Chapter: 6
The Doting Emperor
Besides, seeing her father—so magnificent, handsome, tall, and radiating opulence all by himself—made her blood boil with indignation at her own circumstances.
According to Sophie, she was the White Tiger everyone had longed for for so long.
She couldn’t live like this.
Especially, she couldn’t stand Sophie, who was like a mother to her, being cooped up in a small room with her.
Jusi bided her time.
The Emperor would surely come again.
She resolved to reveal her magnificence then and demand better treatment from Emperor Ritain.
Just as Jusi had expected, Emperor Ritain secretly visited again at night a short while later.
Then the frequency of his visits increased, and he even started brazenly showing his face during the day when Sophie was present.
Each time, Jusi diligently displayed her valor.
Then one day, Emperor Ritain, with his arms crossed, looked down at Jusi and spoke with a solemn expression.
-This will not do. The princess is too fragile. She cannot be raised in a room like this.
-You are absolutely right, Your Majesty!
-Prepare to move at once, Sophie Langrasse. The Artra Palace will be used as the princess’s palace.
The Artra Palace was the finest palace in the Penterin Imperial Castle, located in the southeast.
Sophie Langrasse’s voice trembled with emotion, for she would finally be able to serve the precious princess in a place worthy of her.
However, Emperor Ritain, who had been watching Jusi for a long while, covered his face with one hand and let out a low groan.
-Sophie Langrasse. Do cubs normally recognize their fathers?
-Y-Yes, they do, but…?
-Just as I thought. Every time those blue eyes stared at me, I felt my heart drop to the floor. Because she’s so pretty.
Sophie Langrasse, flustered, stood there, mouth agape.
-The princess doesn’t seem to stare at you that long, does she?
-I-Is that… so?
-Tsk. Are you disappointed? What can you do? A father is better than an aunt, I suppose.
Emperor Ritain casually consoled Sophie with a smirk. He was gloating.
Sophie felt like she was going to faint.
She knew better than anyone how cute and lovely the princess was.
She doted on her every day, amazed that such an adorable creature could exist.
But for that cold-hearted emperor to react like this…
Jusi, who had also heard this, was horrified and slammed her tail against the floor.
Have you ever seen such a shameless emperor?
‘He neglected me, and now he’s having this delusion! That was my terrifying threat!’
Jusi felt wronged and baffled.
She was finally starting to win their staring contests.
Why couldn’t that fool recognize her valor and instead just spout such nonsense?
And so, the White Tiger Princess Jusi completely failed to convey that she was the valiant White Tiger of the prophecy.
She had only managed to inadvertently and adorably charm her father—who had belatedly come to his senses to check on his cub—and awakened him into a doting fool for his daughter.
Thus, the once-vacant Artra Palace became the Princess’s Palace.
As if the Emperor had prepared it thoroughly in advance, it was impeccably clean, and even the servants had all been newly assigned.
It was beyond comparison to her previous quarters.
Having moved into the Princess’s Palace, which had well over fifty rooms, Jusi was, for the time being, happy to be living a more comfortable life.
The Emperor also visited more often, saying it was more convenient than before, which led to commotions like today’s game of tag.
***
However, the doting-fool emperor that Jusi had awakened grew more extreme by the day, to the point of being bizarre.
“Look at this, Jusi. Isn’t it cute?”
“Gyahng?”
Ritain, who had appeared first thing in the morning again, smiled brightly and showed Jusi something.
Something was dangling from the fearsome greatsword he always wore at his waist.
Jusi had a bad feeling and took a closer look.
Dangling from the greatsword was a pendant in the shape of a white tiger cub, made from the highest-grade white spirit stone.
A very cute one, at that.
‘Gah!’
It was obviously modeled after her, so Jusi’s jaw dropped.
“I even had a special defensive spell cast on it. I’ll give one to you as a gift, too. I had only two made.”
“Nyahng.”
Jusi blinked, looking at the white tiger pendant and the chain, which was made to fit her neck perfectly.
