The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 8 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Citrine’s Growth

For a week after giving birth, Ruri spent most of her time in bed. She’d had a conversation about the child’s name immediately after the baby was born but had passed out asleep soon after. When she woke up on occasion, Jade would bring a porridge-like food to her mouth and she would eat it, but it was an unconscious action that she could barely remember after the fact. By the time she fully awoke, she was flabbergasted upon finding out that a week passed.

Since the child was far smaller than a human baby, Ruri had assumed the burden on the mother would be small, but it seemed that was also linked to dragonkin biology. As Ruri drank the highly nutritious soup with tons of stewed ingredients, her eyes were drawn to the basket near her bedside, where Jade was pumping mana into their sleeping son.

“Are you sure we really don’t have to feed him milk or food?”

“Yes. It may seem strange to a human like you, Ruri, but mana is basically food for a newborn dragonkin.”

“Dragonkin really are mysterious beings, aren’t they?” Ruri said, referring to the fact that they didn’t need to be breastfed like human babies. Instead, their parents provided them with mana.

The baby grew by way of that mana, but in the week that Ruri was bedridden, Citrine had grown to three times his original size—to the size of a kitten. Ruri was both startled by this rapid rate of growth and shocked that she wasn’t able to see her child grow in real time, but Riccia had asked the spirits to record him with a camera. Thanks to her readiness, the first thing Ruri did now that she was recovering and awake more often, was check the footage of Citrine’s growth.

Fast-forwarding through the video, she could see how abnormally fast he grew. Dragonkin were a complete mystery—physically growing by eating mana made little sense to Ruri. However, the doctors assured her that her child was growing up fine and healthy, which gave her some relief.

Besides, dragonkin babies were similar to human ones in some ways. He spent most of his time sleeping, and he whined and cried when hungry—only he wanted mana instead of milk. The sounds of his cries were so adorable that it made her want to squirm. It was almost like the mere sound soothed her heart and cleansed anything bad from her. Of course, that had also been caught on camera.

After finishing giving mana to Citrine, Jade took back the bowl and spoon that Ruri was holding and proceeded to feed her. Feeding their partners by hand was a sign of affection for dragonkin, and though it had confused and embarrassed Ruri at first, she had gotten used to the process by now and opened her mouth for the incoming spoon without an ounce of shame.

“Are you feeling okay now?”

“Yes. I’m fine now,” Ruri answered, swallowing her soup and smiling.

Jade looked relieved. “I heard the reports, but I never thought that you would use up so much of your mana when you normally have so much,” he said, diligently scooping more soup up and bringing it to Ruri’s mouth.

“You and me both,” she griped as she ate.

The birth of their child had forced her into a near weeklong sleep, with her barely waking up. Although the dragon babies were small, they stole a large amount of mana and life force when being born. If the mother was a dragonkin, she would have a strong body and stamina to compensate for her mana, circumventing days of sleep. However, if she was a human or a demi-human who wasn’t as strong as Ruri, she would end up sleeping for a considerable amount of time due to her mana and stamina being siphoned away.

Birthing a dragonkin, the top of the hierarchy in this world, was that much of an ordeal. In Ruri’s case, however, it had been assumed she wouldn’t be as bad as other humans, since she possessed mana more powerful than even the Dragon King himself. However, when she’d opened her eyes, she had slept for a whole week, which had left Jade, Agate, the retainers, Kotaro, and Rin worried enough to hound the doctors for answers. She couldn’t help but pity the healers being pressured by the Dragon King and a couple of supreme-level spirits.

Apparently, Euclase and Rutile had managed to step in and settle them down. Ruri was grateful to have a couple of levelheaded individuals in her midst. It was probably hell trying to stop Jade, Kotaro and Rin. She sighed, imagining the foolishness that had ensued while she was sleeping. Even more so because she’d heard that Agate and the elders were making a fuss with the doctors as well.

However, as retainers to the government, it was understandable that they would be more concerned than necessary about her condition. After all, Ruri was an irreplaceable being—a Beloved.

Although she couldn’t label everyone who had raised a fuss out of concern for her as being bad, she knew that the doctors were feeling an inordinate amount of pressure. In fact, it may have been they who were most relieved by Ruri’s recovery.

