Chapter 7 – 7
7 – 7
He had fallen so hard that his backside, which had slammed into the floor, felt numb. However, Euro completely forgot about the pain, his mouth hanging open.
In broad daylight—no, the time of day wasn’t the point. The problem was the fact that a tiger had suddenly appeared in the middle of his room.
If he had encountered a wild tiger in some deep mountain valley in the middle of a forest, he could have accepted it as the pinnacle of his already unlucky life.
But this was not that. He was seriously beginning to suspect that all of this was a dream. After all, the idea of dying by being stabbed with a prop sword on a stage made no sense to begin with.
He had already been pessimistic about life and had tried to die; perhaps he had become too immersed while preparing for the play and had fallen into a coma, dreaming a bizarre dream mixed with all sorts of stray thoughts.
Or perhaps, on the way to the Spioren Dukedom after the carriage broke down, he had accidentally touched something like hallucination grass, fainted, and was now hovering between life and death.
In a fantasy world where dragons and curses existed, there was no reason such a thing couldn’t happen.
‘Did that bastard Melione put something in my tea yesterday?’
While Euro was panicking, his mind racing with various conjectures, he squeezed his eyes shut as the tiger approached slowly, seemingly unfazed by his screams.
Right, his life had no particular value anyway. He was destined to become fertilizer upon death, so becoming the daily meal of a hungry tiger would actually be a more honorable end.
Though he never dreamed that this “honorable end” would be a literal “end by tiger.”
“Your Highness!”
It was then. At the sudden sound of a scream, Raymond rushed into the room. Euro snapped his eyes open and shouted.
“D-don’t move! There’s a tiger here…!”
Euro was horrified to see Raymond approaching him without hesitation, even while clearly seeing the tiger situated in the middle of the room.
Isn’t the priority when encountering a wild animal to avoid provoking it? Though he wasn’t exactly in a position to talk, having screamed his head off, he felt that one person becoming food was enough.
However, for some reason, Raymond didn’t seem surprised at all upon seeing the tiger; instead, he breathed a sigh of relief and helped Euro up.
Euro blinked in surprise, wondering if perhaps this tiger was visible only to him.
“Can’t you see that thing? Am I crazy?”
“Your Highness, are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt, but…”
With a bewildered expression, Euro leaned on Raymond and blinked. Despite Euro’s frantic behavior, the tiger approached with a leisurely gait and sniffed around.
Raymond bowed his waist toward the tiger and spoke in an extremely polite tone.
“Kisha, this person is His Highness Euro Leches. He has come from the Kingdom of Norden. He will be staying with us for the time being.”
“…Huh?”
He spoke to the tiger as if serving a master. Euro looked around, wondering if there were cameras hidden somewhere and if he was being pranked.
That couldn’t be it. Even if this was Kim Euro’s body, it made no sense. There was no way a failed idol who had never even had a proper broadcast activity would be the target of such a large-scale hidden camera prank.
“I forgot to mention this beforehand. It was my mistake. Your Highness, this is Kisha, the second master of the Spioren Dukedom.”
“…Master?”
“Yes.”
Euro asked as if to say, “What kind of nonsense is that?” but Raymond answered flatly that it was true. Euro was speechless at the unbelievable story.
However, he didn’t ask why. If the great Dukedom had decided so, he wasn’t in a position to argue. After all, he was still a guest.
Then again, thinking about it, it was possible. In a world where dragons existed, it wasn’t a problem if a tiger was the master of a noble house.
“…I see.”
Though he couldn’t easily accept it, [unauthorized copy]Euro nodded for now and stared at the tiger… [unauthorized copy]no, Kisha, the second master of the Dukedom.
‘It really is as big as a house.’
Seeing the tiger up close, it boasted an impressive physique. Since it was his first time seeing a tiger right in front of him, his body trembled. Its paws were so large that, without exaggeration, they were the size of his own face.
Thinking that most humans would be sent to the afterlife if those paws swiped at them, Euro unconsciously took a small step back. At that, the tiger, which had been continuously sniffing Euro, raised its head and met his eyes.
Was it offended? Yes, that was possible. Seeing how politely Raymond introduced him, this tiger could understand human speech to some extent… or, to put it in his own terms, this tiger might be a mystical creature rather than a simple animal.
Thus, Euro placed a hand over his heart, which was still beating wildly from shock, and spoke to Kisha.
“Ah, hello. Kisha?”
In response to Euro’s greeting, Kisha met his eyes and made a strange, purring sound. It sounded like a snort of air or a slight growl, but it didn’t seem to be intended as a threat.
“I am the Third Prince of Norden, Euro Leches. It is an honor to meet the second master of Spiorene. Earlier… well, I was just too surprised, so I hope you aren’t offended.”
