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Chapter : 18 It’s Fine, Isn’t It? (3)
“Are you a beastkin?”
“Uncle… I’m sleepy…”
What kind of nonsense is this, waking someone up while they’re sleeping.
I called him “uncle” mostly because it was a man’s voice, but honestly I couldn’t really tell his age just from it.
It wasn’t a boy’s voice… it sounded like an adult, but not exactly an old man either.
If I had to describe it, maybe a young man…?
There was something deeply unsettling about it.
A baby talking to a young man…
I decided to just call him “uncle.” Compared to a three-year-old, all adults are uncle anyway.
“You really don’t know anything.”
“You’re the one talking nonsense waking up a kid, uncle. Do you even know common sense?”
“You’re a child, but you don’t act like one.”
“Then I’ll cry?”
“……”
“I’ll go ‘waaaah’ and really cry?”
“…I’m sorry. That was my mistake.”
“Hmph.”
I clenched my fist and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. Mina used to scold me saying that would ruin my eyesight.
“Don’t rub your eyes. It’ll make your vision worse.”
“……”
Whoever this uncle was, I decided I’d forgive him a few times. He said the same thing as Mina, so he couldn’t be a bad person.
After blinking a few more times, my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and my vision became clearer.
Oh, I can see—
“Ah!”
My eyes!
“…Evelyn, am I in wolf form right now?”
“You are in human form.”
“Then why is she reacting like that? Does she get scared just seeing people?”
No way… what did I just see?
The man standing by the window was backlit, but even in the shadow his beauty was absurd.
I thought I was used to my parents’ looks, but apparently not at all. I was just used to them—I had no immunity to beauty itself.
He was ridiculously handsome.
His white hair, almost unreal in this world, added a mysterious aura. I couldn’t see his eye color clearly, but whatever it was, it was definitely beautiful. Because he was already that handsome—color didn’t even matter.
Wait, what? A wolf?
“Am I scary?”
Maybe because I was a child and had screamed earlier while covering my eyes, the man seemed worried I was frightened.
I shook my head quickly.
“No. Not at all.”
“Then why were you startled?”
“Umm… no… I just…”
I looked away, and the man strode toward me.
Could you not come closer? I need to preserve my dignity here. If I drool while spacing out, how embarrassing would that be?
At that moment, someone stepped between us.
“Evelyn, can you explain why you’re blocking me?”
“Lady Shana looks frightened. Please step back, Lord Renat.”
“Hah…”
I perked up my ears.
The small girl who had inserted herself between me and the man looked familiar.
She was the puppy that had been sleeping beside me, making soft breathing sounds.
When she’s a puppy, she’s small enough to sit on my palm, but when she turns human, she becomes taller than me. That’s seriously impressive.
“Your name is Evelyn?”
“It’s Evelyn, Lady Shana.”
“Eve… Ebl… vin…”
My tongue still felt clumsy. It was frustrating. I frowned at myself for only being able to make baby-like sounds, and Evelyn bent down to look at my face.
“Lady Shana?”
“My tongue won’t move right!”
“Ah. If Evelyn is difficult, you can just call me whatever you like.”
“…Then I’ll call you Eve for now… sorry…”
I couldn’t even say her name properly… what a sad situation.
Evelyn still didn’t get angry and smiled gently.
Then the white-haired handsome man bent down and suddenly intruded again.
“I’m Renat.”
“……”
“What’s your name, little one?”
“Shana… move your face away…”
My heart was pounding like it would explode.
Even when I looked at my parents, I thought this before, but excessive beauty is sometimes a weapon.
Heart assassins.
Renat straightened up and said:
“Aren’t you being a bit cold to me? I’m technically your lifesaver.”
“Oh! Uncle, you were that wolf from before?!”
“I can’t believe you actually remembered. Are you even human…”
“Wow! Uncle, thank you! You kept me warm. I didn’t even get to say thanks because you disappeared…”
So that ridiculously handsome uncle turns into that huge wolf?
Would it be rude to ask to see his wolf form? Probably. But… if it’s not rude, should I ask?
“It’s better not to talk about that incident in detail. Your parents are listening.”
“Oh…”
My father’s bitter expression came to mind, and I quickly closed my mouth.
“I didn’t come here to talk about the past anyway.”
“But—”
“Your thanks aren’t necessary either. I didn’t do anything special.”
Renat was extremely blunt.
Somehow, that made him feel even more mature. It was a kind of adulthood I didn’t feel from my father. When I first saw my father, I thought he might be like Renat… but apparently not.
