The moment Pardofelis realized there might be something wrong with her heart, she came to a decision. That made it even harder for her to accept Eden's offer to study under her.
After all, for all she knew, her heart might give out one day. If that happened, wouldn't Eden have wasted all that time and effort on her for nothing?
Seeing Pardofelis suddenly fall quiet with no sign that she wanted to keep talking, Eden decided it was a good stopping point.
She hadn't rested all day and had only been forcing herself to stay awake so she could chat with the girl and get closer to her. She switched off the light, lay down, and before long, the soft sound of steady breathing reached Pardofelis's ears.
Pardofelis lightly patted both cheeks with her hands and whispered, "Sleep, sleep!"
Soon, she drifted off too, and the night passed in peace.
--+--
Early the next morning, Eden woke up wanting a drink of water. Beside her, Pardofelis had curled herself into a little ball in her sleep, looking almost exactly like a kitten. Eden found the sight both funny and a little heartbreaking.
Once she managed to lure the girl into working for her, she supposed it'd be like raising a daugh— Ahem. With their ages, it'd be better to think of her as a younger sister. Calling her a daughter was going too far.
Sakura had taken Rin home not long ago, and Eden had found herself oddly unused to the quiet afterward. Having another little sister around might make things feel livelier again.
With that thought, Eden noticed that Pardofelis's blanket had slipped down while she slept. She gently pulled it back into place and tucked her in before going to get some water. Afterward, she returned to bed and went back to sleep.
Just as Eden drifted off again, Pardofelis suddenly opened her eyes.
She stared at the older woman lying beside her with a complicated look.
Ever since she was little, Pardofelis had survived by trailing after packs of stray cats. No one had ever cared for her like this.
In her earlier years, she hadn't even had a home to return to, sleeping under the open sky just like the strays she followed.
The fact that she'd managed to survive scorching summers and freezing winters had already taken incredible luck.
She had a tiny place of her own now, but she lived there alone. The stray cats she'd once known had long since disappeared. At night, she slept on a wooden bed under old blankets she'd found somewhere, washed clean, and kept using.
If she kicked the covers away in the middle of the night, who'd ever pull them back over her?
She'd lost count of how many times she'd gotten sick from the cold because of that.
But just now, Eden had tucked her in.
Years of living on the streets had taught Pardofelis to fall asleep almost at once while still remaining unusually alert. The moment Eden moved, she'd woken up. She simply hadn't known how to react, so she'd pretended she was still asleep.
For a moment, she'd even considered slipping away while Eden went to get some water.
In the end, she gave up on the idea.
It wasn't because she couldn't bear to leave the soft mattress, and it wasn't because she wanted more of Eden's kindness. She simply hadn't thanked the person who'd saved her from the area near the explosion yet.
Leaving without saying a word would've been rude.
Still, when she thought about her savior, a trace of confusion entered Pardofelis's eyes.
She was a light sleeper, and her hearing was sharp. Last night, she'd faintly heard muffled cries coming from the room next door through the wall. She wasn't sure what had happened.
Were they staying up late watching some sad drama?
She could ask Eden once she woke up.
With her thoughts wandering in circles, Pardofelis eventually fell asleep again.
--+--
The next time Pardofelis woke, Eden was gently nudging her awake from beside her.
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a beautiful woman with long wine-red hair lying right next to her. Pardofelis found the whole situation strangely surreal.
The lights had already been off when she'd gone to bed last night, so she hadn't gotten a proper look at Eden until now.
Seeing Pardofelis's face turn red as she stared, Eden couldn't help feeling a little pleased. She had plenty of confidence in her looks, after all.
"All right, little sleepyhead. How long are you going to stare? It's already nine in the morning. If you don't get up and eat breakfast soon, it'll be lunchtime."
Eden lightly tapped the middle of Pardofelis's forehead before sitting up.
Pardofelis immediately looked away.
She was still too young to have much understanding of romance, but Eden had a natural grace that made it hard not to admire her. Pardofelis felt a brief urge to reach out, though there wasn't anything deeper behind it.
It was simply the instinctive desire to get closer to something beautiful.
"Oh, right, Eden. About the people next door..."
Pardofelis trailed off.
Eden gave her a curious look. "What about them?"
Then, as if remembering something, Eden added, "The two people staying next door are people I mentioned before. One is Durandal, the leader of Schicksal, who brought you back here. The other is Elysia, the deputy leader."
"Yeah, that's right. Does Dudu and Ellie have a habit of watching shows at night?"
(T/N: The term used was 黛尔, which roughly phonetically is the end part of Durandal's Chinese spelling, so technically it would be 'Dal', but Dudu sounded better as it's just the first two letters of Durandal's name repeated.)
Pardofelis blinked her wide, innocent eyes at Eden.
Eden wasn't quite sure how to answer. She had no idea what those two did for entertainment at night, but from what she knew of them, neither seemed like the type who'd spend much time watching television or movies.
"Probably not... though I'm not completely sure. Why do you ask?"
"Oh. Then they must have some habit like that, because I definitely heard these muffled... uh... I guess they sounded like someone crying? If they weren't watching a show, what else could it have been?"
As she spoke, Pardofelis tried to imitate the noises she'd heard the night before.
Eden's calm expression changed at once.
The composed, elegant woman froze, her face shifting through several shades before a flush crept across it. Pardofelis couldn't begin to guess what was going through her mind.
"Um... did I say something wrong?"
Pardofelis looked at Eden with caution, worried she'd accidentally stepped on some kind of land mine.
Eden shook her head. Then, through clenched teeth, she said, "Felis, whatever those sounds were, never imitate them in front of anyone else. As for the leader and deputy leader..."
Eden took a deep breath.
"They were definitely watching a show. I'll have a proper talk with them about keeping the volume down next time. It's not good if other people can hear them."
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL