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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Proposal
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Naturally, Jusielia was the most flabbergasted of all.
Did this crazy boy, Claude, have any idea what kind of novel nonsense he was spouting?
Jusielia nudged Sophie’s hem and asked.
“Kaaaang?” (Sophie, did he hit his head really hard when the wall collapsed yesterday?)
As Jusielia pointed to her own head with a front paw, looking serious, Sophie quickly understood and nodded.
“It certainly seems that way.”
Sophie took a step forward and raised her voice at Claude.
“Young Master! Her Highness believes you may have gone mad, so it would be best for you to see a physician at once. Sir Xaviet! Immediately escort the young master and….”
“Your Highness, I have not gone mad!”
“Kwhaaaang?” (I didn’t say you were mad!)
Jusielia had asked if he was crazy in a different sense earlier, but that wasn’t what she meant this time.
“That’s too harsh, I’m not mad!”
Claude looked wronged, staring at her with a resentful gaze.
*Ugh!*
In any case, Jusielia was in a very difficult position.
Claude remained prostrate at her feet, his head lifted as he pleaded his case.
With tears welling in his eyes, Claude looked so tragic and pitiful.
At least, in Jusielia’s eyes.
“Your Highneeess! Please believe me, believe my sincerity! *Sob*.”
A tear formed in his gem-like, sky-blue eyes, then trickled down his cheek.
Jusielia had a weakness for pretty faces.
“Ka, kahang.” (O-okay. I, I believe you.)
Just as Claude had chattered on about yesterday, she felt like she was truly becoming a wicked and arrogant tiger, and she knew she shouldn’t act this way.
Jusielia hurriedly commanded Xaviet.
“Kwhaaang! Kaaaaak!” (Xaviet, help Claude up, quickly!)
“Pardon? Yes, Your Highness! Young Master Continell, please rise. You mustn’t do this here!”
“Are you accepting me?”
Glancing at Xaviet’s hand as he tried to lift him, Claude’s eyes sparkled as he looked back at Jusielia.
Jusielia scoffed in disbelief.
“Grrrrrr!” (As if!)
“Her Highness says there is absolutely no chance of that. Please maintain your dignity, Young Master.”
Sophie translated sternly.
At that, Claude used magic to shove away Xaviet’s hands and flattened himself completely on the ground, growing stubborn.
“I won’t leave until you accept me!”
Jusielia was dumbfounded by his stubbornness.
“I heard the details of what happened yesterday. If it weren’t for Your Highness, my life would have long been forfeit.”
‘I would have saved you even if you were someone else!’
“I am alive thanks to you, Your Highness. I will dedicate the rest of my life to you. I can swear it upon my magic. Look.”
Claude rose slightly and unleashed his magic.
Jusielia’s eyes widened.
The boy was completely serious. The silver magic shimmering around him glowed with a deep light, as if reflecting his sincerity.
‘Good heavens, what’s with him?’
Jusielia knew.
For a mage to swear upon their magic was the same as staking their life.
The moment this vow was broken, the mage would be unable to use magic for the rest of their life.
Their life as a mage would be over.
‘I know I saved him, but why is he so extreme?’
Jusielia lifted a paw to her forehead and sighed.
“Kahahahaang, kahang.” (I understand your gratitude, but for now, go back.)
“As you heard, Her Highness asks that you return for now.”
Sophie translated, but Claude continued to speak.
“Your Highness. I will do anything you ask. You don’t have a young page, do you? Shall I take on that role? Or do you need a tutor? It may not seem like it, but I skipped all the way to the 10th grade at Verk Academy and am set to graduate this year, having never once lost the top rank.”
Claude earnestly promoted himself while still on his knees.
‘This is hilarious, really.’
While the situation was absurd, Jusielia was starting to find the chattering Claude a little bit cute.
He had been all talk when he challenged her yesterday, too.
She’d fought him in a fit of anger, but it had been fun, and his words now were quite amusing.
‘Would it be fun to keep him around?’
Come to think of it, Jusielia had never had a friend.
In her past life as the White Tiger Anash, her brother, the Golden Tiger Ganash, had been so possessive that she couldn’t interact with the other Divine Beasts.
