CH 43

“…Me?”

Perhaps it was an unexpected question, as his answer came out a half-beat late, which was unlike Carl.

“About that, you’ve been like that, you know… always…”

“….”

Zzz.

Even though she was the one who asked the strange question first, the sleepyhead sprout left for another world alone.

As he was looking at the peaceful face, Carl was rarely lost in thought.

‘Did she say I treated her well?’

The boy, who tilted his head, looked back thinking about when he began to pay attention to this Tail Fur.

***

Boredom.

That was the best way to express his previous state.

‘Lions drop their children off the cliff.’

The words which were whispered all said that the Aslan Family’s education was so harsh, that there was even a famous phrase. They compared it to the lion, the symbol of Aslan.

When Carl first heard about it, he just said one thing.

“Hm.”

Then he quickly turned his head again without saying much.

At this reaction which seemed to be uninterested, the impatient subordinate hung onto him with much difficulty, but the only answer that he heard was this.

“It’s a lie.”

“…Yes? Really?”

Indifferently refuting the subordinate’s words, who was whining saying that his fantasy was broken, Carl thought.

‘They won’t drop us off a cliff… Instead they will surely send us children to the war.’

It was a natural thing as he was born in the North, which was on the border of countless enemy countries of the Kingdom.

In other words, war is life. Battle was a core need just like breathing.

But to Carl, such a daily life wasn’t so bad.

“KYAACK! IT’S HIM AGAIN!”

“Avoid him! He’s a mad guy whose head is soaked in blood!”

His prey ran away when he rode his horse, moving coolly.

“Khuhuhup! Don’t come! Go away! You devilish bastard!”

The pleasure of catching up with his prey which was energetically running fast and picking its neck was quite satisfying. It wasn’t a bad daily routine.

“H-Have you come back!?”

“Thank you for your efforts, Young Lord.”

Nevertheless, for a while, there was still the warm feeling of getting wet with blood.

The blood, which he thought brought a pleasant temperature, quickly coagulated and became cumbersome. Fear soon clouded the eyes of the soldiers who saw him.

‘Hm.’

Well, it didn’t matter.

It was natural as long as he was a strong man.

‘It’s a little boring.’

In his eyes everything alive was divided into two.

They either fearfully obeyed, or got frightened and attacked.

There were no exceptions.

…Until one younger sister who was only the size of tail fur came.

“Older Brother Carl?”

A world that was divided into enemies and groups.

The girl was the first crack that appeared in the boy’s artificially clear world.

Step. Step.

From some point on, the sound of footsteps started following him.

“Hm.”

He thought it was a huge failure if she was trying to secretly follow him.

When he approached the girl who seemed to be trying to not get into his right, his eyes meanly met hers face to face.

“Do you want to go first? I was just about to go to the garden.”

“The garden is on the other side, though.”

“…Ahem! I see. I didn’t know. Thank you.”

As expected, she pretended not to know and made a calm face.

But what was the point of biting her small lips? He could see her eyes rolling, moving, and following him.

‘She surely is clumsy.’

At first, he ignored her with a snort, but at some point, he started to care about the shadow of this clumsy tracker.

“….”

Then he started carefully listening to when she would come next.

If he had seen the fear he was familiar with or obedience that resembled fear at first glance but was different in such chasing eyes, he would’ve quickly thought it was familiar and would’ve forgotten it.

‘What a weirdo.’

Out of all things he hadn’t seen in his eyes, she was hiding like a star in a cloud.

It was unfamiliar.

It was hard to understand.

His younger sister was full of firsts for him.

Carl, who allowed such an unknown intruder to step on his chest, did not yet know what the name of the feeling he felt was.

***

Whoosh.

Beatty opened her eyes pleasantly at the wind which gently brushed her cheek.

‘Whoa, I slept well.’

Sleeping soundly by the lake wiped away the fatigue of last night. Beatty stretched her short arms to the fullest as she stretched refreshingly.

She shook off the remaining drowsiness and rubbed her eyes. However,

Grrruuu.

“Ah.”

Perhaps she slept so well that her digestion also quickened making her empty stomach ring loudly.

“You hungry?”

“Ah, Older Brother.”

Suddenly approaching Beatty, Carl looked through his luggage before putting something in her mouth.

Hap!

When she asked with her eyes instead of words because her mouth was full, he answered as if it was nothing.

“It’s chocolate. It can quickly fill you up with calories. As I had said before—”

Grrruuuuu.

With a calm expression, from Older Brother’s stomach, came a tremendous sound.

“—Since shapeshifters like us get hungry quickly.”

“….”

‘This kind of situation… I think it has already happened before…’

Beatty got rid of the chocolate that covered her mouth and thought.

