Kitty
It took 3 weeks before somebody finally realized that Anissina von Karbelnikoff was missing.
It all began when Cecilie decided to host another dinner party and invited Anissina's family over. Her older brother questioned her whereabouts and the person he talked to was Gwendal.
Then it hit Gwendal: Where did Anissina go? He was too stumped to answer. He did question himself on her whereabouts for past couple of weeks already but he just thought that maybe she incarcerated herself inside her laboratory because of an experiment.
"Shame on you, you don't know?" Cecilie demanded disappointedly from her eldest son upon overhearing the conversation between him and Lord von Karbelnikoff.
Conrart could feel a lump forming in his throat but he swallowed hard and took a gulp of wine to help push down the sudden anxiety he felt.
"I thought she's just in her laboratory. I don't… really like to disturb her…" Gwendal replied hesitantly.
"She's not in her laboratory. She never was." Wolfram pointed out.
"How would you know? You don't even go there." Gwendal argued. A wave of insecurity and nervousness was beginning to take over him.
"I keep visiting her laboratory to look for her because I need her advice on mixing paint. I never saw her again since 3 weeks ago." Wolfram answered.
The entire dining hall was quiet for a few moments before Conrart cleared his throat. "Maybe she went out on an expedition without telling us?" he suggested.
"She'd never do that without asking permission from me or from Gwendal." Gunter pointed out with a concerned tone.
But without further ado, Gwendal and Cecilie immediately sent a search party to look for Anissina within the castle grounds.
By 2 am, the search was over but they could not find any trace of her… except for her clothes that Dakaskos found on the floor of her laboratory. "It's just piled there beside one of her machines. It's not even folded. I'd hate to think that she stripped off and ran away…" he trailed off when he realized that Gwendal was eyeing him warningly.
Wolfram got hold of Anissina's clothes and inspected them. Conrart just stood beside his younger brother and stared at the clothes while scolding himself in silence regarding the fact that he was not able to hide the "evidence".
"There's no way she'd just take off her clothes and run away… naked?" Wolfram asked, suddenly unsure on how he was supposed to describe what Anissina could have done when he saw his eldest brother looking at him with a twitching left eye. "Uh… sorry." He said as he passed the clothes over to Conrart.
Conrart, on the other hand, was surprised when the clothes were suddenly in his hands. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he almost blurted out, but he kept his composure and looked at Gwendal instead. "Did they find any other trace of her in this laboratory?" he asked, trying to act concerned.
"Aside from those clothes, there's nothing more." Gwendal said before grabbing the clothes from his brother's hands. "We're definitely going to get into trouble with her family if we don't find her."
"Maybe she was kidnapped!" Wolfram suggested.
"Who would even bother to kidnap her?" Gwendal asked impatiently. His brothers could already tell that he was already severely affected by the situation. "Besides, I don't think it's possible that she would let anybody attack her. She may be a woman but she's… really strong…"
There was no mistaking it: they heard him choke towards the end of his last sentence. Conrart was simply amazed at the fact that his older brother was expressing that kind of concern for Anissina.
Gwendal walked away. "Continue the search. I'll be in my room." He commanded.
Conrart and Wolfram noticed that he still had her clothes but they did not say anything anymore.
"Poor Gwendal. He's really distraught about this." Wolfram mumbled although his facial expression remained nonchalant.
Conrart took a deep breath and gave Wolfram a pat on the head. "As for you, I think you should rest now. Aren't you leaving tomorrow with mother and Gisela to visit the southern border of the kingdom?" he asked before walking away.
Wolfram observed Conrart's behavior and attitude towards the situation. Upon realizing the calmness in Conrart, he wondered if he had something to do with Anissina's disappearance. Probably blame it on the tension and stress caused by the situation but Wolfram began to suspect Conrart. "Wasn't he in the laboratory 3 weeks ago? And why is he so calm?" he let out a slight gasp which made Dakaskos and the other soldiers look at him.
"Anything wrong, Lord von Bielefeld?" one of the soldiers asked.
Wolfram immediately ran after Conrart but he could not find him anymore. He even checked for the common places where his brother would hang out like the library, the garden, and his bedroom. He still could not find him.
Concerned and a little afraid that his brother could have gone bonkers and did something to Anissina, Wolfram von Bielefeld went over to the person that he thought was most likely to listen to him.
"Gisela, wake up!" Wolfram shook her rather harshly on the shoulder as she lay on her bed.
Gisela von Kleist opened her eyes and sleepily gazed at the person who just woke her up. "…what?" she asked sleepily. "Is it morning already?" she asked.
"Gisela, I think Conrart kidnapped Anissina or worse, maybe he killed her!"
