I opened my eyes and was greeted by the familiar ceiling of my room.

It’s a miracle I don’t feel any pain or broken bones in my body.

’...I couldn’t believe it. I survived. That freaking platform trolley almost killed me to death.’

"My Lady, are you feeling fine now?" Agatha’s voice came from beside me.

I turned my head to see her sitting calmly like nothing catastrophic had happened earlier.

’Like we didn’t just turn the entire household into a disaster zone.’

I glanced around to check that no one is around before I slowly lifted my paw toward her.

Agatha didn’t even hesitate as she slipped the hidden energy stone into my paw.

"I’m fine now," I said, clutching it like my life depended on it—because it did. "But where’s Gawain?"

Agatha adjusted her posture slightly.

"After you fell down the stairs, he managed to escape and hide from Mikael," she explained. "He is currently in the workroom."

"..."

My eyes widened.

My brain rebooted.

My business instincts screamed.

"What time is it?!" I demanded.

"It is already 3 in the afternoon."

...

...

...

"3—?!"

I shot upright. "I STILL HAVE ORDERS TO PROCESS—!!"

I jumped off the bed and rushed toward the door, only to stop mid-step as I looked down.

At my very small, very inconvenient current form.

"...Agatha."

"Yes, My Lady?"

"Carry me." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

She was already standing. "...Of course."

"And let’s go to the workroom."

I handed the energy stone back to her and in the next second, I was back in my annoyingly, majestic leopard form.

"Hold steady, My Lady," Agatha carefully picked me up effortlessly.

"Nya nyang," I replied.

Translation: I was born steady

(That was a lie. I literally fell down the stairs.)

The door opened and we marched out like we weren’t just involved in a near-death hallway incident.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

The moment we stepped into the workroom, I immediately transformed into human form as I went straight to work.

Agatha moved beside me with her usual efficiency—packing, sealing, organizing, shipping.

If there was one stable thing in my life right now, it was her.

And then—

There was Gawain.

...Still Gawain.

Which was already a problem.

He slithered around, loud, useless, and annoying. He tried to occasionally "help," which actually meant:

☐ Getting in the way

☐ Making unnecessary comments

☐ Breathing too loudly

☐ Touching things he shouldn’t

☐ Being Gawain

I gripped my carving tool tighter.

We were this close—

this close—to kicking him out.

If he says one more word, one more breath, or even one more "My Lady, what does this do?"—

I would’ve personally launched him out the window.

But unfortunately, we couldn’t.

Because if someone saw him, questions would be asked, problems would arise, and I already had enough problems to deal with.

So we endured, suffered, and eventually persevered.

Until—

Craaaack...

"..." My hand froze.

The sound was small but to me, it was the sound of the last thread of my sanity snapping.

Very slowly, I turned my head to see Gawain, in his snake form, curled up on top of a pile of uncarved energy stones.

My energy stones.

My inventory.

My livelihood.

"..." My eye twitched.

Then—

Craack...

I looked down.

The energy stone in my hand had begun to fracture, the carving tool digging far deeper than intended.

Snap!

The stone didn’t break in two but my patience did.

I gently set the damaged stone down, including my energy stone as Agatha paused mid-packaging.

"...My Lady?" she said carefully.

Too late.

A glow surrounded me and in the next second—

LEOPARD MODE ACTIVATED.

I launched myself at him, fast, furious, and deadly. "GAWANG—!!"

CHOMP.

I bit right on his tail.

"What the fu—?!" Gawain hissed, jolting awake, his entire body jerking like he just got electrocuted.

He twisted around, eyes wild then froze when he saw me.

Still biting, glaring, and still very much ready to commit violence.

"My Lady?!" he panicked. "What did I do again?!"

"NYANG NYANG NYANG!!!"

Translation: BECAUSE YOU’RE REALLY ANNOYING!!!

"MY LADY, FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME—SPEAK HUMAN—!!" he shouted, trying (and failing) to pull his tail away. "DO YOU THINK I’M A LEOPARD THAT CAN UNDERSTAND YOU?!"

I bit down harder.

He yelped.

Agatha calmly continued packing in the background.

"AGATHA HELP! YOUR LADY IS ACTING CRAZY AGAIN!"

"She was your lady first before she got here," Agatha replied calmly, sealing a box like she wasn’t witnessing attempted murder via tail.

"THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT BETTER—!!"

In a panic, Gawain shifted and in the next second, he was back in human form.

"STAY BACK—!!" he yelled, bolting across the workroom.

