Kailas was dreaming.

In his dream, there was a woman. With soft silver hair that brushed the tips of her ears, and skin as white as paper… she was as white and soft as snow.

Kailas called her name, “Ran.”

When he called her name, her blue eyes shone between crescent moon-shaped eyelids. Her slender arms wrapped around Kailas’s neck.

“Kailas.”

Her soft lips pressed against the bridge of his nose with a gentle kiss, then pulled away. It was a kiss as light as a feather.

It wasn’t the first time she had given such kisses to cat Kailas, but it was still a form of physical affection he couldn’t get used to.

Just as Kailas was blushing at the ears, thinking how she could perform such embarrassing actions without any shame, something unexpected happened.

“Not enough.”

A very low, deeply husky voice resonated. Even at a glance, it was a voice dripping with hunger and thirst.

Kailas was startled because that voice was his own.

‘What’s happening?’

Kailas opened his eyes wide. His thick, bronze-colored arms tightly embraced Cioranne’s waist as she pulled away after kissing the bridge of his nose. Her face, which had been moving away, came close again.

The contact, completely different from before, sent shivers down his spine. Kailas kissed Cioranne as he held her from moving away.

Had he ever felt the word “thirst” so vividly? Even after pressing his lips against hers several times from different angles, his hunger remained unquenched. Kailas bit Cioranne’s nape and shoulder. The woman’s face, which had been white as clouds, turned red.

“Kailas.”

Cioranne’s palm covered Kailas’s lips. His face was reflected in her blue eyes, now cloudy like a rainy sky. It was an expression that seemed unfamiliar, even though it was his own face.

Cioranne spoke with shallow breaths.

“Pain would be better. This is too… perplexing…”

“Ran, you like being punished.”

Kailas kissed the palm covering his mouth with a soft peck. Then he whispered in a tone that could melt anything.

“Tenderness is your punishment.”

* * *

His eyes snapped open. But Kailas couldn’t move his body. A shock like being hit on the head with a hammer enveloped him.

‘What kind of crazy dream was that?’

Kailas blinked blankly. Being a man, he’d had his share of erotic dreams. But this was the first time someone he knew had appeared in one.

And of all people, it was Cioranne.

‘Ugh, that’s creepy.’

As the shock passed, an overwhelming sense of self-loathing followed. He felt like human garbage. The small baby panther curled up into a ball and whimpered, prompting the deity to speak.

[‘The Dragon Trampler asks what’s wrong.’]

‘Like I’d tell you.’

Kailas heaved a deep sigh, relieved that even the deity didn’t know about his dream. He glared at the message window. Come to think of it, the fact that he and Cioranne were stuck together like this was all because of the deity.

‘Being confined in this small space must have done something to my head. It’s all the deity’s fault.’

Self-loathing turned to anger in an instant. Kailas shouted loudly.

“Meow meow meow! (Let me out of this wretched place!)”

[‘The Dragon Trampler is deeply hurt by your calling this place wretched.’]

[‘He says he dislikes you.’]

What’s there to dislike? I’m the one who should be saying that!

Irritated, Kailas scratched the blanket with his claws.

‘What nonsense. This place is wretched. Everything’s white, with nothing in it.’

Now the place had a lived-in feel because Cioranne had bought lots of items for Kailas, but before that, it was just an empty white space.

“…Meow?”

Kailas, who had been scratching the blanket, raised his head. Usually when he did this, Cioranne would smile awkwardly, slip her hands under his armpits, and lift him up.

[‘You shouldn’t mistreat things.’]

Though her words were scolding, she would hold him tightly in her arms, stroking his head and ears like she couldn’t get enough of his cuteness. And Kailas would think, ‘This is why bad habits never get corrected,’ while docilely surrendering his neck to her touch.

But today, he didn’t feel that touch. Kailas stretched his neck and looked around.

‘Where did Ran go? It’s past time for her to return from dawn mass.’

The absence of someone who was always by his side when he woke up left him feeling emptier than he had imagined. As Kailas searched for Cioranne, her gentle voice calling his name echoed in his ears.

[Kailas.]

The dream from last night came to mind unbidden. Why was the memory so vivid when dreams should just fade away?

Kailas blushed bright red and scratched the floor with his claws again.

