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The chirping of sparrows drifted in from outside the window, as warm sunlight filtered through to illuminate Charlotte’s face.
Sensing the warmth of the sun on her skin, Charlotte slowly opened her hazy eyes and woke from her dreams.
She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and yawning as she gazed at the scenery outside.
“Hmm? Is it morning already?”
Drowsiness still lingered in her mind; she was in desperate need of a cup of Lillian’s specialized black tea to refresh herself.
She crawled down from the bed, her petite body swaying as she walked toward the door, intending to leave the bedroom and find Lillian in the living room.
Normally, Lillian would be in the living room preparing breakfast at this hour.
However, as she passed a mirror in the bedroom, Charlotte suddenly felt that something was amiss.
She quickly backed up two steps to stand before the mirror and scrutinized her reflection.
Two silver cat ears twitched slightly on top of her head, and a silver cat tail with a blue crystal tied to the end swayed back and forth behind her.
Charlotte stared blankly at the silver-haired catgirl in the mirror.
After blinking twice, she suddenly realized the gravity of the situation and staggered backward in shock.
“How did I suddenly turn into a ‘tender catgirl’?!”
Although she looked quite cute like this, if others found out, they would surely pounce on her like stray cats in heat, rubbing and squeezing her all over.
When that happened, she would truly become a toy in their hands, unable to escape.
‘I don’t want to suddenly turn into a catgirl and be pampered like a pet!’
Realizing that her future was about to undergo an irreversible and cataclysmic change, Charlotte let out a terrified scream.
And then…
Her legs kicked out, and she woke up in her bed once again.
The familiar chirping of sparrows drifted from outside, and the morning sunlight happened to be shining through the window, warming her cheeks.
Seeing the familiar ceiling, Charlotte hurriedly felt the top of her head.
Finding no animal ears on her head, Charlotte instantly relaxed, collapsing onto the bed like a dried fish.
“So what happened just now was just a dream! That scared me to death; I thought I really turned into a catgirl!”
Having been startled by the nightmare, Charlotte was no longer sleepy.
She climbed out of bed and went to the mirror, confirming she looked no different than usual before leaving the room and heading downstairs to the main hall.
At this moment, Lillian was in the kitchen simmering a pot of broth.
Seeing Charlotte come downstairs, she greeted her warmly.
“Good morning, Lady Charlotte! You’re finally awake!”
“Yeah! That was a comfortable sleep, if not for that nightmare just now…”
“A nightmare? What kind of dream did you have, Lady Charlotte?”
“Uh… the thing about turning into a catgirl is too embarrassing to talk about,” Charlotte said, simply changing the subject. “Actually, it’s nothing much. By the way, Lillian, what are you making?”
“Oh, I’m brewing pork bone soup!”
“Pork bone soup?”
“Because you often hum things like ‘lard and bones for the stew’ while rummaging through magic books, I thought perhaps you were missing the flavors of your hometown. So, I specially made this pot of pork bone soup for you to reminisce!”
“Eh?” Hearing Lillian’s reason for making the soup, Charlotte was stunned.
She hadn’t expected that just humming a few lines of a meme song would be misunderstood by Lillian as a craving for pork bone soup.
“However, Lady Charlotte, what exactly are ‘instant noodles’? I’ve searched through every recipe book but couldn’t find that dish!”
“No, those are just things I say randomly. You don’t need to pay them any mind, Lillian. It’s okay if you can’t make them!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Oh, right, Lillian, prepare a cup of refreshing black tea for me as usual.”
“Certainly, Lady Charlotte!”
After sending Lillian to brew the tea, Charlotte walked over and sat on the living room sofa.
Her gaze subconsciously fell upon the candies on the coffee table, and a letter pressed beneath them.
Seeing this letter, Charlotte frowned slightly.
Every time she advanced to a new grade, her Master, Chloe, would write her a letter describing the sights she had seen over the past year.
The letter before her now was the third one Chloe had sent.
That’s right, Charlotte had now successfully advanced to the third year of the Starsea Magic Academy.
An entire year had passed since the incident where she accidentally blasted Instructor Mashiro’s Sun-Glow Tower to smithereens while trying to resolve Yuffie’s crisis.
Back then, that incident had resulted in a deduction of three hundred academic credits.
Over the past year, she had worked herself to the bone to finally fill that massive hole and pass the advancement exam.
Now she could finally relax, sleep until she woke up naturally every day, and no longer have to run around for various commissions, busy as a certain “Touma.”
While she was running around for credits, her Master Chloe was still out there, footloose and fancy-free, traveling everywhere.
This time, she happened to pass through a village called “Hajimide,” where the villagers miraculously all had cute cat ears and tails.
Moreover, all of their names started with “Haji.”
A mysterious culture seemed to prevail in this village. When they greeted each other, they said “Mambo~”; when happy, they hummed “U-fufu~”; when in a hurry, they called out “Hayaku-nairon~”; and when surprised, they said “O-matsuri~”
She had to admit, it was a village teeming with eccentric geniuses; at this point, inviting anything into the village would be useless.
Sent along with this letter was the bag of what looked like candies next to it.
These were things the catgirls had given to Master Chloe.
Master Chloe had sent the bag of candies to her to try, claiming that something very magical would happen after just one bite.
Despite what the letter said, Charlotte didn’t think this bag of candy was as reliable as Master Chloe claimed.
After all, Master Chloe often collected things of unknown origin and frequently managed to poison herself.
In short, until she figured out what these candies actually did, she wouldn’t eat them easily.
With that thought, Charlotte tucked the bag of candies into her dimensional space.
Just then, Lillian finished brewing the black tea and brought it to Charlotte’s side.
“Lady Charlotte, the black tea you requested is ready.”
“Oh, thank you, Lillian!”
Taking the tea from Lillian, Charlotte took a small sip and felt more energized than ever before, her fatigue and stress swept away.
“As expected of Lillian, your tea-brewing skills are impeccable!”
“Thank you for the praise, Lady Charlotte. I will work even harder in the future!”
As Lillian turned to leave to continue with the soup, she suddenly seemed to remember something important and turned back to Charlotte.
“Oh, right, Lady Charlotte. Lady Elsa was just here looking for you!”
The excitement doesn't stop here! If you enjoyed this, you’ll adore For the Emperor. Start reading now!
Read : For the Emperor
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