PREDATOR MODE ACTIVATED.

I dropped to all fours, eyes locked, tail flicking and chased him anyway.

"NYANG—!!"

Translation: COME BACK HERE—!!

"THIS IS ABUSE!" he shouted, dodging around a table.

"NYANG!"

Translation: CONSEQUENCE!

He grabbed a chair and shoved it slightly into my path but I leaped over it effortlessly.

"STOP BEING ATHLETIC!"

"NYANG NYANG!"

Translation: STOP BEING ANNOYING!

He darted left, I followed. He circled the table, I cut him off.

Meanwhile—

Agatha looked up and watched us run in circles like feral children.

They were both loud, both dramatic, and both exhausting. If anyone sees them right now, they might be mistaken as siblings instead of having a master-servant relationship.

"..." She blinked then sighed. The kind of sigh that came from deep within the soul.

"...Children," she muttered then went back to packing.

Behind her—

"NYA NYANG!"

Translation: GET BACK HERE!

"NO!"

"YES!"

"AGATHA DO SOMETHING!"

I lunged again but he ducked causing me to slid across the floor and knocked into a table, the neatly arranged packages wobbled.

"My Lady," she said calmly, catching one mid-air without even glancing over, "if you intend to kill him, please do it after we finish today’s orders."

"..."

’What she said was...

...painfully reasonable.’

I froze mid-chase then slowly, very reluctantly, came to a stop.

My tail flicked repeatedly then I turned my head and glared at Gawain, who looked like he had just seen his entire life flash before his eyes, and didn’t like what he saw.

"I was sleeping, My Lady..." he said weakly. "Why did you have to bite my tail?"

"You were sleeping... ON TOP OF MY INVENTORY" I snapped, shifting back to human form.

"I had nowhere else to sleep!"

"They are expensive!"

"I’m also valuable—"

"In what currency? Huh?"

He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. In the end, he just stared at me like a confused fish. "...That hurts, My Lady..."

"Good."

I sighed, the fight draining out of me along with my remaining patience then I grabbed a pillow and dropped it beside me. "Transform, sleep here, and don’t disturb me."

He looked at it. "My Lady... Are you treating me like a pet? I don’t like it—"

I slowly turned my head and smiled. "Sleep," I said sweetly, "or I will personally hand you to Mikael."

I even widened my eyes a little for emphasis.

"..." He froze then snapped at me. "Fine then!"

In a flash, he shifted back into his snake form and slithered over to the pillow, coiling himself on it like a very grumpy, very defeated rope.

I finally exhaled as I picked up another energy stone and resumed carving, the steady rhythm grounding me again.

Peace and quiet have finally been restore—

"...This pillow is too soft," Gawain mumbled.

My hand paused mid-carve.

"...Gawain," I said calmly.

"...Yes?"

"Sleep."

"...Yes, Ma’am."

Silence returned.

At last.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

11:45 P.M.

Ten minutes after Agatha finished sending the drones away for delivery, the workroom finally fell into a rare, fragile silence.

Agatha had just finished organizing the remaining tools when—

FWOOSH.

The sound of large wings cutting through the air.

Her head snapped towards the window. "...He’s back."

In an instant, she sharply turned towards Blanca, who was already deep in sleep.

"...My Lady," Agatha whispered urgently.

No response.

"...Of all times..."

Without hesitation, she grabbed Blanca’s energy stone away from her. "...My Lady, forgive me," and in the next second, Blanca was back in her leopard form, curled up and blissfully unaware of the incoming disaster.

She gently adjusted Blanca’s position, placing the mechanical arm beside her, and arranging everything to make it look... normal.

Then she turned to look at the bigger problem.

"Hey... Hey! Wake up!" she whispered urgently.

Gawain only snored.

Agatha’s eye twitched. "Wake up! The Master is already here! You need to hide!" she hissed, half whispering, half panicking.

"...What master...?" Gawain mumbled, barely conscious. "The only master I recognize is the lady herself..."

"..."

Her eye twitched again, vein included. In a fit of annoyance, she yanked the pillow from under him—

SMACK.

"WAKE.

SMACK.

UP.

SMACK.

NOW.

SMACK.

OR.

SMACK.

WE.

SMACK.

ARE.

SMACK.

ALL.

SMACK.

DEAD!"

Gawain jolted upright. "What—?! What’s happening?!" he hissed.

"The Master is here!" she said quickly.

"...Huh? The master? Like the actual master of this house?"

"YES!"

"What should we do then?"

Before she could answer—

Click.

The door knob moved.