Chapter 90……………………………
After hearing the whole story, I sat down weakly on the bed. My entire body turned cold.
“So… the divine beasts of House Penelope die as soon as they lay eggs?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s more accurate to say they’re killed…”
Mion’s voice trembled — whether from anger, sorrow, or perhaps both.
There were two main ways for divine beasts to reproduce:
Either they take a mate and bear children through them, or they become self-fertilizing and lay eggs on their own.
In the first case, because of the covenant formed with a mate, the divine beast dies when the mate dies.
To prevent them from dying before their natural lifespan ended, Duke Penelope strictly forbade divine beasts from ever taking mates.
And when a divine beast eventually fell ill, he forcibly injected them with magic power.
If too much magic was infused, it caused magic overload — an affliction said to bring excruciating pain.
The only way to escape that pain was to lay eggs, which would separate the excess magic from the body.
So the duke deliberately induced the divine beasts to become self-fertilizing.
“He really intends to squeeze them dry until the very end…”
But no matter which reproduction method was used, the divine beast’s powers were passed down to the offspring intact.
From the duke’s perspective, once he had secured a healthy young divine beast, there was no need to keep the sick ones.
He simply disposed of them — killed them as if discarding trash.
“What a total monster…”
The common tale that divine beasts “ascend” after laying eggs was completely false.
“Mion, can you heal this wound naturally?”
Mion nodded.
“…It will take some time, but yes.”
“That’s good enough. I can’t call a physician right now.”
I could already imagine Duke Penelope’s men scouring the place with their eyes burning for Mion.
A headache throbbed.
What on earth was I supposed to do about this situation?
“…I’m sorry,” Mion said.
Seeing the moisture glistening in his eyes, I pressed my lips shut.
And then—
“Clemence!”
Mion’s pupils widened as he shouted.
A chill in the air pricked at my senses — and then, at the same moment, there was a crack! of air being torn.
“Hh-hhhk!”
I swallowed hard as I saw the blood trickling down my neck.
The cold sensation on my throat was a blade. Luckily it had only grazed my skin.
“I… I almost died, didn’t I?”
“Bastards…!”
Mion cursed, his fur bristling as he began to beastify.
“Grrrrrr…”
I barely had time to be shocked by his adult form — clearly in a battle stance — before panic set in.
“Wait, Mion, you’re hurt too…!”
Now that he was larger, the wound on his hind leg was even more obvious.
“What a futile effort, White Tiger,” one of the assassins murmured.
Just that one line made everything click.
No way… Jaeger?
The “shadows” serving Duke Penelope appeared several times in the original story.
They were called “Jaegers” — meaning “hunting dogs” — who only acted at night whenever the duke wanted someone dead.
No one targeted by them had ever survived.
If they knew Mion was a White Tiger and were showing up now, they could only be Jaegers.
Gripping my trembling legs, I forced myself toward the nightstand where the magic scrolls were.
“First we’ll carry out the primary order rather than capturing the divine beast.”
“Yes.”
Primary order?
Their ominous conversation ended, and just as I felt a sinister chill—
[Clemence! No!]
For a moment, I thought I heard Mion’s voice — impossible, yet unmistakable.
Thunk!
“Mion!”
Somehow he had moved to shield me, and I saw a sharp blade sink into his chest.
“Number 3, you can’t kill the divine beast!”
“As if a divine beast would die from a wound like this.”
I had no time to listen to the assassins’ exchange.
“M-Mion…”
Blood poured from his chest far more than from my shallow neck wound.
His injury was deep — dangerously so.
He… he could really die like this…
My body trembled at the thought.
My mind was a mess.
“Khk…”
Finally Mion staggered and fell backward. In trying to catch him, I ended up trapped under his body.
[…Run.]
I heard a voice again — one so familiar I knew it instantly.
Mion?
Even touching the furry body above me, I could only feel soft fur.
He’s still in beast form…
So why did it sound like his voice was echoing in my head?
That couldn’t be…
Then, with a cool gust of wind, another voice reached me.
“How pitiful…”
At the same time, the assassins’ screams rang out. The sharp clash of blades striking echoed intermittently.
“Aaagh!”
“Kkhh!”
What was happening?
Mion’s body blocked my view of everything.
Just as I wriggled to escape, a hand covered my eyes.
At the cool touch, my body flinched — and then a low voice whispered:
“Don’t open your eyes… just stay like this for a moment.”
A familiar musk reached me. I realized who it was.
Lenox.
Strangely, just smelling that scent washed relief over me. My body relaxed and drowsiness overtook me.
Sleeping at a time like this… I must be insane…
It was absurd to feel sleepiness in this chaos, but I slipped into unconsciousness.
I had just fallen asleep…
When I opened my eyes, I stood in a forest beneath a crimson sky. It was dreamlike, peaceful.
Was there ever a forest like this?
Small animals fluttered joyfully around me, as if protecting me: a red bird, a white cat, a turtle, and a tiny blue dragon small enough to fit in one hand.
I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
Something about the sight made my heart ache with tenderness and nostalgia.
—Rustle—
But a faintly irritating sound had been tickling my nerves for a while. I ignored it, captivated by the animals’ laughter — strangely audible, strangely pleasant.
Then a black figure appeared and swallowed them.
A voiceless scream tore from me. My heart pounded.
Why… why did you become like this?
The figure, smiling at me, was something that should not exist in this world.
I knew what it was.
“I finally found you!”
The black shape grinned, mouth splitting wide.
“Hhk!”
I opened my eyes to bright sunlight. I blinked at the window in disbelief.
I felt like I’d just had an unbearably sad, unpleasant dream — but couldn’t remember it.
Seriously?
True, from the banquet to Duke Penelope’s assassination attempt, a lot had happened… but falling asleep in that chaos was unbelievable.
As I sat up groggily, I saw a man on the sofa in the corner of the room and nearly jumped.
“Ahh! …Len?”
My heart, about to leap from my chest at the thought he might be an assassin, calmed with difficulty.
Lenox’s green eyes looking at me were filled with deep relief.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I think I’m fine. What about you, Len?”
“…Are you really fine?”
Muttering instead of answering my question, Lenox carefully scanned my body.
He reached a hand toward me, then paused, frowning.
“Looking only with my eyes… I can’t tell clearly.”
“Anyone who sees you would think I came back from the dead.”
Well, to be fair, I almost did. But my wound was superficial.
“They say the cut on your neck was laced with a deadly poison.”
Ah. So that’s why I’d fallen asleep.
It suddenly made sense — the irresistible drowsiness in that chaos.
“W-what?”
So was this the afterlife?
“The cat absorbed the poison for you. That’s why you’re alive.”
So not the afterlife.
Wait — who absorbed what?
“What?! Then Mion’s okay?”
“Yes. So don’t worry.”
His slightly stiff tone puzzled me, but hearing Mion was safe filled me with relief.
Then I remembered what I’d forgotten to say — something I absolutely had to.
“Len, thank you so much for yesterday. I’ll repay this debt someday.”
“It’s fine.”
“No. I really want to repay you.”
I owed him my life.
I didn’t know how, but I wanted to repay him somehow.
“…If you insist on saying that, then I suppose I have no choice.”
For a moment something heavy flickered in his gaze and vanished.
I’d seen that tenacity somewhere before…
As I wondered, he gave a small smile and spoke.
“I’ll make sure to collect on it.”
