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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Day One
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“You, you wild colt of a nephew! Gah!”
“Y-Your Excellency, the Regent!”
That identification certificate is supposed to be kept by the head of the family.
Just when did he manage to sneak into Count Continell's office and take it?
The scale of his troublemaking was identical to his own when he was young, and Jetar felt a chill run down his spine!
‘If he's like this now, he'll cause even bigger trouble in the future! Is this my karma!’
As Regent Jetar foamed at the mouth and was about to collapse, Archmage Urna supported him and hastily cast a healing spell.
“Hmph.”
Just then, Ekiel, who had been watching them, had an incredibly cold look in his eyes.
“So.”
When the emperor spoke, everyone's gaze turned to the young boy.
The emperor's voice was frigid.
“Claude, you who have disobeyed my order to remain confined to your residence—have you become the slave of a foreign princess?”
A slave has no surname.
That was why Ekiel addressed Claude so coldly, dropping his surname, but at the end of his question, his gaze shifted to Jusie.
Jusie was flustered.
Because Ekiel's eyes were filled with reproach.
‘As if I would take a count's son from your country as a slave, and a little kid at that!’
Jusie folded her ears and frantically waved her front paws in an 'X' shape, shouting that it wasn't true.
“Kyang-kyang-kyang-kyang!” (No! Absolutely not!)
“Ah, I see.”
Ekiel gave a faint smile.
Jusie, trying so hard to express herself with body language, was cute, but he still preferred it when he was the only one who could understand her.
He took out the star-shaped Adinite pendant he had finished enchanting yesterday.
“I'll put this on for you. I finished casting the spells on it last night.”
“Kyaang.” (Ah, okay.)
“Could you lower your head, please?”
Kneeling, Ekiel gently fastened the clasp of the necklace around the neck of Jusie, who had approached him.
“Oh my.”
“Huhu.”
Watching the young emperor place a necklace on the pure white tiger princess gave the onlookers a warm, fuzzy feeling.
All except for one person: Claude.
‘…What is this?’
To think there was another person of authority to whom the White Tiger Princess of Penterin would bow her head.
And it was the person he respected second-most.
Someone two years his junior, yet still the greatest mage and emperor, a person he believed would one day grow to become the most powerful being on earth.
Ekiel Rilberg.
That was him.
But Claude's discomfort right now wasn't because Emperor Ekiel was kneeling before the Penterin princess.
‘Why… why are they looking at each other with such tender eyes?’
Claude was shocked.
This feeling was just like…!
It was exactly like the feeling he got when his mother and father, who had loved only him, doted on his baby cousin from his youngest aunt's family after he was born!
‘No. It feels even worse than that.’
Claude clenched his fists tightly.
‘Since when were His Majesty the Emperor and the Princess so close? Were they friendly from the moment she arrived from the Penterin Empire?’
Claude couldn't accept it.
He was a friend personally acknowledged by Princess Jusielia herself.
Claude shattered the tender world the two had built for themselves, wedging himself between them and shouting.
“Ex-Excuse me, Princess!”
Jusie turned her head to look up at him, and Ekiel openly scowled.
“I have a question.”
Having just finished fastening the necklace, Ekiel rose to his feet, showing his displeasure. Jusie perked her ears as if to ask what was wrong and turned her body completely toward Claude.
Claude bowed slightly, his expression serious, and asked in a low voice.
“So, is today our day one?”
“…Day one?”
Ekiel, frowning, looked back and forth between Claude and Jusie.
“What?”
Jusie, baffled, waved her front paws frantically.
“Day one? It *is* day one, but…”
“Day one, right? Does that mean…”
“No! I mean, yes, it is, but!”
Jusie looked like she was about to cry from the injustice of it all as she tried to explain to Ekiel.
Really, why did she feel like a husband caught cheating?
Ekiel, who was taking this so seriously, didn't seem normal either.
“Wow! This is ridiculous. I meant day one as friends!”
Jusie shrieked, clearing up the misunderstanding, but Ekiel's expression remained sullen.
“I told him we should be friends instead of him being my slave. You heard him earlier, right? Asking me to take him as a slave. Claude's personality is so extreme, isn't it? So fiery. Phew.”
