Chapter: 17
Sudden Suffering
Clean and fresh, Jusie went to check on the finished birthday card for Ritain.
She thought her father would be quite pleased with it.
Leaving the charming card, decorated with her white tiger paw prints, to dry, an exhausted Jusie went to her bed and flopped down.
“Princess, Princess. Did you hear? They say the delegation from the Rilberg Empire is finally coming for His Majesty’s birthday banquet!”
“Kyahng.”
(I know.)
Ritain’s birthday banquet was already tomorrow.
Jusie blinked, listening quietly to Uni.
“It seems we’re finally starting to interact with them. You know, Princess, I’m really curious about humans. The delegation is said to be composed entirely of mages. What do you think they’ll be like? Won’t they be incredibly fragile? Since they’re not Beastmen.”
Watching Uni meticulously wipe the paint from her back, Jusie slowly blinked her heavy eyelids.
“Kuhang.”
(I don’t know. Still, they’re probably stronger than you.)
“Or maybe not? There are herbivorous Beastmen, too. Perhaps they’re somewhere between a predatory Beastman and a herbivorous one?”
Letting Uni’s muttering go in one ear and out the other, Jusie became lost in her own thoughts.
***
And the next day.
It was finally the day of the Penterin Emperor’s birthday banquet, and the imperial castle was opened to guests.
The banquet wouldn’t begin until the afternoon, but the entire castle had been in a state of chaos since morning.
All the servants had been summoned and were busy with party preparations. Watching them from the terrace, Jusie glanced around.
‘The Rilberg delegation is nowhere to be seen.’
Uni had said they hadn’t arrived yet, so they might be arriving today, just in time for the banquet.
Yawning with boredom, Jusie jumped onto the terrace railing, found a comfortable spot, and began to sunbathe.
A short while later, her body pleasantly warm, she hopped down from the railing and returned to her room, only to find herself watching a pointless debate with a sense of pity.
‘Sigh. What are they even doing?’
She shook her head, watching the maids engaged in a heated discussion over which tiara she should wear to the banquet.
‘They all look the same to me.’
In any case, there weren’t many accessories she could wear.
The thought of all the effort she’d have to put into her appearance once she could transform into a human was already exhausting.
Tired from just thinking about it, Jusie went to her bed and lay down.
Lately, she’d been feeling strangely sleepy.
She dismissed it as something that might happen to a young child and buried her heavy head in the fluffy pillow.
The Rilberg delegation.
Human mages.
Jusie recalled the boy she had met in her dreams.
He was the only person she knew who could use magic.
Over the past two years, Jusie had dreamt about three more times of the White Tiger Anash, that pitch-black ‘thing’, and the magic-wielding boy.
The setting was always a mountain.
In her dreams, Anash would offer only a little help before disappearing, and it was always the boy who decisively came to her aid.
‘In every dream, the Dark Divine Beast was always heavily attacked by the boy. Hmph.’
All three dreams had a similar theme.
But she hadn’t had such a dream in the last five months.
‘I don’t even know his name.’
Jusie felt a pang of disappointment.
Though they had only met in dreams, she had grown fond of him.
Would she never meet him in her dreams again?
Jusie thought of the delegation of mages from the Rilberg Empire, who must have already arrived in Penterin.
The power the boy used in her dreams seemed to be magic, not a Supernatural Ability.
A year ago, when the Penterin Empire officially established diplomatic relations with the Rilberg Empire, the land of magic, the Beastmen were half-worried, half-excited.
At the time, listening to the excited maids and knights discuss the characteristics of magic, Jusie became certain that the boy from her dreams was a mage.
Unlike Beastmen, whose Supernatural Abilities were tied to a specific ‘element’, mages were said to wield various elemental magics freely.
In her dreams, the boy had used magic without being restricted by elements—lightning, fire, water, wind, and more.
‘So he must be a mage.’
It was a completely different system from Supernatural Abilities—that was magic.
She was certain of it, but one thing still bothered her.
‘But ordinary mages… they say they can’t use various elemental magics as freely and simultaneously as he did. And his power was immense.’
No matter how she thought about it, that boy was no ordinary mage.
Could he be on the level of an Archmage, like the ones described in books?
‘A child Archmage…’
An Archmage was said to be an incredible individual who could freely wield their magical power to cast at least three different elemental spells at once.
In a way, that was even more amazing than most Supernatural Abilities.
It was said that after the ancient war, the great migration of humans to the western continent was made possible solely through the power of Archmages, which was truly remarkable.
‘We haven’t had any exchanges with the Rilberg Empire, so I don’t know much else… but still.’
A dry laugh escaped Jusie without her realizing, and her whiskers twitched.
An Archmage.
If so, there was a high chance he wasn’t a real person, just like the White Tiger Divine Beast, Anash, who had appeared in her dreams.
The thought that the boy might not be real made Jusie feel gloomy.
Then again, it made sense. There was no way a child could wield such powerful magic.
‘It was only possible because it was a dream…’
Powerful lightning strikes, dazzling golden chains, a radiant magic circle that overwhelmed its surroundings.
‘I was so curious about you.’
As drowsiness washed over her, Jusie slowly closed her eyes, hoping to meet the boy one more time, even if only in a dream, and drifted off to sleep.
‘But maybe.’
Perhaps among the envoys from the Rilberg Empire, there might be a mage who knew him.
Since I can’t speak, would I have to draw a picture to explain?
Mulling over these thoughts, Jusie drifted into an afternoon nap, just like any other day.
But then.
‘Gasp!’
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe.
It felt as if someone had suddenly pushed her into a deep, scorching lake.
Darkness was everywhere.
She wanted to look around, but she couldn’t open her eyes.
Jusie found she couldn’t control any part of her body.
‘Ghhk.’
Soon, a terrible pain began, as if her entire body was being beaten—no, as if her very breath was being choked and squeezed out of her.
Why was this happening to me?
An extreme agony followed, as if her small body was being torn to shreds and then pieced back together.
But Jusie endured it without a single scream. The pain was so intense, she didn’t even have the leeway to cry out.
For a long time, she writhed and felt herself being torn apart.
To the point where her very soul felt tattered.
When the voices of the maids in the princess’s palace reached her from a distance, she faintly regained consciousness.
‘Ask for help!’
Thinking she was truly going to die, she managed to open her mouth and make a sound.
“Kyahh…”
But it was too faint a sound.
There were many maids and a royal guard in the princess’s room.
However, no one paid any mind to the feeble cry.
They never imagined it was the napping princess’s plea for help.
In that time, another wave of pain washed over Jusie.
The sensation of being burned alive was truly horrific.
‘Oh, no.’
Jusie managed to lift her eyelids just enough to confirm she wasn’t in a dream, but in her palace.
This was real.
If this continues, I’m going to die.
Jusie’s heart sank.
Really? Is it because I’m a White Tiger?
Is this the fate of a White Tiger—to have a weak body and a short life?
Even amidst the scorching pain of being burned alive, Jusie was too angry to bear it.
I refuse to accept such a fate.
Besides, I’m not destined to perish like this!
Then, two figures who had watched over her flashed through Jusie’s mind.
The White Tiger she presumed to be Anash, and the boy who had defeated the ominous black creature.
They weren’t just simple dreams.
She had felt and experienced them so vividly.
Jusie wanted to live.
‘I can’t die here.’
Without realizing it, she wished with all her might.
She had to live.
And so she cried for help a little louder.
“Kuh-haang…!”
“Oh my? Princess?”
Just then, Uni, who was passing by the princess’s bed, heard Jusie’s cry and stopped in her tracks.