It took a while before 2 realities sank into her consciousness: Wolfram was sitting on her bed and that he just accused Conrart of kidnapping and killing Anissina von Karbelnikoff. Suddenly she was wide awake. "Excellency, why would your brother even do that?" she asked with a ridiculous smile on her face.
"I don't know! Maybe he went all sixes-and-sevens because both Yuuri and Julia are not around and…" Wolfram trailed off when Gisela shook her head.
"You're tired and you need to sleep. It's been a long night. I suggest that you retire for the night, your Excellency." She pointed out.
"But how would you explain Lord Weller's calmness throughout this entire commotion? Besides, he was there in her laboratory 3 weeks ago when she was last seen!" he explained.
Gisela thought for a while before replying, "Like what I said earlier, why would your brother even do something like that?"
Wolfram did not think twice about his answer anymore: "Maybe he's secretly in-love with Anissina and he wants her for himself!"
Gisela laughed. "That's ridiculous."
"No, it's not! I mean… even if she behaves like a crazy woman most of the time, she's smart and beautiful so maybe Conrart was captivated and then…" his eyes widened at her. "…and then he thought that if he cannot have her, then nobody else can! So he killed her!"
She stared at him unbelievably for a few moments before bluntly saying, "You've been reading too many books on crimes of passion, Lord von Bielefeld."
Anissina was still a cat while all of those things were happening. However, she was unaware that she was the cause of the commotion happening outside though she could hear the footsteps of soldiers running all over the castle. She even looked outside from the window of Gwendal's room and saw a lot of soldiers scattered outside with Yozak commanding them.
It was 2:30 in the morning when Gwendal returned to his room and Anissina the cat could not help but meow at him in an effort to ask what was going on. However, she felt cautious on whether or not to move and go to him when she saw what he was holding.
Her clothes.
She also saw the distraught look on his face and the way he staggered over to his bed. "What are you doing with my clothes? I thought Conrart got rid of them so no one would suspect anything?" her mind was screaming.
Gwendal plopped down on his bed and he let out a troubled sigh. His hand summoned for Anissina to come over and climb on the bed so he could cuddle her.
She was not sure whether to obey but as an effort to ensure that he won't suspect that she wasn't behaving like a cat, she just went to him and climbed on the bed.
Gwendal immediately took the cat in his arms, scooping her up along with Anissina's clothes. Although still in her cat form, Anissina really felt very uncomfortable. She mentally noted for the nth time already that she would make Conrart participate in an experiment once she returns to normal again. "I swear he's taking so long to figure out how the machine works! Because of him I've been in this sad and sorry form for 3 weeks now and all I can eat is cat food or raw fish!" she thought.
"She's not here anymore and I feel so bad that I don't know what to do or how to think. I didn't even bother to check if she was okay… what if something bad happened to her?"
Anissina wondered who Gwendal meant. But then again, it did not take her much to realize that he was lamenting about her.
He looked at the cat's blue eyes and he smiled wearily before stroking her red fur. "I must be really tired. For a moment there I thought that you're really Anissina. She used to look at me like that whenever…" he trailed off when she moved away from him. She walked over to his basket of yarn and knitting needles and urged him to just knit. Maybe it could relieve his tired nerves.
Gwendal observed the way the cat was looking at him while acting as if she was urging him to knit so he could relax. "Are you asking me to knit?" he asked.
And the cat nodded her head. It was an action Anissina regretted doing because she was supposed to act like a typical animal, which means that she should act as if she could not understand what a person would say.
Gwendal instantly sat up and grabbed the cat in his arms. "You're really a smart kitty, you know that?" he asked. Anissina saw the pleased look on his face but she did not know whether to feel relieved because he did not notice that a cat just responded to his question or alarmed because he just grabbed her out of the blue and took her in his arms.
"But I'm too tired already." He told her before touching Anissina's red and white clothes. "Maybe to…mor…row…"
Anissina blinked. "Well what do you know? He drifted off to sleep just like that!" she thought in amusement before attempting to squirm away from his grasp. Unfortunately, his grip around her was too tight so it was very impossible for her to get away. She wished he was the type of person who moved too much while sleeping so once he turns to the side, his grip would loosen and she can escape. However, based on previous observations, he was a stiff sleeper—he neither moved nor changed positions. For instance, if he slept on his left side, chances are, he would wake up the same way the next day. Therefore, she knew she had to endure the rest of the evening in his arms.
