The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe

Chapter 452: Side Story 7: Sibling Protection Squad

The West Way Nursery School was a sprawling, single-story fortress of smooth river stone and thick cedar beams, custom-built to survive the blunt-force trauma of over fifty high-energy beastworld children.

Thanks to the under-floor heating loops I’d designed after my ’long dream,’ the main playroom was as warm as mid-summer, the scent of sawdust, sweet dried rushes, and Taruna’s morning honey-broth hanging thick in the air.

At four years old, Nadir was the only child in our immediate bloodline who didn’t look like he belonged in a higher age bracket. Even Kaelen and Sora seem to have caught up to him in height. And they were just one year old.

Nadir was small, soft-spoken, and walked with a tiny, rhythmic waddle that made his striped tiger tail swish like a pendulum.

Right now, Nadir was sitting in the sunny corner of the playroom, his little white-stockinged legs splayed out on a plush sheepskin rug. He was entirely focused on a small, wooden bowl containing three precious, dried mint-leaf pastries—a special treat Noah had smuggled out of the royal pantry just for him.

"One for Mummy," Nadir mumbled to himself, his baby voice dripping with earnest concentration as he poked a pastry with a chubby finger. "One for Dada... and one for me."

"Give me that, little tiger!"

A sudden, heavy shadow dropped over Nadir’s sunny corner.

It was a seven-year-old cub from the Northern Bear tribe—a massive, thick-boned kid who already had patches of coarse brown fur sprouting along his shoulders.

He didn’t have a malicious bone in his body, but he had the clumsy, overwhelming greed typical of a growing bear during the winter cycles.

Without warning, his large, heavy paw swiped downward, knocking the wooden bowl right out of Nadir’s hands.

The bowl clattered against the stone floor. The three mint pastries tumbled out, rolling directly into a puddle of melted slush near the entryway.

Nadir froze, but he didn’t scream. He just sat there on the rug, his big emerald-green eyes blinking rapidly as he stared at the soggy, ruined cakes. His little silver-furred tail went completely flat against the sheepskin, his lower lip trembling just a fraction.

He didn’t even have time to let out a single tear before the entire room went dead silent.

The ambient noise of running feet, shouting toddlers, and wooden blocks crashing completely evaporated. The temperature in the nursery school didn’t just drop; it felt like a winter frost had instantly crystallized inside the stone walls.

Thump.

A single, deliberate step echoed from the doorway.

Lyra walked into the playroom, her arms crossed over her small cloak. She had an intimidating height, her silver hair perfectly braided down her back. Her emerald snake-slit eyes—the exact replica of Damar’s lethal gaze—locked onto the bear cub.

She walked forward with a smooth, unbothered stride that carried an immense, suffocating weight. She stepped directly between the massive bear cub and her baby brother, standing like a silver stone wall.

"You have disrupted the balance of the playroom," Lyra stated, her voice flat, cold, and entirely too rational for a child.

The seven-year-old bear cub, who towered over her by half a foot, suddenly took a shaky step back. His round bear ears flattened against his skull as the primal instinct of a forest prey animal kicked in.

"I... I just wanted a bite—"

"The logistics of your desire do not justify the destruction of property," Lyra cut him off calmly, her emerald slits narrowing to razor pins. "Furthermore, you have caused an emotional variance in my father’s heir. It is an extreme hassle to deal with Nadir when he is sad. You will rectify this."

Before the bear cub could even process her advanced vocabulary, a low, ominous clicking sound echoed from the high rafters near the ventilation shafts.

"Look down, big ears," a vicious little voice hissed.

Perched on the wooden crossbeams directly above the bear cub’s head were Kaito and Marina. Their wild purple hair was a messy halo, their golden tiger slits gleaming with absolute, predatory malice. They looked like a pair of territorial reef gargoyles waiting to dismantle a boat.

Marina bared a flash of her razor-sharp merman teeth, her webbed fingers digging into the cedar beam. "If you touch our brother again, we will wait until you go to the latrine and drag you into the deep well. You will stay under the ice until your fur turns blue."

"No," Kaito corrected, his tiger tail whipping against the rafter. "The well is too clean. We will wait until the spring thaw, then we will tie him to the aqueduct wheel. He will spin until he vomits his morning fish."

"That is enough, you two," a cheerful, warm voice interrupted from the playground entrance.

Raiden and Phina stepped into the room, their five-year-old frames radiating the pure, benevolent warmth of Fenric and Noah’s leadership styles.

Raiden immediately knelt by the puddle, using a clean cloth to carefully rescue the ruined cakes, while Phina walked up to the trembling bear cub, her soft hand patting his massive arm with a gentle, reassuring pressure.

"Don’t worry," Phina smiled sweetly, her dark eyes bright and kind. "My brothers and sister won’t actually drown you. But you must apologize to Nadir. It’s not nice to take things without asking."

"And if you don’t," Raiden added, his bright red eyes catching the lantern light as he offered a perfectly fresh, un-ruined honey apple from his own satchel to the bear cub, "I will have to tell Chief Noah that your family is violating the playground trade treaty. And my father is very strict about treaties."

The bear cub looked at Phina’s terrifyingly sweet smile, Raiden’s polite blackmail, the razor-toothed purple demons hovering in the rafters, and the icy, unyielding silver wall that was Lyra. He let out a small, pathetic whimper, dropped to his knees in front of Nadir, and bowed his head until his nose touched the rug.

"I’m sorry, Prince Nadir!" the cub squeaked, his voice cracking. "I’ll give you my fruit for a month!"

Nadir blinked, his sadness instantly vanishing as he looked at the submissive bear cub, then up at his massive line of older siblings. A bright, chubby smile broke across his face.

"It’s okay! You can have the apple. Lyra says apples make your fur shiny!"

Lyra’s face didn’t move a single muscle—she maintained her perfect, cold Damar expression—but behind her cloak, her silver-scaled tail gave a sudden, violent, ecstatic thump against the stone floor. She was absolutely gushing with older-sister pride.

"The matter is resolved," Lyra declared, turning around and effortlessly scooping Nadir up onto her back. "Kaito, Marina, descend from the rafters before I call Father Thalor. It is a hassle to watch you dangle."

The purple-haired twins let out identical huffs, dropping down from the beams with the agile grace of cats, immediately falling into formation behind Lyra’s long, pre-teen stride as she carried a giggling Nadir toward the courtyard.

I stepped out from behind the shadow of the storage doorway, leaning my shoulder against the frame as I watched the little Sovereign procession march out to the playground. I had a basket of fresh linen under my arm, a sharp, incredibly proud smirk plastered across my face.

They were chaotic, they were terrifying, and they were an absolute menace to the public school system—but they were an unbreakable unit. I’m glad they have each other’s backs.

Now, I should probably sneak away before anyone finds me.

But I was too late. Phina’s nose wriggled in the air a bit, and she said,

"I smell mummy,"