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Episode 2
“Ugh… my head.”
A terrible headache pounded through my skull as I forced my heavy eyelids open.
At first, everything looked blurry, but little by little, my vision cleared.
The first thing I saw was an elegant, beautifully decorated ceiling.
Then I noticed the blanket covering me.
“Whine…”
I tried to move, but my whole body ached as if I’d been beaten up. A groan escaped my mouth without me meaning to.
When I lifted my front paw, which hurt the most, I saw that it was wrapped in bandages.
Where am I?
The last thing I remember is carrying the gemstone and falling down the stairs…
The blanket was so soft that for a second, I wondered if I had died from the fall and gone to heaven.
The room felt that comfortable and warm.
But as I looked around the luxurious room, a bad feeling suddenly hit me.
The Imperial Palace? Did I get caught?
The room was just as fancy as the one where the gemstone had been kept.
It definitely wasn’t anywhere near the rundown neighborhood where I lived.
Feeling uneasy, I jumped to my feet.
There was nobody around.
Other than the bandage on my paw, nothing was restraining me.
My fur was clean and smelled fresh.
The blanket was soft.
Sunlight poured through the windows.
This wasn’t how prisoners were treated.
If anything, I was being treated far too well.
Considering what had happened before I passed out, none of this made any sense.
“What is this? Does even the palace prison look luxurious?”
Whatever had happened, if this really was the Imperial Palace, escaping came first.
Even if nobody knew I was the one who tried to steal the gemstone, I’d be in serious trouble if they found out I was a beastfolk.
The days when beastfolk were hunted down and slaughtered were over, but they still weren’t treated well.
And because so many beastfolk had been wiped out back then, the few who remained had become valuable test subjects for crazy mages.
No matter how you looked at it, it was still a difficult world for beastfolk to survive in.
I need to get out of here.
My plan had failed spectacularly.
I couldn’t afford to sit around.
I had to escape before anyone noticed me.
Then I remembered something.
“The gemstone…”
The gemstone I had dropped yesterday.
There was a reason I was obsessed with gemstones.
The Tear of Cleia wasn’t just any jewel.
It was the legendary gemstone that the male lead of the novel desperately searched for.
A gemstone containing incredible power.
In the story, the male lead consumed it and became ridiculously overpowered.
That was a major part of the plot.
But honestly…
Who cared about the male lead?
I was the one trying not to die.
That’s why I tried to steal it first.
Working myself to the bone to gather gemstones again sounded miserable.
I was sick of constantly worrying about them.
One Cleia gemstone would let me live comfortably for the rest of my life.
I didn’t know whether fate was preventing me from obtaining it because the story was fixed…
Or whether I was simply stupid enough to slip and ruin everything myself.
Either way, it was driving me crazy.
How could I not be upset?
I had practically finished cooking the meal, only for it to roll off the table.
But…
Maybe the gemstone was still stuck somewhere between the wall and the stairs.
Yeah.
If I’m leaving anyway, I should at least check the spot where I fell yesterday.
Who knew?
Maybe I’d get lucky and find it tucked away in a corner.
Having made up my mind, I climbed down from the blanket and stepped onto the floor.
My soft little paws padded across the room.
There was nobody inside, but there could still be guards outside.
Nervously licking my dry lips, I headed toward the door.
As I walked, the pleasant scent coming from my freshly cleaned fur kept tickling my nose.
I’d never smelled perfume this nice before.
It felt strangely comforting.
My injured paw didn’t seem too bad either.
Even with the bandage, I could walk just fine.
Creak.
The door opened.
A hallway stretched beyond it.
Thankfully, there were no guards standing watch.
At least this definitely wasn’t a prison.
But where exactly am I?
And where did I fall yesterday?
The Imperial Palace was so huge and flashy that every place looked the same.
It was like a maze.
Looking around, I realized this wasn’t the same building I had sneaked into before.
The atmosphere was different.
And compared to the heavily guarded treasure building, this place was surprisingly empty.
There were barely any people around.
Of course, that was good news for me.
I quickly ran to a window and jumped onto the windowsill.
Whoooosh.
Cold wind blew through the open window.
From the second floor, I could see the garden wall and the small hole I’d used to sneak into the palace.
It’s not that far away.
The building with the gemstone wasn’t far from here.
After a brief moment of thought, I decided not to use the front entrance.
Yesterday I used the stairs because I was scared of climbing.
That had ended in disaster.
No way was I trusting stairs again.
Instead, I climbed out the window and started scaling the outer wall.
To my surprise, my paws stuck firmly to the stone.
Within moments, I had climbed all the way down.
Soon, my paws touched the cool, dew-covered grass below.
Without wasting any time, I ran toward the building where the gemstone had been kept.
It’s weird how empty this place is.
Even if this building wasn’t used much, shouldn’t there still be guards?
The thought crossed my mind for only a second.
Whatever. That’s not my problem.
The lack of security made it easy for me to slip back into the building.
Because of yesterday’s incident, the area was crowded with people.
Luckily, that also meant nobody paid attention to one tiny white weasel.
If luck was finally on my side, it would’ve been nice if it had shown up yesterday.
I was still annoyed.
Anyway, I darted from pillar to pillar until I reached the area where I had dropped the gemstone.
Several people were gathered nearby.
They looked like investigators.
“There was definitely an intruder, but nobody saw them.”
“Things moved very quickly. Other than a tiny window too small for even a child to fit through, the only entrance is the door we guard.”
“So you’re saying a ghost stole the gemstone?”
“Maybe it was magic.”
The investigators and guards discussed yesterday’s theft.
The guard who had been on duty looked especially nervous.
Probably because he thought he’d be blamed.
Sorry, mister.
But I was trying to survive.
I felt a little guilty.
Just a little.
Still, my survival came first.
Carefully moving with the crowd, I slipped deeper into the building.
Eventually, I reached the underside of the staircase.
Thankfully, nobody was paying attention to a hidden corner like this.
This is where I fell.
The gemstone rolled over there…
I clearly remembered seeing it disappear into a crack between the walls.
Following my memory, I searched until I found the exact gap.
The space was narrow, dark, and packed with dust.
It looked like no cleaner could reach inside.
I hated dirt.
But this wasn’t the time to be picky.
I shoved my face into the crack.
“Mmgh.”
Everything became pitch black.
I blinked and waited for my eyes to adjust.
Please.
Please still be here.
Slowly, shapes began to appear.
I could make out the long, narrow space.
Only the part reachable by human hands looked clean.
Everything further inside was covered in dust.
But no matter how hard I looked…
The gemstone wasn’t there.
There was nothing except old dust.
It definitely rolled in here.
From what I’d overheard earlier, nobody knew where the gemstone had gone.
And if it isn’t here either…
Then where was it?
I felt hopeless.
I had risked everything to sneak into the palace and steal the one thing that could save me.
And then I lost it.
At least before, I knew where it was.
Now I didn’t even have that.
“Haa…”
A deep sigh escaped me.
I didn’t want to accept it.
But reality was reality.
I had to give up.
Using my front paws against the wall, I pulled my head back.
“Mmgh.”
Huh?
My head didn’t move.
I tried again.
And again.
Still stuck.
Wait…
Am I trapped?
Nobody had noticed me so far because they weren’t checking this corner.
But if I stayed stuck here, someone would eventually find me.
You’ve got to be kidding me!
Why would I get stuck NOW of all times?!
If they thought I was just a random wild animal, maybe they’d simply throw me outside.
But if they became suspicious and discovered I was actually beastfolk…
And on top of that, if they found out I was the one who stole the gemstone yesterday…
Wow.
Just imagining it was terrifying.
