The Butler's Roar
CRAAANG!
The forest trembled under my thunderous roar. Every living creature shook, bowing their heads in overwhelming charisma. I imagined that sight and pulled my voice from deep in my belly.
"......Kyuang!"
Huh? Why was the sound like that.
What shot out of my throat was the sound of a deflated rubber duck toy.
Panicked, I slammed my front paw over my mouth. But what hit my vision was no ordinary tiger’s paw.
It was a fluffy cotton club with pink jelly pads, so round and soft it looked like a cotton batting mallet. I tried to show off my claws, growling, but the tiny transparent claws only felt itchy, not intimidating.
I’d turned into a baby white tiger.
It was over.
Three minutes ago I’d been ecstatic, reborn as a legendary spiritual creature with all my memories intact.
But reality was merciless.
The place I woke up was the Northern Forest of the Empire, where magical beasts swarmed.
A cursed forest so dangerous that even humans couldn’t set foot in it without their bones turning to dust. No mother in sight, and the bone-chilling northern wind pierced straight through my fur.
Grrrr.
The king of the jungle or not, it was a situation where I’d be stepped on and turned into mouse poop by any passing beast. No, forget the beasts. A single hungry wild dog would end my life—my second life—with the end credits rolling today.
I was cold. I was hungry.
Trembling, I burrowed into a pile of dry leaves. I had human intelligence, but what good was it? My body was just a fluffy ball. What was I supposed to do with that knowledge? I couldn’t even light a fire.
Rustle.
Then, beyond the bushes, a sinister presence prickled my spine. Primal fear raced up it like electricity.
It was a disgusting, sticky, terrifying scent. Yeah, it was blood.
I had to hide.
With my short legs scrambling, I squeezed behind a massive tree root. I held my breath and only moved my perked ears to check the situation.
A moment later, when the tough creature burst through the undergrowth, I forgot how to breathe.
Silver-white hair glittering like frost under the moonlight. Crimson eyes glowing with a sinister light, as if soaked in blood. And clear bloodstains soaking the hem of her luxurious dress.
Kylian de Rose?
The final boss from the shabby fantasy novel I’d read in my previous life. The Blood Princess who turned the empire into a sea of blood and would one day destroy the world, standing right in front of me.
What was she doing here? Ah, right—according to the setting, she came here every night to slaughter magical beasts to calm her insomnia and madness.
Slaughter as a stress-relief method? Truly the hobby of a tyrant.
Drops of red blood fell from the sword she held, soaking the dry ground. Clutching her forehead with one hand, she muttered as if suffering from a terrible headache.
"It’s noisy... Shut up, please..."
Dark killing intent billowed around her like smoke. Naked, raw murder aimed at every living being that crossed her path. If you saw her, you died.
I instinctively shrank my body even smaller, hoping a single leaf would cover me.
The gods must not be on my side. My white fur stood out like a spotlight in the dark forest.
At that exact moment.
Grrrrrr!
The damn stomach traitor let out a scream without thinking. The massive belly-clock sound echoed through the silent forest. Kylian’s crimson eyes locked straight onto the spot where I was hiding.
"A mouse."
She smiled lazily and adjusted her grip on the sword. The smile was beautiful, but at the same time so chillingly cruel. I had to run.
My head was shouting run, but my legs, frozen in terror, wouldn’t move. My legs gave out and I collapsed right there.
Thud. Thud.
The sound of her boots grew closer like the Reaper’s countdown. She stood in front of me.
Her gaze held no mercy, no curiosity. Only the indifference of swatting away an annoying bug.
If I died like this, it was over. I didn’t want that. I’d just been reborn! I couldn’t die without tasting even one bite of delicious meat or rolling around on a warm floor.
The sword rose high. The cool blade flashed in the moonlight.
If that sword came down, my head would fly off with a clang. I had to live.
I had to live somehow. But with this tiny body, what could I do? Bite? My teeth weren’t even grown in yet? Scratch? My claws were only itchy? Or bark majestically?
No way. If I barked, all I could do was “kyuang.” I’d be 1-second cut for sure.
In this life-or-death moment, something inside me whispered. Tiger instinct? No, something more primal, something the survival instinct from my previous life’s social life had created.
I dropped onto my back, puffed out my belly as much as I could, stretched all four legs into the air, and widened my eyes.
"Kuuu..."
