Chapter 1: The Starting Incident
There were currently three Beloveds known to the public—one of the Nation of the Spirit King, one of the Nation of the Beast King, and one of the Nation of the Dragon King. These three nations had the power to protect the Beloveds even with their existence publicly known. In addition, the Beloveds of the Spirit and Beast Nation were extremely patriotic toward their respective homes, so there was no fear of them moving even if other nations were to persuade them. Granted, the Beloved of the Nation of the Beast King was in love with Jade, the Dragon King, and planned on marrying into the Nation of the Dragon King, but it was a sentiment that the Dragon King didn’t share in the slightest. Her kinsmen were also intensely proud of their race, so it was unlikely they would move to another nation. Ruri, the Beloved of the Nation of the Dragon King, had no plans of going to another nation either.
In addition to these three, there were also two other Beloveds not revealed to the public—one from the Land of Cerulanda and one from the Land of Yadacain.
The Beloved of Cerulanda was a young girl in her mid-teens. As a child, she was placed into an orphanage at a young age in a town far away from the royal capital, so her Beloved powers were detected only after she reached her teens. The fact that it was a human nation with few people capable of seeing spirits, coupled with the fact that it was in a remote location which barely received news of other nations, was to blame for the late discovery. She just so happened to be called on in a random inspection of the orphanage, and a person capable of seeing spirits approached her and everything became clear. If it weren’t for that chance encounter, they probably wouldn’t have found out until much later.
Considering that she didn’t have any real patriotism toward Cerulanda and that she might jump ship to any other nation with favorable terms, Cerulanda took her into their custody, hiding her away in their royal castle and limiting who she interacted with. From an objective standpoint, it seemed like a cramped lifestyle, but she herself didn’t find it inconvenient at all. She wore dresses she could never wear before, and she ate fancy foods she never could eat before. In addition, in order to keep her interests, she was surrounded by a bevy of attractive young men. In other words, she lived a pampered life.
Today was just another day for her as she enjoyed a tea party in the garden while surrounded by exquisite men, all hand-picked from Cerulanda’s high-ranking nobility. For the past few years, ever since she started life in the castle, afternoon tea time had become customary. However, as she sipped on tea, she was met with an uninvited guest. It was a short person dressed in a black costume and wearing a bizarre mask. With their face hidden and their body covered from head to toe, it was difficult to determine if they were a human or demi-human, man or woman. If Ruri were there, she would’ve probably asked in shock, “What is a ninja doing here of all places?!”
The costumed individual, who had snuck into the castle all by themselves, focused their sights on the Beloved. The men in the vicinity all stood in front of her, calling for assistance. The guards standing at attention nearby all rushed in, some pointing their weapons and some evacuating the Beloved to safety.
“Lady Beloved, this way, please.”
“Y-Yes...”
The Beloved began making her way over to the inside of the castle. The costumed individual calmly kept his sights set on her, unfazed by the soldiers surrounding them.
“Seize them!” yelled a soldier as all the others then rushed at the costumed individual and instantly closed the gap.
At the mercy of dozens of soldiers, they were quickly apprehended... or so everyone thought. The costumed individual, in a feat of superhuman ability, leapt over the soldiers and landed right behind them. With inhuman speed, they evaded soldier after soldier and then ran straight toward the Beloved without a second’s delay, tossing a dagger toward her.
Frozen in fear and unable to escape, the Beloved stood as the dagger traveled in a straight line right into her chest.
“Lady Beloved!” Screams sounded from around her as she collapsed where she stood, her face still locked in fear.
Confirming that the dagger had struck the Beloved in her heart, the costumed individual vanished from the scene just as swiftly as they had arrived.
“A doctor! Summon a doctor now!”
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
At the royal castle of the Nation of the Dragon King, Ruri worked in the kitchen area of sector one, the sector that included the Dragon King’s residence.
“Hm hm hmmm, hm hm hmmm♪” Ruri hummed a little ditty as she sprinkled flour on the countertop, placed her dough atop it, and flattened it with a rolling pin. The spirits huddling around her watched her work in delight.
