Chapter 76 : The Cat Gang

The square window was filled with blackness, yet somehow moonlight seeped through.

Silver light scattered across her hair, as dark as the night sky itself.

“……”

“……”

I stared blankly at the window.

Sitting there as though it were her rightful place, Shushruta also looked back at me.

Blink. Blink.

Sometimes, while cultivating through breathing exercises, one drifts into dreams.

This must be one of those times.

I tilted my head as I gazed dazedly at Shushruta.

Did I think of her so much that she even appears in my dreams?

A laugh escaped me.

Impossible.

I was a cold-blooded man.

An iron-willed swordsman without pity or tears, merciless and unyielding, a wanderer who had long since cast aside warmth and sentiment.

All those descriptions applied to me.

So, if this was reality, it made no sense.

Then what was it?

“…You’re laughing?”

Shushruta, sitting on the windowsill, raised one brow ever so slightly.

Hmph. Still as insolent as ever.

When I thought about it, it didn’t matter whether this was dream or reality.

Dream or not, what difference did it make?

I chose to simply accept her presence as it was.

There was something I had always wanted to ask.

Smiling faintly, my voice heavy with drowsiness, I said:

“Hey, Shushruta.”

“What is it?”

“What exactly are you?”

She stared at me in silence.

“Weren’t you after the dagger? Yet even when you had the chance, you never took it. Still, you kept eyeing it again and again. That doesn’t add up, you catlike creature. What is it that you really want from me? Why did you keep following me around?”

Shushruta looked at me steadily.

“You still don’t… understand?”

“If I understood, I wouldn’t be asking, idiot.”

“I am not an idiot.”

“Then what are you?”

“A stray cat.”

I blinked sleepily at the so-called stray cat.

After a moment’s hesitation, she lifted her fist to her cheek.

“Meow.”

“……”

“……”

That was the moment I was sure.

This was a dream.

“A stray cat.”

“Meow.”

“Please, use human speech. Cat language is impossible to follow.”

“…Very well.”

As if freed from some feline spirit, Shushruta regained her composure and began to explain.

“I can steal anything.”

“…What?”

“It’s what my master used to say. Before I even fully learned human words from him, he taught me how to steal.”

“A fine upbringing indeed.”

“I learned quickly. I followed him everywhere, stealing everything—treasures, money, keys, secrets, even people’s lives.”

I nodded drowsily, listening without interruption.

“I told him: I can steal anything. But he only laughed and shook his head. He said there was still one thing I could not steal, and until I could, I had no right to claim such words.”

“I see.”

“I asked him what it was. He said: the human heart.”

The human heart.

A thief with such romantic notions.

“It was vexing, but he was right. I had no companion who ever gave me their heart. So I asked him—how does one steal it? He told me, to steal a heart, you must first give your own. I couldn’t understand. I argued, saying that’s not stealing. But he only laughed.”

Her “master,” no doubt, was the head of the thieves’ guild.

“I couldn’t make sense of his words. So I tried my own way. I gave people money, shared stolen treasures, threatened some, begged others outright.”

“Did it work?”

She shook her head.

“I failed. People looked at me strangely, fled from me, or worse, smiled falsely and demanded more money.”

“Mm.”

“When I told my master, he laughed again. He said the human heart isn’t something you can steal like an object. I thought he mocked me.”

“You may have misread him…”

“Maybe. But it felt like mockery to me.”

Her face tightened faintly, as if recalling the sting of the memory.

“So I decided to try giving my heart, like he said. But when I tried, I realized I didn’t even know how to give it. It was so difficult. I tried with my fellow brothers and sisters in the guild, but it never worked. You know well the final result.”

“Yes.”

They betrayed her, tried to kill her.

And ended up dying themselves.

“I returned to my master and said, I can steal everything but the human heart. He told me then: If you cannot steal the heart, then none of the rest matters. He laughed at me. I struck him in anger and ran away.”

“……”

So that was the grand story behind her so-called “escape.”

A stormy and absurd reason indeed.

“I wanted to steal your heart.”

Shushruta looked at me.

There was a light flickering in her eyes.

“Everyone else left me, but you didn’t. This time I thought I might succeed. I gave you my heart. I thought we could be true companions. That I might earn your trust.”

Hovering between dream and reality, I thought for a moment, then asked:

“Then… what you wanted all along was—”

She nodded.

“Your heart.”

“I see.”

“But it was only my delusion. In the end, you hurled cruel words at me and left me behind.”

“……”

I had no answer.

Like the sun setting, like the moon waning, my head drooped to the side.

Had I ever thought of Shushruta as a companion?

