I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ～Transmigrated into an Otome Game～ - Chapter 18

Even if it’s the Heroine

Pink blonde hair… That was a very common hair colour for heroines in the villainess novels Amy used to read in her past life. The ‘heroine’ look would be complete if she ended up having bright blue or green eyes. 

It was a common pattern for these heroines, who were usually commoners, to be adopted by a noble family because of their high magical talent, only to turn out to be a long lost daughter or granddaughter of a noble family! So it wouldn’t be weird if she showed up in a simple village dress in a small town. 

No, it can’t be, Amy thought as she shook her head in denial.  

Maybe she was just a normal girl who was passing by. 

Her mother would always tell her that it didn’t matter if this world was a game or not, and that Amy should live however she liked. But Amy wasn’t quite convinced yet. Because no matter what, her brother, Edward, and even Alexander, they all looked exactly like the illustration from the game. 

Amy sat down on her dresser and looked at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. 

Her hair was straight, black and long. And although she had started looking less cold since she gained weight, her gold eyes and sharp facial features still gave off an aloof impression. 

“No matter how I look at it I look like a ‘villainess’……”  

In the books she’d read before, it was very common for villainesses to also have a high magical aptitude, be someone from the nobility, and be engaged to a Prince. All of these conditions could apply to Amy. Except, she wasn’t officially engaged to the Third Prince; her current status was only that of a fiancee candidate. 

The Prince already had some official duties to attend to, and his movement was restricted due to his Royal status which meant they couldn’t meet directly that often, and would usually talk through letters. The main topic of their conversation was usually about animals, and they had built up a good friendship over this. 

She also didn’t have much contact with Alexander. But sometimes he would be home when she took Tiger to the Duke’s house to play, and they would talk then. He would give her new sweets to try which she’d eat while surrounded by the Duchess’s cats; it made her feel like she was at a cat cafe.

His condescending attitude from their first meeting had changed, and now Amy felt like she had gained another older brother in him. She always had fun talking to him, and didn’t think he felt any dislike for her either… at least she hoped so. 

As for her actual brother, Harold, it was needless to say that they had a good relationship. 

She hadn’t been able to avoid contact with these capture targets, but their relationship with her was not bad. Looking at the current situation objectively, the targets didn’t hate her so there should be no reason to be concerned about her future. 

But there must be something wrong with her because she still couldn’t stop worrying. 

She was planning on going to the beach with Tiger. But after seeing that pink blonde hair, she couldn’t get it out of her mind and had turned on her heels and walked straight back to her room. 

She had been sitting in front of her mirror since then. The evening sun filtered in through the window, elongating the shadows in her room. Tiger propped his front feet on Amy’s knees snapping her out of her thoughts. 

“Sorry, Tiger. You wanted to go to the beach, right?”

She put both arms around Tiger, pulling him into a hug as she nuzzled her cheeks against him. 

His fur was soft, his ears standing straight up, and he was warm. Amy pulled him onto her lap. 

“…… Wahh…… what should I do, Tiger?”  

Tears spilled out of her eyes.

She was scared because she couldn’t do anything about this. 

She kept thinking about the bad endings faced by villainesses, like the ‘breakup of the family’. However, what she dreaded even more was that the people around her would suddenly change their attitudes towards her after being compelled by the narrative force of the game.   

The people who treated her like a friend right now, maybe even her own family… if they all suddenly changed then her current efforts would all be a waste.

She couldn’t control her tears and broke down into a sob when suddenly she felt something wet against her cheek.

“Huh?”

She looked up and blinked in surprise.

“Tiger……”

Tiger was licking away her tears. 

Lick.

His tongue felt like sandpaper, and it hurt a bit as he licked her. However, she knew that cats licked you as a sign of affection. Mother cats would lick their kittens when cleaning them, or when comforting them…… 

Lick, lick.

The skin on her cheeks and around her eyes was thin so it really did feel painful. But Amy couldn’t help but laugh as she pulled Tiger into a hug.

“……Tiger, thank you. I love you.”

The main was an unmistakable reminder of this being a reality.

She didn’t know what will happen in the future, but the present is definitely real with her being together with Tiger. 

Amy suddenly had a thought.

…I’m scared because I don’t have any confidence. 

