Chapter: 5
The First Encounter
But no one could object.
For her own father, Emperor Ritain, had commanded it, leaving them no choice.
At the time, the Emperor was consumed by rage.
Princess Jusielia’s mother, Empress Brianna, had forced her frail body through childbirth and died the very same day.
Emperor Ritain, having lost the only empress he had ever loved, was plunged into despair and fury.
Facing her body, the Emperor fell silent, speaking not a word.
And the Penterin Imperial Palace became like the Rossart River.
The Rossart River was one of the great rivers that divided the Eastern and Western Continents, its currents fierce and its waters glacially cold.
No one who attempted to cross it had ever survived, earning it the name ‘River of Death,’ and the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace at the time was exactly that.
It was even eerie, as if the Dark Divine Beast, defeated in an ancient battle, was about to emerge.
Those who displeased Emperor Ritain were either killed or had limbs severed.
Even a loyal retainer who raised his voice to demand better treatment for the White Tiger Princess was thrown into the frigid dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace.
Unaware of this situation, Jusielia, who hadn’t even been assigned a wet nurse since birth, was fighting against the fragmented memories of her past life in a small room.
Then, a few days after her birth, the door opened and a woman with a tear-streaked, haggard face rushed in.
“Your Highness! Your Highness. Do not worry, I, Sophie Langrasse, will care for you with all my heart!”
“Nyah.”
And so, the first mother Jusielia imprinted on upon opening her eyes was Sophie Langrasse.
She diligently cared for Jusielia all by herself.
And while holding Jusielia, she told her many stories.
Stories about Jusielia’s own mother.
It was hard to guess her intention in telling such stories to a cub who couldn’t understand a thing.
Perhaps it was a lament, or maybe an attempt to have her recognize her mother, even subconsciously.
Fortunately, Jusielia possessed the cognitive abilities of a full-grown adult, so she understood everything Sophie Langrasse said.
Jusielia’s mother, Empress Brianna, was Sophie’s older sister.
Empress Brianna had originally been of a healthy constitution.
But after her marriage, she contracted a rare disease that gradually weakened her. Her health declined even further after giving birth to her firstborn, Ijeten, and she had been recuperating since.
She had even received the grim news that she would be unable to conceive again.
But was it a twist of fate?
Empress Brianna became pregnant.
Upon learning of her pregnancy, Empress Brianna’s heart was filled with complex emotions and fear.
She knew better than anyone how weak her body was, but she did not want to lose her beloved child.
But if Ritain, who loved her so dearly, were to find out…
Drifting off to sleep in tears, Empress Brianna had a peculiar conception dream.
She dreamt of flying through the sky on the back of a giant white tiger before stopping to rest.
To dream of a divine beast.
The next day, she went alone to the temple that enshrined the tiger divine beasts and asked, standing between the statues of the Golden Tiger and the White Tiger.
“Am I carrying the White Tiger?”
To her surprise, for the first time, an oracle from Ganash descended upon someone who was not a direct member of the imperial family.
《Yes. You carry the White Tiger of Anash, reborn.》
“My body is weak. The physicians say I will die if I give birth. I cannot raise the precious White Tiger.”
《I will watch over and guide the child’s path. I promise you.》
Empress Brianna left the temple.
Returning with the oracle she had received held secretly in her heart, she gazed at the vast Imperial Palace, lost in thought.
Her body was too weak to survive childbirth.
So, for whom would she use the little strength she had left?
‘Who’ would she give up?
Empress Brianna placed a hand on her belly and smiled.
Without hesitation, she gave up herself and chose her baby.
She had to prepare for any potential dangers.
She silenced the royal physician and kept only one trusted lady-in-waiting, hiding her pregnancy as best she could.
This was only possible because Ritain had left the Imperial Palace for a long inspection of the empire’s northern regions, drawn by an unusual aura.
She told only her younger sister, Sophie Langrasse, of her secret.
