IABHLBTEC 01

Chapter 01

“This is so delicious!”

I happily tore into the warm steak on my plate.

Yesterday, dinner had been a huge roasted chicken. Being able to eat proper meals like this in a clean room felt like a dream.

As expected, escaping that miserable Northern region and being brought here to the South as a hostage had been the right choice.

‘Of course, if things go wrong, I could still die.’

The man who had brought me here was the most ruthless and merciless beastman on the continent.

If I wanted to survive here, the most important thing was to stay on his good side.

Just then, I heard footsteps outside the door, and my small ears perked up.

The door to my quarters suddenly swung open, and I dropped the piece of steak hanging from my mouth in surprise. The moment I saw the handsome black-haired man standing in the doorway, all the fur on my body stood on end.

‘Speak of the tiger—no, the dragon.’

He was Leon Drake, leader of the dragons, the most ferocious beastmen on the continent and ruler of the South.

Overwhelmed by the intimidating aura pouring from him, I curled myself up and approached him.

“Successor of the Chigr family. Does the food suit your taste?”

His voice was as cold as ice.

I got goosebumps from fear, but I endured it and desperately rubbed my tiny face against his leg as I let out a pleading cry.

“Meow~”

Please don’t kill me!

Among my people, this was a gesture of begging for one’s life by currying favor with another.

I did it every day to survive here—so often that it felt like my face would wear away.

As I rubbed against him, I looked up with desperate eyes.

‘If I do this, he won’t kill me, right?’

Meanwhile, Leon stared at Mia rubbing her face against his leg and was dumbfounded.

‘Ha. She’s doing this again.’

What in the world was this little furball thinking?

In the South, rubbing a part of your body against someone had a very specific meaning.

“Please hold me tight!”

Ever since they first met, this furball had constantly demanded to be hugged.

And not subtly, either.

Despite being a hostage from an enemy nation.

Did she have some kind of affection deficiency?

“Meow?”

Mia rubbed her tiny face against him and looked up with her round eyes.

Her sparkling golden eyes stared at him earnestly.

Won’t you hug me now?

That was what those eyes seemed to be saying.

Leon frowned and peeled Mia off his leg.

But the more he pushed her away, the more fiercely she clung to him and rubbed her face against him.

“Honestly, you never listen.”

At his cold words, Mia finally backed away.

Seeing her white fur standing on end, she appeared frightened.

After confirming this, Leon turned to leave the room.

“Meow~”

At that moment, Mia cautiously trotted after him.

What’s she trying to do now?

The instant he narrowed his eyes at her—

Flop.

Mia suddenly threw herself onto her back in front of him.

Her round white belly faced the ceiling.

‘I will obediently follow you until the day I die!’

Among the beastmen of the North, exposing one’s belly was a sign of absolute submission and surrender.

She was trying to win Leon’s favor.

But when Leon saw this, an even more incredulous snort escaped him.

“Ha!”

In the South, lying down and showing your belly meant something entirely different.

“Please play with me!”

He was already busy enough.

Now she wanted him to hug her and play with her too?

Was he supposed to be some nanny caring for a baby?

Just then, Mia looked up at him and cried energetically.

“Meow, meow!”

The way she stared at him so earnestly made it seem like she was urging him to hurry up and play.

Even her short little legs were waving around frantically.

There was no doubt about it.

This furball was looking down on him and the entire South.

He needed to teach her a proper lesson.

One she would never forget.

Leon flipped the prone Mia over.

She let out a startled cry, but he showed no hesitation as he reached beneath her chin.

For Southern dragons, the area beneath the chin was a vulnerable spot.

When a stronger dragon higher in the hierarchy gently scratched there, dragons instinctively felt a threat to their lives.

Twitch!

The moment his hand touched beneath her chin, Mia shuddered and lifted her head.

Leon began lightly scratching her soft white chin with his fingers.

It was the same terrifying touch that had once forced all the dragons of the South to kneel before him.

Mia slowly closed her eyes.

Soon she became completely docile.

She stopped all her strange behavior.

‘Looks like it worked.’

Now that she was sitting quietly as a mouse, even this arrogant and ill-mannered little creature looked somewhat cute.

If only she behaved like this all the time.

Thinking so, Leon continued diligently scratching beneath her chin.

‘Ahh… what is this wonderful feeling?’

I couldn’t help closing my eyes in delight beneath Leon’s touch.

It was the first time I had ever felt another person’s warm hand.

The tension drained from my body, and I felt completely relaxed.

