The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 6 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Rescue

“I’m...so...booored!” Ruri complained as she lay around in bed.

It had been three days since the meeting between Spinel and the mysterious man had happened, which meant that today was the day of the deal. It was assumed that the exchange would go down at night, just like last time, so Ruri and the other Beloveds were sequestered in their rooms. There were more guards than usual outside Ruri’s room, and Kotaro had put a powerful barrier up too. They were armed to the teeth. It was almost like they were asking anyone to come if they dared.

In contrast to the tense surroundings, Ruri was taking things easy. This was mostly because she trusted Kotaro and the other spirits. Jade, on the other hand, was still being overprotective. Seemingly still worried despite the strict security in place, he hadn’t left Ruri’s side since this morning. Given that this was an issue for the Nation of the Spirit King, Jade had no choice but to keep himself out of affairs and wait for the nation’s people to solve it.

It had been suggested that they both return to the Nation of the Dragon King, but now that Ruri was suspected of being the culprit, leaving the Nation of the Spirit King before the case wrapped up could be construed as her running away. The consensus was that it was best to trust in the Nation of the Spirit King to catch the culprit since they knew that Spinel was the ringleader.

Be that as it may, because Awain couldn’t frivolously disclose his nation’s internal affairs, he hadn’t given Jade any real details, and Ruri could tell that Jade was getting impatient. Still, she was a Beloved, and Kotaro, the supreme-level Spirit of Wind, was by her side. Even if Awain wouldn’t speak directly, everything he said was fair game to the spirits of the wind. The concept of privacy didn’t exist.

Kotaro sorted through the information that the spirits had been gathering and relayed it to Ruri.

“It appears that they’ve done some thorough investigation on that girl. She doesn’t seem to be any the wiser, though.”

“Did they find out anything?” Ruri asked as she lay belly down on the bed with her arms stretched out.

“It seems that most of this has been coming from that girl’s mother rather than the girl herself.”

“Aah, Spinel’s mother—the one who made her believe that Jade-sama was coming for her. Lapis said that she tried to get him to take her daughter as his first wife too, if I recall.”

As Ruri and Kotaro continued to converse, Jade, who had been restlessly pacing around the room, sat next to Ruri as she lay on the bed. Then he then combed his fingers through her hair, making her grin.

“You should try to take it easy, Jade-sama. We won’t accomplish anything if we’re on edge.”

Jade remained silent for a moment before letting out a small sigh and flopping down beside Ruri.

Ruri grinned in satisfaction, then urged Kotaro to continue. “So what exactly came from the mother?”

“Old pieces of documentation—one that details how a sacred beast’s heart crystallizes after its death and the process for mixing an elixir that uses it as an ingredient. It would seem that she pilfered those documents, which are only passed down to the head of the House of Morga.”

“And he never caught on that they were stolen?”

“Apparently not.”

Ruri and Jade both looked disappointed. Spinel was bad, but neither could shake the feeling that the head of the House of Morgan had a host of issues of his own. It made them wonder how he even managed to continue being the leader of the head nobles. Then again, perhaps he was too busy to be mindful of the happenings within his family—a common occurrence for a standard workaholic.

“Also, the mother was the one who proposed assassinating the sacred beast—my current body. She even eliminated the caretaker who poisoned it.”

“Whoa... That’s guilty if I ever heard it,” Ruri remarked. “But I thought that Spinel was the one who did that. She said so herself.”

“I suppose the mother planned it, and the daughter carried it out.”

Jade interjected, “But how did those two do that on their own? The caretaker was captured and jailed, wasn’t he? How could they kill someone inside there?”

“As for that, I would venture that they used sorcery.”

“Sorcery? You mean witchcraft sorcery?” asked Jade.

“No. Just because it’s sorcery doesn’t necessarily mean it’s from witches,” Kotaro explained. “The witches’ brand of sorcery was referred to as such because they could use magic to curse and mystify people. Even regular humans can use magic that inflicts curses upon people. You too, Ruri, if you had the knowledge.”

“Oh, I see,” Ruri replied. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to use something like that even if she could.

