A Baby Hostage Spoiled by the Hostile Noble Family _ Chapter 1
Prologue
“This is so delicious!”
I happily tore into the warm steak on my plate.
Yesterday, they’d served a whole roasted chicken. Being able to eat such proper meals in a clean room like this felt like a dream.
Escaping that miserable northern region and ending up here in the south as a hostage really was the right choice.
‘Of course, if things go wrong, I could die.’
The man who brought me here was the most ruthless and cold-blooded beastman on the continent.
If I wanted to survive here, more than anything, I had to stay on his good side.
Just then, I heard footsteps outside the door, and my small ears perked up.
The door burst open, and I dropped the steak I’d been holding in my mouth in surprise. The moment I saw the handsome black-haired man standing at the entrance, the fur all over my body stood on end.
‘Speak of the tiger—no, the dragon—and he appears.’
Leon Drake, the leader of the dragons, the most ferocious beastmen on the continent. He was the ruler of this southern land.
Overwhelmed by the oppressive aura emanating from him, I curled my body and cautiously approached.
“Successor of Chigr, does the food suit your taste?”
His voice was as cold as ice.
Terrified, I forced myself to endure the chills running down my spine and desperately rubbed my small face against his leg, letting out a pleading cry.
“Meow~”
Please don’t kill me!
Among my kind, this was how we begged for our lives—by currying favor with the other party.
To survive here, I rubbed against him every day, to the point my face felt like it would wear away.
Looking up at him with desperate eyes, I continued rubbing my face against him.
‘If I do this, he won’t kill me, right?’
Meanwhile, Leon looked down at Mia, who was rubbing her face against his leg, and was utterly baffled.
‘Ha… she’s doing this again.’
What on earth was that furball thinking?
In the south, rubbing part of your body against someone had a very clear meaning.
“Please hold me tight!”
From the moment they first met until now, that little furball had constantly demanded to be held—very aggressively, at that.
And she was a hostage from the enemy north, no less.
Was she starved for affection or something?
“Meow?”
Mia rubbed her tiny face against him and looked up with her round eyes.
Her sparkling golden eyes stared at him earnestly.
Are you still not going to hold me?
It was as if those eyes were saying exactly that. Leon frowned and pulled her off his leg.
But the more he tried to push her away, the more persistently Mia clung to him, rubbing her face against him with even greater intensity.
“Ha… you really don’t listen.”
When he spoke coldly while looking down at her, Mia finally backed away. Her white fur stood on end—she seemed frightened.
Confirming that, Leon turned to leave the room.
“Meow~”
Just then, Mia cautiously trotted after him, watching his expression.
What is she trying to do now?
The moment he fixed his sharp gaze on her—
Flop.
Mia suddenly lay down in front of him, exposing her belly. Her round white stomach faced the ceiling.
‘I will obediently follow you forever, even until death!’
Among the beastmen of the north, showing one’s belly meant absolute submission and surrender. She was trying to win Leon’s favor.
But upon seeing this, Leon let out an even more incredulous scoff.
“Ha!”
In the south, lying down and showing one’s belly meant something entirely different.
“Play with me!”
He was already busy to death, and now she wanted to be held and played with? Was he supposed to be her nanny or something?
Then Mia, still lying down, looked up at him and cried energetically.
“Meow, meow!”
Her eager gaze seemed to be urging him to hurry up and play with her. She even waved her short little legs.
There was no doubt—this furball was making light of him and the entire south.
He needed to discipline her properly, so she would never dare act like this again.
He flipped Mia over. She let out a startled cry, but he didn’t hesitate and reached his hand under her chin.
For southern dragons, the area under the chin was a weak point. When someone of higher status gently scratched there, dragons felt a threat to their very lives.
Flinch!
As his hand touched her chin, Mia trembled and raised her head.
Moving his fingers, he began gently scratching her soft white chin.
It was the same terrifying touch that had once brought southern dragons to their knees.
Mia slowly closed her eyes and quickly became docile. She stopped all her strange behavior.
‘Looks like it worked.’
Now that she was quiet as a mouse, that arrogant and ill-mannered little thing looked somewhat cute.
If she behaved like this all the time, it would be perfect.
Thinking that, Leon continued diligently scratching under her chin.
