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Chapter 61
The young beastkin child paid no attention to Edmund’s expression and instead threw himself into Kasia’s arms, acting cute.
His fluffy tail wagged wildly in every direction.
He rubbed his head against her like a sweet, adorable puppy.
Kasia was a little flustered, but she couldn’t push the child away or stop him.
He had been through such terrible things that she couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.
‘Wow. He really… is like a puppy!’
His behavior reminded her of a stray dog she had picked up and briefly befriended when she was young.
Her heart loosened without her realizing it.
Despite his striking hair color, his hair itself was incredibly soft and fluffy, and Kasia gently patted his head.
At that, Juto looked up at her with sparkling eyes full of joy, and then—
He suddenly dropped a bomb.
“Good! Benefactor! Do it! Marry! Me!”
“…What?!”
Kasia was flustered.
“…!”
The other three people’s faces crumpled.
Among them, Edmund’s expression changed the most violently.
He had already been glaring at Juto with furrowed brows.
Kasia was startled for a moment, but soon regained her composure and spoke.
“Juto. A man can’t marry another man.”
It was clearly the tone of someone humoring a small child.
That attitude of Kasia’s stopped Edmund, who had been about to charge forward.
Before jealousy or anger toward Juto, he was more used to seeing Kasia behave and speak like that.
‘She treats me like that too.’
The meaning was obvious.
‘So Kasia really does just see me as a child she has to protect.’
Edmund bit his lip, keenly realizing that fact again.
Meanwhile, Kasia thought that saying that would be enough to brush past Juto’s ridiculous and cute proposal incident.
‘He still can’t even tell men and women apart. There, there.’
Just then, Juto sniffed busily from within Kasia’s arms, then tilted his head.
“No. Kasia. Man.”
“…Huh?”
“Right. Female. Female. Does. With man. Marriage.”
‘He can tell gender by smell?’
Kasia was genuinely flustered.
Juto beamed proudly and said,
“Me. Man! Can do! Marriage! With Kasia!”
Kasia had just barely shaken off her confusion and was about to respond when someone who could no longer hold back rushed in.
Edmund grabbed Kasia’s wrist and stepped in front of her protectively.
His face was red with anger.
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!”
At that, the golden eyes of Juto—who had been acting like a puppy in front of Kasia—turned sharp.
“Our tribe. Knows. Honor. Important. Kindness. I repay. To benefactor!”
“What does that have to do with this?!”
“Our tribe. To benefactor give. Whole life. So we. Do. Marriage! Oath!”
For words coming from a child, they were quite heavy.
And Kasia knew.
An oath spoken by beastkin carried truly weighty meaning.
Something to be upheld with one’s entire life.
No matter how young he was, Juto, the prince of the beastkin, could not possibly be unaware of that meaning.
She thought, I have to stop this, but—
Edmund was faster again.
With his face flushed red with anger, he shouted,
“Kasia is my wife!!!”
“……”
“……”
For a moment, the forest fell silent.
Kasia looked at Edmund with wide eyes.
Edmund was still glaring at Juto with eyes full of fury.
Juto stood frozen in shock.
And the only two adults present, who had been watching the situation unfold, were desperately managing their expressions.
They were trying hard to suppress the twitching at the corners of their mouths.
Because, after all—
‘What an unbelievably cute couple!’
‘Ahh. I thought he might not be good enough to entrust our young lady to, but it seems the young duke is completely smitten with her! As expected, of course!’
While the two adults held back their laughter as they watched the adorably fresh love quarrel between the children—
The two involved in the scuffle were quite serious.
Edmund was genuinely angry.
“Do you realize you just proposed to my wife right in front of her husband?!”
Juto looked as if he had been struck on the head with a hammer, standing there like a pillar of salt.
It took him a moment to accept the unbelievable reality, and then, with teary eyes, he asked Kasia,
“Really… true?”
Even at that attitude, Edmund bristled.
‘This brat is acting like I don’t even exist!’
And Kasia, at the center of this entire storm, was flustered.
She hesitated briefly, but there was no other answer she could give here.
When the girl slowly nodded, the two boys’ joy and despair split clearly apart.
“Yes. Edmund and I are already married.”
