“Lion?!”

The lion, shaking its large ochre mane around its head, slowly approached Latifa.

– Grrrr.

At that low growl baring sharp teeth, Latifa’s body trembled uncontrollably.

‘Even with the fence, the intimidation is incredible!’

The fennec fox in Latifa’s arms trembled and kept trying to burrow deeper into her embrace.

“It’s, it’s okay. Calm down.”

Latifa’s voice quivered as she tried to soothe the fox. Hades placed a hand on Latifa’s shoulder and asked,

“Is this your first time seeing a lion?”

“I’ve read about them in books…”

“I see. The Imperial territory probably had more tigers than lions. This is a golden lion from the savanna, which is hot but less so than the desert. It’s twice as big and three times as fierce as normal lions.”

“What do you want from me? To talk to this thing?!”

‘I can’t! Absolutely not!’

There was no way she could see spirits and talk to a lion she could barely look at due to her trembling body.

Hearing her sharp words spoken out of fear, Hades replied a bit awkwardly,

“It’s not much. Wouldn’t it be nice to become friends?”

– Roar!

“Eek!”

Latifa stepped back as the lion roared, as if telling her not to even look at it. Hades pressed down on both her shoulders from behind and whispered secretly,

“I’ll tell you my plan. We’re going to become accomplices. How about it, doesn’t that make your heart race?”

“Accomplices?”

“This is why I brought you to the desert. This is what I want you to help with.”

Just to tame a lion?

Of course, this lion was on a different level from other lions, but after making it sound like she would be doing something grand, being told to tame an animal left Latifa momentarily stunned.

Just?

‘Did I expect too much from Commander Hades… Just an animal trainer. Well, I guess that’s all I can do with this ability.’

After a moment of disappointment, Latifa resigned herself to her situation. Noticing her dejected expression, Hades chuckled.

“You think I brought you here just to tame one lion?”

‘Then it’s not?’

Surprised, Latifa looked up at Hades. He continued whispering in her ear, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret.

“The current Sultan has three princes. Two of them are competing for succession. I intend to support the first prince, born of the queen, as the next Sultan. It must be him.”

Like all countries, it seemed the Commander Hades was also at the center of political matters.

“But there’s one small problem.”

‘Wouldn’t a prince under Commander Hades’ protection have no issues becoming Sultan?’

Latifa tilted her head curiously as she listened to his story.

“What is it?”

“The queen passed away long ago, so I’m the only one supporting him.”

“But you said he’s the first prince? Isn’t the eldest usually the one to inherit the throne?”

“Latifa. We desert people are instinctively drawn to strength.”

“Strength…?”

“The first prince is the wisest and smartest, but he’s weak. So there are quite a few opposing factions.”

That made sense.

‘The people would prefer a successor with imperial charisma over a weak leader.’

Latifa nodded. But her questions remained unanswered.

“But what does that have to do with that lion? What am I supposed to do?”

“In a week, there will be your Frau appointment ceremony.”

“In a week?”

“There will be a grand banquet at the Caleb estate. All the notable nobles and magnates of the Grand Bazaar will be invited to introduce you. I’ve ordered the entire east annex garden to be cleared to make a large stadium.”

She couldn’t understand how this related to the first prince.

“Remember I said a Frau can be anything?”

“Yes.”

“You will become my Frau as a goddess.”

“…A goddess?”

“Your role is to deceive people into thinking a goddess is behind me.”

“What?!”

Hades continued explaining his plan. His voice sounded as excited as a child’s.

“Word will spread throughout the country that the first prince is backed by Hades Caleb the Ignite and a goddess. Then the people of the Grand Bazaar will fall for the prince.”

Hearing his plan, Latifa finally understood what he was plotting.

He intended to dress Latifa up as a goddess to win people’s favor. And then use that favor to support the prince he backed as the next Sultan.

It was an absurd and preposterous plan. But at the same time, she thought it was a plan only he could come up with.

Finding herself unwittingly involved in an incredible scheme, Latifa stared blankly at the lion in front and said,

“So that lion is just a means to make me look like a goddess. If I tame the golden lion, the people at the banquet will spread rumors everywhere.”

“That’s right! You’re smarter than you look!”

‘Than I look?! Are you saying I don’t look smart?!’

Irritated by his seemingly dismissive tone, Latifa retorted with exasperation.

“This plan is nonsense. Who would see a woman who ‘doesn’t look smart’ as a goddess? And I’m an Imperial!”

“Don’t worry. I’ve made preparations from the desert. Preparations for you to become a goddess.”

“What preparations?”

“You not only healed a mad horse, but also brought rain to save countless soldiers’ lives. All of that was your doing.”

“That wasn’t me-”

“Shh. It was all your doing.”

Hades cut off Latifa’s words.

“It’s fine. People won’t think you’re a real goddess anyway.”

‘What? Then why make me do this?’

As Latifa looked at him with a blank expression, Hades ruffled her hair and walked towards the lion’s cage.

“We’re just raising the value of the product. We’ve become accomplices in raising the prince’s value. By raising our own value.”

– Grrrr.

The lion growled lowly, wary of Hades. But Hades looked at Latifa with a confident expression, seemingly unafraid of the growling lion.

“One week. You have to tame this lion within a week.”

“…!”

“Make it a spectacular success. Prove your worth to me and become a being worthy of being my Frau. Something that transcends humanity.”

Latifa was flustered by those words. How could she tame a golden lion in a week?