“Trees shares my opinion. It would be impossible to slip past his watchful eye otherwise. Although...if the person who killed the caretaker and the person who kidnapped the missing sacred beast are one and the same, that would be a different story. And they actually did slip past both me and Trees to kidnap the pup in the first place.”

“So, basically...Spinel and her mother planned things out, but we won’t know who the real perpetrator is until we apprehend whoever kidnapped the cub.”

“That is the gist of things.”

“So we’ll have to wait after all,” Jade lamented.

“But they apprehended the mother not long ago. They’re still letting the daughter swim, though.”

“Well, that’s good news,” said Ruri.

All they had to do now was wait until nightfall.

As that thought was settling in, Jade suddenly sprung up.

“What’s the matter, Jade-sama?” Ruri prodded.

Jade walked to the window and threw it open, a stern expression on his face.

Ruri had a bad feeling and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Animal cries. And they’re getting closer and closer.”

“Huh?”

Ruri sat up and looked out the window, but she couldn’t hear anything. Confused, she peeled her eyes from Jade and turned to Kotaro.

“Hmm, the sacred beasts are making noise. They’ve left the forest, and they’re about to head toward the castle.”

“How come?”

“They are coming out to look for the missing pup. They scoured the forest but didn’t find anything. They must have lost patience when the Spirit King didn’t send any news of the discovery. This is the second time that the sacred beasts have lost one of their young. All of them have left the forest in order to search on their own.”

“Um, that’s bad, isn’t it?” asked Ruri.

“I would suppose,” Kotaro replied.

The sacred beasts were born sheltered, living in the forest under the Spirit of Trees’s protection. They were just as special to the Nation of the Spirit King as spirits were, and it would probably incite a massive panic if they left the forest.

At that moment, a voice suddenly descended upon them.

“Wind.”

“Hmm, is that you, Trees?”

“Could I ask you to stop them?”

“You want me to?”

“It would be more significant if you did it because you have a sacred beast’s body. Plus, they’re also of the wind. Being the Spirit of Wind, you are the most suited for the task.”

“Hmm. That is true, but...” Kotaro trailed off, looking at Ruri. He was reluctant to leave her side.

“I’ll be fine, Kotaro. You should go,” Ruri assured him.

After thinking it over for a bit, Kotaro figured that since Jade and the other spirits would be around, Ruri would be safe.

“Okay, then,” Kotaro agreed.

“Thank you. I appreciate your help,” said the Spirit of Trees.

“Mm-hmm,” Kotaro replied before jumping out the window. He landed softly on the ground and dashed toward the source of the commotion.

“Hmm, I wonder if he’ll be okay,” Ruri muttered.

“We’ll just have to stay put and leave it to Kotaro,” Rin said, no sign of panic in her voice. She even began to have a drink on the table.

Rin’s behavior instantly relaxed Ruri.

Jade asked her, “Do you want something to drink, Ruri?”

“Yes, I’d like something warm, if that’s okay,” Ruri replied.

“Got it,” he said, ringing the bell on the table. A servant immediately entered the room, and Jade ordered drinks for two.

Ruri was staring out the window with her back turned to both of them when she suddenly heard a sound—less of a sound and more of a cry. She turned to look behind her, but all she saw was Jade talking to the servant, unaware of the sound. She turned back to look out the window, and something caught her eye. She looked up with a gasp to find a brown-skinned man meeting eyes with her.

“Oh crap!” the man whispered.

Ruri stood stock still and stared at him blankly. She had met this man somewhere before. As she tried to recall who he was, she caught sight of something tied to his back—the sacred beast pup.

“Aaah!” Ruri shouted loudly and pointed.

“What’s all the racket, Rur— Wha?!”

When Jade turned around, he saw a tan-skinned man holding Ruri in a full nelson. On the man’s back was...the missing sacred beast.

They had expected it to be the same size as Kotaro, seeing how his body had also come from a sacred beast pup, but that wasn’t the case at all. This pup was small enough to lift with one arm.

The fluffy white pup moaned sadly with an “ahungh.”

