CHAPTER 20…………………………………………..
“Oh.”
Caligo’s extremely arrogant remark somehow looked pretty cool in the child’s eyes.
In the end, Lin accepted Caligo’s act of pretending to be just a doll in front of others.
Even if he only talked when they were alone, conversations with Caligo—who knew so much—were fun.
‘I finally have a friend who’ll stay with me.’
…Was this what it felt like to have a younger sibling?
Thinking of how horrified Caligo would be if he knew, Lin grew even fonder of her newly acquired friend.
After finishing her morning exercises—something she now did every day—Lin roamed around Pegasus Castle to show her new friend Caligo around.
She had no idea the servants were watching her toddle down the halls hugging a doll tightly, thinking she looked adorable.
Focused solely on trying to surprise Caligo, who reacted indifferently to everything she showed him, Lin suddenly shouted, “Ah!” and headed out of the lord’s castle.
“If you see this, even you will think it’s cool, Caligo!”
[What is it this time?]
“My grandpa’s statue!”
[Why would I be impressed by a statue of someone I don’t even know?]
“Because everyone loves my grandpa! Uncle Theo said he’s a hero— the coolest person on the whole continent!”
Even indifferent Caligo would change his tune once he saw it in person.
Filled with excitement, Lin hopped from stone to stone along the garden path like it was a game.
Suddenly, the bushes in front of her rustled, and something jumped out.
“Huh?”
“Bwaaaah!”
“…A water deer?”
Lin blinked in confusion at the sudden appearance of the water deer.
It was small, with white spots still on its back like a fawn, but the ear-piercing cry made it easy to identify.
The water deer looked terrified, as if running from something. Lin approached and held out a hand.
“Are you okay? You’re a beastkin, right? Why are you scared?”
There was no way a real water deer would be wandering around the lord’s garden.
Thinking it might be a beastkin child who’d gotten lost, she asked if she should call an adult. The tearful water deer looked at her—and with a pop, transformed into human form.
“C-can I… hide? D-do you know… somewhere to hide?”
“Huh? Somewhere to hide?”
Now that he was human, his frightened expression was even clearer.
He was a round-faced, droopy-eyed brown-haired boy with deer-like eyes, crying as he spoke.
Startled by his tears, Lin hurriedly tried to recall any secret spots in the garden where someone could hide.
Rustle, rustle.
The leaves shook again, and a small pegasus dropped to the ground.
“Found you! I’m the first one to find you!”
At the loud voice, the water-deer beastkin boy nearly leapt out of his skin.
Lin instantly recognized the voice.
‘Paine?’
The moment his hooves touched the ground, Paine switched to human form and grabbed the water-deer boy by the collar as if yanking him.
The deer boy flailed in panic, and Lin instinctively grabbed his hand to steady him.
“Don’t grab him like that. You’re making him uncomfortable. Let go.”
“What?”
Paine finally noticed Lin and shot her an irritated glare.
Before either of them could say more—
More bushes rustled, and two spotted beasts leapt out.
“!”
From a child’s eye-level, they were huge—like massive dogs. A gray hyena and a cheetah.
With two more predators appearing, the water-deer boy began trembling so hard Lin could feel it through their joined hands.
“Aw, man. I’m one step late.”
“Hey, isn’t flying cheating?”
“Hah. Not my fault I was born with wings.”
The hyena and cheetah kids grumbled while Paine smugly flaunted the wings that marked him as part of the Pegasus noble family.
Chatting arrogantly with the predator kids, Paine glanced at Lin and said,
“Hey, deer. Come over here. Let’s start over.”
It was deliberately unclear whether he meant Lin or the water-deer boy.
As soon as he spoke, the predator kids chimed in excitedly:
“Yeah! Let’s do another round!”
“This time you have to run too, Paine!”
Lin felt the hand she held trembling violently.
Seeing the terrified deer boy, she stepped forward.
“What are you trying to do?”
“What do you mean? We’re playing hunt—”
“Tag.”
Paine cut off the hyena’s words smoothly.
He kept an utterly shameless expression.
“‘Hunt’?”
“I said tag. And I called for the deer, didn’t I?”
Paine twisted his lips in a mocking smirk.
“Oh? Did you think I meant you? Well, I guess even you think you’re closer to a deer than a pegasus, huh?”
Lin tightened her fist and answered coldly.
“He’s a water-deer beastkin. And it’s not tag—you’re mimicking a driving hunt.”
“We were just playing around!”
The predator kids, bored of the back-and-forth, spoke up.
“Yeah, stop making excuses.”
“Right. It’s a hunting game. So what?”
As I thought.
Lin glared at Paine with ice-cold eyes.
Pulling the trembling water-deer boy behind her, she spoke clearly.
“You can’t bully another beastkin kid.”
“‘Another’? I’m a predator beastkin.”
“So?”
“He’s a water deer. That’s prey—”
“Bad word!”
Lin shouted sharply before the cheetah could finish.
She was making sure the deer boy wouldn’t hear it.
Calling another beastkin “prey” was an extremely degrading insult.
Most noble houses were predator beastkin families, while herbivore beastkin—who rarely developed special abilities—were mostly commoners.
Because of this entrenched hierarchy, herbivore beastkin had been heavily oppressed in the past.
They weren’t just subjugated. They were enslaved, treated like actual animals, and subjected to horrific “prey hunts” as a form of entertainment.
Herbivore beastkin had resisted, many losing their lives. Some predator beastkin also recognized the injustice and worked to end this inhumane discrimination.
The Pegasus family—known for accepting beastkin of all types as retainers—was famously strict about such discrimination.
“You can’t use that kind of word!”
The predator kids flattened their beastkin ears, pained by her loud voice, and grumbled.
“What? It’s not like I said I’d actually eat him.”
“We were just playing.”
Calling someone “a herbivore” instead of their specific beastkin type was already disrespectful.
“You guys are from another territory, right?”
“So what?”
“I thought so.”
In Pegasus territory, predator beastkin chasing herbivore beastkin in “hunting games” was strictly forbidden.
If the kids in front of her were adults, the guards would have arrested them on the spot.
That was why even foul-tempered Paine had insisted it was just tag, pretending innocence.
“Paine, I’m telling my uncle about this.”
“What—! I said it was tag!”
“But you heard them call it hunting.”
“That’s—!”
Paine looked back at the predator kids as if begging them to help his excuse, but the hyena and cheetah just looked shamelessly unbothered.
Frustrated, Paine snapped, eyes sharp.
“Why! Are you defending him because he’s a deer like you?”
“I’m not a deer. I’m a pegasus. And he’s a water deer.”
“Hah! Fine, go tattle! Pegasus, my ass…! Hey! Everyone in the family hates you!”
Paine turned back into beast form and shot into the sky. Once he’d created some distance, he hurled one last insult and fled.
Snort!
Lin snorted.
“As if.”
If we’re comparing who everyone dislikes, Paine sure wasn’t much better.
