The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 3 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Begging

Ruri and Jade were currently having a verbal disagreement in the royal office.

“No.”

“Whaa?! But why?”

“No means no.”

“It’s just for a little bit, though?”

“And what if something happens?”

“That’s why I’ll be bringing Joshua and Ewan along.”

The point of contention here was Ruri going to the city to purchase a house. There were no objections to the task itself, but once Jade heard that she would be going to the diner she worked at on the way, he firmly opposed.

Ruri had taken an extended leave from work due to the Nadashian war. And even before that, the diner had suddenly closed when Nadasha began their invasion on the Nation of the Dragon King. Between Asahi escaping from captivity, Ruri’s visit to Chelsie, and all the other things that happened afterward, she hadn’t been able to make time for the diner. She felt terrible for being such an irresponsible employee, so she decided to quit. Technically Joshua, who introduced her to the establishment in the first place, broke the news of her resignation, but given her tenure there, she wanted to apologize in person for suddenly quitting.

Yet, for whatever reason, Jade was trying to stop her and wouldn’t listen to her reasoning. Which, of course, Ruri wasn’t going to take lying down, but...

“You are to go only to the royal capital,” Jade said as if making a final ruling, starting his work without so much as looking up at Ruri.

Ruri pouted her lips in discontent. “Hmph...”

She decided to use her last-ditch effort to get through to the hard-headed Jade. She pulled her bracelet out of her pocket space and put it on. Turning into a cat in the blink of an eye, Ruri jumped on Jade’s lap and proceeded to look up at him with big doe eyes.

“Urk...” Jade faltered from the cuteness.

Seeing his reaction, she piled on the pressure while chuckling to herself on the inside. “Myaaan,” Ruri said in her cat voice. The sad cry resembled a “pretty please,” which rubbed against Jade’s ears. She could feel Jade’s fluffy-animal-loving heart starting to stagger as she stared at him with her adorable round eyes.

“Oh, please, Jade-sama?”

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Ruri triumphantly sauntered out of the royal office with Joshua and Ewan in tow. Finn and Claus, who had witnessed the whole thing, stared in disappointment at Jade. Jade realized that he had unintentionally succumbed to Ruri’s cuteness and clutched his head in shame.

“Well, Joshua and Ewan will be with her to keep her from being scammed, so I don’t see any harm in letting her have her way,” Euclase said to console Jade, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.

His aides all knew why Jade was so averse to Ruri visiting the diner, making them feel equal parts sympathetic and exasperated. It had to do with the young man named Jet who confessed to Ruri before. While Jade’s aides dreaded the possibility of Ruri and this young man being romantically involved after seeing how elated she had been, the first one to take action to prevent that from happening was Jade himself. Before Jet could meet up with Ruri, Jade made contact with the young man. At which point, he managed to break up their relationship with flying colors. Despite their relief, all of the aides were sympathetic to Jet’s plight and the fear he must’ve felt.

Seeing as how not long had passed since then, Jade was trying to keep Ruri from visiting the diner today because he remembered that she’d mentioned Jet was a regular customer. He had been so relieved when Ruri announced she was quitting her job and they would drop out of contact. However, realizing there was a chance of them meeting, Jade couldn’t help but worry.

“Might I ask, why not just make her your mate already?” Agate asked, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Recently, Agate had suddenly stopped suggesting brides for Jade to marry. It wasn’t because he had given up. Quite the contrary, he was more motivated than ever. The reason he wasn’t suggesting brides was, naturally, because Jade already had a partner set. However, seeing Jade and Ruri’s relationship not blossom at all only served to exacerbate Agate’s impatience. He was doing all he could to not meddle around in their affairs. Well, to an extent, anyway. He would occasionally slip here and there, but it was an improvement. That was Agate’s form of “restraint.”

Jade replied, “...It’s still too early. I’m waiting until Ruri opens herself up to me more.”

Given his response, it was hard to tell him there was still a chance a random commoner would steal his potential partner. A man’s heart was a complicated thing.