After reincarnating, her doting father and brother had naturally made it impossible for her to make any.
‘Wouldn’t it be okay?’
His handsome face was her type, so he’d be fun to look at, and his magical skills would make him a good practice partner.
‘I told Ekiel he was my first friend, but if I made him my *actual* first friend…’
Her mind made up, Jusielia walked toward Claude. She placed a front paw firmly on his hand.
“Kahang.” (Your request is denied.)
“Her Highness will not accept the young master’s request.”
As Sophie relayed the message, Claude’s eyes, filled with shock, began to well up with tears.
‘This crybaby.’
His pitiful appearance made Jusielia’s heart soften even more, and she quickly patted his hand with her paw.
“Kahahahaang, kwhaaang.” (A slave? That’s ridiculous. Be my friend instead.)
“She says to be her friend instead of a slave… Pardon?”
“A friend, you say?”
As Sophie and Xaviet asked again in surprise, Jusielia nodded her head emphatically.
“Kyang!” (That’s right!)
“Your Highness! A friend to this young master!”
Uni protested, but Jusielia paid her no mind. She lifted her chin at the stunned Claude and spoke arrogantly.
“Kakyahang.” (So get up already. The great Jusielia will be your friend.)
Jusielia used her snout to nudge Claude’s hand and then his knee, pushing him up.
“Ah.”
Realizing she meant for him to stand, Claude quickly rose to his feet.
Jusielia circled him, smiling with satisfaction.
“Kyang kyang.” (Well done.)
“Thank you… for saving me yesterday. And thank you for forgiving my rudeness.”
“Kwhahang.” (Well, it was fun.)
Jusielia grinned, facing Claude and letting out a few happy yips.
She had thought him an arrogant brat.
But he knew how to apologize.
He said he was a count’s son and the top student at the academy, so he must have been taught proper etiquette. He seemed clever and not a bad person at heart.
‘Ah, come to think of it, he came looking for me to avenge his maternal uncle. Could that be the Regent, Duke Jetar?’
It was then.
“Ha! There you are. Claude Continell!”
Speak of the devil.
Along with the Regent Jetar’s shout, the sound of a group of people rushing toward them could be heard.
Jusielia’s eyes grew wide.
‘Ah!’
On the other side of the outdoor corridor where they stood was not only the Regent Jetar, who looked like an older version of Claude, but also Ekiel and the Emperor’s aide, Archmage Urna.
‘Why is Ekiel here?’
Jusielia tilted her head.
There was still a lot of time left before their promised meeting on the main road in front of Stella Palace.
“Claude!”
The look on Jetar’s scowling face, and the tense atmosphere around Ekiel who followed leisurely behind him, did not bode well.
Jusielia, who had been bewildered, suddenly realized the reason.
‘Ugh, Claude, you idiot.’
There was no way Ekiel would look kindly upon Claude for daring to defy the Emperor’s orders and come to Stella Palace.
Jetar grabbed Claude, pulled him forward, and began to lecture him.
“Claude! Do you not understand the meaning of house arrest? Hm? Do you have any idea how shocked I was when Melissa told me you had disappeared? After the trouble you caused yesterday, you do this again?”
“I apologize, Lord Regent. But I was sincere. I intended to renounce my noble status and become Her Highness’s slave. As an apology and a sign of my gratitude for yesterday’s events. Is that not something I can take responsibility for?”
Claude’s attitude was remarkably defiant.
“What, what did you say?”
“Look at this. My sincerity.”
As Jetar raised an eyebrow, about to lose his temper, Claude calmly pulled his identification papers from his coat.
“I intended to offer it to Her Highness. My status and my life. I was going to seal a pact with my magic.”
A magical pact.
It was a promise a mage made to a specific person, staking their own magic.
If the pact was broken, the mage would be unable to use magic for the rest of their life. Therefore, for a mage, it was a promise that must be kept—a binding contract in itself.
Because the price was so high, it was also a forbidden act.
Looking at his brightly smiling nephew, Duke Jetar’s blood pressure finally shot up, and he clutched the back of his neck.