When I realized Shushruta would never steal the dagger, I still didn’t entrust it to her completely.

Instead, under the flimsy excuse of awkwardness, I let Mudong carry it for a while, and even when it was inconvenient, I clenched it between my teeth as I waded into the stream.

Shushruta hadn’t been after the dagger itself.

What she wanted was not the blade, but the trust that would have come if I had handed it over without hesitation.

She had been trying to steal my heart.

A faint smile tugged at my lips.

To steal a person’s heart…

…what a terrifying thief indeed.

I looked toward the Shadowless Phantom Thief sitting by the window.

Moonlight trailed down her hair in a silver cascade.

Wrapped in that soft radiance, Shushruta spoke.

“But I am still here, Ashuban. I stayed when you slept for a week, and I stayed when you wandered after waking. I remained because you never returned my heart.”

“……”

“Why didn’t you give it back to me? Why did you hand me the dagger at the very end? Why…?”

I lowered my gaze to the soft blanket on the bed.

Her shadow stretched across it, faint as my hazy mind.

“Do you remember what I said last?”

No.

I slowly shook my head.

“I said I would wait. Why do you not remember? Was it because you didn’t want to?”

“……”

“When you woke, I only watched from afar, afraid you might be angry again. I was so glad to see you awake, but here—” she pressed a hand against her chest, “—here it ached.”

Then, suddenly—

Thunk!

She pulled the dagger from her robes and drove it into the window frame.

“What did you mean… when you said it wasn’t sincere?”

I turned my eyes to the blade embedded in the wood.

Its pitch-black surface shimmered with etched constellations, gleaming faintly as though they were watching me.

I stared at it quietly and spoke.

“It wasn’t… sincere.”

“What wasn’t?”

“When I told you to get lost.”

“……And if that’s true?”

I nodded slowly.

“Come to think of it, I prefer cats over dogs.”

Shushruta smiled.

And in that hazy space between dream and reality, I smiled back.

Leaning against the headboard, I closed my eyes.

My heart felt at ease.

A soft rustle sounded, then a cat curled up and rested its head upon my lap.

Feeling that small warmth, I drifted into sleep.

I was always a dog person…

I sent a silent apology to Bonny, weighed down by the faintest guilt.

In my drowsiness, I thought I heard the Heavenly Demon’s low chuckle.

The next morning.

When I opened my eyes, I found Shushruta still rolling lazily atop my lap.

She looked up at me brazenly.

“Ah, you’re awake?”

“……”

I blinked at her sleepily.

Fragments of the words we’d exchanged the night before while cultivating returned faintly to me.

“…Mm.”

I couldn’t tell where the dream ended and reality began.

But I didn’t bother to confirm it. There was no need.

At that moment, hurried footsteps pounded outside the door, and it burst open.

“Uncle! Good morning!”

Joy barged in noisily, only to freeze when she saw Shushruta sprawled across my bed.

“…Huh?”

Wide-eyed, Joy asked, “Who are you?”

Shushruta said nothing. She simply stared at me, as though telling me to answer.

Joy’s eyes naturally followed, demanding a reply.

After a moment of thought, I answered.

“She’s my companion.”

Shushruta grinned and repeated my words to Joy.

“Joy, I’m your future husband’s companion.”

I smacked her on the head.

Thunk!

“Nyahk!”

“You pick up the most useless things.”

Afterward, I introduced Shushruta to Hans and Julia when they followed Joy in. Then I had a servant send word to the count that I wished to discuss his proposal from last night.

Before long, Count Stavanger arrived in a rush.

His hair was disheveled, his clothes untidy—clear proof he had run here the moment he heard.

He caught sight of the unfamiliar figure and froze.

“And this is…?”

I introduced the stray cat to him as well.

“My companion, Shushruta.”

Arms folded, chin raised, she gave a proud nod.

Why she looked so smug, I had no idea.

“I am Shushruta, the Shadowless Phantom Thief, companion to Ashuban, the Red-Eyed Devil.”

I nudged her and said, “Go on, show him.”

She drew the dagger and presented it to the count.

His eyes widened like lanterns.

“Th-this is… surely—”

“The Dagger of Ophosis,” I said.

“May I examine it?”

Shushruta glanced at me as if seeking permission. I nodded.

Still wearing that smug look, she handed it over.

“Take it.”

The count’s eyes glittered as he studied the dagger intently.

“Oooh…”

After some time, he finally looked up at me.

“Then…?”

I nodded.

“I accept your second proposal.”

A grin spread across my face.

“Let’s go find the Demon Sword.”

(End of Chapter)

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