I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ～Transmigrated into an Otome Game～ - Chapter 15

A New Dress

Dresses of various colours lined her closet. Ever time Amy looked at them, she would be reminded of the dress she wore during her Shichigosan* photoshoot.

(*Shichigosan is a Japanese festival where children dress up and visit shrines.)

Seven year old her had a strong preference of her own so she had picked out her own clothes. It was a refreshing mint green colour. The skirt had some organdy thrown in with plenty of rhinestones on it. It was a beautiful dress and it made her feel like a princess.

Her mother, Isabel, was not particular about having the finest of clothes, but she did have a sense of the current trends and fashion. Being an aristocrat, she didn’t shy from using the services of seamstresses. And so, Amy’s closet was full of clothes.

Ever since she hatched the plan, ‘eat a lot and avoid the Princess route’, Amy’s dresses had become mostly white or a pastel colour… in other words, light colours that don’t have a slimming effect on one’s figure. One of those dresses was similar to the mint green dress she wore at Shichigosan. 

It was all part of her efforts to look fatter, even by a little bit. But recently, she had begun to notice some pieces in her closet which didn’t fall into this category.

First was her navy blue riding habit. She had had it made after receiving the invitation to go riding at the Palace. Riding habits were worn while riding so they were made on the assumption that they would get dirty. Naturally, they wouldn’t make one in white. That was why it had been a darker colour. It couldn’t be helped, so Amy didn’t really mind it. But the real problem was the dress she had worn today, the one which had been hanging next to the riding habit. 

The colour was an elegant wine red. The dye which was a deep red, but didn’t feel too sharp was praiseworthy as it was the work of a long established craftsman. The shape was a simple riding dress, but there was some embroidery on the edges in the same gold colour as Amy’s eyes which added a nice accent to it. It didn’t have any excessive frills like her other dresses. It had been made by a generous amount of cloth which fell gracefully down her body making it very comfortable to wear. 

However, Amy didn’t look very happy wearing it.

“It suits you, Amy.”

“I-is that so?”

In tuth, she herself had thought that it looked good on her. Normally, she would be happy to be praised but this time, she had mixed feelings about it.

Isabel sat next to her with her usual gentle smile.

“Your Highness, you have a good taste in clothes. And the size fits perfectly too.”

Yup it was a surprisingly perfect fit for her chubby body! She had to say the seamstresses at the palace were quite skilled; the colour of the dress, and the pattern actually made her look slimmer! 

This incredibly high quality dress was a gift from Edward.

To add to that, she was currently in the Royal Palace after receiving an invitation from him. It had been a while since they last met. 

“You really didn’t have to go to all this trouble……”  

“Well, you had to walk through those rough woods because of me.”

He was talking about the day when they had gone into the woods to save the roodle. The undergrowth of the forest was rough with weeds so, while Amy herself hadn’t received any injuries, her riding habit had been ripped in the hem from various places. On top of that, she had sat down directly on the ground when she had administered her healing magic, which had dirtied the skirt. 

And so Edward had sent her this dress as an apology for that, and also as thanks for saving the Roodle. It looked like he had planned to send a few other dresses besides the riding habit, but Amy had desperately asked him not to. 

“But it was only frayed a little bit around the hems. We got it completely fixed, and the dirt was easily cleaned away by cleaning magic.”

“Even if you say so, this was the least I could do. Just think of it as thanks for saving the roodle. Or maybe, do you not like it? Just as I thought, maybe I should have sent more dresses?” Edward muttered out apologetically, his shoulders slumping down in dejection. 

Amy couldn’t help but feel bad at this. She realised with a fluster that although she had sent her thanks in a letter, she hadn’t actually thanked him in person yet.

“Th-that’s not true! Um…… thank you. It’s a very pretty dress.”

“Really? I’m glad.” Edward said with a laugh.

He was wearing a thick leather glove on one arm, and the roodle was perched on it. The roodle was quite heavy since it was such a large bird. Amy had felt its weight first hand when she had picked it up while healing it with her magic. It needed large wings to be able to fly in the sky with this body, which weighed about 2 kg. If it spread open both wings, the length of its body would be about 1.5 metres; just slightly bigger than Amy’s height. 

Even though it was so big, it made no sound when it flapped its wings. As expected of a bird of prey. Amy hadn’t even noticed it until it flew close to her.