Noticing that the two of them were far from becoming mates, Euclase provided Jade with a warning. “I, too, am a dragonkin, so I can understand why you wouldn’t want Ruri to meet with a man who had feelings for her even once. However, Ruri is not dragonkin; she is a regular human. It is not wise to so bluntly force dragonkin feelings onto her. And since she isn’t even your mate, if she were to dislike your excessive restraining of her freedoms, things could turn out ugly.” Although it was a tough pill to administer, Euclase was still the chancellor of the Nation of the Dragon King and they needed to consider and cope with any and all worst-case scenarios.

A dragonkin’s mana was so strong it made other demi-humans marvel in fear and awe. It was not uncommon for even humans with scant mana to be acutely aware of a dragonkin’s strong mana and become their mate. At the same time, there was no shortage of examples of humans being unfaithful, much unlike dragonkins, who were devout until the day they died. In those cases, dragonkin had little recourse. There were those who would not only kill their cheating mate’s partner after running amok, they would kill their mate and take their lives right after. Past examples of this showed it was far from uncommon.

They weren’t officially mates as of yet, but if Ruri were to choose another over the Dragon King, mightiest in all of the land, and he were to succumb to his heartache and go berserk, then...

Euclase needed Jade to show a little self-restraint, to make sure Ruri wouldn’t be put off by his behavior.

“You raise a good point. However...” Jade started.

“Besides, Ruri does not hail from this world, which means she lacks knowledge about dragonkin. Considering the fortune we saw in her pocket space, she could easily live on her own without anyone else’s patronage. Restraining her too much might result in her cooping herself up with Ms. Chelsie in the forest.”

“That would be a problem. Let’s handle this with discretion,” Jade gallantly agreed.

However, his aides stared at him with dubious looks, wondering if he could keep control when it really counted.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Meanwhile, with her cat-begging tactic effectively cracking Jade into giving her permission, Ruri triumphantly walked toward the diner in the town over with Joshua and Ewan in tow. She was wearing her wig since she stood out too much with her natural hair.

“Tee hee hee hee, Jade-sama is such a pushover,” Ruri commented, knowing just which buttons to push since she was a fellow lover of fluffy animals herself.

It was Ruri’s theory that if a person could ignore a cat with big doe eyes looking at them and “pretty pleasing” them, then they weren’t a real fluffy-animal lover. Not to mention, since Jade sat at the top of the food chain as a dragonkin, he’d lacked any interaction with anything soft and fluffy up until now—a full-on fluff deficiency. There was no possible way he could endure that.

“This woman is terrifying. She uses her cat form when she needs to,” Ewan commented.

“Less of a femme fatale and more of a femme feline. Pretty novel, if ya ask me,” added Joshua.

The two of them were both talking up a storm about Ruri.

“Good afternoon!” Ruri greeted cheerfully as she stepped into the diner. It was past lunchtime, and the patronage was sparse.

Once the wife, the daughter, and the son-in-law of the owner all caught sight of her, they approached Ruri in joy, surprised to see her.

“Well, if it isn’t Ruri!” the wife said.

“Oh my, what brings you here?” asked the daughter.

“I wanted to apologize for suddenly quitting without any prior notice. I am so sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that at all. It was unfortunate since you were such a big help around here, but you have to do what you have to do,” the wife said, happily greeting her without an ounce of resentment.

“Since you’re here, have something to eat.”

“Yes, of course.”

After Ruri sat at the empty table and waited for a bit, the daughter brought over a plate of food. She placed it on the table and then flashed a suggestive smile toward Joshua and Ewan sitting on the other side.

Ruri cocked her head in confusion and asked, “Is something the matter?”

“So, tell me, which of these strapping gentlemen is yours?”

“Huh...?” Ruri blurted out, not understanding what she was being asked. But after processing it for a bit, she wrapped her head around the question and vehemently refuted, “N-No, you have the wrong idea. I don’t have that sort of relationship with either of these two!”

“Oh my, is that so? But Jet told us that you were already seeing someone, so I just assumed.”

“Huh?! Jet said that?” She hadn’t seen Jet ever since he ran off before their date—something Ruri still didn’t comprehend. She had no idea why he would have thought that. “If I was already seeing someone, then I wouldn’t go on a date with someone else. How did he get things so mixed up? Was that why he suddenly went home?” Ruri asked. She couldn’t think of anyone she knew who would have given him that wrong of an idea.