She pleaded with tears in her eyes, begging her to raise this child with love should anything happen to her in the future.
But in the end, Emperor Ritain found out.
As the months passed, her belly grew, and it was revealed she had stopped taking her medication for the rare illness for the sake of the child in her womb.
Ritain was furious.
He roared that her body was in no condition to be pregnant or to give birth, that the chance of death was high.
But Brianna insisted that this child, like Ijeten, was their beloved child and that she must give birth to them.
Ritain said it wasn’t too late, but Brianna grew angry in return, and a rift formed between them.
Brianna’s condition worsened day by day.
The rare disease ravaged her body, hardening her lungs until she could barely breathe. She could no longer walk, and her vision began to fail.
But Empress Brianna endured.
Having safely carried her child to term, the Empress gave birth to her beautiful daughter and died.
“…Take it away.”
Ritain could not bring himself to rejoice wholeheartedly in the birth of his daughter, the White Tiger who had caused the death of the one he loved.
So he simply ordered his daughter to be placed in a room in the most remote corner of the Imperial Palace and never once went to see her.
Sophie risked her life, kneeling in the lobby of the main palace to protest to the Emperor.
Her cry to be allowed to honor her sister’s last wish was like the wail of someone drowning in the Rossart River.
Fortunately, Sophie Langrasse was not imprisoned or killed, and was safely allowed to care for Jusielia.
Perhaps even Emperor Ritain couldn’t bring himself to punish Sophie, the only remaining blood relative of his beloved Empress Brianna.
It took Jusielia a considerable amount of time to accept this situation.
At first, she was in disbelief, full of suspicion.
Then she cried and grew angry.
That bastard of a father.
Leaving a helpless newborn cub who needed care like this… isn’t that just a death sentence?
“But the fact that he allowed me, at least, to be by your side is a hopeful sign. Hate and love are two sides of the same coin. He is just too sad right now. Soon, he will compose himself and restore your rights as a princess.”
Sophie Langrasse soothed Jusielia, saying she had faith in the Emperor.
Still, how could he!
One day, I will have my revenge.
Jusielia resolved to survive no matter what, and clinging to the mother-like Sophie, she struggled to live.
But ten days later.
It was deep in the night.
Jusielia, who had been curled up asleep, suddenly lifted her head.
Her sensitive ears had caught an unfamiliar presence.
A massive shadow fell over her.
All traces of sleep vanished from Jusielia’s mind.
Someone was standing beside her small cradle.
For the first time, Jusielia was gripped by fear. It was an animal instinct.
The man’s appearance and build, faintly visible against the light, were imposing enough, but the sheer pressure he exuded was suffocating.
She was terrified.
But Jusielia instinctively and quickly raised her hindquarters, glaring at him warily.
“You’re not crying.”
“Nyah!”
“What do you think you can do, pouncing like that? The correct response in this situation is to run.”
When Jusielia let out a thin roar in anger, the man scoffed and bent down.
Jusielia was startled by the man who suddenly met her gaze directly, but she did not look away.
No, she couldn’t look away.
It was because she felt she had seen his eyes somewhere before.
Golden eyes, tinged with the vermilion of a blazing sun.
The one who was always by my side… his…
A sharp throb.
At the time, Jusielia’s head would ache intensely whenever a memory from her past life surfaced, so she whimpered, rubbing her head with her forepaw.
“…I thought you wanted a staring contest. Are you crying just because of that?”
He sounded incredulous.
The headache pounding in her skull was so severe that Jusielia couldn’t react to him at all.
The man clicked his tongue and laid Jusielia back down in her cradle.
Then, he covered her with a blanket and disappeared without a word.
Sometime later, Jusielia realized that the man who had visited her was Emperor Ritain—her own father.
She was furious.
It was infuriating that her father had only shown up now to challenge her to a staring contest, and that she had lost.
And here she was, sharpening the blade of her revenge against Emperor Ritain