As pitiful as possible. The fluffiest, most harmless, cotton-ball creature in the world that was desperately waiting for your touch.
I even added teary eyes to the detail. I was appealing with my whole body: not the local mad dog, but a lost puppy.
"......?"
The descending sword froze in mid-air. Kylian’s brows furrowed. She lowered the sword tip in surprise and stared at me. Question marks drifted into her bloodshot crimson eyes.
This was the moment.
Hesitation meant death. I didn’t miss the chance. I wobbled up, staggered over to her, and pressed my tiny front paws firmly against the toe of her blood-stained long boots.
"Kyaang!"
Feed me! Or, if you save me, I’ll pay you back!
My ultimate move: cotton-batting cling. I pulled out every animal heart-melting video I’d watched on YouTube in my previous life and recreated them. My tail wagged, my head tilted at a perfect 45 degrees.
Please eat me. Please. If you didn’t eat me, I’d become a tiger-skin carpet here. My second-life goal was not to be a living-room rug in the princess’s palace.
Kylian didn’t move a muscle, frozen like a statue. Was this working?
Or had she forgotten to swing the sword because it was too absurd? She slowly lowered herself to one knee as if hypnotized. The scent of blood stung my nose, but I held it in and rubbed my head against her knee. Headbutt.
Then something strange happened. A faint white light shimmered where we touched.
It was so subtle I could barely notice it, but I felt the divine-beast energy trapped inside me flowing into her like a warm wave.
"...Eh?"
A dazed sound escaped Kylian’s mouth. The always furrowed brows slowly relaxed.
The pained expression vanished, and life returned to her eyes. It was as if the horrific voices that had tormented her for her entire life had simply gone away. Silence.
A peace wrapped around her like the world had been muted. All that remained was the regular heartbeat of the small creature clinging to her knee and the soft warmth of her belly.
"It’s quiet... I won. The pain... it’s gone."
Her eyes trembled. The lifelong torment had been lifted.
Her trembling hand carefully approached my head. I squeezed my eyes shut. Was she going to choke me? Or check the quality of the fur?
But the touch that came was surprisingly gentle. She threw her blood-soaked leather gloves aside and gently scratched behind my ears with her bare hands.
"Gol gol gol......"
Ah, damn it. That’s cheating. I have tiger pride! This isn’t even a real sound! It’s just a physiological reaction! It’s not because I want to! But no matter what I said, the motor sound came out of my throat and my tail danced on its own.
It was humiliating, but I couldn’t stop because the feeling was too good. I had lost to the beast inside me.
"Princess!"
"Princess! Are you alright! I sense a powerful magical beast’s aura...!"
At that moment, knights came running frantically from outside the forest. They collided with their armor as they rushed forward and saw me in front of Kylian. They gasped and drew their swords.
"W- wait! Step back!"
"Th-that hideous magical beast dares to...!"
Hideous? Me? Had these fur-less monkeys gone blind in a group? I was cuter than cotton candy, a white tiger. Had they never looked in a mirror? Just seeing my paw pads would have stopped that sound.
"Quiet."
Kylian’s low voice froze the entire forest in an instant. The eyes that had just been relaxed while petting me turned ice-cold the moment they landed on the knights.
She pulled me protectively into one arm, careful not to startle me. And she glared at the knights pointing their swords with flashing crimson eyes.
"Do not disturb my peaceful moment. Before I cut off their heads."
At the killing intent, the knights yelped and stumbled back. She looked down at me again, still held in her arms.
The gaze that had been about to kill just moments ago was gone, replaced by eyes filled with strange possessiveness and obsession.
"It’s warm."
She buried her face in my white belly and took a deep breath.
Huff. She inhaled my scent deep into her lungs, as if she were a drug addict. This woman… maybe she was more dangerous than I thought.
"And… it smells like milk."
The corners of her mouth curved up in a way that was both enchanting and somehow dangerous.
"Let’s go back to the imperial palace."
I was walking into a tiger’s den… no, a tyrant’s lair by my own feet. As an animal, not even a pet, but a beloved doll.
But whatever. I wasn’t cold, and this woman’s arms were much fluffier and warmer than I expected. Plus, the palace would have the best meat, right? Better than starving to death.
I burrowed deeper into her arms and thought. Becoming the king that rules the world would have to wait until I filled my belly first. After that, I’d think slowly. I was still a baby, after all.