“That’s impossible! That’s a wild lion! I can’t talk to ferocious wild animals, and even if I could communicate, I can’t control the lion’s actions!”

Latifa protested to him, feeling her mind go blank. However, Hades replied nonchalantly.

“My Frau can do it. I believe in you.”

**

The Grand Bazaar’s royal palace. In Prince Tarek’s lavishly decorated palace, Iota was visiting her son Tarek.

“Hades, that mad dog sent an invitation? And what? A Frau appointment ceremony? Ha! To invite a prince of the kingdom to such a thing?!”

Iota complained to Tarek in a sharp voice, as if her pride was hurt.

Tarek’s pride was equally wounded. The ‘Master’s Joy’ Frau was usually something insignificant.

Rare pets or expensive jewels typically received the title of Frau, so in a way, there couldn’t be a more personal and trivial event.

If one had to rank it, it was about on the level of a birthday party for a pet dog?

To invite someone as important as Prince Tarek to such a place was bound to wound Iota’s pride.

“But we must go, Mother. That mad dog has invited most of our faction’s people to the banquet. Lord Serja and Lord Bader have also received invitations. He’s clearly trying to use some strange tactic to sway them to Prince Ruhan’s side.”

At Tarek’s explanation, Iota snorted and replied.

“Ha! Prince Tarek. Even so, they are already on our side. Participating and showing our impatience will only reveal our anxiety to them.”

Iota gave Tarek advice borne of experience, but Tarek, with his fiery temperament, didn’t properly accept the counsel.

“We must attend. We haven’t properly won over those merchants yet. We mustn’t leave any openings for elder brother Ruhan. Becoming Sultan isn’t that easy.”

“So you will attend…?”

Iota raised her voice at the end, hinting at Tarek not to attend, but this time Tarek seemed quite adamant and spoke firmly.

“Even if the Frau appointment ceremony is just that mad dog’s eccentricity, since we’ve been invited first, there’s no reason to refuse. Even if you don’t approve, Mother, this is a battle of wills between men. Please don’t interfere.”

Tarek didn’t want to suffer the humiliation of being called ‘a boy hiding behind his mother’s skirts’ as Ruhan had said before.

“Then if things go wrong later, this mother knows nothing about it. I’m returning to the harem.”

Iota shot Tarek a sharp glare and stood up abruptly.

Tarek, tall and large in stature, wavered momentarily at her piercing gaze but soon steeled himself and didn’t see her off as she left.

**

Meanwhile, in an open space within the Caleb estate, Latifa was sweating profusely.

“There… good boy?”

– Roar!

“Mommy!”

Latifa threw a piece of bloody raw meat into the golden lion’s cage and hastily backed away.

The lion began to crunch and eat the raw meat with its huge teeth, making terrifying roars.

She had never felt so much like crying since arriving at the Grand Bazaar.

Even when she opened her eyes to see the sand desert after Brenda gave her medicine, or when she saw the big city upon arriving at the Grand Bazaar, she hadn’t felt this hopeless.

‘Only 5 days left…’

For two days, she had camped in front of the cage trying to befriend the lion, but she was still at square one.

“Forget spirits, I can’t even look it in the eye!”

Just as she was about to give up and slump to the ground, Hades’ face and voice came to mind.

‘He said he believes in me… So I can’t give up.’

Hades’ words of trust motivated Latifa more powerfully than any threat or persuasion could.

‘Right. It’s only been two days. If I build a little more rapport, I might be able to see its spirit.’

She clenched her fists and stood up again. But the question was how to build rapport with the frightening lion.

“Sigh… How can I become friends with you? How can I get you to open your heart to me?”

Latifa stared blankly at the lion in the cage from a distance. She couldn’t get close because the lion would get excited and cause a commotion, risking breaking the fence.

All she could do was stay with this lion all day, keeping her distance.

She let out a big sigh and muttered to herself.

“I mean, even if I tame you, what comes next is the problem. Becoming a goddess, does that make any sense?”

To play the role of a goddess in a foreign land when she couldn’t even do it as an imperial princess. It sounded easy, but it wasn’t something that could be easily done.

Feeling increasingly frustrated, Latifa clutched at her hair.

– Yip, yip…!

As Latifa was feeling dejected, the fennec fox beside her started rubbing its body on the sandy ground and playing with its tail.

The small fox, which had been very wary, seemed to have opened up a bit to Latifa now, allowing for some clumsy communication.

Of course, the problem was that when she tried to converse, it only chattered about what it wanted to say.

“You have it easy. Why are you so excited on your own? I’m dying because of the lion.”

Latifa poked the excited desert fox’s head and puffed out her cheeks.

Focusing on the desert fox, she smiled gently at the small voice she heard intermittently and picked it up in her arms.

‘Right. As Commander Hades said, you’re not a very smart animal either. Sigh.’

The small fennec fox didn’t seem to be very intelligent either, as its spirit just babbled whatever it wanted to say.

Latifa withdrew her concentration and waved away the spirit with her hand at the noisy chattering voice.

The desert fox kept rolling around on the sandy ground, kicking its legs. In its mouth was a thick wooden stick.

“What’s this, won’t you get sick if you eat something like that?”

Worried about the fox, Latifa tried to forcibly remove the wooden stick, but the fox immediately growled and bared its teeth at her.

And then a strange inspiration flashed through her mind.

“Huh…? This wood… That’s it! Maybe the lion too?”

Having thought of a way to befriend the lion, she jumped up and started looking for Hades.