“So you’re the kidnapper?! Unhand Ruri and the sacred beast!” Jade commanded, instantly switching into combat mode and pulling his sword from his pocket space.

The servant rushed out of the room without a moment’s delay and called for backup. A pack of soldiers rushed into the room. The dragonkin, including Ewan and Finn, were naturally among them.

“Ruri! You got yourself caught again?!” Ewan carped.

Feeling extremely apologetic, Ruri tried to calmly assess the situation. “I’ve met you before, haven’t I? At the market, if I remember correctly.”

“Oh, you remember me? I recognized you right away. I could never forget a pretty girl like you,” the tan-skinned man, Gibeon, said, as he kissed Ruri’s hair.

Just then, a dagger whizzed by, grazing Ruri’s locks.

“Whoa!” Gibeon shouted as he reflectively avoided the dagger. If he hadn’t, it would have certainly stabbed him right in the face.

The thrower was none other than Jade, the man with the enraged demonic expression.

“Hey, that was dangerous, you,” Gibeon said. “What woulda happened if you hit this cute girl?!”

“I wouldn’t allow a single scratch to befall Ruri,” Jade declared.

“Ah, right, right. Your name is Ruri. I remember your name now too. I’m Gibeon,” he said, grinning up a storm as if he had no grasp of the situation.

Jade’s anger, however, was at its peak. “Unhand Ruri now!”

“Hey, sure thing~! If you guys let me go.”

“Nonsense! We can’t let the abductor of a sacred beast go scot-free.”

“Yup, I figured~! Then what if I did this?” Gibeon said and pointed a sharp dagger at Ruri’s neck.

The tension in the room skyrocketed. While Jade froze, gritting his teeth as if he were going to click his tongue in frustration, Ruri remained composed. She grabbed the blade of the knife and twisted Gibeon’s hand in the opposite direction with her free hand.

“Te-yah!” Ruri yelled.

“Gaah!” Gibeon cried in pain, his hand twisted at an angle it shouldn’t have been.

With his hold now broken, Ruri easily ran back to Jade.

“R-Ruri?! Is your hand all right?!” Jade asked in a panic. After all, she’d gripped the blade of a dagger with her bare hands. It was only normal that he would be worried.

Ruri’s hand was perfectly fine, though. She smiled at Jade and explained, “Kotaro has a strong barrier in place around me, so I wouldn’t get wounded just from a knife touching me.”

“I see. Thank goodness,” Jade said, sighing in relief and hugging her tight.

Ruri tapped on his arms. “Now isn’t the time.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Jade let go of Ruri and primed his sword.

Even though Gibeon was trapped like a rat, he was grinning like a fool. “Oh boy, this is what it’s like to face certain doom?”

“Come quietly and surrender,” Jade commanded.

“Well, well... What should I do?” Gibeon trailed off and then quickly took the sacred beast from his back and chucked it at Ruri.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Ruri scrambled to make the catch. She looked at the safe pup and breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone, who’d been too distracted with the sacred beast, all at once remembered Gibeon and looked over to where he stood. Unfortunately, he’d disappeared without a trace.

“Wha?! Where did he go?!” Ruri interjected.

“Search for him! He couldn’t have gone far!” Jade ordered.

The door and the window were the only escape routes. There was a mass of soldiers crowding the door, meaning the window was his only option. Yet he couldn’t be seen from there.

“Where in the world did he go?” said a voice from the baffled crowd.

As everyone stood in confusion, someone parted the sea of soldiers and entered the room, holding a gigantic paper fan.

“Huh? The Spirit of Light?” asked Ruri.

“Oh my, it is Light,” Rin remarked.

While Ruri, Rin, and the members of the Nation of the Dragon King were baffled by the Spirit of Light’s presence, the spirit took a look around the room and stopped at a certain spot. Everyone watched, curious as to what she was doing, when the Spirit of Light used the gigantic fan to smack the seemingly empty air. When she did, a loud thwack rang through the room and Gibeon was revealed, unconscious and with his eyes rolled back.

