The tiger Charlotte, with teeth large enough to instill fear in onlookers, began to fiercely bite the neck of the female wolf, Reina Tilbot.

Reina writhed in pain and attempted to counterattack, but Charlotte, who was clearly injured somewhere, held onto Reina Tilbot with a ferocity that was inexplicable. Until the wolf, unable to withstand the tiger, collapsed with ragged breaths next to the dead tiger Tuscan.

When Charlotte placed her front paw on Reina’s neck, who was already on the verge of losing consciousness, and pressed down hard, Reina’s body finally slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Charlotte stretched out her neck and roared towards the sky. Following her gaze, the soldiers’ eyes caught sight of the eagles, which had now increased to five.

Only then did Charlotte stagger towards Chloe, lick her neck a few times, and then collapse.

It was then that those who discovered the torn and bleeding back of Chloe’s neck realized why the injured Charlotte had killed Reina.

With serious injuries, the eyes of the mother who had only watched her daughter’s fight saw Reina Tilbot’s cowardly and cunning behavior towards her daughter, who, focused on killing Tuscan, had not even realized she was being attacked.

The corpses of the tiger that was Tuscan Staxston and the wolf that was Reina Tilbot.

In front of their forms, so terribly mangled it was hard to look at, the humans were stunned and speechless for a while.

The soldiers’ consciousness, frozen like blocks of wood, began to awaken again when the beasts, who had been resting as if catching their breath, slowly began to move their bodies and disappear somewhere. Even Charlotte Lionelden, who had collapsed, raised her heavy body and disappeared with them.

The humans left in the place where they had vanished trembled as they confirmed the truth of this world they had only heard rumors about. The beast-humans had not disappeared, and they were still thriving and ruling over humans.

“Do you really have to go this week?”

The ends of Hugrey’s eyebrows drooped endlessly downward.

“You look like a puppy now, not a wolf.”

Chloe laughed as she pulled up the ends of Hugrey’s eyebrows.

“Well, wolves are canines anyway. They’re all similar.”

“But there’s no dog as handsome as you.”

Chloe said admiringly as she stroked Hugrey’s face. Hugrey almost broke into a wide smile unconsciously but barely managed to put strength into his mouth corners being pulled up on both sides. He had to look as pitiful as possible.

“Even though your husband is so handsome, do you really have to go this week?”

“I have to, I’ve already been here for a month. We promised two months, one month, like this…”

“Haah…”

Hugrey finally let out a long sigh.

When Tuscan Staxston died, as expected, there were many opinions about who would sit on the empty throne. Hugrey, not wanting to share Chloe with the Tigrium Kingdom, secretly hoped that Charlotte Lionelden would inherit the throne, but Charlotte refused even to return to Tigrium. With no other choice, Chloe decided to succeed to that position, and as a result, she was now alternating between spending two months in Tigrium and one month in Roizen.

It would have been better if it were two months in Roizen and one month in Tigrium, but even though Charlotte Lionelden had taught various subjects, it was unreasonable for Chloe, who hadn’t properly learned the art of kingship, to be away from Tigrium for longer than that to properly play the role of king.

Hugrey often accompanied Chloe when she went to Tigrium, but he couldn’t constantly be in Tigrium abandoning his own domain. As a result, these moments of inevitable separation came.

“Should I come along?”

I really don’t want to let her go.

“No! Last time you came with me, how busy were you when work piled up here? Come later, at that time.”

“That time?”

“You know, when you really need me.”

“Ah.”

Even without being in heat, there really wasn’t a single day when he didn’t need her. That woman is truly cold-hearted.

“I’ll come then, and tomorrow I’ll go alone.”

How many times is she drawing the line?

“Alright.”

Hugrey reluctantly agreed. However, his mind was busy calculating how many tasks he absolutely had to complete. He couldn’t go weeks without seeing her. If he dealt with things quickly, he might be able to leave for Tigrium in a week.

Chloe had been on edge from the constant nagging of the royal elders since her arrival in Tigrium. It had been nearly a year since she married Hugrey, and almost 11 months since she ascended to the throne.