The chefs in charge of cooking for the Dragon King and the Beloved had been watching on, nervous as to whether Ruri could actually produce something edible. But Ruri found it hard to do anything with a gawking audience, so she kicked them out of the kitchen. Dinner preparation wouldn’t start for a while, so removing them didn’t hinder their work.
She cut the flattened dough into shapes and tossed them into the oven. Then her fire spirit friends came in to provide their assistance. With a fire controlled so exquisitely it would put a top-class chef to shame, Ruri baked her batch of cookies. After a short while, a sweet and delectable aroma started to waft through the air from the inside of the oven.
“Ruri, they’re done~!”
“Yup, they’re perfect! We’re a buncha geniuses!”
Proud of the fine results of their work, the fire spirits pranced and held each other’s hands.
That was when Ewan just so happened to appear in the kitchen as if he’d been waiting for the cookies to be done. Since he reconciled with Ruri, his ban from sector one had been lifted. Nowadays, it was as though their strained and awkward interactions never happened, and the two shared a much more friendly relationship.
“Those sure smell good,” Ewan commented.
“I know, right?! I’ve never used an oven this big before, but thanks to everyone’s help, I managed to bake up some great cookies.”
“Heh!” chuckled the fire spirits as they held their hands on their hips in pride—a gesture that the spirit-incompatible Ewan couldn’t see.
“So, you were actually able to bake after all, huh?” Ewan said, inadvertently suggesting that Ruri seemed incapable of baking.
Offended by his remark, Ruri said, “Ewan, even you’re saying stuff like that? When I went to ask Jade-sama for permission to use the kitchen, he said I should let the cooks do the cooking because it was too dangerous otherwise. Speaking as if it’s assumed I don’t know my way around a kitchen is just downright rude!”
“I mean, it’s... you know?” Ewan said, implying that Ruri didn’t look the part.
“I would cook meals at Chelsie-san’s place when I used to live with her.”
“And what you made was edible, right?”
“Try it for yourself, wiseguy!” Ruri picked up a freshly-baked cookie and stuffed it into Ewan’s mouth.
After Ewan unwittingly chewed the sudden treat in his mouth, he swallowed the cookie, his eyes wide. His face turned red, and he held his hand to his mouth.
“H-Hey, what’s the big idea?!” Ewan screamed, flustered.
“The big idea? A taste test, of course,” Ruri said, confused at his panicked display. “Well, how is it? It’s good, isn’t it?”
“That isn’t the point here!”
Just then, a deep and angry voice, one that felt as if it resonated from the center of the Earth, interjected, “...What do you think you are doing?”
Ewan turned around in a slow and stiff manner, like someone forgot to oil his joints, to find none other than Jade, who was staring him down with an absolutely piercing glare.
“Oh, Jade-sama. Well? Take a look. I can bake after all, see?” Ruri gleefully showed him her freshly baked cookies, oblivious to the suddenly heavy atmosphere.
However, Jade’s eyes remained peeled on Ewan, not the cookies, as he simply asked, “Ewan, do you wish to be banned from sector one yet again? In fact, do you wish to be thrown from the castle entirely?”
Jade wasn’t yelling at him, but the tone of his voice was enough to induce a cold, terror-fueled sweat to pour down Ewan’s brow.
“N-N-N-N-No, my sincerest of apologies!!” Ewan said, bowing with a pale face before quickly fleeing the kitchen like a bat out of hell.
“H-Huh? Jade-sama, are you angry about something...?” Ruri asked timidly, finally picking up on the cold aura emanating from him.
Jade then shifted his ire toward her. “Ruri.”
“Yes...?”
Jade was inching toward her, which triggered her mental alarm. She started backing up. Even though the kitchen accommodated several people cooking at the same time and was far bigger than an average household’s, it was still a kitchen, nonetheless. She was quickly left with nowhere to run as Jade slammed his hand on the wall behind her. His handsome features seething in anger was more than a little intense, and Ruri’s cheeks tensed.
“Ruri, what were you doing with Ewan just now?”
“‘What’? I was just having him taste test my cookies...” she replied. She had no idea why Jade was making that terrifying face at her.
“You were ‘just’ having him taste test?”
“Yes, that and only that.” She wondered, even though she didn’t recall doing anything really out of the ordinary, why Jade’s face was getting even more terrifying.
