Rosie's Games

Chapter 164: Miu 2

Rosalind expected to lose consciousness after all the memories that she saw, yet she did not. Which only became more of a problem when they heard a voice outside of the carriage.

Dazed, she lifted her head and looked at him. Her back was drenched with sweat, her devoid of any color.

"Your Grace, the Duke of Lonyth's people are asking for an audience. Apparently, they are looking for a lost pet." It was Denys, he was outside of the carriage waiting for Lucas to say something.

"Come in," Lucas said and Denys complied. The moment he got inside the carriage, he looked at Rosalind and the Duke and paused for a few seconds before he lowered his head.

Then the Duke continued.

"As you can see, there are no pets here. Tell them we fought two tigers earlier and that I am quite occupied with Miss Rosie."

Rosalind's eyes landed on the tiger across them. That immediately made her realize her current state. She had wondered why Denys actually stared at her for more than a few seconds and now she knew. She was… actually sitting in the Duke's lap!

She could feel her blood rushing to her face. Her weakness vanished!

"I understand," Denys said before leaving. The moment he closed the door, Rosalind immediately jumped out of Lucas's arms as if she was running away from something.

"I— I apologize," she cleared her throat and focused on the tiger. "Look, the color changed." The red was gone. The once red tiger now looked like a normal white one. Even the Duke looked undeniably surprised at the changes. The awkward atmosphere disappeared almost immediately.

For a few seconds, the thick silence wrapped the occupants inside the carriage.

"I believe I can now keep it," Rosalind said.

This time, the Duke nodded without saying a word.

"Name it," Rosalind asked.

"Name it? Isn't it just a tiger? Call it Tiger."

"That is not a proper name," she could not help but pout. She slowly sat next to the sleeping beast. "We need something… cute."

"Cute?" he lifted an eyebrow. "Call it Whitey then."

She paused and deliberated if he was serious. The lack of amusement on his face was enough to answer her.

"Whitey is not a cute name."

"Then Red."

"That is a color."

"Then Little Tiger?"

"Really?"

"Then call it Miu." josei

"Miu?" That was indeed a good name. "Why Miu?"

He stared at her as if wondering if he should tell her the reason. Then he cleared his throat and turned away. "Cats meow, that is a cat. I am certain you wouldn't want to call it Meow so I had to be innovative." Again, he cleared his throat. He did not continue, but his next words were pretty obvious.

She could only glare at him. Innovativee? Did he call this innovation?

However, he does have a point.

Cats do meow and since tigers are a type of cat then it's not exactly a bad thing to call the tiger Miu, right?

"Alright," Rosalind smiled.

His gaze immediately sprang towards her face. "Pardon?"

"I said, we are going to name it Miu."

As if on cue, the beast open its eyes and once again moved to her lap. She slowly stroked its beautiful white fur.

"From now on, you will be called Miu," Rosalind smiled. She could feel the Duke's eyes on her but decided to ignore him. Although the name was cute, she could not believe that he had actually suggested naming Miu, 'Little Tiger'. Who did that?

"I received some news about the Aster Empire," Lucas changed the topic when the silence stretched on. Right now, he was looking at the tiger who seemed so cozy in Rosalind's lap. He glared at it as if hoping that his sharp gaze would be enough to wake it up.

"Oh?" Rosalind finally removed her gaze from the beast and looked at him.

"It seems that they are still looking for the bodies of you are your maid."

"Milith?"

"She will travel to the North and will be serving you under a disguise very soon."

"Thank you." The man never failed to help her. "Milith is innocent."

"Innocents die all the time," he said. "She wouldn't be the first one."

That was a little harsh, but it was indeed a fact. This continent was full of beasts and people that would kill anyone without having a second thought. For some reason, she suddenly thought of Ena Thun, Lurea, and that mysterious woman in a cloak.

In the past, the war between the empires started because the Dreaston Empire— the Empire where the Hydran Family, the family that received the Blessing of the water, was— started a war because of some territorial disputes. Dreaston was located just south of the Black Forest which was the forest dividing the Raston Empire— the Empire to which Ena and her family belonged to— with the Dreaston Empire.

The Dreaston Empire had a war with the Turith Kingdom and the Gliss Family, the family who received the ice Blessing, in the past. At first, the Raston Empire did not show any support to anyone, but as the war progressed, other Empires started to join the conflict. The war became bigger and bigger until the Dreaston Empire was able to conquer Turith.

Now that Rosalind thought about it, Dreastonians and the overall Hydran family had always thought that they were better than the Gliss Family because without water, the Gliss Family could not make ice. It was absurd, but at some point, many kingdoms started to support the Hydran Family because of this very reason.

She thought long and hard about the exact timeline and recalled an incident that prompted the Dreastonians to finally attack the Turith Kingdom. It was an assassination of a prince. It was believed that someone from the Turith kingdom assassinated a Prince from the Dreaston Empire. Many said that it was Turith who started the war because they wanted to antagonize Dreaston.

Left with no choice, the Dreaston Empire obliterated a kingdom that had long allied itself with Turith. And this… started the war.

After a long time, she finally recalled the name of the Kingdom. Idepes— the Kingdom located by the ruins that could be found near the black forest.

Ruins.

Rosalind frowned. She looked at the Duke and asked, "I remember there were ruins near Lonyth. Do you think those people… came here for those ruins?" she asked.

.....

I posted the Map on my Instagram: @b.mitchylle