cat hissed. She immediately raised both hands and begged for forgiveness from the cat.

The cat looked at her with slitted eyes and then turned its head back to the bowl…

…while presenting its backside to Giselle.

‘You’re just here to pat my butt!’

It was clear what the cat was saying. Giselle, swallowing her laughter, began patting the cat’s butt and spoke.

“Now that I think about it, when we first met, you wouldn’t let me touch you at all.”

“Meow.”

The cat meowed shortly in response to her words while it was eating. Giselle rolled up her blouse sleeve and showed her arm.

“Look here. See this scar you made? Still here, see? Doesn’t it make you feel anything?”

Her arm was so white as if it hadn’t seen sunlight, making the long scar on it even more visible.

It was healed now, but the wound had been quite deep at the time.

“Meow.”

The culprit, or rather, the criminal cat, had finished its meal and turned towards Giselle, then nonchalantly rubbed its head against her hand.

It might be annoying that this creature only showed affection when it felt like it, but Giselle stroked the cat as if she was honored by its gesture.

Just then, the sound of a car stopping was heard.

It was unfamiliar but not entirely strange either. It was a sound she occasionally heard while being here.

She looked up towards the direction of the sound. A car, rarely seen even within the capital, had stopped.

It was obvious who was inside.

Lucas Taylor.

The owner of this building, her senior from the academy, and now, her employer.

She saw Lucas getting out of the car, which was opened by his driver. His tall and slender figure was noticeable even from a distance due to his strong presence.

‘Well, that senior had always been like that back in the academy.’

Giselle thought of the man who had gathered people’s attention in a different way and stood up.

“We should reconsider that. It would be better to cancel the appointment with the bank president for now…”

Lucas stopped walking as he was giving instructions to his secretary. His gaze fell on her beneath his tousled black hair.

Giselle felt a chill run through her and brushed her other arm with her palm before bowing her head in greeting.

“Hello, Mr. President.”

“Ah… Ms. Anticia.”

Lucas looked at her quietly and then responded in a soft voice. Giselle stepped aside to let him enter the building.

The cat also moved beside her and lay down in that spot.

His navy blue eyes shifted from Giselle to the cat, and then slowly to the bowl on the ground. As Lucas’s gaze moved, Giselle felt embarrassed and spoke up.

“Um, that’s a cat living nearby. I’ve been feeding it separately during lunchtime…”

“Hmm…”

Lucas listened to her and then suddenly furrowed his brows.

‘Why, what’s wrong?’

Giselle’s heart shrank, wondering if he disapproved of feeding the cat.

It had been about two months since she started feeding the skinny cat that rummaged through trash cans out of pity.

She had grown quite attached to it over time and was anxious that the cat might be chased away if Lucas took a dislike to it.

“Now that I think about it, wasn’t that scar caused by a cat?”

“Pardon? What… Ah! This?”

Giselle, puzzled by the sudden remark from Lucas, who was looking at her, hurriedly straightened her clothes after realizing belatedly that she had been rolling up her sleeve.

“A scar remained.”

“Well… Yes, but it’s all healed now.”

Giselle blushed as she felt Lucas’s gaze on her arm.

The fact that he remembered something so trivial, something that happened over two months ago, made her feel strange.

She aimlessly kicked at the innocent floor while flipping her curly pink hair behind her ears. Then, the cat that had been lying down quietly thought she was playing with it and suddenly got up and swung its front paw.

“Ah!”

Giselle tried to dodge the cat’s front paw and lost her balance, staggering. She braced herself for the pain to come by closing her eyes tightly, but what came was not pain but someone’s solid body.

With a scent that seemed to hold the cool season.

“…Ah! M-Mr. President!”

As soon as she opened her eyes, she was startled by the sight of a gold cravat and looked up to meet the indifferent blue eyes of the man head-on.

“I’m… I’m so sorry! Really sorry!”

“Are you hurt?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Then that’s a relief… You almost got hurt because of the cat again.”

Lucas’s voice was low. It was possible to feel his displeasure towards the cat. Giselle tried to hide the cat from his view with an awkward feeling.

Fortunately, Lucas diverted his attention from the cat and opened his mouth.

“By the way, how did it go with the department store matter I asked you about last time?”

“I sorted it out this morning and left it on your desk.”

She felt relieved. Only then did she relax and answered his question with sparkling green eyes. Lucas looked at her silently for a moment and then nodded.

“Let’s go in. Let’s go up together and check that first.”

“Yes, Mr. President!”

She followed him with quick steps. Of course, she didn’t forget to say a small goodbye to the cat and pick up the empty bowl before heading after him.

“…….”

Lucas glanced back at her actions and chuckled without her noticing as they were about to enter the building.

* * *

“Come in.”

As soon as Lucas entered the office, he took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack. Giselle entered hesitantly and moved aside. Seeing her, Lucas chuckled and pointed to the sofa.

“Sit there and wait.”

“No, it’s okay.”

When she shook her head, her pink hair fluttered softly. Lucas’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before moving to the documents on the desk.

“…….”

He stood in front of the desk and picked up the documents. It was precisely those documents Giselle had left in the morning.

Unknowingly, she tensed up and clenched her hands tightly. Then she suddenly noticed the pet food bowl in her hand and blushed.

The cat food bowl seemed quite out of place in this situation, very much so.

‘I can’t just put it down anywhere.’

Giselle was holding the bowl, unable to decide what to do, when Lucas spoke.

“……So this is how they were embezzling money and falsifying sales.”

Apparently, no further explanation was needed. Just by briefly scanning the documents Giselle had organized, Lucas had grasped the issue.

“Well done, Miss Anticia.”

Lucas put down the documents and spoke to Giselle. She tried to shake her head with an awkward expression, but he continued speaking.

“It’s remarkable that you caught what many auditors failed to notice all by yourself.”

It was just a simple compliment. But it wasn’t easy to hear from him.

Since a demanding employer isn’t prone to lavish praise.

Thus, his compliment felt almost like a reward for the nights she had spent awake in recent days. Giselle unknowingly tried to suppress a smile that was about to form on her lips.

「You’re first again, Anticia. Isn’t that amazing?」

His past compliment suddenly came to mind. But before she could dwell on that memory, Lucas continued speaking.

It was about follow-up actions. Giselle focused on his words with a serious expression, as if she had never been happy before.

Still tightly clutching the cat food bowl in both hands.

* * *

Since late afternoon, rain began to drizzle down, creating puddles on the streets here and there.

Giselle managed to escape from the crowded stagecoach but couldn’t avoid stepping into puddles made by the rainwater.

“Sigh… I’m all wet.”

She lamented upon seeing the hem of her dress soaked with rainwater.

“I better go wash my clothes quickly.”

Giselle thought of the best thing she could do and hurried on.

A noble lady doing laundry herself.

Had anyone heard that they would have been shocked, wondering if something was wrong with their ears.

But for her, it was all too real a situation.

As the situation where they couldn’t pay their servants properly continued, most of those working at Baron Anticia’s estate had left long ago.

Now all that remained were an old butler, a cook, and a nanny. In such circumstances, it wasn’t possible to leave everything to the servants.

At least Giselle thought so. Not so for her parents or her half-brother.