Staring into the golden pupils, Euro swallowed hard and spoke as if pleading. If he had been given a heads-up, he wouldn’t have been this shocked.
Well… to be honest, that wasn’t entirely true. Even if he had known beforehand, he surely would have made the same fuss.
As if Kisha truly understood Euro’s words, the tiger sat quietly in place, and at that sight, Raymond looked at Euro with a bit of surprise.
“It seems Kisha wishes to exchange greetings with Your Highness.”
“I already greeted him?”
“Not that, but a real greeting.”
Did that mean what he had done so far was a fake greeting? In all his life, he had introduced himself to a tiger and even pleaded for forgiveness for his rudeness.
As Euro stood there blankly with a confused face, Raymond smiled.
“You just need to sit down so you are at eye level with Kisha.”
“…Ah, sit?”
Sitting itself wasn’t difficult, but the thought of being at eye level with a tiger brought a wave of fear. However, since Kisha had personally requested a greeting, he didn’t want to be stubborn and annoy the creature.
Ultimately, Euro obediently knelt on one knee. As Kisha’s face came directly in front of him, goosebumps broke out all over his body. He felt as if his breath were being cut off by the oppressive pressure of the massive body and the sharp gaze that seemed to pierce through him.
He felt that if Kisha changed his mind and decided, ‘I’ll have this for lunch today,’ and opened his mouth wide, his head would slide right in like a macaron.
Even the thought of being a full meal was arrogant. His head would likely be nothing more than a snack for Kisha. Euro barely managed to push up the corners of his trembling mouth and greeted him.
“Greetings once again. Hello, Kisha… uh?”
Just as Euro greeted him while slightly avoiding Kisha’s staring eyes, [stolen content]the tiger’s mouth opened, and a large visit our sitetongue flicked out, [visit our site]giving Euro’s face a massive lick.
Having been suddenly “sampled,” Euro froze, his body stiffening. The rough texture of the tongue was so vivid that he wondered if he had truly been chosen for lunch, when Raymond spoke as if reading his mind.
“That is the greeting.”
“…”
“Now Your Highness may return the greeting.”
At those words, Euro turned his stiff neck like a robot to stare at Raymond and asked in a dull voice.
“…What, do I, uh, have to lick him back?”
Raymond wore a strange expression at the unexpected question, then suddenly burst into laughter. Without knowing why Raymond was laughing, Euro looked back and forth between Kisha, who had licked him, and Raymond.
Raymond barely managed to stifle his laughter and answered, covering his mouth with one hand.
“You just need to wrap your arms around his neck and give him a light hug.”
Euro nodded at those words, closed his eyes, and carefully reached out toward Kisha, who seemed to be waiting for the hug. He then lightly wrapped both arms around the neck. Then, Kisha’s heavy head rested upon him.
Since he happened to be shirtless, he could feel the fur directly against his skin. It felt very soft and warm, but he couldn’t quite relax because he felt a vibration beneath his arms, like a cell phone vibrating.
That wasn’t all. Because their bodies were pressed close, the somewhat rough sound of breathing was heard clearly in his ear. Since he was told to hug lightly, visit our siteEuro counted to five in his head before releasing his grip on the neck and standing up.
Kisha seemed quite satisfied with the greeting, as he stood up and turned around without lingering. Euro watched with a vacant expression until Kisha’s tail, swaying slowly with every step, disappeared from sight.
“How fascinating. Kisha does not usually show himself to outsiders. He mostly stays by His Excellency’s side.”
“Really?”
“Moreover, since he requested a greeting first, it seems he likes Your Highness quite a bit.”
“That’s… quite a relief.”
He might not have the first master of the Dukedom’s favor, but it seemed he had the second master’s. Thinking about it, this was much better than the alternative.
The former would treat him with a certain level of decorum even if he disliked him, but the latter… there was no guarantee.
“Since you are already here, I will assist you with your clothes. Please get ready and come down immediately.”
“Ah, okay.”
While quietly receiving Raymond’s assistance, Euro searched his memory with a dazed mind. There was absolutely no mention of Kisha in the musical, nor in the original work.
Even when Clope married into the Dukedom, there was no description of her being surprised by a tiger or exchanging greetings.
If it were some other minor detail, it would be one thing, but there was no way he could have read a part about the Dukedom raising a visit our sitetiger and treating it as a master and not remembered it.
‘Well, it’s probably not a big deal, so that’s why it wasn’t there. No need to focus on such trivial details. First, I need to pull myself together.’
Euro muttered to himself and squeezed his eyes shut before opening them. He still had an encounter remaining with another beast: Melione.
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