Of course, that didn’t mean I disliked my father.
“The reason I came,” Renat continued, “is Evelyn.”
He placed his hand on Evelyn’s head.
“Is Eve your daughter?”
“I met her yesterday for the first time.”
“……”
“As you saw, if she had been left alone, she would’ve died. She had been beaten—”
“Lord Renat.”
Evelyn cut him off sharply.
‘Probably because it’s not appropriate for a child to hear.’
Honestly, after seeing blood already, I didn’t think it mattered much, but I appreciated the consideration.
“I found her lying injured on the roadside. I thought you might be able to heal her, so I brought her to you.”
“Eve isn’t an object…”
“My gamble was that someone who even healed my leg might be able to heal a beastkin. Honestly, I thought the odds were fifty-fifty.”
Renat shrugged.
Even though a life was at stake… he was oddly casual about it.
“If you had grown up hating beastkin, she would’ve just died.”
So cold… so cold it felt like winter.
I glared at him with cold eyes.
Evelyn, uncomfortable that I was glaring at her benefactor, quietly explained:
“If Lord Renat hadn’t taken that gamble, I would have died.”
“U, um…”
“I was able to meet Lady Shana and survive because of Lord Renat. Thank you for saving me, Lady Shana.”
Evelyn bowed deeply.
“Ah, no… it was nothing…”
It really was just some clay I used. I didn’t even feel like I was doing anything. My parents were the ones who fed her and took care of her.
Her gratitude felt far too formal for what I had done.
“You really don’t know anything, kid.”
“I’m not a kid. I’m Shana.”
“No one can heal beastkin.”
“…Huh?”
“They have strong natural regeneration, and neither healing magic nor priestly powers work on them.”
Then how do they survive when injured?
I almost asked, but stopped.
I had only been reborn in this world for two years, and I had already forgotten that my “common sense” was different from this world’s.
The fact that I had healed my mother’s illness with clay…
The fact that I had healed the wolf and Evelyn…
No matter what that clay was, that wasn’t supposed to be normal.
“Are you listening, Shana?”
“Mm?”
“What you did is something no one else can do.”
“Really?”
“…It’s an extraordinary thing.”
“I’m glad! I’m happy I could fix Eve!”
“……”
“You said it was extraordinary. How did you do it?”
Huh, Renat looks a bit annoyed.
“I don’t really know. It just worked.”
“……”
Ah. That probably sounded very irritating depending on how you hear it.
I quickly added:
“My mom is even more amazing! She can make fire too!”
“Wenthworth Duchess is a rare 7th-class mage among humans.”
So magic has classes too…
The thing I thought was a symbol of dreams and hope suddenly felt very real. If there were ranks, that meant theory existed. And if there was theory, that meant studying.
‘Good thing I don’t have magic power.’
I’m not avoiding it—I literally can’t do it.
“No one in this world can do what you did…”
“Please stop, Lord Renat. Lady Shana is just a baby.”
I’m getting tired of saying I’m not a baby…
“Does that tired expression look like a baby to you? Evelyn, don’t be fooled just because she looks like one.”
“Lady Shana is human.”
“Yes, the same kind of human who made you ‘that way.’”
Uh. It feels like they’re forgetting I can hear them.
Maybe I should just go back to sleep.
Since becoming a baby, everyone always focused on me, so this feeling of disappearing into the background was actually comfortable.
Besides, a child’s body should sleep properly anyway. I had already slept a lot earlier, but still…
I yawned silently.
It seemed like a serious conversation, so I shouldn’t interrupt. Definitely shouldn’t.
“Lady Shana saved me!”
“I saved her. Shana only healed her.”
“That’s the same thing!”
“Beastkin should live with beastkin.”
“I don’t have a family anyway!”
“So you’re going to live with humans?”
My ears perked up.
“If you want to repay your debt, it’ll take years. Are you planning to ask your benefactor to raise you?”
“…Ugh.”
“I came at night to take her quietly, but she insisted on staying…”
Evelyn looked like she was about to cry.
I jumped up and hugged her waist.
“Don’t bully her!”
“…I didn’t bully her.”
“You’re making Eve cry!”
“You already told your parents you wouldn’t raise her, didn’t you?”
“Th-that’s because I didn’t know if she had anywhere to go! I obviously want to raise her!”
Ah. No.
“I-I mean I want to stay together with her!”
“Then take responsibility.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve already spoken with your parents.”
Huh?
“I’ll visit from time to time.”
And just like that, Renat disappeared.
“……”
What… just happened?
It feels like I got scammed.
