The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 2 - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Letter

Kotaro and Rin returned from their trip to the world on the other side shortly after. According to the spirits, the path opened to Nadasha disappeared soon after they went through, so they wouldn’t be able to come back home until the next path opened up.

However, one day, late at night as Ruri lay asleep, a presence woke her. She opened her eyes and was met with Jade’s sleeping face, so close to her that she could feel his breath. It startled her, but she contained her scream. She slowly moved her eyes, scanning around her. The room was pitch-black, but she could see the spirits floating around her with their index fingers over their lips going “shhh,” insisting she didn’t raise her voice. The spirits normally would never enter the bedroom unannounced, so Ruri’s eyes widened in surprise.

After the spirits waved their hands for her to follow them, they pointed their fingers toward her actual room in the castle. Now wide awake, Ruri looked at Jade’s face to confirm that he was sound asleep. Once she did, she slowly got out of bed so as to not wake him and ran out of Jade’s bedroom.

In Ruri’s room rested the bodies of Kotaro and Rin, currently just empty vessels. Their occupants, the real Kotaro and Rin, were off in a faraway land, the world where Ruri was born and raised. They had gone there in order to give her parents a status update on her.

There was only one reason why the spirits would come to wake her in the dead of night—Kotaro and Rin had returned. She had the spirits take off her bracelet, and she quickly ran into the room next to Jade’s. Just then, Kotaro and Rin’s bodies started to stir and slowly rose up.

“Kotaro! Rin!”

“Mm... we’ve returned, Ruri,” said Kotaro.

“We’re back, Ruri~” said Rin as she flew into Ruri’s arms. Rin in tow, she went over to Kotaro’s side and stroked his soft fur.

They were originally corpses to begin with, but seeing their physical bodies cold and lifeless had been tough to look at. Seeing both of them now energetically moving about finally brought her mind relief.

“Were you able to meet my parents?”

“We found them right away. They were famous among the spirits in your world, you see. Once we asked some of the local spirits, it was a straight shot to them,” Rin answered.

“Quite. Their gathering of spirits made locating them light work, as well. They happily greeted us once we said we came on your orders. You resemble your mother so much that we instantly knew who she was.”

“I see... I knew they could see them...” Despite knowing this, hearing it again made it difficult to process her feelings.

“I must say, there were some intriguing things in your world, Ruri. I was shocked to see humans flying in the sky in large vehicles. I believe they called them ‘airplanes’?” commented Kotaro.

“There wasn’t anyone in that world who could see us either. That came as a shock, as well,” added Rin.

Kotaro and Rin excitedly talked about their experiences on the other side as Ruri listened with a smile on her face. Now that she was capable of seeing spirits, she’d probably see things in her world in a whole new light. It broke her heart to know that she wouldn’t have the chance to see it ever again.

“How did my mom and dad react when you told them about me?”

“They had been worried that you suddenly up and vanished. Although, the spirits apparently filled them in, for the most part, that you went to a different world.”

“I see...” Ruri said, trailing off into silence. She felt guilty for worrying her parents over her sudden disappearance. In her eyes, she felt like a daughter without a scrap of filial piety. Regardless, she couldn’t do anything pious to make it up to them anymore.

“Your mother gave us a letter to give to you,” Rin said, presenting a single envelope.

Breathless, Ruri took a seat on the floor and anxiously took the envelope, opened the seal, and unfolded the letter inside. There, on the paper, was her mother’s all-too-familiar handwriting—big, bubbly letters more becoming of a middle schooler than a grown adult. Ruri smiled slightly at her characteristic script as tears of relief rolled from her face. “She hasn’t changed at all...”

The letter itself, in stark contrast to the childish handwriting, was the typical note from a concerned mother. “Are you making sure to eat properly? Are you getting enough sleep? You’re not hurt, are you?” To each and every question, Ruri silently whispered, “I’m fine,” even though she knew her mother would never hear it.

However, the letter was also somewhat casual—it seemed like she was worried over her child on vacation, not her child who she’d never see again—so she read on. It was definitely a letter from her optimistic mother.

Ruri’s tears flowed freely down her cheeks and dripped onto the paper. She scrambled to wipe the water off the blotted letters on the page, but the tears flowed one after another, blotting her vision.

“Ungh, hic...”

She thought that just getting in contact with her parents, even if she couldn’t see them, would be good enough, but a simple letter didn’t seem to be good enough after all. On the contrary, it made her want to see her mother’s face even more.

Ruri covered her face with her hands to stifle her whimpers and cried. She knew crying wasn’t going to help anything, but her tears fell regardless.

Suddenly, someone embraced her from behind, catching her off guard. Reflexively, she tried to shake free, but the arms around her were tight and wouldn’t budge. When she turned around, she saw Jade looking back at her with a sorrowful frown.