“Mm-hmm, that should do it,” the Spirit of Light said, nodding in satisfaction. She slapped Gibeon’s face, but he was out cold. “Okay, hurry up and restrain him.”

Once Ruri and the others snapped out of their daze, the soldiers from the Nation of the Spirit King rushed over to Gibeon and started wrapping him with rope. You could feel their anger with each coil they wrapped around the young man. When they finished, they carted Gibeon straight out of the room.

The room was now cleared, and only those from the Nation of the Dragon King remained. It felt like the aftermath of a storm.

“Why are you here, Spirit of Light?” Ruri inquired.

“Because Wind kept asking me a bunch of weird questions. I came here to find out what he was talking about. Now I know the reason. It seems like it was my fault. Sorry.”

“What do you mean?” Rin asked, fluttering up to her.

“We can talk about that later. Anyway, shouldn’t you hurry up and get that back to its parents?” the Spirit of Light suggested, pointing her paper fan at the sacred beast child.

“Oh, true. The sacred beasts are going to leave the forest and come here if we don’t return it soon!” Ruri exclaimed. She was only thinking about getting the pup back to the forest, so she bolted out of the room in a hurry.

“Ruri!” Jade shouted, but it fell on deaf ears.

Rin fluttered out of the room in pursuit of her. She landed on Ruri’s shoulder as Ruri ran through the castle at top speed.

“Come now, Ruri. You can’t just run recklessly about because you have Kotaro’s barrier around you. The king was worried sick.”

“Aha ha, sorry. I let the feeling of safety get to my head,” Ruri replied, explaining why she’d ended up forgetting that she was a Beloved—a protected person. Dreading the stern talking-to that she would undoubtedly get later, Ruri kept running.

“Ruri~! Turning here is a shortcut~!”

“Yup!”

“Thanks!”

The spirits, who had been chasing her like Rin, gave Ruri directions. She raced down the hallway and exited out into the gardens. Just as she was about to cut through the courtyard, she heard someone call out to her, causing her to slam on the brakes.

“Hold it!” the person yelled.

Ruri turned around, wondering who would’ve stopped her in such a rush, only to find Spinel peering back at her.

“I insist that you hand over that sacred beast.”

Ruri shook her head, replying, “I’m going to return this pup back to its parents.”

“Then I will do it. I cannot allow you, an individual from another nation, to be bothered with such a task. I shall take responsibility and bring it back to its home.”

Ruri couldn’t believe how Spinel was able to deliver those lines so brazenly. Of course, Ruri wasn’t going to give the pup to her since she knew that Spinel was involved in its kidnapping.

“No way. If I give it to you, you’re just going to use it as an ingredient in your elixir,” Ruri sarcastically replied.

Spinel’s hands shook. “Whatever are you talking about? An elixir? What do you mean?”

Ruri and Rin looked at Spinel with cold eyes.

“You can stop playing dumb,” Ruri said. “I know everything. The man you were cutting a deal with has already been arrested, and I’m sure they’ll be coming to arrest you next.”

Spinel gritted her teeth. “That’s even more reason for you to hand the sacred beast over to me!” she screamed, pouncing at Ruri.

Ruri quickly dodged her advances and tightened her grip around the pup to protect it. “There’s no way I would just say, ‘oh sure, here you go,’ and hand it over!”

Spinel grabbed Ruri’s arm and dug her nails in, but thanks to Kotaro’s barrier, Ruri’s skin remained unscratched. However, when Spinel tugged on Ruri’s hair, she pulled out a few hairs.

Ruri cried out in pain—maybe the barrier didn’t extend all the way to her hair— but she wasn’t going to relinquish the pup under any circumstances.

The onlooking spirits, beside themselves in rage, came in to rescue Ruri. They slowly closed in on Spinel, who was none the wiser.

“The time for punishment has come!”

“Punishment!”

“Punish herrr!”

The spirits latched on to Spinel and kept her from moving. Spinel had no idea what was happening since she couldn’t see any of them, and she fell into a panic.