Besides, he was scratching my favorite spot right under my chin.

‘Looks like my message of absolute submission worked perfectly!’

The slightly softened expression on Leon’s face was proof enough.

Then this was the perfect opportunity to get on his good side!

I rubbed my face all over his hand.

“Meow, meow!”

Please don’t kill me!

Then I rolled over and exposed my belly again to make my intentions crystal clear.

“Meow!”

I surrender completely and will obey you unconditionally!

“…?!”

Leon’s violet eyes shook violently.

With a bewildered expression, he withdrew his hand.

Then he abruptly stood up, slammed the door shut behind him, and left.

I stared at the closed door.

‘What was that about? Did I do something wrong?’

Dragons were impossible to understand.

Still, since he hadn’t killed me, I seemed to have successfully won his favor.

‘In any case, this life is much better than my previous one.’

Breathing a sigh of relief, I returned to my bowl and resumed chewing the remaining steak.

A cramped, dark place where not a single ray of light entered.

A stale, filthy smell seeped into my nose.

Curled up into a ball, I slowly opened my eyes.

My small golden eyes gleamed in the darkness.

‘This place…!’

The underground storage room of the Chigr estate.

A place so familiar that I could never forget it, even in death.

It was where I had spent my miserable childhood before being cast out by Alec Chigr.

‘I definitely died in the Demon Forest. So why am I here?’

As I sat there in confusion, a flea crawled across my tail.

Instinctively, I swung a paw at it—

And froze.

My paw was tiny and chubby.

The paw pads were much softer too, a pale pink color.

And my entire body was covered in fluffy baby fur.

Just like when I had first been born.

So shocked that I couldn’t think straight, I instinctively let out a fierce cry.

“Meow!”

But instead of a ferocious roar, only a weak and tiny sound emerged.

That was how I returned to the past.

My name is Mia.

I am the second daughter of Alec Chigr, head of the White Tiger clan that rules the northern continent.

More precisely, his illegitimate daughter.

One day, Alec went “hunting” in a forest near the Northern capital and assaulted a commoner cat-beastwoman who lived there.

The child she gave birth to was me.

Though illegitimate, Alec believed I might have inherited the powerful aura of the White Tiger bloodline, so he brought me to his estate.

I inherited the white fur and golden eyes shared by Alec, my half-sister, and the other White Tigers.

But in appearance, I was simply a cat.

My body was much smaller than theirs.

My ears were pointed.

My paw pads were soft.

Even my cries lacked the powerful resonance of a White Tiger.

But there was a bigger problem.

Most White Tiger beastmen awakened their aura and gained the ability to transform into humans within a week of birth.

I didn’t.

When a month passed and I still couldn’t transform, Alec flew into a rage and locked me away in this filthy, cramped basement storage room.

Alec considered me a stain on his reputation.

To the outside world, I was essentially a child who didn’t exist.

For years afterward, not only my half-sister but even the servants of the estate mocked and bullied me.

Yet compared to what came later, all of that had been merciful.

As soon as I was old enough to lose my kitten form, Alec declared that even feeding and housing me was a waste of money.

Then he banished me to the Demon Forest at the northernmost edge of the continent.

“White Tigers only raise strong cubs. A weak little cat like you, who can’t even awaken an aura, has no place in our family!”

The Demon Forest was a prison for Northern criminals.

Blizzards raged there year-round, and a strange energy permeated the entire forest.

The beastmen trapped there gradually lost their sanity and even their human forms, eventually turning into savage beasts that wandered the woods.

There was only one reason Alec sent a young beastman like me—someone who couldn’t transform or awaken her powers—to such a place.

‘He wanted me dead.’

For months, I struggled desperately to survive there alone.

The freezing blizzards and bone-chilling cold were the least of my problems.

I risked my life stealing scraps of food from other beastmen who had already become feral predators.

Every day brought new wounds.

I even lost one of my ears.

Whether I was naive or simply foolish, I endured it all believing that if I survived, Alec would finally acknowledge me.

Even though he had already abandoned me.

Perhaps it was because of that overwhelming will to live.

Unlike the other beastmen, who soon lost their sanity and became beasts, I remained rational for years.

I never understood why.

It was a strange and miraculous thing.

But in the end, I was attacked by a starving pack of beastmen who had fully transformed into monsters after days without food.

They devoured me.

As a small cat, I wasn’t even a mouthful for them.

That was the final memory I retained before opening my eyes again in this underground storage room.