“I found you!”
[Hmph. I only hid somewhere easy to find on purpose.]
“Hehehe. You always say that! Then this time, Kiki has to find me!”
[Cheh.]
While Kiki covered both eyes with his hands and started counting, Vivian dashed toward the backyard as fast as she could.
Ahhh, I need to hide quickly!
Kiki always acted proud because he was a divine beast, but strangely enough, he and Vivian played together perfectly well.
They had already been playing hide-and-seek for over an hour.
Soon it would be time to stop playing so her father could teach her letters again, and maybe because she knew they didn’t have much time left, everything felt even more fun.
Vivian looked around frantically for a hiding spot.
“I hid there last time, and hmm… somewhere Kiki won’t be able to find me easily… huh?”
Her head tilted upward.
From high above came a pitiful little cry.
“Ppi-aeng! Ppi-aeng!”
The desperate sound instantly caught her attention.
“W-where is that crying coming from?”
It didn’t take long for Vivian to find the source.
Behind the Lambert estate stretched a thick forest, and at the very top of one particularly tall tree—
A tiny kitten, barely the size of Vivian’s hand, clung desperately to a thin branch while crying helplessly.
Its fluffy fur stuck out in all directions like dandelion seeds, making it look more like a baby mouse than a cat.
Honestly, it was so small she could barely even see it properly.
Just then, an orange blur near the tree rushed toward Vivian.
[Child! Child! You can understand me, right?]
It was the cat Vivian had nicknamed Butterfly.
[Please help! Save my baby!]
“Huh? That kitten is—”
[My child! I swear they were all playing together nicely, and I only closed my eyes for a moment! How did it even climb up there?!]
The cat’s voice sounded so desperate that Vivian ran toward the tree without even thinking.
But naturally, there was no way Vivian could climb a tree taller than the house.
“Y-you can’t climb it? But you’re a cat, Nabi!”
[If I climb up there, the branch will break!]
The cat possessed a rather hefty backside. It let out a sorrowful “meowoooo” as if on the verge of tears.
Kiki, who had been searching for Vivian thinking she was hiding, heard the commotion and hurried over. He looked immediately suspicious, apparently assuming Vivian was doting on cats again.
[Vivian! You’re with that cat ag— what? Why is it crying like that?]
[O Divine Beast-niiiim! Since you’re a divine beast, please save my baby!]
[Kiki?]
After hearing the situation, Kiki made an extremely troubled face.
[I could transform into another form and rescue the kitten… but then Vivian would collapse.]
“Why would I collapse?”
[Because you’re still incredibly weak, that’s why!]
“I’m not weak! Anne said I’m a healthy child because I sleep well and eat well!”
[Forget sleeping and eating—just save my baby already!]
The place had descended into complete chaos.
The kitten above cried ppiyong, ppiyong, the grown cat below wailed meowww, and the monkey screeched noisily in between.
And then someone else entered the chaos.
“My lady! Are you alright?”
“Vivi! Did something happen? Why is it so lou— …a cat?”
Anne and Jean had spotted Vivian through the window after hearing the commotion and hurried outside.
The two stared blankly at the fat cat crying at the top of its lungs.
“Dad! The kitten can’t get down from up there. Save it!”
“Oh my goodness, it must be too little to climb down! Should I go get a long stick or something?”
Anne lifted her skirt, ready to run, but Jean rolled up his sleeves and shook his head.
“No. It’s alright.”
“Huh?”
That tree wasn’t the kind a normal person could simply climb.
Ignoring Anne’s shocked stare, Jean even took off his shoes before starting up the tree.
Every time they blinked, he was suddenly much higher.
Blink once—higher.
Blink again—even higher.
“Woooow! Dad climbs trees super well!”
Vivian, who had been anxiously watching, actually started clapping at how fast he was.
“H-how is a person even…?”
Anne covered her mouth in shock.
[Hooh. He climbs better than a monkey.]
Even Kiki sounded impressed, while the cat simply watched in a daze.
Jean scaled the tree as though he had spent his entire life climbing them, reaching nearly the top in moments before stretching out a hand and grabbing the crying kitten.
“Oh dear, look how frightened you are.”
Terrified by the unfamiliar touch, the kitten dug its tiny claws desperately into the branch, but it was no match for Jean.
Carefully prying it free, Jean tucked it safely into his arms and descended just as quickly as he had climbed up.
“There. You’ll be alright now.”
“Myaaaang!!”
The instant Jean set the kitten down, the mother cat came running over with a loud cry.
She immediately grabbed the kitten by the scruff and carried it farther away from the humans before thoroughly licking her baby all over.
[You little rascal! Aren’t you going to thank him?]
Only after Kiki’s scolding did the cat seem to regain its senses. Meowing repeatedly, it trotted back over.
It rubbed itself against Jean’s legs to express gratitude, but the moment the kitten cried for its mother again, the cat hurried away.
“Was that its mother? She must’ve been really scared.”
“We were pretty shocked ourselves…”
Jean turned at Anne’s dazed murmur.
Anne, Vivian, and even Kiki were all staring at him with astonished expressions.
Jean awkwardly scratched his hair and laughed sheepishly.
“Well… I had some reasons to climb trees before.”
“What kind of reasons could possibly—”
“After living on a deserted island for a few years—”
“What? A deserted island?!”
Anne nearly jumped in place from shock. She knew Jean had been away from home for a long time, but she had never heard the details.
“I was stranded there and lived there for several years. The only things to eat were fruit growing on trees and fish, so… somehow.”
Back then, climbing trees had been a necessity for survival.
He couldn’t even count how many times he had fallen.
A few times, he had nearly died not from starvation, but from falling badly.
After enduring all those hardships and surviving, Jean’s tree-climbing skills were probably the best in the entire kingdom.
“Dad’s the best!”
“R-really?”
Jean had never once considered tree-climbing something worth bragging about, but seeing Vivian’s sparkling eyes full of admiration made the corners of his mouth rise automatically.
Without realizing it, a foolish laugh escaped him.
“Haha… hahahaha. It’s really nothing special…”
“You were super cool!”
“Hahahaha!”
Jean laughed idiotically for a moment before suddenly climbing the tree again. He pushed off with his body and leapt onto another tree.
“Waaah! Dad, what was that just now? You went swoosh and then— you flew!”
He almost laughed at himself for proudly showing off tree-climbing skills in front of his little daughter.
But seeing her eyes sparkle with excitement made a little embarrassment more than worth enduring.
“Does my princess want to try climbing trees too?”
“Mhm! Mhm!”
“Alright then.”
Climbing down, Jean scooped Vivian into his sturdy arms and climbed the tree effortlessly with one hand.
Vivian burst into delighted laughter.
“Princess, hold on tight!”
Then he launched himself again, swinging over to another tree.
Jean’s grand tree-climbing show continued for quite a while after that.
