Chapter 318
Chapter 318
«Why are you laughing? Did I say something funny?» – Triana growled ferociously, not understanding why he was laughing at something that should have scared any reasonable creature on the planet.
«I don’t think you fully understand this situation, baby tiger. Let’s dot the i’s and cross the t’s. You are my trophy that almost cost me my life. I did not save you from the cruel hunters. I took you for myself. It wasn’t an act of kindness but greed and selfishness that you, beasts, hate so much. Roughly speaking, you’ve changed the owner, and you will serve me as long as I want, and the way I want. No threats will ever make me give up this adorable, precious kitty. Did you get it?»
Even if the tiger had turned into a decrepit old man instead of the beautiful girl, Kyon would not have regretted his reckless actions to capture his trophy. On the other hand, the tigress was hardly a trophy. Kyon had harnessed her on his own, only the formation wasn’t his. Hadn’t he intervened, the hunters would have enslaved and abused the beast for revenge, despite her attempt to trick them by faking unconsciousness. So, she was his well-deserved prey, after all.
Triana looked at the man, burning him with her intent gaze. Indeed, human greed knew no bounds. She failed to get her freedom, and it would be incredibly difficult to do because she was a noble supreme beast who didn’t know how to cheat or manipulate. What else could she do if she failed to convince him?
«By the way…» – Kyon smiled slyly. – «You have promised not to kill me, but what will prevent you from beating me to a pulp? Did you leave a gap in your promise to get even with me? You are quite scheming and cunning for a supreme beast. You might have the makings of a deceitful human, after all!»
«It’s not true!» – Triana snapped, holding her tail high in the air. – «I am a white tiger, a noble descendant of the royal dynasty, not some filthy human! I promised you not to kill you, and it comprised the idea of doing you no harm! You humans always think there’s a catch in every word, but don’t you dare to compare me to the sleazy scum that tries to deceive everyone at the first opportunity!»
Kyon snorted coldly: «You sound so arrogant, but not so long ago, being caught in the net, you pretended to be unconscious to kill the brainless hunters and did it quite well. You used the typical “sleazy scum” trick and you still have the audacity to deny my words?»
Triana opened her mouth with indignation. It was painfully humiliating to hear his shameless and seemingly well-grounded words as if he poured a pot of slop over her head. He had hurt her pride that was based on racial superiority, and she categorically denied everything: «No! It’s not true! I was a survival thing, an instinct to defend myself! There was nothing mean or insidious in my actions. I was just trying to protect my freedom and life!»
«Easy now.» – Kyon interrupted the over-excited girl and stroked her soft hair with his hand. – «I don’t care about your excuses. Stop screaming like I’m insulting your parents here. Calm down and don’t provoke your owner.»
Triana’s chest heaved with anger. It was vital for her to protect her honor, for her own sake in the first place. How dared this ugly man stroke her? He might be her owner, but she wasn’t going to put up with such treatment!
«Get your hand off me. No human will ever touch me!» – Triana barked in her growling voice, but Kyon didn’t move his hand. His grin grew even wider.
The tigress bared her white, vampire-like fangs: «I would gladly kill you even though you are my master who I promised to obey! Don’t you ever question my honor! I am no human but a noble supreme beast!» – She returned to the main issue. Each word she said sounded with a firm belief in her superiority.
«As you say, noble supreme beast, who feeds on people.» – Kyon smiled slyly, scratching her ears that she pinned back in anger. What a ferocious cat! Every word, every gesture only highlighted her predatory nature. Her eyes sparkled with bloodlust.
«As if you don’t eat us!» – The tigress objected angrily, throwing his hand off her head.
{Well, she’s right… What is this place if my argument about man-eating has been waved off so easily?} – Kyon sighed. «Alright. Tell me about your skills and cultivation in as many details as possible. It’s an order.»
Triana caught her breath. It was unbearably disgusting for her to deal with this nasty man. He made her feel like she was a thing whose value he wanted to estimate. With a heavy-heart, Triana did what he said. She understood that she’d better prove herself an asset to him: «I am at the fifth stage in the royal phase, bending the pure energy, the wind, the earth and the light elements…»
{The light element?!} – And then it dawned on Kyon. He recalled his fight with Timothy at the family tournament. His body of the void whispered to him about something when Timothy used his powerful technique of the darkness. It must have suggested Kyon use the flash of light to neutralize the opposite element. Following this logic, everything fell into place! Valeera, the Black Queen, had the attribute of darkness (the investigators had experienced it firsthand). That’s why the body of the void had released liquid light to protect the owner as soon as it sensed the killer’s intentions to end his life. The tiger had a light attribute, so the body released darkness to neutralize the light attack, revealing to the owner the flash of darkness technique.
However, this theory was a bit inconsistent. How could his body guess which elements the source of the mortal threat had at their disposal? Triana might have instinctively infused her claws with the light to increase the effect, and his body could have sensed it, but Valira wouldn’t have infused her dagger with the darkness to kill a weakling who had helped her in the library… It seemed rather weird.
After Triana told him about her skills, she went on to the most important things: «By virtue of my purest royal bloodline, I have an alpha beast inborn body of the highest rank that allows me to command unintelligent beasts one phase below me with a roar. If they are intelligent, the difference in the cultivation should be at least three phases…» – The tigress spoke of herself in a boastful manner. She was convinced that her presentation could win the owner’s favor. However, her attempts looked endearingly inept, even charmingly ridiculous as if a child was trying to impress an adult.
