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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Precautions for Handling a Princess
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As Ekiel was lost in thought, Jusi suddenly felt her spirits sink.
Why was she surrounded by such exceptional people, from her father and brother to the genius mage Ekiel?
*‘Hmph! I may be weak now, but I’ll get stronger once I train my powers!’*
Jusi resolved that when she grew strong, she would be a White Tiger who, unlike them, valued humility as a virtue.
And to quell her current frustration, she extended her claws and furiously scratched at the wooden floor of the observatory.
“Jusi.”
Just then, Ekiel, who was near the railing, beckoned to Jusi as she vented her stress by scratching the floor.
“Come here. Want to sit here?”
Somehow, he had brought a chair and was now standing in the middle of the observatory.
He patted a plush-looking cushion on the chair and smiled.
At his gentle smile, Jusi hesitated before trotting over and hopping onto the chair.
The cushion was incredibly soft.
But Ekiel himself was sitting on the hard wooden floor, which made Jusi feel a little guilty.
“Don’t you have a chair?”
“It’s fine. Besides, this way I can see your face better.”
“...Right.”
Ekiel was right; they were perfectly at eye level.
Ekiel’s eyes, staring straight at her, were almost too beautiful. Jusi felt inexplicably shy and tilted her head up toward the sky.
It was a beautiful night sky, filled with so many stars it looked as if they might spill over.
Just then, a few shooting stars fell in succession.
Jusi spoke.
“Ekiel. The way you speak to me so comfortably, and how you’re so nice to me... It’s because we met in our dreams all this time, right?”
“...That’s right.”
Frustrated by Ekiel’s delayed response, Jusi whipped her head around to glare at him.
“Then why did you pretend not to know me? And why do you only act familiar when we’re alone?”
“There are reasons for that. I’m sorry. Let’s keep the fact that we met in dreams a secret. We don’t know what might happen in the future.”
Ekiel glanced around before raising a finger to his lips.
The corners of his mouth lifted into an awkward smile.
Seeing his troubled expression, Jusi blinked.
*‘Don’t tell me.’*
Jusi’s expression hardened.
Is that Dark Divine Beast, that damn bastard, targeting Ekiel too?
Power surged into Jusi’s front paws.
He should be targeting only me. He should make me his only prey. Why is he going after an innocent child!
After a moment of watching Ekiel with concern, Jusi asked again.
“Did you know that one of the Dark Divine Beast’s underlings was in the Penterin Imperial Palace? Is that why you were working with my father?”
“Underlings, you say?”
At Jusi’s question, the smile vanished from Ekiel’s lips.
His gaze sharpened, and his face turned frighteningly cold, causing Jusi to gulp in surprise.
“Besides the Dark Divine Beast, was there someone else who approached you directly, Jusi? Who was it?”
An urgency could be heard in Ekiel’s voice as he asked with cold eyes.
Jusi instinctively scooted back a little and turned her head away.
“Jusi?”
“You and Dad didn’t tell me why you were taking me away, either. That upset me. So I don’t want to tell you.”
“Ah, Jusi. The situation was too urgent back then.”
“Hmph.”
His menacing aura vanished, and Ekiel became flustered, unsure of what to do.
“I’m sorry. For your safety, we had to make a decision as quickly as possible.”
Jusi turned her head again and glanced at him.
“Safety?”
“Yes.”
The anxious and flustered Ekiel gave a small smile, then opened a subspace and took something out.
“What’s that?”
It was an incredibly thick stack of documents, sealed multiple times as if to hide a secret.
Ekiel broke the seals and took out the papers inside.
Jusi soon read the title written on the very first page.
.
The subtitle read: ‘Your head will fly if you don’t treat the Princess with care.’
The handwriting was somehow familiar.
Jusi quickly realized it was Ritain’s and Ijeten’s handwriting and was horrified.
“W-What is this!”
“It means you’re loved, Jusi.”
