The Night His Tail Brushed Mine - Chapter 1

The tip of his tail touched me only once.

Very lightly.

As though it had swept over me by accident—or as though he were testing me.

I crouched in front of the cage, afraid to move.

The beastman’s ears were pinned low. His amber eyes watched me, filled with wariness.

Yet he did not pull his tail back at once. A small, furry length of it rested on the back of my hand.

The seller grew impatient and rapped his stick against the iron cage.

“Are you buying him or not? No one wants him even at half price. Miss your chance today, and he’ll be sent to the fighting pits tomorrow morning.”

The beastman’s shoulders went rigid.

He had probably been beaten many times.

The stick had not even touched him, but he instinctively shrank back, a low warning growl rumbling in his throat.

I hurriedly stepped in front of the cage.

“I’ll take him.”

The seller looked me up and down, as though he had not expected me to actually buy.

I emptied my bag onto the table.

Copper coins rolled everywhere, along with a few small banknotes I had folded into neat squares.

It was the money I had saved over more than half a year.

After paying this month’s rent, I had planned to buy myself a thick coat.

Winter came early in the city, and last year’s old padded jacket let the wind straight through.

The seller counted twice, then frowned. “You’re fifty short.”

I froze.

The bottom of my bag was empty.

I had calculated it before leaving. There should have been exactly enough.

I searched every inner pocket and found only a hard candy wrapped in bright paper.

The little girl from the bakery had slipped it to me yesterday.

She said all the leftover bread had sold, and she didn’t want me to have come for nothing, so she gave me a candy to sweeten my mouth.

The seller scoffed. “If you don’t have the money, don’t go around playing the saint.”

Heat crept into my face.

The beastman slowly withdrew his tail.

He lowered his head and curled up in the corner again, as though he had known all along that this was how it would end.

The system spoke then as well.

【Give up.】

【His injuries are severe, his temperament is vicious, and he’ll only add to your burdens.】

【Your own life is already hard. You can’t save everyone.】

I knew.

I worked three jobs every day.

During the day, I helped at a bakery. At dusk, I washed dishes at a small restaurant. At night, I copied account books for other people.

The place I rented had only one room, and the roof leaked whenever it rained.

The kitchen stove was broken too. I had never been willing to spend the money to repair it.

I could barely support myself.

Bringing home an injured beastman was not exactly a clever decision.

But the seller had just said he would be sent to the fighting pits in the morning.

I had seen a beast fight once.

The beastmen were shackled in heavy chains and made to tear at one another amid the crowd’s cheers.

The loser was dragged away. The winner merely got to live a few more days.

I pressed my lips together and unwound the scarf around my neck.

“Will this make up the difference?”

The scarf had belonged to my mother.

It was already old and fraying at the edges, but it was made of very soft cashmere.

The seller felt it between his fingers, then gave a reluctant nod. “Lucky you.”

He took the money and the scarf, then tossed me a crumpled contract.

When the cage door opened, the beastman jerked his head up.

The seller did not dare approach. He brought over an iron collar attached to a chain and told me to put it around the beastman’s neck.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. This brute is vicious. His last buyer only touched him once, and he bit off two of the man’s fingers.”

Holding the iron collar, I stood outside the open cage.

The beastman looked back at me.

His face was thin, and a scabbed wound ran along one cheek.

His long silver-gray hair, which must once have been beautiful, was tangled and hung messily over his shoulders.

I asked quietly, “Does he have to wear this?”

The seller looked as though he had heard a joke. “No collar? Then you can wait for him to bite you to death.”

I looked at the heavy iron ring.

Dark red blood still stained it.

In the end, I set it back on the table.

“I don’t want it.”

The seller cursed me for having a death wish.

I ignored him and simply held out my hand to the beastman in the cage.

“Let’s go home.”

He did not move.

I kept my hand out and waited patiently.

After a long while, he braced himself against the bars and slowly rose.

His right leg seemed to be injured. The moment he took a step, his body swayed.

I caught him without thinking.

The next instant, icy claws pressed against my throat.

Everyone around us cried out.

The seller backed away several steps. “See? I told you he’d bite!”

I stood frozen.

The beastman’s claws rested against my skin. With only a little more force, he could easily slit my throat.

His eyes were fierce and his breathing ragged, like a wild animal driven into a corner.

But the clawed hand at my neck was trembling faintly.

All at once, I was not quite so afraid.

“I won’t touch you anymore.”

I slowly let go of him and offered him the small cloth bag that held my lunch.

Inside was half a piece of black bread.

“Are you hungry?”

He stared at the bread but did not take it.

After a moment’s thought, I broke off a small piece and put it in my own mouth first.

“It isn’t poisoned.”

The beastman’s gaze followed the movement.

A moment later, he withdrew his claws and snatched away the rest of the bread.

He ate quickly.

Yet after swallowing the final bite, he turned his face aside, as though unwilling to let me see him in such a state.

I pretended not to notice and picked up the contract from the floor.

“Come on.”

“My home is a little small, but no one there will hit you.”

He paused.

Then he limped after me.

By the time we left the black market, night had fallen.

Beside me was a beastman of unknown origin, covered in wounds.

All I had left in my bag was one hard candy.

And the rent was due in five days.

On the way back, he kept three paces between us.

When I walked faster, so did he.

When I slowed, he stopped and scanned our surroundings warily.

Whenever we passed through a crowd, he hid his ears beneath his tangled hair and pressed his tail tightly against his leg.

People still noticed him.

Several patrons from a tavern leaned against its doorway and whistled drunkenly.

“A new beast slave?”

“Pretty enough, though he doesn’t look very obedient.”

One of them reached out to tug his tail.

The beastman bared his sharp teeth at once.

I hurriedly stepped between them. “He isn’t a beast slave.”

The man laughed. “You’ve got the contract in your hand, and you still say he isn’t?”

I tightened my grip on the paper.

Every beastman sold through the black market was registered as a slave.

As long as the contract existed, he could not be considered free.

But destroying it required paying an enormous manumission fee at the Municipal Hall—more than I had paid to buy him.

For now, all I could do was catch hold of his sleeve.

“Let’s go home.”

He looked down at the small fold of fabric pinched between my fingers.

He did not shake me off.