She tried to fall asleep herself but her mind was filled thoughts about Gwendal and her older brother worrying about her. She wished she could ensure them about her safety and whereabouts but the last thing she would like to happen was to let everybody know the fact that she had failed an experiment and that she had been the victim of her own misfortune. Aside from thinking about Gwendal, she thought of Conrart and what he was up to. "He's supposed to be helping me! I can't believe I'm still a cat! What is he doing?"
Much to her surprise, she heard the door creaking so she immediately directed her attention to it. She squinted and saw someone wearing a brown uniform. "Conrart!" she thought happily.
Conrart Weller took a peek inside the room of his older brother before completely entering inside. He walked over to the bed and looked at Anissina with a serious look on his face. He did not say anything and he did not even bother to greet her by petting her head. Instead, he immediately grabbed her from Gwendal's arms and took her with him outside.
Anissina wondered what was going on but it became clear to her that he was taking her to her laboratory. Upon entering her laboratory, he only bothered to light one candle to avoid alerting the guards who were searching for clues 3 hallways down.
"Okay, Anissina, I need you to teach me how to work this machine." He said softly.
She clearly saw the worried look on his face and she wanted to laugh. "Oh, I'll bet someone's suspicious of you already, huh?" she wondered to herself.
"Gwendal's too worried about you already if that's any consolation." He told her as he let her go. He watched her approach the machine and she began to point out the necessary buttons that he had to press. Unfortunately for Conrart, he was having a hard time catching up because she was a small cat and her paws were too small to be seen in very dim lighting whenever she would use them to point at the buttons. He moved closer. "Don't hurry up. Gwendal's asleep so we can be together here for as long as you want." He said reassuringly.
Unknown to him, Wolfram and Gisela were outside the door just when he mentioned that. The statement was enough to make them suspect that Conrart was up to no good. Immediately, Wolfram grabbed Gisela's hand and dragged her to the nearest room that was actually a storage closet of old potions concocted by Anissina and Cecilie.
"I told you he killed her!" Wolfram wailed.
"What are we going to do?" Gisela asked worriedly as she clasped her hands together in prayer.
"I have no idea!!" Wolfram answered while tugging his own hair in confusion.
Gisela took a deep breath and shook her head. "Poor Lord Weller. I didn't know he loved Anissina so much!" she said sadly.
"I didn't even think he'd like somebody like Anissina." He said before raking his fingers through his hair. "My, if Gwendal found out he'd go ballistic." Wolfram said.
Suddenly, the door opened and there was Jozak carrying a gas lamp. He eyed the two suspiciously and he smirked. "Why would Gwendal go ballistic again?" he asked.
Wolfram and Gisela felt the color draining from their faces… especially Wolfram because he immediately understood why Jozak was looking at them like that. "Oh no, it's not what you think…" he stammered as he felt his body temperature spiking up, particularly on his cheeks and ears.
"Okay, how does this work again?" Conrart placed Anissina on the machine's slot where she asked to be placed before walking over to the control panel area. He began to press the combination of buttons that he taught him to press.
And they waited.
Conrart turned to Anissina and saw her tail getting bushy. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I think it's broken. Don't you have any other remedy to reverse your spell?" he asked.
She gazed up thoughtfully at the dark ceiling. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she was disappointed and that she was getting desperate already.
"You know, I think I could take you to Ulrike or find a wizard who can…" he trailed off when she turned to him sharply and frantically shook her head in a "no". He walked over to her. "Well then I can't let you stay like that forever and watch Gwendal and everybody else grieve and think that you died or got kidnapped by hoodlums."
"I'm stumped. I don't even know how to reverse the effects of this thing!" she thought weakly while eyeing the machine in frustration.
Conrart approached her and picked her up. He gently stroked her fur in an effort to comfort her. "There, there. It's fine. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about what happened. I will keep it a secret from everyone even if it means giving up my life for you." He said reassuringly.
Anissina sulked. "That sounded really cheesy, you know." She thought.
Again, unknown to them, Gisela and Wolfram were passing by when Conrart said that. The two young mazoku just flinched and ran as fast as they could away from Anissina's laboratory.
Some moments later, Conrart decided to return Anissina to Gwendal but he knew he had to return her to where he first found her: in Gwendal's arm. Anissina tried to get away but she failed. She had to endure being in Gwendal's heavy arms again and watched Conrart leave.
Anissina shifted her gaze to Gwendal's sleeping face and observed his slow and steady breathing. He did not look very peaceful and she wondered whether he was having a dream or not, and if he was dreaming, she wondered what it was about. She looked at his other hand and saw that it was still clutching her clothes tightly. She knew she could not leave his side so she decided to just force herself to fall asleep while resting her head against his chest. A wave of comfort slowly took over her and she eventually relaxed until she surrendered to a deep slumber.