SVPW 02

Chapter 02

“Ugh… my head.”

Feeling a splitting headache, I forced my heavy eyelids open. My vision, which had been blurry and out of focus, gradually cleared.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a ceiling covered in ornate patterns. Then I noticed the blanket draped over my body.

“Whine…”

I tried to move, but the muscles all over my body throbbed as if I had been beaten up, and a groan slipped out of me.

Among them, my front paw felt especially uncomfortable. When I lifted it, I saw a bandage wrapped around the white fur.

‘But where is this place? I remember falling down the stairs while carrying the jewel… after that…’

The blanket beneath me was so soft that, for a moment, I wondered if I had already died from the fall and arrived in heaven.

That was how comfortable and warm this place felt.

But as I looked around the dazzling room, a sudden sense of unease crept over me.

‘The Imperial Palace? Did I get caught?’

The lavishly decorated room, just like the one where the jewel had been, clearly showed that this place was inside the palace. It was definitely not the shabby and dangerous neighborhood where I used to live.

With an uneasy feeling, I suddenly sprang up onto my two feet.

For now, there were no people around. Other than the bandage around my paw, nothing restrained my body either.

My fur smelled fresh, as if it had been washed. The blanket was soft, and the room was positioned where sunlight streamed in beautifully.

In every way, this was not how someone treated a prisoner. If anything, it felt like I was being treated far too well.

Considering the situation before I passed out, it made absolutely no sense.

“What is this…? Are even the palace prisons this luxurious?”

No matter what had happened, if this was the Imperial Palace, escaping had to be my top priority.

Even if they hadn’t discovered that I was the one who tried to steal the jewel, if they found out that I was a beastman, I wouldn’t escape serious trouble.

They say the hellish era when beastmen were hunted down indiscriminately had ended, but the treatment of beastmen was still terrible.

And because of what happened back then, their population had nearly gone extinct. As a result, the remaining beastmen had become the most coveted experimental subjects for mad magicians.

Either way, it meant that the world was still a very hard place for beastmen to survive.

‘I have to go back.’

Since my plan had failed so spectacularly, I didn’t have the luxury of lingering here. I had to escape before anyone noticed me.

“…The jewel.”

The jewel I had dropped yesterday kept flashing in my mind. There was a reason I was so obsessed with jewels.

‘Cleia’s Tear’ was no ordinary gem.

It was the legendary jewel that the male lead of this novel—the one I had transmigrated into—desperately searched for!

It was a jewel that contained tremendous power.

In the story, the male lead consumes it and becomes an overwhelmingly powerful, overpowered character. That was a major plot point in the novel.

But…

When I was about to die, who cared about the male lead?

I had tried to steal it first so I could survive.

The thought of painstakingly collecting jewels again by working myself to the bone was exhausting, and I was sick and tired of living a life obsessing over gems.

With just Cleia’s jewel, I could live the rest of my life without a single worry.

Was it because the story of this world was already predetermined that it didn’t end up in my hands? Or was it simply because I stupidly slipped and failed at the theft?

Either way, it was infuriating.

How could I not feel wronged? A perfectly prepared meal had rolled off the table and disappeared.

But…

Maybe the jewel that rolled away was still stuck somewhere between the wall and the stairs.

‘Right. If I’m leaving anyway, I might as well check under the stairs where I fell yesterday.’

Who knows? If luck was on my side, the jewel might still be stuck in some corner.

After making up my mind, I slowly climbed down from the blanket and set my feet on the floor.

My soft paw pads padded lightly across the room.

Just as I had already noticed, there was no one inside the room. But the thought that terrifying guards might be waiting outside the door made my mouth go dry, and I nervously licked my lips as I approached it.

Every time my fluffy, fragrant fur moved, the scent tickled my nose. It was such a pleasant fragrance that my heart fluttered a little.

Although my paw was bandaged, the injury didn’t seem serious. After all, I could walk just fine.

Creak—

The door opened, revealing a hallway.

Fortunately, there were no guards or sentries standing outside. It was definitely not a prison.

But where exactly was this place? And where was the spot where I had fallen yesterday?

From what I felt yesterday, the Imperial Palace was filled with glittering halls that all looked the same—like a maze where one place looked just like another.

Looking around the hallway, it didn’t seem to be the building I had first sneaked into.

