Chapter 15: Beastmen’s God

Myra and Maya returned to attend to their Princess after the intimidating Lady Jade finally left the room. 

They saw Princess Swan looking dejected, sitting on the chair while lowering her head. Her assorted breakfast was left untouched, and it rang a panic bell in the cat maid's head. 

They rushed towards Swan and asked, "Princess, are you alright? What did Lady Jade do to you?

"We are sorry, Princess. We cannot stop Lady Jade, since she holds the highest authority after His Majesty in this castle."

Swan lifted their heads and smiled weakly, "It's alright. We just talked."

The cat maids didn't believe that, knowing how timid their Princess was. But they also had no right to question further. 

"Then, you should eat your breakfast, Princess. We've selected them all for you."

Swan looked at the table full of breakfast in front of her. She had been told this was for her, but her body and mind simply rejected the idea, because she remembered how Aria kept baiting her. Sometimes, Swan would be so hungry because there were no ingredients left in the kitchen, and Aria would purposely drop her breakfast on the ground, usually bread or cheese, and then say it was for her.

But the moment Swan touched that food, Aria would suddenly accuse her of stealing, and she would get beaten afterward.

Aria wasn't in this castle, but the fear still lingered in her heart, and it made her lose her appetite. 

"I-I'm not hungry…" Swan said, but that sentence seemed to have shaken Myra and Maya. 

"Do you want anything else then? We can always tell the cook to make it for you, Princess!" Maya offered. 

"Yes! All you need to do is ask! But you must eat!" Myra added. 

Swan was taken aback by how persistent they were, "But I'm really not hungry…"

Maya and Myra's faces paled instantly, the fear in their eyes was apparent, and they kneeled in front of her, "We're begging you, Princess. Please eat as much as you can."

"We are specifically instructed by His Majesty to make sure that you eat as much as you can. He said that you are too thin and bony, and he doesn't like it. He said that he would punish us if you kept getting thinner by the day!"

Swan was appalled. She stared at Maya and Myra, realizing the fear in their eyes was real.

Of course, she wouldn't want to bring them trouble, especially when they had been nice to her. 

Thus, she began eating a piece of bread slowly, a habit she had to make herself feel full while eating so little. But it made her uncomfortable with how Myra and Maya looked so worried at her eating slowly.

Swan swallowed the food with difficulty and asked, "Uhm, please eat with me. I can't eat all of these."

"How can we—" Maya shook her head. "Princess, these are not the foods that we usually eat. We, beastmen, have our own diet."

"We can eat a few things though, such as that meat over there," Myra said while looking at a plate of sausage. 

"Myra!" 

"S-sorry!"

"Oh, t-then, please have it!" Swan happily lifted the plate and handed it to Myra. 

"W-we cannot—" Myra was about to reject, but she had no heart to say so, especially when Princess Swan was staring at her with her clear blue eyes. It made her feel mushy, and she finally accepted the plate, "Thank you, Princess. You're so kind."

Swan smiled awkwardly. 

She didn't find that gesture to be kind. She just felt it was right to share food because sometimes the maids in her palace would pity her and leave some food for her to heat up, so she could have dinner. 

She thought it was just the way it should be, to be greedy would mean you'd hurt others. 

However, Maya was horrified by how her sister accepted the food. She wanted to return it to the table, but Swan said, "Uhm, you two should sit with me. We can have breakfast together."

"Absolutely not, Princess! W-we are not allowed to!"

"By who?"

"By His Majesty!" Maya replied. She was on the verge of tears as if the mention of his name was enough to frighten them. 

It raised a question for Swan. She couldn't ask Lady Jade much because that woman knew how to keep a secret, but the maids should be less restrained, right? 

"About His Majesty… is he really that scary?" Swan asked curiously. "Uhm, I think it's fine to sit with me. I don't think he will mind."

"He will!" Maya insisted. "Princess, I'm afraid you don't understand. But we, beastmen, see our king as God. His Majesty is the strongest, and he has conquered our lands, so he is our new God. To think that we can sit with a God's wife, or even eat her food, is blasphemous!" 

Swan's body stiffened.

Gale told her that beastmen valued strength over everything else, but she didn't expect it to be extreme. 

"T-then, if you two made a mistake, would you get killed by him?" Swan asked.

Myra and Maya looked at each other, and gave a convoluted answer, "We… are not sure, Princess. But, even if His Majesty doesn't kill us, the moment we are dismissed and told to return to our village, then we will get killed by our parents. Because that means we have failed to serve His Majesty."

"T-then, did you two get dragged to work in the castle, or volunteered?"

"Of course, we volunteer, Princess!" Myra replied. "It is a huge honor to be able to serve His Majesty. We were taught that strength is everything. As long as he is undefeatable, then we will serve him for the rest of our lives!"

Swan found it fascinating but also scary.

What if Gale got injured? Or if he became too old to fight? Would they just kill him?

Swan remembered her father, who was powerful and undefeated, so he reigned for decades. In the end, he was killed by Gale.

Would the same thing happen to her husband?

A shiver ran down her spine as she couldn't imagine such a huge wolf could be defeated.

"Princess, please eat… we are worried for you…"