And Edward was supporting it on one arm with an unconcerned face, his arm not shaking at all as he held it aloft at chest level. The roodle itself seemed to be at ease. It would occasionally let out a soft tweet as it turned its head from side to side and looked around with its big eyes. It must have imprinted on Edward. She could tell they had a strong mutual bond of trust, the roodle perching happily on Edward. 

Amy and Edward continued their chat, with Amy occasionally stroking the bird. She had removed her gloves; the feathers beneath her fingers were soft and smooth.

“Besides, you already gave me so many things.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

His gift had included various accessories like shoes, gloves, a hat, etc which he had gifted her in place of the extra dresses she had vehemently declined. He had also given her a saddle made for her exclusive use, and an arm cover for holding a bird… these were both goods that seemed to say that she was welcome to come ride horses, or see the bird whenever she wanted.

Ever since the incident, she had often asked about the roodle to see how it was doing. She had received an official doctor’s note from the Palace stating that it was completely healed. The wound had been healed completely from Amy’s healing magic, and the broken wings were now mended so it could fly without any hindrance. Only after receiving the note had she been able to relax. 

She had also become close friends with Marvin and Derek, the man in charge of looking after the messenger birds in the Palace. They had told her she could visit them whenever she wanted, without prior notice. And everytime she went, she received a warm welcome. She even took Tiger with her once at their request.

Tiger, who was shy of strangers, hadn’t left Amy’s side even once. However, he seemed curious about the horses and the birds, and had goggled at them cutely from her side.

The birds were being trained to follow the sound of a whistle to come back, and could usually be seen flying in the open field in front of the woods.

Whenever Amy would visit the roodle would come flying to her even when she didn’t call it. It didn’t seem to be able to sense her arrival but as long as she was within hearing distance, it would come to her. It was quite clever. It could understand humans, though not to the extent of dogs or cats. But one could give it simple commands and it would understand. That was the reason why it was used for delivering letters.

In order for messenger birds to remember where to deliver a letter, it is necessary to clearly show them the flying route first. 

Derek had happily explained the method to her. It seemed like they placed magical stones in a line in the air forming the route to the destination, and the bird followed them along their trail. They could make the trip themselves, without the stone, after about two times of this training. Amy was reminded of Hansel and Gretel when she heard of this. 

In her previous life, owls only delivered letters in fantasy books. She had never seen anything like it in real life. She did hear that they could be trained to hunt small prey and bring it back to their owners. However, she didn’t think they could be used as messenger birds. 

Although this world was similar to her previous one, there were still some small details that were different. The intelligence and behaviour of animals was one of the things that was different. Come to think of it, it was normal for magical beasts to exist in this world. So it wasn’t that surprising that ordinary animals would be different too.

It hadn’t been too long since Amy recovered her memories of her previous life. As a result, she felt a slight sense of detachment from both worlds. 

Her family had advised her not to force herself to remember her past life, or try to put pressure on herself to forget it. They’d said she would naturally get used to it with time.

…… She was honestly relieved that her whole family had transmigrated with her. 

The transmigration novels she had read before always had the main character transmigrate alone by themselves. Even if there were other transmigrators, they would usually be the main character’s rival, or someone completely unrelated to them. So the characters usually had no one they could consult with. It must be a lonely experience. 

As for the members of the Northland family, it seemed like they had all recalled their memories when they were around 10 years old. Her mother had remembered when she’d first met her fiance. 

She hadn’t fainted like Amy had, but she had started acting suspiciously and had ended up delaying the engagement. During this time, she happened to meet her father and that was that. It was great timing, her mother had told her with a laugh. 

“Your father’s had been hilarious. He had been dismantling some magical tools and just suddenly thought ‘this is different from a circuit board…’ and he remembered.” 

Both Amy and her brother Harold had laughed since this was exactly what they’d expect from their father.

When Harold and Amy had been born, their parents had guessed they had also transmigrated; their looks were different but their personalities were so similar to their past lives. However, even if their children had not transmigrated, they had vowed to love them fully.

Amy didn’t know if it was fate or just a coincidence but she was glad she had been reincarnated together with her family. It was a huge help to her to have her family here for support, she thought as her fingers absentmindedly stroked the roodle’s feathers.