After finishing her soup, Ruri stepped out of bed and peeked at her little one in the basket. He was sleeping safe and sound. Just looking at his sleeping face naturally curled her lips into a smile. Jade’s dragon form bore pitch-black scales, but Citrine had golden-yellow ones that would likely shine like the sun in the daylight. Every time Agate and the others came to check on him, they went wild over it.

“That’s His Majesty’s son for you.”

“His scales hold exceptional beauty.”

“I am sure he will be quite the handsome fellow with a promising future. I bet the ladies will be all over him.”

That was the sort of high praise they gave him. Perhaps he was overjoyed about Jade finally having a child, but Agate and the others were excitedly bustling around every day, looking for educators for Citrine—neglecting their work in the process. Euclase warned them that it was too early to be doing any of that, but they wouldn’t listen. The other retainers were getting fed up with their incessant chatter and lack of progress at work.

One of the reasons Agate’s group was so enthusiastic was that Jade’s child possessed enough mana, even as a baby, to secure a promising future for himself. Citrine’s mana wasn’t just strong because he’d inherited Jade’s blood, but also because he’d taken a great deal of mana from Ruri at birth. This was due to dragonkin biology feeding on mana. She might have had to stay in bed for a week, but if it meant him growing up to be big and strong, she felt it was worth the effort.

According to Rutile, the birth of a child between the Dragon King and a Beloved was an auspicious event, and the royal capital was reveling in festivities on par with Agate and his cohort. The celebration was expected to continue for some time, and even Finn, who usually stayed at Jade’s side, was keeping watch over the capital in order to maintain the peace.

After hearing about how lively the city had gotten, Ruri wanted to go see what it was like for herself, but there was no way they would give her permission to go outside. Rutile shut her down before she could even utter a word.

“Not a chance.”

Although Ruri was finally able to get out of bed, she had not yet made a full recovery and was under doctor’s orders to remain on complete bed rest, so it was difficult for her to even get a chance to leave her room. As unfortunate as that was, Ruri herself knew better than anyone that she wasn’t well enough to stroll around the capital, so she couldn’t object.

Just after that, Riccia came in with the baby clothes. Initially, she’d made them for a human child’s body, but the baby had come into the world with a dragon’s body instead. Ruri thought her mother would be shocked to see a nonhuman grandchild, but one would expect from Riccia, her ability to adapt was so outstanding that she was thrown off for less than a second before quickly growing overjoyed.

“Omigosh, so cute!”

At the time, Ruri had still been out of sorts from the effects of childbirth, so she hadn’t seen her mother’s initial reaction, but she could easily picture it in her head. Kohaku, the epitome of a normal man, had been a bit perplexed at first, but he was the same person who’d come to this world as Riccia’s husband. He accepted the surprising situation much faster than Ruri had expected and rejoiced in the birth of his dragon grandson.

The only problem was the error that Riccia had made. It was for a human figure, so the size and shape didn’t fit the baby at all. Still, she wasn’t about to give up and pulled an all-nighter to make a pillow for Citrine to sleep on more comfortably, as well as a onesie that would fit his dragon body.

It didn’t take much time, because Citrine was so small, but she used cloth that she had scrupulously selected based on information she’d gathered via the spirits. Riccia said that she would eventually be launching a baby brand for other demi-human children as well, so this was partially fueled by her business acumen. But since Citrine was growing faster than she’d expected, she’d left Heat to tend to the store in the capital and was holed up in her room to make clothes that fit.

Even though she didn’t need to go that far, Ruri knew that her mother was thrilled about Citrine’s birth, and that made Ruri happy. Knowing that, she wouldn’t dare stop her mother. Riccia’s motivation would probably remain at full force for a while.

While Riccia went into overdrive, healed-up Ruri looked at Jade with envy as he cradled Citrine. “I want to feed Citrine mana too,” she said.

Jade had always given Citrine mana, and Ruri had never done it even once. It wasn’t like he was unaffected by Ruri’s mana, since he’d taken her mana during childbirth, but that was a different experience altogether.