“Jade-sama... Why...?”

“The spirits came to wake me, saying that you were crying.”

When Ruri looked around, she realized that Kotaro, Rin, and the other spirits that had been with her just a second ago were nowhere to be seen. They were the only ones there.

In the silent room, Ruri’s heavy sobs echoed throughout.

“You needn’t cry alone,” Jade said.

“Jade-sama...” Ruri said in a pitiful tone, turning her whole body around and clinging to him while audibly crying. “As I read the letter, I started to get sad... I started to realize that I’ll actually never make it back...”

“It’s natural to feel that way considering you’re unable to go back to your homeland. Cry as much as you need,” said Jade as he patted Ruri on her back consolingly.

The gentle warmth of his hand instilled a sense of security in her.

“I know I can’t serve as a replacement for your parents, but I’ll support you to make up for their absence. I will stay by your side so that you’ll never be sad.”

“Ngh... Thank you so much...”

Jade’s kindness permeated throughout Ruri’s body. She lifted her head and smiled at him as she felt the tears trailing down her face.

Jade hugged Ruri tightly and continued to pet her head until she finally settled down.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Ruri’s eyes were beet red and puffy from crying for so long. Jade tried to stay by her side the entire time, but work called, so Ruri showed him out. In his place, Kotaro and Rin spent the morning cuddled by her side while the other spirits clung to her and floated around her as if to say they were there for her as well.

Everyone collectively watched over Ruri, worried for her well-being. When one of the spirits brought her a ring of beautiful flowers, she smiled delightedly. Because of that, all of the other spirits followed suit, bringing flowers of their own and practically forming a flower bed within her room. On top of that, more spirits came from parts unknown, making the considerably spacious room feel a tad cramped from the influx of newcomers. Euclase and Joshua came in to check on her, but once they took a peek inside, they grimaced and left without saying a word. Even though there was an abnormal amount of spirits in the room, they helped alleviate Ruri’s anxiety and cure her loneliness.

Amidst the lively crowd, Ruri read the letter back again.

“You’re reading the letter again?”

“Yeah, I feel like I’ve calmed down enough to actually read it now.”

At first, she was overcome with sadness and loneliness, but she was in a much better mood now and capable of reading it clearly. That was likely proof she was able to accept her current situation.

“Well, I think you should just talk to them in person when you eventually can instead of reading that letter over and over.”

“...Huh?” Rin’s suggestion was met with a deafening pause, and soon after Ruri’s eyes shrank to dots of confusion.

Just then, a spirit who was touching the envelope the letter came in spoke up, “Huh? Hey, Ruri? There’s still another page to the letter in here~!”

“Huh?” What the spirit cheerfully presented to her was less of a letter and more of a small note. Ruri took the note in hand and nervously turned her eyes to what was written on it. “Wha?!”

The note read...

“P.S. I’m working on getting my affairs in order, so doing this might take a little time, but I’m going to get everything sorted ASAP and come over there with everyone, so hold tight.”

Her hands trembling uncontrollably, Ruri ripped the memo clean in half. “You’re going to WHAAAAT?!” she yelled, echoing throughout the entire room.

“Your whole family is apparently going to migrate over here. Makes sense. You can’t go to them, but they can come to you,” Rin explained.

“Quite so, even your grandfather said he would be tagging along,” added Kotaro.

“Whaaa...?” What did she shed all those tears over her family for? Ruri wished Rin had filled her in on that sooner.

She wondered if they understood the ramifications of coming here—once they came over, there was no going back.

“Mom is definitely the one who proposed this,” Ruri whispered to herself in confidence. One would normally have reservations about going to a different world, but knowing her mother’s personality, she probably made this decision with the same level of care as planning a vacation. She was worried for her poor straight-laced father’s stomach, seeing as he was at the mercy of her oddball mother and grandfather.

It would be some time, however, before Ruri’s parents actually came to this world.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Seeing as how the reconstruction of Nadasha would take time, Jade resumed his regular duties for the time being. Ruri, as a cat, vacantly watched Jade work as she lay curled up in the small bed prepared for her in the office.

Now that Kotaro and Rin had helped solve the issues with her family, she was free of anxiety. Right now, Ruri’s mind was as clear as the sky outside.

After some time, Euclase entered the office. They had a letter in their hand. “Your Majesty, it’s a personal letter from the Land of Cerulanda. I would appreciate it if you read it right away,” Euclase said, handing the letter over to Jade.

“Cerulanda?” he responded with a doubtful expression.

“I wonder what them sending a personal letter could mean? We don’t have much in the way of diplomatic relations with them, if I recall,” said Claus, who was also doing work in the office.

