SVPW 04

Chapter 4

I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded by the crown prince’s utterly terrible naming sense. It was ridiculous.

How many white things are there in the world? Snow, sugar, flour—heck, even those curtains and blankets over there are white.

And out of all of them, he chose the most unimpressive one?

“Looks like you don’t like that either.”

Whether he realized I had already concluded that he had zero sense or not, the crown prince simply laughed, completely carefree.

“Well then, we’ll take our time with the name… Now, shall we prepare that?”

The crown prince, who had been thinking about names, suddenly stood up. Naturally, my head lifted to follow him.

Humming to himself, he walked toward a table in the corner of the room. Then he began rummaging through a box on top of it.

Don’t tell me… there are clothes for pets in there or something.

With the way he looked so excited—and considering his naming sense—I had a bad feeling about this.

I wasn’t born this cute just to become some human’s plaything!

To be honest, I knew I was cute. I could tell every time I looked in the mirror.

“Your Highness. I brought what you asked for.”

Just then, a woman’s voice came from outside the crown prince’s chamber.

“Come in.”

At the man’s permission, the door opened, and sure enough, a maid walked in carrying a wooden box the size of a watermelon.

“This is the food recommended by the palace animal keeper. Shall I feed it myself?”

Wait a second. Animal keeper? Food?

This… doesn’t sound good.

“I’ll do it myself.”

The crown prince turned with a gentle smile. On his hands were thick gloves that hadn’t been there earlier. Apparently those were what he’d taken from the table.

He took the box from the maid and approached me again.

“….”

Think. What do people usually think weasels eat?

Weasels are omnivores.

But I’d been eating as a human for so long that I could barely remember what weasels were supposed to eat.

Wriggle.

Wait. Something just moved inside the box.

Startled, I took a step back.

But the crown prince only smiled like a painting and calmly reached into the box.

AAAAAAHHHHH!!

The moment the thing inside the box fully revealed itself, I froze.

A s– s– snake!

Inside was a small snake.

“You looked like you needed something nourishing, so I asked for advice.”

Why would you do that?!

I backed up until my back hit the cage’s iron bars. There was nowhere left to retreat.

At the same time, the crown prince pushed the snake into the cage.

No! Don’t do this! Let’s not make things more awkward between us! Please!

Of course, my silent scream went unheard, and I ended up face-to-face with the black snake.

When I was human, a snake this small was just a little creepy—I could simply avoid it.

But now…

D–don’t flick your tongue! Why is that hissing so loud?! Don’t come closer! Stay away!

As if sensing my fear, the snake confidently slithered toward me.

Its body glided across the ground as it advanced, while I scratched desperately at the cage bars.

I am not friends with reptiles.

To be honest, I’m absolutely terrified of them!

“Kyaaaak!”

And so a bizarre shriek burst out of me.

Hearing my scream only seemed to excite the snake even more as it rushed toward me.

Sadly, beastmen are born with a natural buff that attracts animals.

In other words, that snake was coming over because it liked me.

Hiss.

Its split tongue flickered.

Ah….

“Hm?”

Suddenly my head spun, and dizziness washed over me.

It seemed the stress had finally gotten to me.

The last thing I saw was the crown prince’s smiling face, which now looked like the grin of a demon.

Squeak.

And just like that, I fainted.

* * *

“…Well, this is unexpected.”

Crown Prince Shabelian stared into the cage with a baffled expression.

He gently poked the white weasel’s fluffy fur with his finger.

But the weasel didn’t move.

“A creature that faints at the sight of its food…”

He let out a disbelieving chuckle.

Then he picked up the black snake from inside the cage and held it up in front of his eyes.

“Was it too big? Or was the prey too aggressive and startled it?”

Recalling the weasel’s ridiculous reaction made him laugh again as he placed the snake back into its box.

“It definitely doesn’t like reptiles.”

Shabelian carefully moved his pet weasel onto a soft, dedicated cushion.

“So picky about both its name and its food.”

It sounded like a complaint, but warmth lingered in his voice.

His hand gently stroked the weasel’s soft white fur.

He had a faint worry that his first impression might already be terrible.

But he hoped that at least his touch might bring the weasel peaceful dreams.

For quite a while, he quietly stroked and patted its back.

It was a peaceful moment.

* * *

Ha. The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

The next morning, the moment I woke up, I decided I would bite the crown prince’s finger and run.

Preparing a snake for a meal I never even asked for—how dare he!

“…He’s not here.”

Only after scanning the room while fuming did I realize the crown prince was gone.