Since many humans lacked mana, it wasn’t absolutely necessary for both parents to give it to their child, but after sitting back and watching Citrine beg Jade for some, it was only natural that Ruri wanted to play a part in helping her son grow as well. From Jade’s troubled look, however, it was clear that he was opposed to the idea.

“I can’t?”

“I’m not saying that, but you’re still recovering. You should wait till you’re back in shape.”

“Sure, I’m still a little sluggish, but my mana has recovered more than enough.”

“Since I’m in tune with you, I can sense that just fine, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m worried.”

“But...”

“Just be patient until we know you’re completely fine. For my peace of mind as well.”

“You’re too overprotective,” Ruri said with an awkward smile. She could sense that he was firm about not backing down no matter what he said.

Jade had only ever known about childbirth as a concept. He knew that it was hard, hard work from what he read and from secondhand experience, but he had no idea that Ruri would sleep as much as she had. Now that it was his turn to actually experience it firsthand, he learned what childbirth truly meant.

That was why Jade was in such shock and why he was staying with Ruri the entire time she was confined to bed. The reason Euclase had been in such a big rush to have Jade finish any work that required his personal seal was that they had assumed Jade would be attached to Ruri at the hip once the baby was born. Euclase had many friends who were dragonkin women, so they probably knew how hard the effects of childbirth would hit a dragonkin husband.

Sure enough, that had been the right call, as Jade had turned out to be deadweight—too concerned about Ruri to do anything. Even now, he was clinging to her, leaving most of the work to his retainers, and no matter how many times she told him he could prioritize his work, he wouldn’t budge.

But since no one was complaining about the king abandoning his work to tend to his wife, it was probably totally natural behavior to the dragonkin. It seemed to be common knowledge among them that it was more for the sake of the mate than the baby.

“I’m totally fine, though...” Ruri assured him.

Jade was a real worrywart. Ruri smiled exasperatedly and gently petted Citrine. Since he was a dragon, he wasn’t as soft and pudgy as a human baby, but he was softer in a more elastic way than an adult dragon. His scales weren’t hard and slippery like those of an adult, and the smooth texture made her want to keep touching them.

As she petted him, he nuzzled his tiny nose against her fingers. The adorable gesture struck her through the heart. “That was so cuuute! Did you see that little thing he did, Jade-sama? It was too cute!” Ruri was tempted to pick him up and nuzzle her cheek against his, but he was sleeping so comfortably that she didn’t want to wake him up, so she abandoned the idea with a sigh. “My boy is the cutest in the whole world.”

Ruri was in full doting parent mode. She looked over Jade, who looked dissatisfied.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“While I’m happy our child was born, I’ll be honest that I’m not a fan of you giving Citrine too much attention, just looking from afar,” he replied, exposing his jealousy.

“Are you seriously jealous of Citrine?”

“Grk...” Jade didn’t deny it.

Ruri giggled. “It’s not very mature of you to be jealous of your own child.”

“That is one thing and this is another. I dislike it when your attention goes toward anyone else, regardless of who it is.”

“Well, that is an annoying trait.”

“That is how dragonkin males are. Just accept it.”

“Sure, sure,” Ruri said, smiling in a bemused yet joyful way. She said it was annoying, but she also found it cute that Jade was jealous of a child.

Ruri suddenly wondered something as she removed her hand from Citrine.

“So, wait, how long do dragonkin children have to grow before they can change into human form?”

Ruri didn’t know if this was the case for all dragonkin, but as far as she knew, they lived their daily lives in full human form, indistinguishable from humans. They only changed into dragon form if there was some reason to do so, such as flying or fighting. It was common to see demi-human children with imperfect human forms, or those who weren’t able to take human forms and had left over demi-human features. But these dissipated as they grew up, and adults were able to successfully take on complete human form.

Beastmen were an exception, as they retained the appearance of beasts without taking on full human form, but Ruri wasn’t quite sure of the differences between races who could and couldn’t assume human form.

