Chapter 13
Sadly, after the meal, my sister kicked me out coldly.
“Stop joking around.”
“I wasn’t joking though…”
“Dinner’s over, now leave.”
“Wow, that’s harsh. She’s still just a kid…”
“Ruth, shut up and get lost.”
“Ha, so you only talk nicely to Coco because she’s a kid. To me, it’s just insults.”
…Anyway, this is all because I look weak.
Now I had one more reason to catch the tiger.
Before returning to my little house, I stood near my grave and said bravely:
“Animal friends, come out!”
I wasn’t even thinking of mice, but…
Squeak, squeak. A white mouse crawled out from the wall.
“I’ll bring the leader of the mice, ‘Emperor of Mice’!”
“Uh-huh…”
I nodded at the silly-looking mouse.
Soon, the “Emperor of Mice” appeared grandly through a hole in the wall.
“Well, well. Did I hear right? You’re planning to catch a tiger?”
The mouse curled its tail as if troubled.
“Yes!”
The mouse shivered.
“I can’t help you. A mouse like me would just be a snack for a tiger!”
“Why! Aren’t you the Emperor of Mice?”
“Hmph. Even the great Emperor of Mice has things he can’t do.”
“…”
“I really don’t want to go near a tiger! My instincts tell me so. Avoid tigers! Or you’ll just end up as a half-chewed mouse!”
“Then… is there any animal who can help me?”
“Absolutely not!”
This was different from when I fought the maid.
Now, none of the animals could help me.
With a gloomy face, I grabbed my head.
‘Coco, think! Think about your sister and shine bright!’
Right now, I had no one to help me—not people, not animals.
‘First, I need to figure out where the tiger is.’
Even in the future I saw, it didn’t show where the tiger would appear.
The only thing I could rely on was the blessing in my head from God.
As I held my head and tried to think—
“Ah!”
Suddenly, I got a flash of inspiration.
“What is it, Coco?”
“You said you don’t want to go near the tiger, right? Instinctively!”
“Yes! Which is why I’ll never help you find it!”
“Mousey, no! You just helped me.”
“Huh?”
I patted the confused mouse’s head.
“You and the other small animals—are there places in this mansion that you really don’t want to go?”
The mouse tapped its tail on the floor seriously.
“Yes, there is! It used to be my storage place, but now it feels terrifying and scary!”
“Recently? You started avoiding it only recently?”
“Yes! Uh… that place is…”
***
After listening to the mouse, I ran with my hair flying.
‘This is the place that scares the mouse these days.’
It was on the far west side of the mansion, near a building with lots of soldiers and strong winds.
‘Weak little animals like mice instinctively fear where strong beasts like tigers are hiding!’
I smirked to myself.
‘And people forget something animals know well.’
Animals are simple. They only think about one thing.
I like to roll around in the grass.
And tigers? They’re similar.
They love “tiger grass.” They roll around and play in it.
‘So the tiger here must’ve thought only about one thing—tiger grass.’
I looked around carefully.
The tiger grass here was pressed flat, as if something heavy had been lying on it.
I waved my hand in the air, thinking hard.
“So… maybe the tiger is here.”
I pointed at the flattened grass.
It was like I was explaining to the Emperor of Mice, even though he wasn’t there.
“Today’s really windy, right? But… look. The grass isn’t moving.”
Even with strong winds, the grass stayed flat, not swaying.
‘So the tiger’s power must be invisibility.’
I whispered softly:
“I think the tiger is hiding right on that grass.”
The escaped black tiger swallowed nervously.
‘Did she just figure me out?’
The quiet, dark corner of the duke’s mansion.
That’s where the black tiger was hiding, using invisibility.
‘I thought nobody could find me like this.’
The tiger lay low in the grass patch, breathing heavily.
Then—
“Hi there!”
The silver-haired little girl shouted boldly, looking right at him.
‘Is she… talking to me?’
The black tiger pressed himself harder into the grass.
“You’re here, aren’t you, Black Tiger!”
Her clear, ringing voice made it impossible to ignore.
The gentle black tiger gave up hiding and scratched words into the dirt.
[Can… you see me?]
Of course, normally humans couldn’t read his words.
“Yes! I can’t see you, but I can still see you!”
The tiger’s jaw dropped.
‘A human who can read my writing?’
He was shocked, but quickly calmed himself.
He politely wrote again:
[Then today must be my lucky day.]
“Why?”
[Because I can finally talk with someone. Nobody else understood me…]
“Really? You couldn’t even play with passing people?”
This tiger, with broken, missing teeth from the monster war, looked weak and ugly.
Nobody would bother talking to him.
He pressed his claw into the dirt again:
[Yes. Long ago, I lived in a freezing land, fighting monsters. But nobody cared about me. It was hard.]
“…I see…”
[So I learned to make myself invisible. Since nobody paid attention to me anyway.]
The little girl stared at the words as if memorizing them. Then she blinked.
“That’s not true.”
[What do you mean?]
“I care about you!”
‘A human… cares about me?’
The tiger’s tired paw twitched toward her and then dropped.
His invisible body slowly became visible.
His ribs showed through his skinny frame.
His yellow eyes, though weak, stared gently at the little girl.
“Living like a wild tiger must’ve been so hard.”
The black tiger gazed back at her.
At this bold little girl, with big round eyes,
holding his weak paw so kindly.
“I’m Coco.”
“…”
“Come with me. At first, I wanted to catch you to become family with my sister.”
“…”
“But now… I just want to be your friend!”
[Fri…end…?]
“Yes! If we play together, I’ll heal your sadness and make you happy.”
“…”
“And I’ll even introduce you to my amazing sister!”
The little girl grinned brightly and reached out her hand.
But…
The black tiger hesitated and lifted his paw.
[No… I can’t.]
The tiger couldn’t take her hand.