And the elders’ nagging had started during her previous stay in Tigrium. Their claim was that they were anxious about the lack of a child even though it had been a year since the marriage.

The child would surely come when the time was right, so what exactly were they so anxious about? It was more than a little uncomfortable to have them coming in groups to nag. Having forcibly separated from her beloved Hugrey, only to come here and listen to such things…

Moreover, due to their anxiety, they were making preposterous claims.

“You spend two months apart, so you’re only together for four months a year? Honestly, it’s not easy for a couple to conceive when they’re separated like that.”

When initially deciding how to divide her time between Tigrium and Roizen, Chloe had wanted to make it a month in each. She couldn’t even imagine being apart from Hugrey for two months.

But those elders had been furious, hadn’t they? Saying there was no way a king could be absent from the country for 6 months a year. Of course, Chloe wanted to properly fulfill her role as king, having boasted that she would take the throne when she killed Tuscan. That’s why she had accepted the elders’ claims, even though she really didn’t want to.

But now they’re saying the child isn’t coming because the couple spends too much time apart? What are they suggesting?

“What are you suggesting! My husband and I have duties to govern our respective domains. Would you like to adjust the duration of my stay in Tigrium?”

“That’s not possible!”

“That’s not okay, being apart for long is not okay, then what exactly do you want?”

At Chloe’s question, the elders just looked at each other’s faces and closed their mouths. It seemed they had something they wanted but couldn’t bring themselves to say.

“Please speak freely.”

“In fact, the late King Tuscan Staxston didn’t have many suitable tiger beast-human women to marry.”

“…”

Chloe’s face hardened at the sudden mention of Tuscan, but she decided to listen to the end for now.

“But we can’t say there aren’t quite a few tiger beast-human men of marriageable age who match Your Majesty’s age. There are quite a few if we look.”

“…What do you mean?”

“How about divorcing Duke Ulpaz, who is of a different species and with whom you have to be apart for eight months a year, and finding a new marriage partner among the tiger beast-human race?”

“…”

For a moment, Chloe just blinked her eyes, wondering if she had heard correctly.

“You’ve maintained your marriage with the Duke for quite some time without any news, so the possibility of good news in the future seems unlikely, doesn’t it?”

At the words of another elder that followed, she finally realized she hadn’t misheard. And anger surged to the top of her head. Are these people really presenting this as a suggestion, as an alternative!

“Divorce…”

Bang!

She was about to say to cut out such nonsense when suddenly the already open door was flung open even more roughly, making a loud noise as it hit the wall, and Hugrey appeared in the gap.

“Duke Ulpaz of Elaion has arrived.”

The voice of the servant announcing the visit echoed weakly behind Hugrey, who was already halfway into the reception room.

“Hugrey…”

Chloe jumped up from her seat to welcome him, but soon closed her mouth upon seeing his expression. She realized why he had such an angry face. It was clear he had already heard her conversation with the elders before entering the reception room.

“Duke Ulpaz, what rudeness is this? Show proper respect to Her Majesty.”

One of the elders immediately raised his voice.

“I came to see my wife, not to have an audience with the king of another country. As for you, rather than spouting nonsense about divorcing and remarrying someone else’s wife, it would be better if you just disappeared. It doesn’t seem like you were having any constructive conversation that would be beneficial to the Tigrium Kingdom, just wasting my wife’s time.”

“Ho ho! How rude.”

“Rude? I’m starting to want to show you what true rudeness is.”

The atmosphere between Hugrey and the elders was turning hostile.

“Enough! That’s enough, please withdraw. I need to have a conversation with my husband.”

Chloe dismissed the elders, taking Hugrey’s side. It was natural. To her, the elders were just meddlesome fools who talked nonsense. How dare they waste her time and anger Hugrey by suggesting such absurd things as divorcing Hugrey.

The elders grumbled as if finding it hard to accept, but in the end, they had no choice but to follow the king’s order to withdraw and soon all disappeared.

“Hugrey, what you heard earlier was all nonsense. Divorce, those people must have all gone mad, really.”

“…”

Hugrey didn’t answer and just stared intently at Chloe’s face.