Joshua had once told her the shocking fact that dragonkin’s age of adulthood was when they reached a hundred years old, so she had a hunch that dragonkin childhood was long, but she didn’t know how long it would take before he could change form. She had been given books to study the biology of the dragonkin, but she’d hardly read them because of how fast everything had gone from realizing she was pregnant to giving birth. Basically, she barely had any knowledge of dragonkin children.

Jade had been by her side since giving birth, so Ruri asked him, assuming it would be quicker than going through any required reading.

“Let’s see... He’ll probably be able to assume human form in another two weeks. In human terms, he’ll be as big as a three-year-old.”

Ruri was filled with a surprise that she’d felt countless times by now. “Is his growth a little fast?”

Actually, “a little” wasn’t the half of it. Jade was saying their son would grow to the size of a three-year-old in only three weeks, including the week Ruri spent in bed.

“A dragonkin doesn’t reach adulthood until a hundred years, right? I feel like if they kept growing at that rate, they’d hit old age quickly...”

The dragonkin were said to have the longest lifespans in the world. A lot of that had to do with their mana, but even excluding that, they lived long lives. That was exactly why Ruri had thought it would take a long time for them to grow up, but she received the exact opposite answer, which confused her.

“Dragonkin grow quite quickly until a certain point. But after that, the aging process gets slower, and when you reach a hundred—the age of dragonkin adulthood—you age even slower.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Which is why you only have to take care of a child for a short time. At first, they grow phenomenally fast compared to other races, so even without their parents taking care of them for years like humans, they will grow on their own if you leave them be.”

“On their own?” Ruri repeated, suspicious. Even if that was true, it seemed like an overstatement. Still, Jade had no reason to lie to her.

“Dragonkin are different from other races in many ways. It’s usually a surprise when they marry outside their own race.”

“Yes, I can only imagine,” Ruri replied. There were way too many things about dragonkins that were out of the norm. “So, from what you’ve told me, Jade-sama, do children leave their parent’s care early?”

“Yes.”

Ruri was visibly shocked. “No way! But I was going to take care of the baby and give it lots of love and attention!” she cried, knowing that Citrine wouldn’t need her care if he learned to be independent early. It was a huge departure from the way human babies were raised.

Ruri clutched her head, worrying about whether she could raise him properly.

Seeing this, Jade put his hand on his chin as if thinking about something. “You probably don’t know a lot of things, and I doubt Lady Riccia would know about raising a dragonkin either.”

“I doubt that too,” Ruri agreed.

Up until she heard Jade’s explanation, she’d thought she would learn from Riccia’s teachings on parenting, but dragonkin were so different from humans that it didn’t seem like her mother’s lessons would serve any purpose. She was at a loss. Even if she crammed knowledge from the books into her head, it was unlikely that she could put any of it into practice. And even if she was to talk things out with anyone, it was easier to talk things out with women than men, and most of the women working around Ruri were unmarried. Rutile also only had information and had never actually raised a child.

Ruri thought that Jade’s retainers would be somewhat easier to speak with, but according to him, Claus, Agate, and the other elders were too busy working in the service of the king to participate in childcare. She was tempted to complain about that being a problem in itself. Work was important, but so was family.

Then again, Jade had said their children “would grow on their own.” The way they raised them must have been fundamentally different from how humans did things—with humans, it was a risk to ever let your young out of your sight.

“Hmmm...” Ruri hummed, worried about whether she would be able to handle being a dragonkin parent.

Jade then suggested, “How about we summon Chelsie?”

“Chelsie?”

“Despite appearances, she is a veteran who birthed and raised three children, including Claus, all by herself. You would have an easy time talking things over with her, wouldn’t you?”

“Ah, I see now. Good point.”

It would be a great help to Ruri if she had Chelsie, a dragonkin parent, there for her. She’d raised three children, so she would likely be able to provide accurate childcare advice if Ruri was ever in a bind.

“But will Chelsie-san come?”

“I’ll try to get in contact with her personally. We’ve already talked about you giving birth, and according to Claus, she was going to come by soon to check on you.”

“Thank you very much. Having Chelsie-san around would be extra helpful!”

“Then sit tight for a bit. I’ll go talk to Claus,” Jade said, exiting the room.