After a moment’s hesitation, Jusi pushed her head forward.
Normally, tiger beastmen hate necklaces.
The tiger, a creature that commands the world, is terrified of necklaces that choke and restrain its neck.
The Emperor, who knew the nature of tigers better than anyone, was touched that his daughter didn’t resist and calmly waited for him to put on the necklace.
“It seems my daughter is a genius. She understood my words.”
“Yes. That is correct, Your Majesty. She is a genius.”
As Ritain spoke with great seriousness, the attendant next to him answered almost reflexively.
Everyone had grown so used to it that they agreed with him automatically.
“She is very cute. This must be preserved in a painting.”
“Yes, it is being painted, Your Majesty.”
At some point, the chronicler was joined by another.
He was a famous court painter, but by imperial order, he was forced to sit here every day and paint the white tiger cub to present to the Emperor.
“Paint well. You must capture my daughter delicately yet simply, realistically yet mystically.”
It was a bizarre request….
But this was nothing new, so the court painter silently moved his brush.
Jusi sighed as she looked around at the servants, who were growing more and more accustomed to Emperor Ritain.
‘Everyone is going mad.’
No, in fact, she was the biggest problem.
Emperor Ritain, who clung to her while grinning foolishly, his cheekbones high with delight, was ridiculous, but she was gradually growing fond of him.
So, Jusi unconsciously swayed her tail.
At first, she had sharpened her claws of vengeance against the father who had neglected her in that small room (though in reality, they were hopelessly soft), but she was gradually losing her fighting spirit.
Once, when she had been dozing lightly.
Thinking Jusi was asleep, Emperor Ritain had stroked her back and muttered.
-…I think I understand how Brianna felt, giving her life to birth you. Do not forgive me for neglecting you, Jusi.
The guilt, loneliness, and sorrow in his voice shook Jusi to her core.
Although he seemed a bit like a madman, Jusi didn’t dislike being loved by her only father, so she decided to forgive him halfway.
‘I wonder how he even got something like this.’
Jusi looked down at the white tiger pendant necklace, said to be enchanted with magic.
To have magic cast on a white spirit stone meant he had commissioned mages from the Western Empire.
‘That couldn’t have been easy.’
Beastmen do not have mages.
They are born with the blessing of the Divine Beasts and can only wield the innate supernatural abilities they are granted.
They cannot move mana to use ‘magic’ or fix mana into an object to create ‘magical artifacts’.
Magic is used only by the mages who live in the Rilberg Empire in the west.
A long, long time ago, those who rejected the blessings of the Divine Beasts and wished to live purely as humans crossed over to the western continent.
Among the early human settlers, archmages gathered to build a tower, which they called the ‘Mage Tower’.
They actively used magic to lay the foundations of their nation.
Magic helped agriculture develop, and as the population exploded, they began to prosper.
As its scale grew, it became an empire.
That is the Rilberg Empire, located in the west of the continent.
Despite being neighbors, Penterin and Rilberg were completely different.
Unlike Penterin, where the imperial throne is passed down through a bloodline, Rilberg followed the Mage Tower’s tradition that the strongest archmage should be the ruler.
Thus, the Rilberg Empire uniquely had no ‘imperial family’.
Just as Jusi had no memory of the Penterin Empire from her past life, she had never heard of the Rilberg Empire either.
In fact, she had only recently learned that beings called ordinary humans even existed, separate from beastmen.
‘I don’t remember anything properly.’
Jusi scowled, berating her useless memories of her past life.
“Jusi, has anything unusual happened?”
As Emperor Ritain asked gently, Jusi snapped back to reality and responded.
“Kyahng.”
“It’s dangerous outside, so don’t go out. I’ll likely be gone for a while this time, so I’m telling you in advance.”
Jusi lifted her head as if to say not to worry.
Ritain chuckled, gently stroking Jusi’s head a few times, then called over the head maid and royal guards and launched into a long speech.
Emperor Ritain said he would be departing today to personally inspect a place far from the capital.
‘Did something happen?’