‘Ahh… what is this gentle touch?’
I felt so good under Leon’s hand that my eyes naturally closed.
It was the first time I had ever felt someone’s warm touch. My tension melted away, and my whole body relaxed.
And on top of that, he was scratching my favorite spot—under the chin.
‘Looks like my message of absolute submission worked perfectly!’
The slightly softened expression on Leon’s face was proof.
Then this was the perfect opportunity to win his favor!
I rubbed my face enthusiastically against his hand.
“Meow, meow!”
Please don’t kill me!
I even flopped over again, exposing my belly to make my intentions clear.
“Meow!”
I will absolutely obey and surrender to you!
“…?!”
Leon’s crimson eyes shook violently.
With a confused expression, he withdrew his hand, then abruptly stood up and slammed the door as he left.
I stared at the closed door.
‘What was that about? Did I do something wrong?’
It was so frustrating not being able to understand what dragons were thinking.
Still, since he didn’t kill me, it seemed like I had successfully appeased him.
‘Anyway, this life is much better than my previous one.’
Letting out a sigh of relief, I returned to my plate and chewed on the remaining steak.
A narrow, dark space where not a single ray of light entered.
A musty, filthy smell filled the air.
Curled up, I slowly opened my eyes. My small golden eyes glimmered in the darkness.
‘This place!’
The basement storage of the Chigr estate.
A place so familiar I could never forget it, even in death.
It was where I had spent my miserable childhood before being cast out by Alec Chigr.
‘I definitely died in the Demon Forest… so why am I here?’
As I panicked, a flea crawled up my tail. Instinctively, I tried to swat it with my paw—then froze in shock.
My paw was small and chubby. The pads were softer, and a pale pink.
My entire body was covered in soft downy fur.
Just like when I had first been born.
Startled beyond belief, I instinctively let out a fierce cry.
“Meow!”
But instead of a sharp snarl, a weak, fragile sound came out.
That was how I returned to the past.
My name is Mia.
I am the second daughter of Alec Chigr, the head of the White Tiger clan that rules the northern continent.
To be precise, I am his illegitimate child.
One day, Alec went hunting near the northern capital and assaulted a commoner cat-beastwoman there. I was the child she gave birth to.
Thinking I might have inherited the powerful aura of a White Tiger, Alec brought me to his estate.
I did inherit white fur and golden eyes like him and my half-sister—but my appearance was that of an ordinary cat.
I was much smaller than the White Tigers, with pointy ears and soft paw pads. Even my cries lacked their powerful roar.
But the bigger problem was this:
While most White Tiger beastmen awakened their aura and achieved human transformation within a week of birth, I couldn’t.
When a month passed and I still couldn’t transform, Alec flew into a rage and locked me in that filthy, cramped basement.
To him, I was a disgrace—so publicly, it was as if I didn’t exist.
For years afterward, not only my half-sister but even the servants mocked and abused me.
But all of that was merciful compared to what came later.
When I had just grown out of my kitten stage, Alec decided it was a waste of money to feed and house me, and drove me out to the northernmost region—the Demon Forest.
‘White Tigers only accept strong offspring. A weak cat like you, who can’t even awaken an aura, has no place in our clan!’
The Demon Forest was a prison for criminals of the north.
Blizzards raged year-round, and a strange energy filled the entire forest. Beastmen trapped there gradually lost their sanity, reverted from human form, and became feral beasts wandering the woods.
There was only one reason he sent a young beastman like me there—someone who couldn’t transform or awaken.
‘He wanted me dead.’
To survive in that horrific place, I struggled desperately for months.
The freezing blizzards and bone-chilling cold were the least of my problems.
I risked my life stealing prey from other beastmen who had already become feral beasts, barely staving off starvation.
Every day, my body was covered in wounds. I even lost one of my ears.
Whether I was naive or foolish, I endured it all thinking that if I survived, Alec might acknowledge me—despite the fact that he had already abandoned me.
Was it because of that desperate will to survive?
Unlike the others who turned into beasts, I retained my sanity for years.
I didn’t know why, but it was both astonishing and strange.
In the end, however, I was attacked and devoured by a starving pack of feral beastmen.
As a small cat, I was barely even a mouthful to them.
That was the final memory I had—before opening my eyes again in this basement.