“True,” Jade said as he opened the envelope with a paper knife, pulled out the letter, and scanned it. The further he read, the more pensive his expression became. It was easy to infer that the letter held news that was none too pleasing.

Once he finished, Jade emitted a single sigh.

“Your Majesty, what did it entail?” Euclase questioned.

Jade simply passed them the note, silently inferring that they read it themselves.

As soon as Euclase ran over the letter, their face also took a puzzled turn. They passed the letter to Claus once they were done and said, “You should read this, too.”

“Is something troublesome afoot?”

“Read and find out.”

Claus read the note as instructed and said under his breath, “My, this is troubling.”

“You can say that again. Just when we think we have matters with Nadasha squared away, this drops on our doorstep,” Euclase replied.

Claus looked up from the paper and turned his attention toward Jade, asking him, “How might you be handling this, Your Majesty?”

“I’m declining, naturally. We have Ruri here, and if we carelessly accept and let them come face-to-face with her, it will be an even bigger mess.”

Catching wind of her name in conversation, Ruri lifted her head. “Does this have to do with me? You said I shouldn’t meet someone face-to-face? Is someone coming?” She got up from her small cat bed, walked over to Jade, and jumped onto his lap.

Jade took the letter from Claus and unfolded it in front of Ruri so that she could see it as well, but Ruri still wasn’t used to the written language of this world and couldn’t understand a word of what was scribed on the page.

As she tilted her head in confusion, Jade giggled, knowing that she couldn’t read the note, and explained. “It’s a letter from the king of the land of Cerulanda, a kingdom with few diplomatic ties to the Nation of the Dragon King. Cerulanda houses a Beloved. Are you aware of that?”

“I’ve heard there are four Beloveds excluding me, but are they one of them?”

“They are. This letter is asking us to keep their Beloved at the castle since they want to come to our nation for sightseeing—well, more or less.”

“Wow, then I’ll get to see a Beloved other than myself,” Ruri said, slightly excited over the prospect of meeting another Beloved. However, she noticed something was amiss and looked up at Jade. “Huh? But you mentioned something about that being trouble. Why would that be?”

“A Beloved is an individual that makes a great number of spirits their allies. They serve as the controllers of this world, and there is no one who can oppose them. It’s not their own power which is tremendous but the influence they hold. If two Beloveds were to oppose one another, what do you think would happen?”

“It would cause huge problems, yes?”

“Indeed. It would have immeasurable effects on the world. Plus, the strength of a Beloved’s power can vary. By letting Beloveds meet, you let any gaps in power between them be known. And suppose the Beloved of a smaller nation was stronger. As I said before, there’s no one who can oppose a Beloved with spirits on their side, no matter how big the nation may be. In other words, if you possess a strong Beloved, you could bring even the biggest nations under control. However, if one were to do that, governments would be in chaos. Therefore, between the Alliance of Four Nations—the Nations of the Dragon King, Beast King, Spirit King, and the Imperial Nation respectively—there is a rule that states that Beloveds shall not be allowed to meet nor be used for political gain.”

“I see. And that’s why you can’t allow them to meet me?”

“That would be why. To avoid any kind of trouble in the foreseeable future.”

The reason made sense, but it also brought about a concern. “Huh? But didn’t you say something about me being able to see the Beloved of the Nation of the Beast King in due time? I thought that Beloveds can’t meet one another?”

“Two Beloveds of the Alliance of Four Nations are fine. The code states that we can’t involve Beloveds in politics, and even if a Beloved conflict were to occur, the Spirit of the Trees, a supreme-level spirit in the Nation of the Spirit King, would act as a mediator. Even if things did devolve into a fight, the spirits wouldn’t go berserk. However, since we haven’t come to such an arrangement with Cerulanda, we must prevent you from meeting them in order to avoid potential strife.”

“Does that mean you’re declining the request?”

“That’s correct. Taking in another nation’s Beloved would just be a cause for concern.”

“Not only that,” Euclase interjected, “but I’ve heard that everyone spoils Cerulanda’s Beloved, so they are quite self-centered. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to deal with them. Who knows what kind of unreasonable demand they might come asking?” Euclase was just as opposed to having the Beloved from a different nation come as Jade was.

“I’ll write them a reply this moment. They’ll likely comply if I tell them that we house Ruri,” Jade said, taking up his pen in order to write a letter addressed to Cerulanda.

As such, Jade refused the request from Cerulanda on that day. However, a few days later, Jade received a certain report.

“Your Majesty, there is some news about Cerulanda I believe you should know,” Euclase notified.

“What is it?” asked Jade.

“Reports state that Cerulanda’s Beloved has been assaulted by a raider.”

“What did you just say?”

Trouble had arisen in Cerulanda—trouble that would bring about immense turmoil to the Nation of the Dragon King in the future.

To be continued...