“Oh?” Jade slid his hand alluringly over Ruri’s cheek, giving her goosebumps. All Ruri knew was that Jade was in a bad mood for some reason. “Don’t ever feed anyone yourself ever again. Not Ewan, not anyone else.”
“But why?”
“Am I understood?” Jade said with a frightful, uncompromising expression.
“U-Uh, yes! Understood!” Ruri quickly replied, raising her hand to her forehead for a salute, not knowing if the gesture was understood in this world.
“If it happens again, Ewan’s head will roll,” Jade threatened, not an ounce of humor in his remark.
Ruri nodded her head so hard in response that it looked like she was going to break her neck as she said a prayer for Ewan in her mind.
Giving food to a member of the opposite sex—Ruri would later come to learn—was a dragonkin custom known as “partnerial allofeeding.”
Ruri’s reaction seemed to quell Jade’s anger because he then turned his attention to her cookies instead. Freed from Jade’s extremely intimidating gaze, Ruri breathed a sigh of relief.
Jade took one of the freshly-baked cookies and brought it to Ruri’s mouth. She realized the irony, but she kept the thought to herself and took a bite. After watching her do so, Jade took a cookie for himself and placed it in his mouth.
“These are better than I suspected.”
“...Jade-sama, you just used me to check for poison, didn’t you?” Ruri said, glaring at Jade.
“Just for insurance.”
“Like I’ve said a million times, I can cook!” Ruri shouted, stuffing her freshly-baked cookies into a bag. She was pissed off. “Listen, my mother is absolutely terrible at any housework. My father would cook for us when he was at home, but since he’s a diplomat, he would often be off in another country. When that happened, I would have no choice but to learn to cook in order to avoid eating terrible food.”
Even though her mother would cook while looking at the recipes in her cookbooks, her skills ended up changing any dish into something strange and indistinguishable—a true mystery. When she would try to clean, she would always destroy something. When she would do the laundry, the clothes would always discolor. Ruri ended up learning how to cook and clean out of sheer necessity. Fortunately, since her mother worked as a model, she was rarely at home either. Her grandfather would frequently stop by the house when Ruri was young, which most likely kept her mother’s damage to a minimum. By the time Ruri grew up and didn’t need her grandfather’s help anymore, she was capable of doing everything around the house.
“Though, thanks to that, I had a smooth transition into living on my own once I moved out.”
“That might also explain why you’re so grounded and organized. Also, your father is a diplomat, you say? I would love for him to work in the castle. When will your parents be arriving?”
“They apparently have some unfinished business in the other world, so I don’t know for certain. I need to make preparations so that I’m ready whenever they do arrive... Alright, all done,” Ruri said as she finished packing her cookies into a big bag and a small bag respectively. She then looked back at Jade. “Alright, I’ll be stepping out for a bit.”
Jade’s face then took a dissatisfied turn. “What, you weren’t making those for me?”
“That’s quite a line considering you didn’t even think I could in the first place,” Ruri replied, turning her nose up.
“I’m confident I could eat anything you make, no matter how hazardous it might be,” Jade said with a look of smug assurance, despite his brazenly rude comment.
“That isn’t something to brag about. These are for Rin, Kotaro, and Lydia. I will make some for you next time, so you’ll have to forgive me, Jade-sama. I’m going to be having a tea party at Lydia’s, but since Rin and Kotaro can’t come into the pocket space, they would get miffed at me if I didn’t leave them some cookies before I went in.”
Kotaro wanted to follow Ruri into the kitchen, but she barred him from coming in since having a furry animal in there would be hygienically unsound. His body may have been the sacred beast of the Nation of the Spirit King, but no one wanted a fuzzy cookie. Rin was awaiting Ruri in the garden with a sulky-looking Kotaro in attendance.
“By Lydia, you mean the Spirit of Time, right?” Jade asked.
“Yes.”
Jade thought for a second before proposing, “Why don’t I come along with you into the pocket space?”
“Huh? You come along, Jade-sama?! Um, well... it should be fine if you’re in there a little bit. But not even Chelsie-san has really gone in there.”
“It’s settled, then.”
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