The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 293: Is this a foreboding?

"Arinya," I heard Fenric call out and I turned my head. What I saw was fire and smoke, erupting from the burning surroundings.

What is this? What’s going on?

"Arinya," Fenric called again, and my eyes landed on him, bloody, head down, and in his hands was a bloody cloth. No, that wasn’t a cloth... It was...

My breath hitched as I realized what was in his hand.

"I’m sorry. I failed you." Fenric said, his shoulders trembling and bloody tears rolling down his face. "And him. I... I couldn’t save him."

I stepped back, my heart trembling at this sight. No, this can’t be real.

But I couldn’t utter any word, I just stood there, taking in the sight with pure terror in my heart.

"Arinya," Fenric called. "I think... I might fail you too."

"No!" I yelled, my body jolting up right away and my breathing ragged.

I looked at the faces staring at me as I just jumped out of sleep.

Fenric, Damar, and Noah stared at me, wondering what had happened, and I panted.

I looked at Fenric and then at my cubs, who were playing with them. Ah, they were all fine. There was no blood anywhere and no one was crying.

It was a dream.

All a dream.

I dropped back onto the fur, staring at the ceiling of the tent as I waited for my racing heart to finally calm down.

Slowly, I closed my eyes and let out one smooth breath. It was a dream, and it’ll stay that way.

Nothing will happen to my cubs, and nothing will happen to Fenric. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

In any case, I can’t help but wonder... Is this a foreboding?

I bit my lip and then my cubs began to climb me, little Raiden taking the privilege to massage my face with his small paws and the other two didn’t relent from stepping all over me. But they were all doing the same thing. Checking up on their momma to make sure she was alright.

How adorable.

"Arinya," Fenric called. "Are you alright?"

"Did you have a nightmare?" Noah asked.

"Did you see the face of that distasteful female in your sleep?" Damar asked and for a second, I blinked before laughing.

"Well, it was a nightmare alright," I said. "But it’s nothing to worry about." I lifted my body up, holding my cubs so they wouldn’t fall down.

Speaking of that distasteful female, did she have anything to do with that dream?

I might just be putting too much meaning into it, but I’ve seen a lot of dramas to know that there is no length a jealous female like that would go to.

She could try to get rid of Raiden, who is one of Noah’s potential heirs, but I’m not in agreement with it yet.

And in the process, Fenric was involved and... I quickly shook my head.

Here I go thinking too deeply about a nightmare. I don’t want to assume something wrong will just go wrong all of a sudden but I can’t dismiss it either.

The only way to avoid regrets is to make sure there are no loose strings left untied.

I wanted to let Talia and her ’committee of disgruntled women’ but if the threat they pose is so great that I subconsciously dream of such a thing happening, then I guess I can’t let them be.

"Will you have lunch now?" Noah asked and I watched as he got up.

"Where are you going?" I asked and he grinned.

"What? Do you miss me already?"

"Just answer the question before you get full of yourself," I said and he chuckled.

"I spent most of the morning here already, so I need to get back to my duty. I need to look around the reconstruction of the sheep tribe village."

Ah, that’s right. After we left for the center and ate breakfast, we returned to the tent, and I took a nap; that’s how I got that nightmare.

"What? Do you want to come with?"

"Can I?" I asked, my eyes lighting up.

I haven’t had the chance to take a good look at how civilized the West Way is yet. If I move around, I’ll probably find a lot of interesting things.

"What do you mean, can I?" Noah asked. "You’re the one who made this peace possible."

"Don’t say it like I did all the punching and gut-squeezing," I said and they all laughed.

"Yeah, you didn’t. But you led it all. You’re the queen right now, so there’s nothing you can’t do, and nowhere you can’t go." He winked at me and I felt pride sitting on my shoulder.

That’s right. In this kingdom, I’m the second most important beast.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat with my eyes closed, hiding the blush on my cheek. "Then I guess I can come with you to carry out a royal inspection," I said, opening one eye to peek at his reaction and he laughed.

"You’re so cute, little tiger." He said, leaning down to kiss my forehead. "Then, if you want to come let’s go now."

"I’m coming too," Damar said and I smiled broadly.

"Yeah, me too."

"The more the merrier, I suppose," I said and Fenric picked up the cub’s basket.

"What’s that?" He asked and I twisted my lips.

"Well, it just means the more people join in to do something, the more fun it becomes. The more, the merrier."

"Ah, it makes sense." He said and scooped the cubs up with his massive arms.

They wanted to protest getting in the basket and climbed up his arm.

"Hey, hey, be still," he said but the cubs were mischievous.

Even Lyra didn’t want to stay still, and as she got to Fenric’s shoulder, feeling on top of the world, Damar scooped her into his arms, and she behaved immediately.

She loved her father so much that she would start acting out just to get his attention. And each time, he got the message loud and clear.

"Since the cubs don’t want to stay in the basket," I said, "I guess they can ride their father’s shoulders. I’ll just hold the empty basket."

"Come here, Phina." Noah carried Phina, placing her on his hair and the little female cub held her Papa’s ears.

She probably planned to move him like a robot.

I chuckled and then made my way out of the tent, looking out at the sun high in the sky.

It’s times like this that I crave peace more than anything else. I hope it stays like this.

For that to happen, I probably need to nip the bud that was growing. The bud names Talia.

And after that, I’ll have one year vacation in this kingdom before I resume adventuring the planes.

It’s great.