How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 86

“I see. So… the two of you are officially together now, Aisha knows everything, but her mother doesn’t seem to like you?”

Several days later, Pal invited his cousin to a café near Wold’s central square. Seated across from Les, he suppressed the torrent of emotions surging inside him and pretended to ask with perfect seriousness.

Les silently tightened his expression and nodded.

Discussing his relationship with Aisha still made him shy, which caused his face to grow rigid. Since he was speaking to Pal rather than Aisha, none of the gentleness he showed her softened his features. His presence became even more intimidating.

Pal immediately sat to attention, straighter than he ever had during posture drills at Wold Warrior School. Even so, his back twitched, and he gave Les… a peculiar look.

The scrutiny made Les uncomfortable, especially while discussing a subject at which he was already poor. He frowned faintly.

“…What is it?”

“Uh, n-nothing…”

Pal guiltily withdrew his examining gaze, though unease still crawled through him.

He had asked his cousin here only after struggling with himself repeatedly and had made some mental preparations before the meeting. At last, he had managed to calm down.

As if!

There was no possible way to calm down!

Pal forced himself to hide his collapse and drank from the coffee before him. The shocking scene he had accidentally witnessed several days ago remained lodged in his mind. Sometimes he woke in the middle of the night with chills running over his body. Even now, he found it difficult to look his cousin in the eye.

Truthfully, discovering that Les was pursuing Aisha had already shaken Pal badly. He idolized this distant cousin who seemed perfect in every respect. But Les was too exceptional, possessed a rare and overwhelmingly powerful beast form, wore a cold expression, rarely initiated conversation, and always kept to himself. He inevitably seemed unapproachable. Simply going up to speak with him required courage.

At least Pal had never possessed that courage before.

And now…

Pal had to be grateful that Les apparently had not noticed him at the scene a few days earlier. He had been fairly close and should already have entered Les’s range of scent. Perhaps the crowds around the Tower of Magic had concealed him, and Les had been too busy curling around his girlfriend to notice.

Damn it. Thinking about it that way made everything even stranger.

Pal hurriedly gathered himself and struggled to appear calm, grave, and entirely unsurprised by the matter of Les and Aisha. Fortunately, he had seen their behavior in advance and possessed some warning. Otherwise, he might not have maintained the performance.

Surely his cousin would now witness Pal’s mature composure as an adult black panther!

Pal cleared his throat and said with all the calm he could force into his voice, “Th-that’s wonderful, Cousin! Congratulations to both of you! Um… but now that you’ve succeeded, will you return to the army camp in Beast?”

“Not yet,” Les answered after a pause. “His Majesty has agreed that I may remain temporarily in Wold. I can complete my current military duties from here, and His Majesty has assigned me additional diplomatic work. So I will not leave for the time being.”

In truth, after a war lasting several decades finally ended, most officers stationed away from home remained on leave. General Salman, Les’s respected senior and friend, had at last returned home and could spend his days embracing his three lion cubs.

At two or three years old, beastfolk cubs could already run, jump, and claw people. They had reached the lively, adorable stage when combat training needed to begin. According to rumor, Salman’s sons and daughter had nearly scratched half the mane from his beast form, yet he remained delighted every day.

Many ordinary soldiers had also been discharged and sent home. Even if Les returned to Beast, he would probably spend most of his time managing his fief and visit the army camp only occasionally.

Unfortunately, his beast form exerted such intense pressure that the vassals on his estate feared their own lord. They always watched Les with alarm, forcing him to avoid them as much as possible. Living on his own land felt oppressively uncomfortable.

By comparison, remaining in Wold was easier, even if the additional diplomatic work amounted to overtime.

“I see.”

Pal nodded. Although he had half expected the answer, he still clenched a fist excitedly beneath the table. His eyes shone.

“By the way, Les, have you been following this year’s World Tournament? Will you come and watch?”

“…The World Tournament?”

“Yes! You competed in it before, six years ago!”

Pal grew excited merely speaking of it. As Les’s admirer, he naturally knew that his cousin had entered the World Tournament in the year he graduated from Wold Warrior School with honors. Les had been only fifteen.

A fifteen-year-old competitor was remarkably young in any tournament, yet Les had achieved an excellent rank. His conspicuous result remained displayed for two full years.

Even recalling it as an outsider made Pal’s blood burn. If possible, he desperately wanted to see Les standing in the arena with his own eyes. The few occasions when Pal witnessed Les training with soldiers from Beast had already shaken him to the soul.

