Bonus Short Story
By Any Means Necessary
In her customary cat form, Ruri trotted behind Jade as he made his way to the royal office.
As soon as they entered the room, however, Jade stopped dead in his tracks, and Ruri looked up at him in confusion.
“Is something the matter, Jade-sama?”
“Not again...” Jade said, putting his hand on his head as his face crinkled up in disgust, leaving Ruri baffled.
Ruri turned her eyes toward the interior of the office to find Jade’s desk occupied by a mountain of thin books.
“What are all those?”
Jade pushed aside the pile of little books, which were taking up valuable real estate on his desk, and breathed a heavy sigh. Ruri opened one of the books with great interest and a portrait of a girl greeted her. She proceeded to open the other books one after another. Each book contained the portrait of a different girl.
“Jade-sama, what are all of these?”
“...Portraits of marriage candidates,” he said, not even trying to hide his malcontent. They were probably all brought here by the elders who badger Jade to get married, and never learn their lesson.
After a wretched glance over the mountain of portraits, Jade proceeded to start the day’s work.
“Huh? Don’t you need to look at them?”
“No point.”
“But there are a lot of pretty ladies here.” She looked through more of the portraits since she didn’t have anything in particular to do. Each girl featured was beautiful with immaculate features. Any one of them seemed more than fit to stand by Jade’s side. “Look, especially this one. She’s a real beauty.”
“No.” Jade flatly refused to humor the notion. It seemed that the elder vassals’ efforts were no more than unnecessary inconveniences for Jade. He didn’t give any of them so much as a passing glance. The portraits were disposed of like garbage, without the king laying eyes on a single one.
That night, she accompanied Jade to his room. While he was in the middle of lighting the lamps, Ruri jumped onto the bed. Once she did, she noticed something odd. There, in his bed, was a mass of what seemed to be a sleeping person under the sheets. Curious, she pulled back the comforter just as the lights turned on and she was able to get a good look.
Lying there was a voluptuous and beautiful girl in a very unladylike position.
“Gaaah, Jade-sama, Jade-sama!” Ruri gasped and yowled aloud out of panic.
“Ruri, what’s wrong?” Jade turned around upon hearing Ruri’s abnormal shriek, which is when he got an eyeful of the beautiful girl in his bed. He froze in place as if his brain had temporarily stopped working.
“Who is this person?!”
“I-I have no idea. Who are you?! How did you get into this room?!”
This was the king’s private quarters. This wasn’t supposed to be a place where any random person could just waltz in.
Cheeks flushed, the beautiful girl spoke up. “I was called upon by the honorable elder vassal to come and comfort Your Majesty.”
“Grk...” Jade clenched his fists and began to shake in what appeared to be rage.
The elders were probably getting desperate, since Jade refused to decide on a bride and never looked at the portraits they gave him, so they’d apparently employed a less subtle method.
“It seems that they’re finally using any means necessary, huh?”
The next day, the elders were thoroughly chewed out by Jade. But they refused to learn their lesson and could be seen huddled, hashing out their next secret plan, in the days that followed.
It looked like Jade’s troubles were going to continue for a while—a very long while.
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