Juto looked as though someone had smashed his head with a mace.
He alternated glances between Edmund—who stood proudly with his arms crossed and nodding—and Kasia beside him, then lowered his head weakly.
Edmund sneered at Juto.
“I don’t know how it is for beastkin, but proposing to a woman who already has a husband is extremely rude.”
“Same. Beastkin same.”
The child’s two ears drooped low. His tail, which had been wagging nonstop, now hung limp.
Emboldened, Edmund delivered another blow.
“You said you wanted to repay Kasia’s kindness, yet you ended up insulting her!”
At that, the tears that had been clinging to the corners of the dispirited child’s eyes began to fall.
Crystal-like tears dropped one by one as the child said to Kasia,
“Sorry. Sorry. I did not. Think. Insult. Kasia. Sorry.”
Kasia was extremely flustered. More than the sudden proposal, she was worried about the child.
‘He’s just a little kid who didn’t know any better!’
Kasia quickly pushed Edmund aside and hugged Juto, starting to comfort him.
“K–Kasia?”
Edmund, who had been shoved aside, stammered in confusion.
But Kasia didn’t have the luxury to worry about Edmund’s small sense of betrayal right now.
A child who looked barely ten years old was crying so sorrowfully.
Of course her heart would ache.
“It’s okay. I’m not mad, Juto.”
“Really… sniff… true?”
“Of course. Why would I be mad at such a cute Juto?”
The child beamed and burrowed deeper into Kasia’s arms.
He didn’t forget to shoot Edmund a sly, smug smile that Kasia didn’t notice.
‘That little punk!’
As if that weren’t enough, he even subtly asked,
“I. Want repay kindness. To Kasia.”
Even after already making it clear that, to him, ‘repaying kindness’ meant ‘marriage.’
Fortunately for Edmund, Kasia cut him off sharply.
“That’s not necessary. You don’t have to repay me. We were targeting those guys anyway, so we had to deal with them regardless.”
The expression of Juto, who had looked like a puppy wagging its tail on her lap, changed instantly.
With eyes sharp and filled with killing intent, Juto glared at the slave traders tied up tightly while asleep.
From the child’s fingertips, claws as sharp as daggers sprang out.
Seeing that, Kasia was newly reminded of what kind of character this cute, young child was in the original story.
‘Beast King Juto. One of the four great powers who will dominate the future continent.’
The other three were the original novel’s male lead, Edmund, and an elven prince who appeared later.
All of them were beings who had surpassed the limits of humans in strength.
Together, they overthrew the Xenovia Imperial Family and restored peace to the continent—that had been the story of the original novel.
‘And among those four, the one known as the most cruel was Juto.’
Kasia bent her knees and sat down to meet the child’s gaze.
The golden eyes that had been shining coldly softened warmly when they turned toward her.
‘He was such a kind and cute child like this. Just how much must he have suffered?’
The original story’s Edmund had also been famous for his vicious personality, which had likewise been shaped by his childhood experiences.
‘Edmund has gotten pretty cute now too, hasn’t he?’
Maybe this child was the same.
Kasia held Juto’s shoulders and explained gently, step by step.
“They’re bad people, but killing them is too much.”
“But. Those guys. Hurt. My kin.”
“……”
“Tried hurt. Kasia too.”
If there had been a guard post nearby, she might have suggested turning them in.
But the nearest village was far, and they didn’t have time.
Even if they handed them over to the authorities, it likely wouldn’t mean much.
‘Because the Xenovia Empire, which rules over the Paltz Kingdom, recognizes slavery.’
Hadn’t those men said they planned to sell Kasia and her group into imperial lands as well?
“……”
After thinking for a moment, she spoke. She pushed aside her heavy heart and made her voice as bright and cheerful as possible.
“I don’t want our cute Juto’s hands getting dirty! What do you think, Juto?”
The child blinked his big eyes.
“Kasia. Don’t like. Me too. Don’t like.”
“Right.”
Kasia grinned and hugged the fluffy-headed child.
Until Edmund, who had been enduring with what he thought was considerable patience, finally couldn’t take it anymore and pulled the two apart.
“That’s enough! Separate!”
“You. Mean.”
Kasia watched the two bicker and laughed for a long time.