‘Ugh! This is all because of that weird dream I had this morning.’

Just recalling Cioranne’s dreamy gaze from the dream made his fur stand on end. The real her wasn’t like that at all.

‘How could that clueless woman hide such allure?’

This was all happening because Cioranne was absent. If he could see her confused face, the memory of the dream would surely vanish.

When the memory wouldn’t fade easily, Kailas moved his feet. He just wanted to see Cioranne quickly and bury the memory.

The door was tightly closed, but the window was open. Cioranne probably thought a baby cat couldn’t climb that high, but for Kailas, it was a piece of cake.

As he jumped out through the window, the deity asked urgently.

[‘The Dragon Trampler asks where you’re going.’]

‘I’m going to find Ran, why?’

Staying in this room was making him think strange thoughts. The deity laughed as it followed Kailas, who was toddling along on his plump paws.

[‘The Dragon Trampler laughs at ‘Kailas’.’]

[‘He says, “Oh my, what a lonely little kitten.”‘]

[‘He says, “Your mouth may be crooked, but your body is honest.”‘]

‘Stop talking nonsense!’

Why bring up my body, why!

But Kailas was aware that he was being irrational. What did it matter if Cioranne was a bit late? She wouldn’t have come to harm in this temple. He should just be high on catnip and wait; she would return on her own.

Because even he couldn’t convince himself, Kailas kept muttering to himself reassuringly.

‘I’m just looking for her because she’s been gone too long. And I’m hungry. Going without food at this stage could have a fatal impact on my future life!’

Spouting such nonsense, Kailas toddled toward the main chapel to find Cioranne.

The main chapel was quiet after the dawn mass. As Kailas tilted his head in the corridor, wondering if this was the right place, the door to the prayer room attached to the corner of the main chapel opened, and five senior priests came out in a group. They chattered away without any sign of caution.

“I hear the Emperor hasn’t fully shown himself in public.”

“He must have been fatally wounded.”

“He might have scars on his face and doesn’t want to show them.”

“He must have acquired a hideous face befitting his character.”

‘That’s not true.’

Kailas twisted his lips, inadvertently overhearing talk about himself. It was only because he was under some strange curse; otherwise, that fight would have been his overwhelming victory. The Pope was nothing special despite all his bluster.

‘And it was Cioranne’s power that placed the curse.’

Just as Kailas was about to snort and leave for somewhere else:

“By the way, I was surprised during dawn mass. When the topic of beast-folk came up, the Holy Maiden suddenly stood up.”

Beast-folk, and Holy Maiden.

These two words stopped Kailas in his tracks. He turned his attention back to the priests’ conversation.

“Isn’t this the first time the Holy Maiden has completely opposed His Holiness the Pope’s words?”

“Opposed? How could the Holy Maiden possibly go against His Holiness? As His Holiness said, her heart is too kind, and she must have been pained by the talk of trampling beast-folk like beasts. If she truly opposed the opinion, would she have left the beast-folk slaves in this temple untouched?”

“The Holy Maiden is just too tender-hearted.”

It seemed that the topic of beast-folk had come up during dawn mass, and Cioranne had defended them. As Kailas was listening intently with his nose scrunched up:

One of the priests burst into hearty laughter and said:

“But to those who don’t believe in our deity, she’s the fearsome Goddess of Death. Despite her words, how majestic she was when she led the charge at Olzen.”

At those words, Kailas’s eyes widened.

‘Olzen? Cioranne went to Olzen?’

The Olzen Massacre. Originally called the Purge of Olzen Dissidents, it was a horrific massacre of beast-folk that Kailas had renamed after becoming Emperor. It was literally a case of humans indiscriminately slaughtering beast-folk hiding in Olzen and taking them away as slaves.

And that incident became the catalyst for beast-folk to rally around Kailas.

[‘The temple people are demons. Demons who impersonate the deity.’]

[‘How many of our brethren perished at their hands…’]

[‘If you guarantee the safety of our kind, we will help you become Emperor.’]

The surviving beast-folk eagerly swore allegiance to Kailas. And later, when Kailas invaded the capital, they became his most valiant soldiers.

And at that massacre…

‘Cioranne led the charge.’

Just hearing those words made his blood run cold.