He came back soon after, as though saying he didn’t want to be away from Ruri for even a second. He had a ton of documents in his hands. Euclase must have pushed them on him. He placed the documents on the table with a dismayed look on his face. Then, as if nothing had happened, he came to Ruri’s side and embraced her, turning away as if trying not to look at the documents.

Ruri smiled awkwardly, sensing that he was trying to escape reality. She decided not to say anything and let him procrastinate in peace.

“Nevertheless...” Jade spoke up, looking down at Citrine. “I had expected it to a certain extent from Lord Beryl, Lady Riccia, and you, but to think that even Citrine is a Beloved too...”

“Yes, I know what you mean. The Imperial Nation might raise a fuss again.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure that Euclase and Claus will handle that.”

“Worst case, Rin said that she would threaten them or something.”

“Ruri, I beg of you—don’t let her do that.”

“I think Rin was half joking, so don’t worry.”

“Then does that mean the other half wasn’t joking?”

Ruri quietly looked away. Yes, a number of small spirits were sticking around Citrine’s basket, smiling and watching him sleep. At first, even more spirits had come in droves to see him, but Rin had rebuked them for being too loud, so they’d ended up deciding on an order for visiting. And in the process, there’d been a bit of a kerfuffle.

“’Kay, I’m first!”

“No, I am!”

“I wanna go ahead!”

“Let me!”

“No, let me!”

They fought over who would go first, causing Rin to yell at them for being noisy again. Weren’t spirits supposed to be able to share information? Regardless of who was first, they shouldn’t have had any problem if they shared what they saw and heard with each other.

Ruri asked them about it, but Rin exasperatedly replied, “Yes, but they still want to see him.”

Rin and Kotaro were away right now. Even though they’d scolded the other spirits before leaving, the lower-level spirits who had been clinging to Citrine ever since he was born launched a vehement protest.

“Not fair!”

“That’s terrible!”

“Give us a turn! Give us a turn!”

“Yeah!”

They banded together to speak out against the supreme-level spirits in a rare display. That was how much the newborn Citrine was beloved by them. He wasn’t just favored by spirits of one element like Sango and Joshua—those of multiple elements were assembled in the room. That basically proved that he was a Beloved.

This only further intensified the celebratory mood both inside and outside the castle in the capital. As a parent, Ruri was happy to see so many people celebrating her child, but she also worried about whether it was safe to have this many Beloveds in a country.

Ruri wasn’t the only one to think this; beside the overjoyed Agate and elders, she could see that Euclase and Claus looked perplexed. They were probably happy to have another Beloved, but they were likely racking their brains over how to deal with so many being gathered in one nation.

The benefits to the nation were great, but they probably couldn’t get too happy when they considered the negatives that came along with them. It wasn’t a problem that Ruri, who couldn’t involve herself in politics, could do anything about. The most she could do was watch and control the spirits so that they wouldn’t go berserk over Citrine’s birth.

Fortunately, Ruri had Rin and Kotaro, who could tighten the spirits’ reins to prevent them from going overboard. Since Citrine was a Beloved, he had to be properly educated so that he wouldn’t grow up to be an arrogant tyrant. As far as Beloved ranking went, since Ruri had supreme-level spirits like Kotaro and Rin under her control, she was higher than him.

That was a relief, since it was a very important issue when it came to educating Citrine. If his rank were higher, there was a chance the spirits would spoil him, and she wouldn’t be able to scold him if the occasion called for it. She couldn’t allow him to become a selfish Beloved like others in the past and felt a sense of duty to raise her child to be a worthy son of the Dragon King.

As Ruri was filling herself with determination, the spirits were fighting to decide their spots in line. However, they ended up settling things peacefully with rock-paper-scissors. The spirits who were sent to the back of the line because they lost booed and complained, but they followed the rules and left the room. After that, there were no further disputes, and they visited in the order decided by their game. They did nothing in particular and basically just watched him.

Citrine himself was a newborn who spent the majority of his time sleeping, only waking up to eat, and he was unable to talk. Yet the eyes of the spirits quietly observing him glimmered with joy.

Riccia, who had just arrived herself, took in the sight and was reminded of when Ruri was born, bringing back fond memories. Apparently, spirits had flocked around Ruri in the same way when she was born, vying with each other to secure a spot.