‘I can’t give him back a saliva-stained snack.’

When he saw her contemplating, Carl tilted his head and asked.

“Why did you stop eating? Is it not good?”

“No… Isn’t Older Brother really hungry, too?”

“Me?”

Carl, who blinked for a moment, smiled and said,

“I’m okay, so eat.”

“But—”

“You didn’t even eat breakfast properly, you know.”

“Ah…!’

‘So, by any chance, did he give it to me since he’s worried that I’m more hungry?’

“If it’s only to this extent, I’ll be okay.”

“That kind of…”

“It’s a serious matter if you collapse, you know.”

“Yes?”

“No matter how full your stomach is, with that small body you won’t be able to withstand it and will definitely collapse.”

Indeed, was that why she had separate pocket cheeks? 

Beatty was strangely choked up at the sight of Carl muttering and staring at her cheeks.

“I’m not that small.”

“No. You are that small.”

“…And I’m not so weak that I’ll faint if I skip a meal!”

Beatty firmly declared a correction of misunderstanding at Older Brother’s words that was deeming her as a fly grass when some kind of wind blew, but…

“Sure….”

Looking at Older Brother who was looking at her with pity in his eyes, it didn’t seem like the misunderstanding had been resolved.

‘But it’s true though.’

‘Why is there such a ridiculous misunderstanding?’

Beatty, who couldn’t do anything, grumbled inside.

In front of Older Brother who was urging her with his gaze, she quickly ate the chocolate she received, and jumped down the hammock and took a step.

“Where are you going?”

“The cabin.”

“Why?”

“I saw earlier that there was a lot, so I’m going to look for something that can be eaten.”

“Ah. There’s nothing that can be eaten there.”

Beatty turned her head at the confident words.

“Food won’t be put here. Since if there is the smell of food, it can attract bears.”

“Bears….”

For Beatty who grew up in the Capital, it was a giant animal that she only encountered in books.

How many times had she experienced the North’s scale in just one day, including the giant snake which she saw earlier?

‘Indeed, it is the North.’

Is this the dignity of the North which was one of the most dangerous survival zones on the Continent?

“Uhmm.”

After contemplating for a while, Beatty turned around.

Kiiik.

Before she knew it, Beatty could see a rich tree behind Older Brother, who was naturally leaning against the hammock.

‘Yeah!’

Discovering a familiar figure, Beatty scurried.

Tok. Tok.

Carl turned his head at the small hand which was tapping his knee.

“Wait a moment.”

Not knowing what it meant—it meant ‘Just trust me!’—Beatty hit her chest with her small fist.

Poof!

She turned into a squirrel.

‘Shapeshifter form?’

Not knowing why his younger sister suddenly exposed her original form, Carl couldn’t sense the reason, he was suspicious of where Beatty felt a threat.

‘I don’t feel any signs from around, though?’

Big ones like the snake that came out earlier, he had kicked out beforehand when his younger sister was sleeping.

‘…By any chance, is it because I talked about bears?’

If she was the same younger sister who collapsed after being hit by water drops, then it might be possible to be scared just by talking about predators.

Since his tail fur-sized young sister was very weak compared to him.

‘It can’t be helped.’

He was trying to get up, thinking about taking off all the bears’ skins so that she wouldn’t get scared. However—

Step. Step. Step.

Younger Sister who was in her shapeshifter form energetically passed by him, and then tuk, put its feet on top of the tree stump as if it was estimating something.

And just like a squirrel, a master of tree climbing, it climbed up in an instant.

Rustle. Rustle.

The abundant leaves which were covering Younger Sister’s appearance collided with each other and made a sound. Then, it suddenly calmed down.

And then again, step, step.

The light brown shadow came down like a flash, placed something down, and then climbed another tree again.

After going back and forth between several trees, the squirrel finally came down to the ground completely, feeling satisfied.

The squirrel, who went to the pile it had stacked up and selected something for a long time, turned around and quickly approached Carl.

“Chuu chuut!”

With its small body, his younger sister who came all the way in front of him made a cute crying sound.

Proudly raising its head, it lifted the thing which was bitten in the squirrel’s mouth.

“Huh?”

It was a bundle of well-ripen glossy tree fruits.

Carlitos hesitated.

The squirrel tilted its head at Older Brother’s hardened figure, and jumped and came up onto his lap.

‘Careful. Careful.’

Beatty put the stem that she was carefully biting so that her mouth would not reach the tree fruit, and–

“Chuu chuuuut!”

‘Eat this!’

The squirrel grabbed the fruit with both hands and held it out to Older Brother.

“?”

Carl put his hand on his chest.

It was because he suddenly felt a deep emotion near his heart.