“Eeek! What?! What’s going on?!” Spinel screamed as a mountain of spirits so large that not even Ruri knew where they’d all come from crushed her and brought her to her hands and knees. Looking down at Spinel on the ground, Ruri asked, “What did you plan on doing with the elixir? Were you going to use it on Jade-sama?”

Spinel looked up at Ruri with disdain. “Of course, I have no choice! My mother said that I would need the elixir in order to secure Master Jade’s heart!”

“Again with your mother, huh?” Ruri said, her words tinged with exasperation. “So, what? Would you be satisfied with controlling Jade-sama with an elixir? Wouldn’t that be a hollow victory?”

“It has nothing to do with you!” Spinel snapped back.

“It has everything to do with me! You’ve been lying about me and damaging my reputation!” Ruri replied as the spirits all nodded and puffed their chests in agreement.

“It’s your fault. You’re trying to steal Master Jade away from me! I am to be Master Jade’s wife! My mother told me that he would be coming to take my hand. I have been waiting for him this entire time!” Spinel proclaimed. Her words were born of unjust resentment, and she looked at Ruri with hate in her eyes.

Ruri, on the other hand, felt that Spinel looked pathetic and rather undeserving of her anger.

“Is that your idea?” Ruri asked.

Spinel, confused, replied, “Huh?”

“You want the elixir because your mother told you. You waited for Jade-sama because your mother told you. Mother, mother, mother. Your mother tells you everything. Where does that leave you, then?”

“Wh-What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet? Okay, then, would you have tried to get the sacred beast if your mother hadn’t told you to do so? What do you know of Jade-sama besides what your mother told you?”

Spinel seemed to be at a loss for words.

“What, can’t answer? How come? You’re going to be Jade-sama’s wife, aren’t you? Why don’t you know anything about him? Wouldn’t a person normally want to know about the man they’re in love with?”

“Well...”

“You were just your mother’s puppet in the end, weren’t you?”

“N-No! No, no, no!” Spinel refuted, repeating herself like a broken record. It looked like she was doing that to hold herself together.

Ruri was suddenly hit with a hollow feeling. When she thought about all of the things that this girl had put her through, her anger deflated.

“So, the mother was the root of evil,” Ruri said to herself, hoping that Awain would give Spinel’s mother a harsh punishment.

Just then, the dragonkin, led by Ewan, came running up.

“Hey, Ruri! Is this where you were?!” Ewan inquired. “We were looking all over for you!”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. Hey, would you mind delivering this girl to the Spirit King for me?”

The dragonkin looked down at Spinel on the ground next to Ruri. Ewan, who couldn’t see spirits, was confused, but the other dragonkin grimaced.

“I’m heading to where Kotaro is,” Ruri informed them.

“I’ll come with you,” offered Ewan.

Leaving them to drag Spinel out of the pile of spirits, Ruri headed for Kotaro with Ewan and Rin in tow. There, near the border of the forest, Kotaro was trying to persuade the sacred beasts to wait. The sacred beasts looked bloodthirsty, and the faces of the Nation of the Spirit King’s soldiers were all tense.

“Kotaro!” Ruri called out.

“Ruri,” Kotaro replied in a tone that suggested a spirit had filled him in beforehand. He didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see Ruri carrying the small sacred beast.

“Aroof, aroof,” howled the pup.

The once-bloodthirsty beasts crowded around Ruri. Their eyes were now calm, and they looked at the child as relief started to fill the air. Ruri gently set the sacred beast child down on the ground. It wagged its tiny tail happily and greeted each and every one of its elders with a touch of the tip of its nose. The sacred beasts began to return to the forest, the child in the center of the pack.

“Well, that solves that problem,” said Ruri.

Just as Ruri was feeling satisfied, Ewan gave Ruri a firm chop to the head. He was holding back, of course, but it still hurt, nonetheless.

“Hey, what was that for, Ewan?” she howled.

“You need to get more used to being protected. Otherwise, we’ll wind up in trouble!”

“Yeah, but...”

“No buts!”

“Okay, I’m sorry...” Ruri meekly apologized, knowing that excuses wouldn’t work on the angry Ewan.