“Oh my, so, you’re not dating?”

“No, we’re not. Please, just listen,” Ruri said as she explained that Jet had turned tail as soon as they saw each other.

“That sounds like a real disaster,” the daughter said sympathetically. “Well, you ended up quickly giving up on Jet as a result, so it all worked out. You shouldn’t go after men like that.”

“What do you mean?” The daughter sounded pretty dismissive of Jet, leaving Ruri to wonder what she meant. From what Ruri saw, he was an extremely impressive young man.

“I don’t think you knew this, but Jet has two wives to his name.”

“Huh...?” Ruri’s mouth twitched.

“Not only that, but he already found his next girl after he found out you were taken. And, from what I’ve heard, he’s going to be marrying his third wife next month. Then again, polygamy is common in Jet’s race, so I suppose it’s not too scandalous. But as a woman, I think I definitely prefer someone like a devout dragonkin over someone who has a ton of wives. Don’t you think?”

Ruri’s mental image of Jet being an honest young man was crumbling.

“I think it’s good you gave up on a girl-chaser like him.”

“Seems that way...”

“Well, enjoy your meal!” the daughter said before returning back to work, leaving Ruri to sit in shock.

Ruri was so shocked, in fact, that Joshua addressed her to check on her. “What are you so down in the dumps for? Did you really like him that much?”

“No, that’s not it. I guess I’m just taken aback that a guy so innocent he wouldn’t hurt a fly ended up being a married man. To two people, might I add! That means I was a potential third wife, doesn’t it?! A third... I couldn’t do that.”

“Well, as a dragonkin, I agree with you on that,” Joshua admitted.

Ruri lamented this news since she thought Jet would make for a good husband. That wasn’t to say she was entirely against the concept of polygamy, but being raised in a monogamous society, she could never be open to the idea in her own romantic relationships.

“Is monogamy the standard where you were born, Ruri?” Ewan asked as he ate his food.

“Yeah. There are other countries that practice polygamy and polyandry, but I was never exposed to it.”

“I see. Here, marriage systems are usually dependent on the race, not the nation. Especially for demi-humans. There are also races that practice polyandry, but polygamy is particularly common among the races with four-legged beast forms, so make sure to keep that in mind.”

“Oh wow. Then, it’s commonplace to have three or four wives?”

“That’s a pretty low number for polygamists. The Beast King of the Nation of the Beast King has nineteen queens, after all.”

“Grk, nineteen?”

“Nineteen at the moment, and even more if you include the ones that were presented off or divorced.”

Ruri grimaced in disbelief.

Joshua joined in as he stuffed his face with the meat on his plate. “Well, I’d say that’s an extreme example. Still, unlike the dragonkin who value life-long devotion, there are races who consider the number of wives to be a symbol of power and authority.”

“If I’m marrying anyone, then maybe I should marry a dragonkin instead,” Ruri said with earnest. At least that way there was no chance of them cheating or having another wife. Although dragonkin could be quite jealous, they would never be unfaithful, which made them a safer bet in Ruri’s mind.

“Don’t say that like it’s nothing. If you’re going to be a dragonkin’s mate, you need to be ready,” Ewan said with a stern face.

“Care to explain?” asked Ruri.

“My father killed my mother. I told you my mother was human, right? Unlike dragonkin, humans don’t necessarily have to love the same person forever. Of course, there are humans who are devout lovers. As for my mother, there was apparently a human gardener who worked at the house, much to the dismay of my father and his jealousy. She fell in love with the gardener and tried to elope with him. Once my father realized that, he killed my mother, along with her lover, and then died himself,” Ewan said in a detached tone.

After a short silence, Ruri took her fork and stuck it into a strangely-colored mystery vegetable of this world. “Oh wow, that sounds rough,” she said casually, as if asking him to pass the salt.

“That’s taking it too lightly, darn it!” Ewan sharply quipped in reply. “Don’t you have any sympathy or comforting words to give?”

“But you’re not particularly sad about it, right? What do you expect me to say?” Ruri said, causing Ewan to look like he just got blindsided.

Having heard the whole conversation unfold, Joshua suddenly began to laugh. “Ahaha! Ruri, you’re a riot. Most people who heard that would feel sympathetic or be left speechless.”

