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chapter 27
“Are you okay now?”
Ian tried his best to hide the strange emotions he was feeling, putting on a facade of gentleness.
Her drowsy voice and soft, languid tone, spoken with a dazed expression, were oddly captivating.
“Y-yeah. I’m fine now.”
I nodded up and down.
My rapidly thudding heart had calmed, and the memories in my unconscious that had engulfed me like a raging inferno had finally faded.
Though there was still a faint feeling of emptiness.
It felt as though only ashes remained after a massive blaze.
“Did she just wake up? Why does her expression look so dazed?”
“Hey. Snap out of it.”
I wanted to press his cheek firmly to make him focus, but I restrained myself—my hands were still covered in blood.
I couldn’t leave my bloodstained marks on a face as precious as a continental treasure.
Ian, noticing me flinch slightly in front of him, carefully examined me.
Contrary to my expectation that he would only check my injured foot briefly, he held my foot for quite some time.
“Should I heal it?”
After staring for a while, he asked me, looking straight at me.
‘How would you do that?’
Even if he had healing pheromones, he didn’t use them on others, as far as I knew. In the original story, he possessed incredible healing pheromones, yet he never used them on anyone. Thinking about it, he even seemed to hate his own pheromones.
So much so that when the heroine once asked him to heal her, he had said:
“Don’t even bring up my pheromones. Even you, if you speak such hateful words, I’d want to rip your mouth open.”
That had been the first and last time Ian, who always smiled, had looked stern at Chloe.
‘So, what are you doing with my leg?’
I stared at Ian, full of questions. I had no intention of going to the infirmary.
‘I’d rather die than go there.’
I was still haunted by past memories, but this was a huge improvement.
Still, there were no medical supplies here, nor a mysterious potion that would instantly heal wounds.
Seeing my questioning gaze, Ian looked at my foot.
I followed his gaze with my own.
Perhaps interpreting my look as permission, Ian’s face moved closer to me.
Then—
Lick—
“Hey, are you crazy?!”
He licked the sole of my foot and gave me a sly glance.
I felt my face flush with anger and tried to leap away.
“Hey, what are you, some kind of fox spirit?!”
“What are you doing! Let go of my foot!”
“I’m a tiny kitten right now!”
“What is a full-grown tiger doing to a kitten?!”
Ah. I shouldn’t have gotten out from under the blanket.
I struggled to pull my foot free from his grasp.
But despite my desperate thrashing, my foot, held firmly in his hand, didn’t budge.
“Wait. I’m in the middle of healing.”
He smoothly arched his eyes and licked my foot again.
As he licked my foot, an unusually warm energy coursed through my body. Soon, the bleeding on my foot stopped, and new skin began to grow.
‘Wow, so this is what happens when you apply saliva…?’
I had never seen a wound truly heal from saliva before.
Wait. If this is the healing method, then what about Allen…?
Did he lick Allen, who had been hit in the head with a fountain pen?
My pupils trembled uncontrollably.
I couldn’t believe that Allen, with his exceptional reflexes, had dodged every flying pen all this time.
While I was panicking, Ian’s gaze, scanning my body carefully, darkened.
‘How did she survive in this condition?’
At most, she should have lasted two years in this state.
Upon closer inspection, her body bore marks like she had been pierced by something sharp between her fur, and her growth blood vessels hadn’t even existed.
It was as if someone had carved them out.
Her pheromone blood vessels were damaged almost beyond repair, blocked so pheromones couldn’t circulate. Suppressed pheromones swirled dangerously around her heart.
‘And there’s an excess of pheromones.’
It was a wonder her flesh hadn’t torn from the pressure.
‘…Or maybe it’s internal damage.’
If her internal organs were damaged instead of her skin, then it made sense why her exterior looked intact despite the condition inside.
Even manipulating her body intentionally, one wouldn’t have been able to get her into such a dangerous state.
Most people in her position would have already died or gone insane.
Mentally or physically, it was a miracle she was alive.
Her cold pheromones weren’t protecting her—they were attacking her heart.
Two conflicting pheromones were tightly tangled within her body.
He infused his pheromones into her body.
Her cold pheromones, as if craving his, drew his in further.
Ian used his pheromones to partially restore her seriously damaged pheromone blood vessels.
‘She’ll need long-term treatment.’
Damaged blood vessels and tangled pheromones weren’t problems that could be solved overnight.
‘Since she’s going to be with me, treatment won’t be an issue.’
Finally, this damned pheromone was useful to me.
Ian suppressed a chuckle and examined Ariel’s body again, smiling in satisfaction.
“All healed.”
Externally, at least.
He didn’t say anything further.
‘See. You applied saliva, and it healed. You really do have a fascinating skill.’
I looked at him like he was some strange creature.
Receiving that look, he casually asked, as if nothing happened:
“Are you going to sleep here tonight?”
‘Yes.’
“Good.”
Seeing my affirmative glance, he naturally placed me on his lap.
“Sleep now.”
‘Alright.’
I got comfortable on his lap, as if it were second nature.
After sleeping on his lap every day, it had become a habit.
Ian slowly ran his fingers through my fur.
I stretched out on his lap, enjoying the languid feeling.
“But Ariel, did something happen to you before?”
‘What do you mean?’
I looked up at him from the comfortable position, my nose pressed into his firm stomach.