“Wait a moment. Claude? You're already calling him by his first name, Princess?”
“Hm? We're friends. You call me by my name too, Ekiel. Though other people don't know that.”
Jusie folded her ears and placed a paw on Ekiel's shoe as she spoke.
“Haha.”
Her harmless, beaming smile left him speechless.
Was it thanks to this translation magic tool that she understood he was calling her by name?
Ekiel wiped a hand across his mouth before bending down to lift Jusie into his arms.
Then he spoke to Urna, who was still supporting Regent Jetar.
“I will go to the training grounds separately with the Princess. You will assist Duke Jetar in dealing with Claude Continell.”
Ekiel also addressed Jusie's attendants.
“You need not follow either.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“By the way, Ekiel. Are you going to carry me? I can walk.”
“…I shall escort you.”
Ekiel deliberately hugged Jusie even tighter. He wanted to hide her from Claude's piercing gaze.
“Regent, send the young Lord Claude Continell back to his residence and…”
“Ah, Ekiel.”
While Ekiel was speaking to Regent Jetar, Jusie quickly tapped his arm.
“I have a favor to ask. Please don't punish Claude.”
“…And why is that?”
“It really happened while we were just playing yesterday, and I got hurt because I chose to protect him. It's not Claude's fault.”
Ekiel looked down at Jusie with an even more dissatisfied expression before speaking.
“But Claude Continell endangered a member of a royal family. Furthermore, if the Penterin Imperial Family were to learn of this, he would not escape severe consequences.”
Jusie let out a deep sigh.
“That's why I'm asking. And if my father and brother find out then, well, it can't be helped… I'll just have to take Claude to the Penterin Empire and make him my slave then.”
Ekiel's expression grew even more grim.
‘Take him with you? That's even worse.’
Cradled in his arms, Jusie couldn't see Ekiel's face.
She could only see Claude getting an earful from Duke Jetar.
She was giggling to herself, thinking how the two looked so much alike, yet Duke Jetar seemed too young to be his father, making them look more like an older and younger brother.
“Ekiel, those two are fascinating, aren't they? How can a maternal nephew look so much like his uncle? Their personalities are complete opposites, though.”
“…Not particularly. Let's go, Princess.”
“Huh? You don't think so?”
“No.”
Jusie looked up at Ekiel as he walked toward the Emperor's Palace and tilted her head.
What's with that sullen look?
“Priiinceeess! I'll see you next time!”
“Kyaaaang!” (Okay! Rest well at home, Claude! Come visit later!)
Hearing Claude's booming farewell from a distance, Jusie barked her own goodbye.
Claude couldn't understand her, but Ekiel, of course, understood perfectly, which made him scowl.
He quickened his pace.
As they quickly passed Stella Palace and entered the grounds of the Emperor's Palace, Jusie, who had been pondering for a while, asked cautiously.
“Ekiel, are you mad?”
“No.”
At Ekiel's reply, spoken informally now that no one was around, Jusie stared at him blankly.
“Um. You're going to grant my request from earlier, right? About Claude's punishment.”
“…Still, he can't get away with no punishment at all. If it weren't for my magic on your necklace, you would have been seriously hurt, Jusie.”
Ekiel warned in a low voice, lightly touching the star necklace around Jusie's neck.
Jusie sighed softly.
“I know. But still, Claude is just a kid. He can make mistakes.”
Ekiel was at a loss for words.
You're even younger.
So am I, for that matter.
He was about to argue back, but again, he found himself speechless.
Jusie was the reincarnation of the divine beast Anash, who lived a thousand years ago. She had probably lived longer than him and was just as wise.
‘Is that why you're so generous?’
Yes, he had to get used to it.
The divine beast Anash was a noble being who pitied all the creatures of this world suffering under the Dark Divine Beast and sacrificed herself.
Because she possessed such a pure heart.
‘She'll be equally kind to others, not just me.’
As he acknowledged this, Ekiel felt an inexplicable loneliness and a dull ache in his chest.
Was this growing greed a sign that he was a bad child?