Ekiel smiled gently, but Jusi was so embarrassed she could die.
If she were human right now, her face would have turned as red as a ripe tomato.
*‘My goodness! What an embarrassing father and brother!’*
If the title was this bad, the contents were bound to be even more ridiculous.
And they sent a document like this to Ekiel, the emperor of a great empire.
It was maddening.
*‘I have to get rid of it, now!’*
Jusi lunged at the stack of papers, ready to tear them to shreds.
With fire in her eyes, she scratched furiously, looking every bit the part of a savage beast.
However, Ritain had written this on the highest quality reinforced paper, calling it a top-secret document.
On top of that, Ekiel had cast a high-level protection spell on it, promising to handle Jusi’s personal information with care.
So naturally, there was no way Jusi’s tiny claws could tear it.
“Aargh!”
After swiping her claws at the papers to no avail, Jusi finally gave up and collapsed.
She flopped onto the cushion, panting for breath.
“Hah, hah, hah!”
“Jusi, drink this.”
Ekiel smiled brightly and offered Jusi a water bottle he had prepared, complete with a straw.
“Feeling a little better now?”
Jusi sipped the perfectly sweet and cool fruit juice through the straw and looked at Ekiel.
*‘...Did he let me throw a fit on purpose?’*
“Jusi, the Penterin Empire is dangerous for you right now. It’s better for you to stay in the Rilberg Empire, where it’s safer, for a while. At least until you can protect yourself.”
“...Is that why Dad sent me away?”
“Yes. Though your brother was against it to the very end.”
Ekiel carefully placed the thick stack of documents containing various information about Jusi back into his subspace and continued.
“Followers of the Dark Divine Beast are all over the Penterin Empire, praying for his revival and targeting you, Jusi. They want to offer you to him.”
“...Followers? You mean he has worshippers now?”
A surprised Jusi blinked as she asked.
“Ah, so you call them worshippers.”
Ekiel nodded, committing the word to memory.
She had spoken impulsively, a flash of memory reminding her that the fanatical groups who followed him a thousand years ago were called that.
It made sense that the term for them would have changed over the years.
Jusi continued in a serious tone.
“I figured there would always be some lunatic cult that worships darkness. But they’ve gathered this quickly?”
“Yes. The Dark Divine Beast is a cunning one. As soon as his seal was broken, he mobilized his followers—your worshippers.”
“Ah.”
“You see, the Rilberg Empire has no Beastmen.”
“Right.”
“Just in case, we tested the animals with a special reagent we created, but we found no worshippers. However…”
Ekiel’s voice grew heavy.
“The Penterin Empire, where I just came from, was different. It wasn’t just the Beastmen; the animals themselves were a problem. I investigated for a few days in cooperation with the Penterin imperial family, and the scale of the followers was more serious than we anticipated.”
“How serious?”
“Serious enough for your father to send you to the Rilberg Empire.”
Jusi felt a stinging sensation, as if she’d been struck on the back of the head, and she covered her forehead with a paw.
*‘My goodness.’*
That black snake bastard, that vile creature!
I thought he was just using the black widow spider to watch me.
*‘Was he deliberately mobilizing the worshippers who revere him?’*
Jusi tilted her head.
But why? To capture me?
It didn’t make sense.
If he wanted to capture me, he could have just ordered the black widow to kidnap me.
*‘Just as I thought. There’s a reason he has to bide his time.’*
Jusi was certain.
He had deliberately instilled anxiety in her, playing mind games by saying he would wait until she, a White Tiger cub, was fully grown.
But his true purpose must be something else.
*‘What could it be?’*
Jusi racked her brain but couldn’t figure it out, groaning in frustration.
Seeing this, Ekiel reassured her.
“Don’t worry too much, Jusi. While you’re in Rilberg, your father and the Crown Prince will hunt down the followers spread across the Eastern Continent and get a lead on the Dark Divine Beast. In the meantime, you and I will train here in Rilberg.”
“Train?”
