124 Part 2

While the cat’s nails bore into my flesh, now was the time to calm it down. I stroked its head with one hand like Daddy did and ran to where he was and shouted.

“Daddy!!”

“Alice?”

“This cat’s hurt!”

“Wait, you are too!”

“The cat’s more urgent!”

Daddy rushed out of the cornfield at my urgent voice. He was surprised at my red arm but began to observe the cat I carried in my arms.

“Meow!”

“Let’s see!”

The cat had become a bit quiet in my arms but showed its claws again when Daddy came near it. He grabbed its two legs and observed the bleeding wound.

“It’s a knife wound…did it get wounded outside the village?”

No one in this village would do such a thing. Children would not do this as a trick, as the unnie, who was the village children’s leader, would not forgive such an act. No child here can go against her, no matter how older, larger, or stronger he or she was. A punch from her, and everyone screamed and affirmed their wrongs.

“Ah…!”

I began to remember the memories that I had forgotten when thinking of her. However, it was too late since Daddy was running to the house carrying the cat trying to escape.

“No, no!”

The reason I had resisted Daddy was not only because of the wounds I had received from others. It was because of the pain I was still afraid of despite understanding the reason why!

“Cat, run!”

While I started to run as I watched Daddy’s back, I could not catch up to him with my speed. My breath began to grow rough, but now I began to see the house. While Daddy seemed to have entered the house as the door was open, I was not yet late. Therefore, if I could only apply an ointment and bandage the wound!

“My hand will cure everything!”

“Ah…”

However, I could hear unnie’s pleased voice and now could guess what I was going to hear.

“Meoooow!”

“I’m sorry, sorry cat…”

I had been too late so you would feel that pain. Pain that made you wish that you were dead!

“Meoooow!”

“Stop resisting! Once more!”

“Grrrr!”

“You’re hurt here, too.”

“Meoooow!”

First it was a painful scream, and then an angered shout. The poor cat would then feel the pain that changed the wish to live to a desire to die. The only thing I could do was to cry and pray that the treatment would end soon as I heard it scream.

***

“Grrr…”

I watched the cat that had become unconscious, with eyes rolled back. While she called them her younger siblings, Alice had become a maid for cats. She had run away saying that a cat was calling her, and brought this cat back. The cat would be the one that had wounded Alice.

While I had been angry at my precious daughter’s wounds on her palm, the Metal Bat would be the one to revenge me. I had asked the Metal Bat to treat the cat due to Alice’s request and my revenge.

Come to think of it…

“Look at Alice since she seems to be injured.”

“Oh? That can’t be true! My lovely sister hurt?!”

The Metal Bat ran out of the room, and I heard a scream.

“Unnie! I’m not hurt that bad! I’m all right…so! Ah!”

“The treatment will be soon over.”

I would not be able to get an expensive ointment in this rural village. So, while my heart hurt, I could not ignore my beautiful daughter have wounds.

“Anyway…”

I saw that the cat had beautiful golden fur when looking at it closely, and who would be stupid enough to stab it? It was clearly a high-class breed…

“Was the culprit an aristocrat?”

Could a roughneck aristocrat traveling nearby get tired of his or her cat and throw it out after killing it?

However, I was more suspicious nowadays after hearing that the old man next door was the previous Holy Sword.

“Normally, a beautiful blond cat like this in a novel would be…”

Someone of the beast people, and more frequently a member of the royal family. If the genre is romance, a wounded cat will transform into a handsome man or a beautiful prickly girl. In a fantasy novel, the cat would appear as a beautiful warrior and would open her heart to the protagonist, who had treated her wound. She would then appear to save the protagonist in an emergency!

“That means my daughter would become a protagonist!”

No, I could not allow my adorable daughter to be a protagonist and face the position’s burdens!

“I’m going too far.”

I realized that my suspicions had reached a level that I seriously needed to find a psychologist. How could I think of the beast people I had never encountered from seeing a wounded cat!

While Lude had been a half-blood, a few of the pure-blooded beast people could change between animal and human anytime they wanted.

Since it was not magic but a unique ability of the race, I could not know whether the cat was a cat or one of the beast people. If he or she ran away, changing forms, other races will never be able to catch them.

Since aristocrats of the beast people were another grade from those who resembled beasts or had beastly characteristics, I had no reason to meet one!

“It’s true, right? You’re not an aristocrat…or the crown prince of the beast people, right?”

I probably looked forlorn as I asked the cat holding its two legs.

#6 Other stories: ???’s story

The hell-like time ended, and my eyes closed. However, I was still faintly awake. I heard a man’s voice, but could not understand what he was saying. I could not hear much, but I was just sleepy. I wanted to sleep. I was lowering my guard when he held my two arms and spoke to me.

“It’s true, right? You’re not an aristocrat…or the crown prince of the beast people, right?”

How…? I could not resist the rest my body required and fell asleep.