And apparently, while I’d fainted, the night had passed and morning had come.

I clenched my fists and trembled with indignation.

Honestly, fainting at the sight of a snake was embarrassing enough…

But the bigger question returned to me.

Why was I here in the imperial palace, being treated like a pet and fainting in front of my food when I hadn’t even gotten a single jewel yet?

I should have escaped under cover of darkness last night, just like when I first appeared in the night dew!

Then why on earth was I greeting a refreshing morning here?!

“Why is the room so nice and cozy anyway?”

It was so cozy that it made me angry.

The creaky floors, the poor lighting, and the lack of soundproofing in my old room—day or night—were nothing compared to this place.

This luxurious comfort twisted my stomach with envy.

“If I just stole the jewels lying around here, I could live for months— …Huh?”

Suddenly my eyes widened.

Whip. Whip.

My head turned quickly as my gaze swept across the room.

The ruby in the clock—high grade. The sapphire in the drawer handle—top grade. The opal on that model ship—premium quality!

Now that I looked closely, this place was a gold mine.

Jewels were practically scattered everywhere.

This was even richer than my looted vault!

Why hadn’t I thought about stealing these before?

“Hmmm…”

The reason was simple.

I had a bigger target.

Obtaining ‘The Tears of Cleia’ was my true goal, so these smaller jewels hadn’t even caught my eye.

“Should I just… take these?”

I hesitated.

Honestly, stealing from others wasn’t something I liked.

But that crown prince had called me a pet and made me faint—so I did hold a bit of a grudge.

Wouldn’t this be a good form of revenge?

At the very least, compensation for emotional damage!

“Hmmm.”

But on the other hand, he had been the one who treated me after I fell down the stairs.

Even if I didn’t like his reasons.

Anyway, even that girl Angel Choco only stole in the name of justice.

I didn’t want to cowardly steal from someone who had helped me.

Like I said before—I was once a law-abiding and kind citizen.

“…But would he notice if just one or two went missing?”

Of course, humans are weak in the face of greed.

So I decided to compromise.

Just one.

Let’s borrow a jewel. I’ll pay it back later with taxes.

After quickly settling my internal debate, I climbed onto the nearby side table.

Sure enough, even the middle of the quill pen lying on the table had a jewel embedded in it.

It was the perfect size to hold in my mouth.

Carefully, I pried it loose with my sharp claws.

Pop.

A shiny pearl came free.

Holding it in both hands, I smiled with satisfaction.

Once again, this wasn’t stealing.

It was borrowing.

In my weasel form, I might get caught by the crown prince or the guards from yesterday.

So I planned to transform into a human and disguise myself as a maid to leave the palace.

“Bon appétit.”

Crunch. Gulp.

The moment I swallowed the jewel, a refreshing sensation spread from the tips of my toes to the top of my head.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to my familiar human form.

“This maid uniform should be right.”

Being able to transform while wearing the clothes I imagined was the result of years of practice with my beastman abilities.

Through the original novel’s storyline, I had learned that beastmen possessed special “abilities” similar to magic.

So I managed to get my hands on books about beastmen and started studying them.

Eventually, I mastered the trick of creating clothes whenever I transformed.

Thanks to that, I had been freed from the pain of laundry for years and enjoyed a much more advanced lifestyle.

Of course, I wanted to learn more impressive abilities.

Something like super strength or healing powers would have been nice.

But unfortunately, the book I found was only a beginner’s manual for everyday use.

Important knowledge like that would never be lying around in ordinary bookstores.

Books about beastmen were practically banned.

Finding even a beginner’s lifestyle magic book in a dusty old secondhand shop had been lucky.

Anyway, thanks to my beastman abilities, I easily completed my maid disguise.

“The jewel must’ve been high quality. I feel great.”

The better the jewel, the longer I could maintain my human form.

And today’s pearl seemed to be at least high grade.

Energy filled my fingertips.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Stretching my arms, I headed for the door.

But on the way, something on the table caught my eye.

“….”

That box looked suspiciously like the one that had held the snake yesterday.

Cautiously, I approached it.

Slide—

When I gently lifted the lid—

“Hisss—”

Clack!

I slammed the lid shut.

It’s the same box as yesterday!

Pressing the lid tightly with both hands, I had no desire to relive that traumatic memory.

“Whew… Fine. You should go too. What’s the point of staying here? You’ll probably end up as someone’s meal again.”

Even though it had caused me trauma, we had technically shared the same space.

So I decided to free the snake as well.

Carrying the box in my arms, I left the room.