“I mean, compare that to how enthusiastically he talks about Finn-san. He told that story with barely any emotion, like he was telling a story he’d heard from a third party.”

Seemingly right on the money with her assumption, Ewan scratched his head and let out a sigh before saying, “Well, you got me. This incident occurred before I was old enough to understand. My earliest childhood memories are of me living with my aunt and uncle as my parents and with Finn as my brother. In order to protect my feelings, they told me what happened after I grew up, but even if they were my birth parents, I can’t get emotional over a story about two people I’ve never met before. The only real comment I could muster up at the time was, ‘Oh, okay.’ In fact, my brother was so concerned over the fact that I wasn’t depressed that he stayed with me for a while, which made it a fond memory in the end... That’s why whenever someone offers me sympathy, it puts me in an awkward situation.”

There were those who heard the story from elsewhere and offered Ewan words of consolation, but being consoled when you’re not sad just left him at a loss as to how to respond. And it seemed to have happened to him on several occasions in the past. However, Ruri felt something from the way Ewan spoke, so she felt compelled neither to sympathize nor offer condolences. Ewan seemed to like that, but his story was quickly swept aside as Ruri enjoyed her meal with Joshua.

“This is some damn good food,” Joshua commented.

“Right? This is their signature dish. Try some of this, too.”

“Ooh, this is great!”

Seeing Ruri and Joshua smack their lips and ignore his story made a vein pop on Ewan’s forehead. “Hey, listen to me!!”

“Okay, okay. We’re listening, geez. Basically, you love Finn-san more than your actual parents, right?”

“That’s not what I mean! I mean, you’re definitely not wrong, but that’s not my point!! My point is that if you’re going to be a dragonkin’s mate, you need to study up on their traits beforehand. A human may be able to divorce if they’re unhappy with their relationship and move on to the next person, but dragonkin don’t work like that. If you don’t seriously commit yourself, then both parties will end up getting hurt.”

“I get your point, but even if you tell me that now, there’s no way I could wrap my head around it,” Ruri said.

“Uh, pardon?”

“Even if I committed myself to being someone’s mate, that doesn’t guarantee that our love will last forever. After all, I’m not a dragonkin; I’m a human. No one knows what the future really holds... so there’s no point in thinking about any of that right now. I’ll think about the what-ifs when they come to me. Then again, that depends on if I date a dragonkin.”

Ewan sighed and muttered under his breath, “...I’m warning you because it’s likely that will happen.”

However, his words were too low for Ruri to hear, and she added, “There’s no point in racking my brain over what may or may not happen, right?”

“I’m with Ruri!” Joshua said, cheerfully raising his hand.

“You’re a lot more serious than I expected, Ewan,” said Ruri.

Joshua nodded. “You should really learn to take it easy a little more, ya know?”

“And you take it too easy!” exclaimed Ewan. “You have no idea how much stress you put on Lord Claus’s stomach on a daily basis. You need to straighten up a little bit more.”

“But I don’t wanna. ’Sides, I do my job just fine. How many different countries do you think I’ve had to traverse? They work me to the bone. I mean, do you know how many times I thought about just flying the coop completely?”

“I’m saying there’s a problem with your attitude toward the job!”

Their squabble seemed like it could drag on forever. Considering their personalities, they would never see eye to eye with each other, making the whole thing pointless. Even though the diner was relatively empty, there were still a few customers inside. Feeling the silent pressure from the owner’s daughter to quickly stop the fight, Ruri reluctantly intervened.

“Okay, okay. Once we’re done eating, we’re going to go back to the capital to go house hunting, so hurry and eat up, Ewan,” Ruri said in an attempt to quell their arguing.

“Why are you singling me out?!” Ewan barked, thinking that Ruri was being unreasonable.

“Well, because you were the one who got all angry.”

“Sure did. Now, c’mon, hurry,” Joshua added.

“Grr...”

The two of them spoke to Ewan as if trying to soothe a child in the midst of a tantrum, which made him want to snap. However, perhaps because he realized that getting angry wasn’t very mature of him, he reconsidered it and suppressed his outburst as he resumed eating his meal.