His Highness is a Tiger

End.

It was just like one of those days when Cale got some work to do at the royal palace... Cale had to be in charge of this and that. He just wanted to rest at home after fighting some bad guys on the way but he couldn't do anything as it was the crown prince's orders. He hated it. Not to mention, it was exhausting.

The only thing he enjoyed when he stayed at the royal palace was... eating cookies while watching the crown prince get busy. That was what he intended just now too. He didn't even knock and just barged in like it was his own house. He knew that the crown prince was too tired to deal with him anyway so, why not?

"Your Highness, I brought you some more documents to sort... out."

However, the crown prince wasn't there. Only, there was a familiar tiger with black stripes and lion's mane, standing on its two feet while holding a folder of documents. There, the tiger only stared at him in confusion before finally went back to minding its own business. For a while there, he thought he was just imagining things because he had entered the room too abruptly. That was why he ended up getting out of the office just as fast. He quietly leaned his head on the door as he pondered, 'What is that?'.

"What the hell was that?"

He murmured and decided not to think too much about it as he himself thought that he was only tired from all the work given to him. It was then when Tasha, the crown prince's aunt passed by. He then called out to her in a hurry.

"Miss Tasha, do you know where His Highness have gone to? I couldn't find him in his office."

"You mean, Alberu? I think he was still in his office though? Did you not see him when you went in?"

"I... I didn't."

There was a slight pause in Cale's speech but the kind Tasha didn't pry any further. After a short moment, a familiar voice came out behind him. Cale felt relieved now that he would finally meet someone he really really wanted to see. After seeing that illusion, of course he felt relieved. Or so he thought.

"What do you mean I wasn't in my office? Also, why did you go into my office only to come out without even giving me the documents?"

"Your hi— uh, wait."

"Wait? Wait what?"

"I thought I heard His Highness' voice just now or am I really hallucinating?"

"I am... here?"

"...Miss Tasha, do we have something like that in the palace? The tiger can even talk. Amazing."

"...Tiger? What are you talking about?"

"...?"

"???"

Tasha and Alberu thought that Cale had finally lost it. Alberu felt a bit sorry about it since he might be one of the reasons why Cale became like that.

——————————

After talking to Cale for some more, Alberu became more certain that Cale really needed to get some check up. However, in the end, the physicians all said that nothing was wrong with Cale. Not even the ancient dragon Eruhaben knew the cause. And almost with no clues at all, they were back to square one.

"So... I am the only one that can see you in that form?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Haah... I'm going insane."

"You're plenty crazy already but the situation this time is serious."

"Right..."

Well, all's done and it was time for Cale to get his beauty rest. Now that he found a suitable place to sleep on, he buried his face even deeper into the surface. Such bliss couldn't be gotten by any normal means and who knows? Maybe he'd be back to his normal state the next day and be forced to work by this scamming of a crown prince. He should get all the rest he could when he could. Since Alberu too was concerned about Cale's health, he decided to give Cale a several days off.