He gently stroked my fur and spoke quietly:
“Your body was in really bad shape.”
Too bad to even humanize.
He swallowed the rest of his words.
‘What do you mean by that?’
My heart sank. Asking if something had happened in the past… this wasn’t just about the recent assassination attempt.
Surely he hadn’t discovered I’d been experimented on in the past?
‘No, that’s not it.’
That cursed experiment involved even the head of the Hiatt family and other high-ranking figures.
But if Ian says my body was in bad shape, how bad could it have been? Surely it wasn’t so bad that I could never humanize again.
‘They said you could usually humanize, no matter how injured.’
A creeping sense of unease rose.
No, it couldn’t be that bad.
I felt a sense of impending gloom, like I had eaten a whole basket of depressing fruits.
“I’ll heal you. But you have to receive it every day.”
Even I, who hadn’t left the house, knew that Ian had a terrifying amount of healing pheromones. Rumor had it he could even bring the dead back to life.
Receiving his treatment every day…
‘How bad is my body, really?’
…Wait, he’ll use his pheromones to heal me? Regularly?
I stared at him, disbelief in my eyes.
But now I understood why my wound had healed so quickly—he had used his pheromones on me.
‘Can I humanize now too?’
A seed of hope sprouted in my heart.
‘Thank you.’
I sincerely thanked him.
Ian crooked his lips and said:
“Oh, by the way, you owe me. Remember that.”
‘Got it. I’ll grant you one wish later.’
“Promise.”
I placed my paw on his pinky as a token, half-heartedly.
‘Alright. Promise.’
I fell asleep with my paw in his hand as a symbol of the promise.
Ian slowly stroked the paw on his hand, satisfied, like a predator who had gotten what it wanted.
Many things had changed, yet nothing had changed.
It was the same, yet different—a peaceful and quiet night for the white tiger and the cat.
The chickens slept quietly, the sun hadn’t risen, and the early dawn sky was dark.
Ian, awake, watched the tiny kitten chewing on his finger, seemingly finding it delicious.
The kitten, oblivious to danger, had slept soundly despite yesterday’s assassination threat.
‘Assassination…’
As the fluff ball tossed and turned, he gently stroked her fur.
His eyes, soft as he ran his fingers through Ariel’s fur, suddenly sharpened.
‘I need to check.’
Once the kitten released his finger, Ian verified the sleeping cat once more before leaving the room.
He walked naturally, taking a coat from Allen.
“How’s the cat?”
“Sleeping soundly, not knowing where she is.”
Thinking of the fluff ball that hadn’t let go of his finger, a faint smile formed on Ian’s lips.
“She was nibbling my finger. Is it that tasty?”
“I was worried, but that’s a relief.”
Allen’s voice was light, as if he hadn’t really worried.
“Yeah, I worried. Thanks to some brainless fools who broke into the office.”
Creak—
The door of the western annex opened eerily.
The western annex wasn’t ordinary. It housed prisoners who had angered the Cadellion family, committed heinous crimes, or were just extremely malicious.
Yet, no one had ever escaped from there.
Even minor fights among prisoners never occurred.
Troublemakers from elsewhere became calm in the western annex.
It was always eerily silent, earning the nickname “The Great Coffin of Death.”
Nothing that entered after torture ever survived.
“I shouldn’t go out, should I? I feel like I’d collapse from weakness.”
Allen, who had killed dozens or hundreds in battles, said this as he handed Ian his black gloves.
“What a joke.”
Ian said this, looking down indifferently at the assassins Louise had left barely alive yesterday.
‘It’s been a long time… maybe because Ariel’s here.’
He hadn’t gone on a monster hunt in a while since meeting her.
“P-please… spare me…”
The awakened assassin begged, unable to grab his pants.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”
His eyes, hidden behind a charming smile, were cold, like watching bugs try to climb a wall.
‘Death would have been wiser…’
If he were a lowly assassin, he’d have chosen death.
Allen shook his head at the clueless assassin.
“Then, let’s begin.”
Ian donned his gloves and looked at them with a radiant smile, like flowers in full bloom.
His eyes, hidden behind the smile, gleamed mercilessly.
Allen, observing Ian’s predatory look, felt a twinge of sympathy for the assassins.
His targets were likely the fools in front of them.
That dawn, in the western annex’s underground prison, desperate screams echoed without end.
After showering, Ian leaned lazily in his office chair, deep in thought.
Water dripped from his hair.
Their assassination plan was quite likely to succeed, compared to others.
Ian’s office had minimal security because he didn’t allow anyone in his space.
Considering the shadows always around Ariel, choosing the office for the assassination attempt made sense—the shadows couldn’t enter.
So, the office, without Ian or Allen present, was the easiest place for an assassination.
Yet, in terms of how they would die, it was the worst choice.
The most painful deaths among countless possibilities.
After ignorant assassins had previously entered his office or room and died horribly, no assassin dared attempt a secret killing in the Cadellion mansion.
‘Who could these assassins belong to?’
Tap. Tap.
Ian drummed his fingers on the desk, his eyes deep in thought.
“We… were… only trained, locked away somewhere.”
“So you didn’t know anything…”
“Locked away for training, then ordered to kill the black kitten in the Cadellion house… aaaargh!”
After some contemplation, he spoke slowly:
“Summon Marie Angelus.”