The interior felt different, and compared to the building that guarded the treasure, this place had almost no guards or people passing by.

Of course, fewer guards meant good news for me.

I quickly approached a window and jumped onto the windowsill.

Whoooosh—

Cold wind blew in through the open window. From the second-floor window, I could see the small hole in the back garden wall that I had used to sneak in.

‘It’s not that far.’

Fortunately, the building I had infiltrated yesterday was nearby.

After a moment of hesitation, I chose to climb down the outer wall through the window instead of using the door.

Thinking about how I had ruined everything yesterday by foolishly using the stairs, I couldn’t bring myself to use stairs or the main entrance again.

Contrary to my worries, my paw pads stuck securely to the stone wall.

Thanks to that, it didn’t take long for me to climb down from the second floor.

In no time at all, I reached the ground, and the damp grass soaked with morning dew brushed against my paw pads.

Without wasting any time, I ran toward the building where the jewel had been.

‘But it’s really strange… there’s hardly anyone around.’

Even if this was an unused building in the palace, it felt odd that there were so few guards.

But the thought didn’t last long.

‘Well, the palace’s situation isn’t my problem.’

Thanks to that, I was able to sneak into the building where the jewel had been with ease.

As it happened, the building was bustling with people because of yesterday’s incident.

That worked out well for me. The movement of a small weasel wouldn’t stand out among all the chaos.

If luck was going to help me, it should have done so yesterday.

My mood was growing sour.

Anyway, I darted quickly between pillars and eventually reached the place where I had dropped the jewel yesterday.

Nearby, several people were gathered and talking. They looked like investigators.

“There was definitely an intruder, but no one saw them.”

“Something moved very quickly. Aside from a tiny window—too small even for a child to enter—the only entrance to the room with the jewel is the door we guard.”

“So you’re saying a ghost stole the jewel?”

“Could it have been magic?”

The investigators and guards were discussing yesterday’s incident. The guard who had been on duty looked visibly nervous, probably worried that he might be blamed.

‘I’m sorry, mister. But I need to survive too.’

A small sense of guilt stirred in my chest, but surviving came first.

I skillfully slipped through the movement of the people and moved along with them.

As a result, I successfully infiltrated beneath the staircase in the corridor.

Fortunately, no one was checking such a hidden corner.

‘This is where I fell. The jewel rolled over to that corner…’

I clearly remembered seeing it roll into the gap between the walls.

Following that memory, I moved carefully.

Soon, the narrow crack I had seen yesterday appeared in front of me.

The dark, narrow space was filled with dust, probably because it was too tight for even a cleaner’s hand to reach.

I hated dirty places, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.

I quickly pushed my face into the gap.

“Urgh.”

Once my face was inside, everything turned pitch black. I blinked quietly, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

‘Please… please be here.’

Gradually, as my eyes adjusted, the shape of the narrow space came into view.

It was clean only as far as a human hand could reach.

But no matter how much I looked around, the jewel I hoped for was nowhere to be seen.

Aside from old dust, there wasn’t a single object inside.

‘It definitely rolled in here.’

Based on the conversation I had just overheard, the jewel’s whereabouts were still a complete mystery.

‘If it’s not even here…’

Then where on earth did the jewel go?

Now the darkness wasn’t just from the cramped space—my future looked equally bleak.

I had sneaked into the Imperial Palace and stolen the jewel that was my only hope… only to lose it.

In fact, the situation had become even more hopeless than before, when at least I knew where the jewel was.

“Haa…”

A sigh escaped my lips.

As much as I didn’t want to believe it, if it wasn’t here… then I had to give up.

With that sigh, I placed my front paw against the wall and pulled my head back.

“Urgh.”

Huh?

But my head didn’t come out easily.

I pulled my body back several times, but my head remained stuck.

‘Don’t tell me… I’m stuck?’

So far I hadn’t been discovered because no one had checked this corner.

But if I stayed stuck here like this, it was only a matter of time before someone found me.

‘You’ve got to be kidding! Why would I get stuck here now?!’

If they mistook me for a stray animal and tossed me outside into the bushes, that would be the best-case scenario.

But if they grew suspicious and discovered that I was a beastman…

And on top of that, if they found out that I was the one who stole the jewel yesterday…

Wow.

Just imagining it was terrifying.