In Pal’s opinion, his cousin’s strength, technique, and reactions were flawless. Both human and beast forms approached perfection.

Unfortunately, Les was already a senior officer in Beast and was unlikely to enter such a competition. Officers from various countries had participated in previous years, but most World Tournament competitors were professional warriors or ordinary soldiers hoping to build their reputations, or students seeking better opportunities after graduation. Officers formed only a small minority.

Pal, on the other hand, intended to compete this year.

Even if he could not witness his cousin’s prowess in the arena, the thought that Les might come to watch filled Pal with energy. It felt as though a sixteen-pack might burst from his body at any moment and allow him to defeat every opponent he encountered.

He looked at Les with growing anticipation.

Les paused. Truthfully, compared with other warriors, he had never cared much for the World Tournament. He entered only because his teacher, Professor Malken, believed it would improve his practical experience.

By then, Les had already chosen his path. He would enter the army like his parents and earn his own medals like a wolf. Everything else was merely a step to complete in orderly fashion.

But at Pal’s expression, Les asked, “Are you entering?”

“Of course!”

Pal had not expected his cousin to ask. His cheeks flushed with excitement, and he puffed out his chest without embarrassment.

“I need to start preparing for graduation over the next few years. Once I graduate, I want to join the army too! If I perform well in the tournament, perhaps I’ll enter the unit I want. Then—”

He would become his cousin’s right-hand man!

The thought made Pal’s heart surge, but he was too embarrassed to say it aloud. After a pause, he changed subjects instead.

“Oh! You could bring Aisha to watch! Um, I’m not sure whether girls are interested in this kind of thing, but isn’t her mother Tina Killott? General Killott should care about the World Tournament. Maybe if you take Aisha to the Free Arena for a date, her mother won’t object?”

Les fell silent.

At the mention of Tina, his heart sank involuntarily. During the past several days, he had certainly felt her hostility.

Aisha’s parents and Princess Elizabeth lived across from the Tower of Magic in the expensive hotel where Aisha stayed during her first entrance examination. That meant Tina could come downstairs and block the Tower entrance at any moment.

She did not appear every time, but the possibility that Les might encounter her holding a spear and smiling “kindly” whenever he came to meet Aisha was more than enough to make him tense.

And in Tina’s presence, neither he nor Aisha felt comfortable showing much affection. Whenever Aisha smiled helplessly at him, Les’s chest ached. He constantly wanted to embrace her, kiss her, and hide her in some secret place. With her mother watching, none of it was possible.

Aisha also had to devote time to her friend Elizabeth. The introverted princess rarely traveled and found everything new. Compared with the attendants and older officials accompanying her, she plainly preferred Aisha, who was close to her age and already her friend. Elizabeth showed genuine happiness whenever Aisha stayed beside her, and Aisha could not abandon her.

After finally becoming lovers, Les and Aisha somehow saw each other less often than before. The situation made him restless.

Princess Elizabeth could be set aside for the moment. The true question was how to win Tina Killott’s approval.

Les grew agitated.

…

“I’m sorry. Ever since coming here, I’ve made you spend all your time with me.”

Near Wold’s market, Princess Elizabeth looked apologetically at Aisha.

“Especially now that you… have a lover…”

Her guilt deepened, and her spirits fell slightly. Aisha smiled at her.

“It’s all right. We can still meet in the evenings, and you’re important to me too.”

Aisha lowered her gaze a little. She truly did regret having less time with Major General Wolf these past few days. They were still passionately in love, and if possible, she wanted to spend more time with him.

But in front of Elizabeth…

Aisha kept smiling. “I’m sorry I never explained everything properly while we were in Vitas. Actually, we—”

“Ah!”

Before Aisha could finish, Elizabeth cried out and pitched forward. Something had caught her foot. She lost her balance and was about to collide with the person ahead.

Aisha hurriedly reached out to catch her.

Thump.

In her panic, Aisha failed to secure Elizabeth. Yet the expected fall never came.

A darkfolk man approaching from the opposite direction caught Elizabeth with one arm and his body. He even extended a wing to steady her.

“Tha—”

Elizabeth began to offer a flustered thanks. Then she raised her head and saw the darkfolk man’s face.

Both she and Aisha froze.

He probably did not remember their faces, but neither girl could ever forget his.

Prince Brandon Grey of the darkfolk.