“When I saw the spirits flocking to you, I laughed with your father and said, ‘She’s definitely our daughter.’” Riccia chuckled and continued. “The spirits were disappointed because you couldn’t see them. I consoled them by saying that you would be able to see them in time.”

Ruri was listening with interest. She never heard that anecdote before. She wished that her mother had told her about the existence of spirits sooner, but seeing as she couldn’t see them until she came to this world anyway, even if her mother had told her, Ruri would have shrugged it off as a fairy tale. However, as she watched the spirits viewing Citrine, part of her was glad to know that she’d had the same experience as an infant. Knowing that the spirits had watched her with joy brought a smile to her face.

“By the way, Ruri. Where are Lady Rin and Lord Kotaro?” Jade asked, noticing the absence of the two spirits. Rin and Kotaro had been permanent fixtures before and after the birth, but now they were nowhere to be seen. There was a reason for that.

“Ah, right. They said they would go to the Nation of the Spirit King. I doubt they’ll be back for a while,” Ruri answered.

No matter how fast Kotaro, the Spirit of the Wind, could move, it took time to make a round trip to the Nation of the Spirit King. They wouldn’t be back in a day or two.

“What business do they have there?” Jade asked, curious about why Rin and Kotaro would leave Ruri’s side when she hadn’t fully recovered, given they were even more overprotective than Jade. It was only natural to question that, since they normally wouldn’t leave her side even if they were told to.

“They said they’re going to get berries from the Spirit of the Trees.”

“Berries?”

“Yes, special berries that only the Spirit of the Trees can create.”

“Berries that they’d leave you behind to obtain?”

“It’s apparently for me. They said eating the berries restore both mana and vitality.” They’d both gone all the way to the Nation of the Spirit King in order to obtain them.

“Such a thing exists? That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Awain never mentioned that to me.” Jade was astonished. Dragon’s blood was also special, but it only cured wounds and illnesses; it didn’t restore strength or magic.

“I told them that I didn’t need it, but...” Ruri trailed off. Rin’s and Kotaro’s desire to have Ruri heal as quickly as possible was so strong that, after carefully placing a barrier around her, they had set off in spite of Ruri’s attempts to stop them. She looked at Jade with a wry smile. “They sure are overprotective...”

She hoped to get him to agree, but she received an answer she wasn’t expecting.

“No. If that will make you better, then I’d love to have it.”

“Right, you’re just as overprotective as they are...” Ruri said, weakly chuckling. “I’ve told you, I’m fine.”

“But you haven’t fully recovered, have you?” Jade prodded.

“Well, I won’t say I have...”

Jade knew she still needed more time because he spent most of the day by her side.

“Everyone cares about you that much, Ruri.”

“Yes, I know,” she answered with a grin.

Although there were many hardships that accompanied coming to this world, many more important things had happened as well. In the other world, Ruri had had no one she cared about aside from her family, but now she had more people she cared for than she knew what to do with. She had initially lamented her misfortune in coming here, but now she realized that she was much more comfortable in this world. Even if she were told that she could return to the other world, she would choose to stay. She could say that with certainty. Ruri felt that this world was where she belonged more. She had gained more here than she’d left behind.

Once Ruri thought about how blessed and fortunate she was, she wanted to thank God, if one existed. Then again, it would be funny if there was a God in a world with spirits roaming around.

Ruri giggled.

“What’s wrong, Ruri? You seem awfully giddy,” Jade asked.

“I was just reminded that a lot of people love me.”

“A little late for that,” Jade replied, lovingly caressing her cheek. “‘A lot’ doesn’t cover the number of people who love you. Then again, the one who loves you the most is me.”

“I’m sure Kotaro and Rin would vehemently disagree with that,” Ruri said, giggling. She could easily picture them hounding Jade.

“I won’t cede that fact, even if I’m against supreme-level spirits,” he said with conviction. When it came to Ruri, he always showed a childlike stubbornness.

“What are you trying to prove?” Ruri asked, momentarily exasperated.

However, that feeling was soon replaced with joy and love.