«Also, I cultivate the legendary Jade Claws body. With my claws, I can destroy mountains, chop down thousand-year-old trees, and even cut equal opponents like a red-hot knife slices butter! Yeah…»
«Even me?» – Kyon asked casually.
Triana was confused for a moment and looked thoughtfully away: «No, not you…»
«Why? Lying again?» – Lovr pretended he didn’t get to tease her again.
«No! Stop insulting me! You are tough like Valuev, the wild boar in the lord phase, who cultivated diamond skin…» – Triana said confidently. – «By the way, may I ask you why you’re so strong and tough?» – The curious girl tilted her head to one side. She couldn’t help it, curiosity ran in her blood. She still couldn’t believe that he had thrown her a hundred meters away with a careless wave of his hand.
«A hundred push-ups a day. A hundred crunches a day. A hundred squats a day. 10 km of daily jogging. That’s my secret!» – The fat guy claimed with fanatical zeal.
«Really?!» – Triana’s eyes got wide with amazement. – «But… But I’ve been training at least thirty times harder since I was little! You don’t even have any muscles! Wait… Are you… You are lying to me!» – She bristled, angry again.
Kyon burst out laughing at her childish reaction. She could hardly recognize an obvious lie. Supreme beasts were truly naive creatures.
«I knew it! Filthy liar! Gr-r-r! Despicable, wretched monkey!» – Triana bared her teeth, snarling at the vicious enemy, a human being.
Kyon laughed out loud, wiped away the tears that came into his eyes, and said dryly: – «Now tell me why you’re here, in the human empire.» – He swore that if she said something along the lines of “hunting for humans,” he wouldn’t have any mercy for her in her upcoming service.
Triana began her sad story: «It happened two months ago. Out of the blue, my father received a letter from the seventh prince of the manticores. Diamant expressed a desire to make me, Triana Tirindun, the senior wife in his harem, using the right of the dominant choice.»
«What does it mean?» – Kyon interrupted her.
«The dominant choice is a right to create a harem from any nine virgin weaker females or males. Only the best of the best are awarded this right for certain achievements before the empire, with the exception of the manticore princes and the princesses, who have it from birth. Young prince Diamant is the only male who has this right to this day.»
«I see.» – Kyon nodded. – «Go on.»
«I would never be happy being a manticore wife. Their cruelty is well-known, isn’t it? Anyway, my heart belongs to Fenrir and only to him. My father has always wished only the best for me. When he saw me grieving, he came up with a plan…»
«Wait, who is Fenrir?» – Kyon interrupted her again with a sullen look on his face.
Triana rolled her beautiful amber eyes, fluttering her eyelashes: «Fenrir is the best male warrior in the entire young generation of the central forest. He belongs to the ancient wolves (3), and his father is the family leader. Fenrir… He is so… He is wayward, unbridled, wild… He is a handsome and noble genius, the future alpha leader of his mighty family…» – Kyon could hear adoration in her voice, her eyes sparkled with emotions overwhelming her, her heart beating faster. – «Lots of high-status females always hang around him, eager to become part of his harem, but he has not chosen a wife yet because he is too demanding and picky. All of them are unworthy of him, but… Well, he likes me.» – Triana smiled happily. – «His predatory glance conquered my heart during that amazing dance… Purr, I want to be Fenrir’s senior wife and make him lots of cute kids, wolf cubs as well as tiger cubs…» – She lowered her dreamy gaze from the sky and met the harsh reality in the form of the unsightly fat man, her owner.
Triana’s face reflected the whole spectrum of despair. She was just an obedient servant of this vile, ugly, both inside and outside, man. Why should she always wear her heart on her sleeve?
Kyon could barely keep himself together. He caught himself feeling jealous, but he wanted to burst out laughing even more. His damned weakness for everything beautiful was killing him: «Alright, I get it. I guess I know who he is. Go one, baby tiger. You haven’t finished your story.»
Triana covered her naked boobs and gave him a stern look: «Don’t call me baby tiger! I am the princess of the white tigers, not a kid…»
«I’ll call you whatever I wish, baby tiger.» – Kyon snapped.
Triana bared her teeth, but didn’t insist. She didn’t want to spoil the relationship with the man. He called her baby tiger, so what? It was the smallest of her problems.
Triana returned to her story: «Ildun came up with a plan. I had to escape from the central forest with my uncle and hide from everyone, including my father, for several years until the day of Ceres, the goddess of all beasts. Traditionally, there’s a grand tournament of young beasts on this day. The winner gets different awards, even from the goddess herself, among which the absolute dominant choice.» – She added, anticipating his question. – «Every male and female in our empire dreams of getting this award. It has absolute priority over other “dominant choices” and gives the right to create a harem of thirty-three members! The absolute dominant choice also gives the right to lead the alpha’s harem, regardless of his authority in the empire. My father has already made an agreement with the ancient wolves’ leader. When his son takes first place – no doubt about it – he will choose me. Thus, Fenrir will get beyond the competition with Diamant the invincible. Dad had considered everything.»
«Everything? Are you sure?» – Kyon chuckled skeptically, not taking his eyes off the harnessed tigress.