She didn’t like that she was so weak that she became shaken so much just from a single glimpse of pink blonde hair. It was just hair. It didn’t mean her fat had been finalized. 

All this time she had been scared of the possibility that this ‘might be’ the world of a game and she had completely overlooked the feelings of her family, and the words of her mother who kept trying to reassure her otherwise. Even the friendship of Edward and Alexander, she had only accepted it halfheartedly. 

How could she still worry about the future with her thinking like this?

“Tiger…… I’m going to work hard to be strong now.” 

She wanted to become stronger. She wanted to accept this world completely.

For that she first had to get a hold of herself.

Whether or not this was an otome game, her feelings were her ‘reality’. 

‘Amy, what do you want to do?’

She remembered her mother’s words from when she’d first gained her memories. 

‘I want to keep a cat. And a dog and a bird. I want pets. This was my one dream I couldn’t fulfill in my previous life.’

But then what about her current life? Was she okay with just erasing the regrets of her previous life?

What did she want right now?

“I……”

What did she want?

Why was she here? What was she living for?

For what reason did she remember the memories of her past life?

These doubts kept piling in her head. 

But if she was her mother she would probably laugh and say, “Why are you getting so worked up about this? If you want to be happy then you don’t need a reason, do you?”

In her arms, Tiger was soft, fluffy and warm.

She had thought about it a lot, but in the end she came to the same conclusion. She didn’t care about being the villainess or the bad ending, if there was one. 

All she wanted was to have a cat. 

She had already resolved to do whatever it took to be able to keep a pet, and it had become an indisputable part of Amy that she couldn’t give up.

It’s true that she had changed her body shape to avoid becoming the Prince’s fiancee. But, in the end, they ended up becoming friends anyway. However, it seemed like Edward didn’t care what body shape someone was when becoming friends with them. 

It had honestly been a bit disappointing; she had worked so hard to get fat for nothing. But still, if she did get chosen to be the fiancee despite all this then she was sure that at least the court officials and other nobles would protest about it.

Nevertheless, even if that didn’t happen, she had no plans of going back to her slim build. 

“…… Because my magic energy really is more stable when I’m fat.” 

Amy had one arm wrapped around Tiger’s fluffy neck. She extended the other arm and, turning her palm upwards, focused her magical energy into her hand. Small particles like fine mist began to gather in her hands and shine lightly. The next moment, they whirled into a circle and took the shape of the sun.

Tiger watched with sparkling eyes as Amy extended it in front of him. 

“We couldn’t go to the sea today because of me, so let’s play with this instead!” She said, laughing at Tiger’s expression.

Amy gave a soft shout of ‘catch!’ before shooting the ball to the corner of the room. Tiger swiftly followed, running behind it. The ball landed on the carpet and then rolled around the floor like a mouse. 

It bounced around the room, following Amy’s finger, flying to the bed, then to the curtains, then behind the chest… Whenever it moved, it left behind a trail of light like the tail of an animal; it really did look like it was alive. 

It was Amy’s magic tutor, Sir Dion, who had taught her how to make a ball of light like this. He had been speechless the first time he’d seen Amy using it to play with Tiger. But then he’d burst into laughter saying he’d never thought this could be used to play with cats. 

It wasn’t that difficult for the ten year old Amy to make this ball of light with her magic, However, one needed to have a ‘sturdy body’ to maintain the magical power needed to sustain the ball over a long period of time, and move it freely according to one’s will.  

Besides that, her healing magic consumed a considerable amount of magical energy too.

Currently, Amy would occasionally heal the colds of the staff members, or her brother’s injuries. She sometimes even healed animals like when she’d helped the roodle. If possible, she would like to continue doing so.

Amy’s healing magic was quite effective, and was even renowned among the servants. 

“It might be different when I grow up but… Oh, Tiger, that’s it!”

Tiger had finally catched the ball of light. It flickered for a moment under his front paws before disappearing. He sent a satisfied but, at the same time, disappointed look at Amy. She rushed over to him and pulled him into another hug. 

“Ah, you caught it! What a clever boy you are!”

“…….I was wondering what you were up to. You guys really are close, huh.” 

Isabel, hearing the suspicious cluttering noises from inside the room, had peeked in to see this shocking but cute scene.

It was the sight of her daughter hugging and stroking the cat, and squealing happily as she rolled around on the floor.