Mᴀʀʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴜᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ sᴀᴠᴇ ᴍʏ ᴄᴀᴛs!?『ɴᵉᵘᵛⁱˡˡᵉᵗᵗᵉ ˣ ʳᵉᵍʳᵉˢˢᵒʳ!ᴍʳ』

V

Sʟᴇᴇᴘᴡᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ

During that night after Neuvillette returned to his now shared home, he suddenly heard someone shuffling around in the hallway, this startled him for a moment since he assumed it to be the cats but the movement was too great to be three small kittens. Now for his next assumption, someone was here uninvited. Neuvillette silently walks over to his office door and opens it in a quick motion only to see M/n pass by without a care. The dragon sighs and goes to reach for M/n but a hand immediately stops him, it was Clorinde.
"That's heavily advised against."

"What's going on?"

"He's sleepwalking, they say it isn't safe to disturb someone in that state. The best we can do is safely guide him back to his bed but we should refrain from loud sounds or even touching him with how guarded and near skittish he is when awake."Neuvillette nods his head and he joins Clorinde in following M/n around.

However, as they did this, they began to hear sounds of muttering from M/n. Clorinde strained her ears just enough to hear what was being muttered but it just serves to confuse her.
"Clorinde?"

"He's muttering about an exit. Where could he possibly be trying to leave?"

"Maybe we should wake him? He sounds like he's in distress due to his dream.." Neuvillette couldn't have been more right in this moment, In M/n's dream he was trapped in Monsieur DuPont's manor with no way out, there were no doors, no windows either. He wanted to scream and cry but he felt entirely too tired to do so, his body felt like led and it put a scene of dread through his body that could only be explained as being married to his tormentors, having no one to save him...Not even the justice system...

Eventually, he could no longer move, he sank to his knees and silently cried having no idea it was happening outside his tormented mind.

Neuvillette quickly rushes over to the smaller of them all and tries his hardest to make sure his touch is as comforting as possible.
"Shh, M/n everything will be fine... Let's get you to bed, yeah?"

"Why...why can't I find a way out...why will no one help me?"Tears leak from the male's eyes as he stares blankly ahead.

It took longer than expected but Neuvillette and Clorinde managed to get M/n back to bed without waking him up.
"What did his family do to him? Such a young man shouldn't be so sorrowful as he is."

"Your age is showing. The younger generation went through so much due to the impact the war caused. No one is left sound of mind. Please return, I'll-"

"No, I'll watch over him for a bit and I'll lock his door on the way out to prevent him from wandering around again."Clorinde wordlessly leaves the room, Neuvillette turns to look at M/n for a moment.
"I should look into what your father did, I hope you won't be angry with me at any time as I do this..."

🫧🫧🫧

When the sun rises, M/n rolls over on his side, his cheek touching something plush but not warm. A bit startled by this M/n opened his eyes to see what it was and he gasped out of pure delight!! It was an otter plushie, he had seen them on multiple occasions but never bought one but there was one next to him and it was large!! His beautiful cool greys brighten up from the rush of dopamine flowing through his body.
"I'm not sure if he's awake–Oh, good afternoon M/n. I hope you don't mind but I asked a friend of yours what would help you feel at ease and he said anything dealing with otters. The smaller ones were sold out so I impulsively bought this one and I didn't realize it was scented until I got home, I was a bit worried it'd wake you–"M/n blinks as he listens to Neuvillette rant about the torso-sized otter plushie he was happily clutching to his person.

Did Neuvillette buy this for him?
"You... You won't take it back, right?"

"Why would I ever do something like that? I bought it for you so that your life here would be a bit more comfortable."