TBSW 24

TBSW

Chapter 24

Night had deepened.
Ivi was curled up, letting out rapid, heated breaths.
A young maid gently touched Ivi’s forehead with her finger.
“Beastkin growth fevers are really hot… Are you going to be okay?”
The maid, looking at Ivi with concern, sat on a chair beside the bed.
There was nothing she could do for a beastkin experiencing a growth fever except watch over them—just in case something went wrong.
As time passed, drowsiness threatened to overwhelm her, but she kept her eyes open, determined to stay awake.

Then, a cold wind suddenly swept into the room.
Looking back, she saw the window had been opened and rattled.
“Huh? When did it open?”
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, the maid reached for the window—and in that instant, a figure in a black mask appeared before her.
“Ah…!”
Wham!
The maid collapsed, having been struck in the abdomen.
The masked figure walked deliberately toward the baby cradle.
“Peep…?”
Ivi barely opened her eyes and lifted her heavy head. The sudden noise had startled her awake.
When she forced her eyes open, a massive hand was coming down toward her.
“…!”
Frozen with fear under the grasp of the malicious hand, Ivi was seized in an instant.
A harsh voice echoed in her ears from within the small sack she was trapped in.
“It’s done.”
“We’ve prepared a place to drop her.”
“Let’s hurry.”
There was more than one kidnapper.

A short while later.
Ugh… groaning painfully, the maid rose from the floor.
She clutched her aching stomach, gasping.
“I-Ivi!”
She rushed to the bed—but it was already empty.
Her face went pale as she screamed.
“Ahhh! Ivi!”

The duchess’s residence was in uproar.
Knights guarding the banquet hall and the annex where guests stayed were mobilized to search for Ivi.
The area around the castle was well-pathed, yet dotted with hills.
If someone intended to hide, they would be difficult to find—especially in the pitch-black of night.
For ordinary people, that would be true.
But this was the territory of the Black Wolf Duke, ruled by wolves.
Darkness and hills posed no obstacle to them.
All they needed were small clues.

“Grrrr.”
A brown wolf, as large as a bear, ran up to the duke. It was Baird.
He spoke in beastkin form.
A beastkin skilled in controlling pheromones could speak just as clearly as in human form.
“My lord, we couldn’t pick up Ivi’s scent from the front.”
“We checked the east and west as well.”
“Southeast is clear too. The search teams are still scouring the remaining areas.”
Olga and Lisa reported next.
Olga, a sleek brown wolf in beastkin form, dug her front paws into the ground in frustration right after reporting.
“Grr! How dare they kidnap a child protected by wolves! If they so much as hurt a hair on Ivi, I’ll tear them apart!”
“Of course! I’ll be the first to bite the kidnappers!”
“Shut up, brother! I’ll kill them!”
“This time, I won’t hold back either!”
The wolf-beastkin Baird and Lisa bared their teeth at each other.
“Calm yourselves in front of our lord.”
Human Lisa stepped between the two brown wolves.
Although she intervened, she too restrained her anger, her face filled with worry for Ivi.
“We found several suspicious tracks to the north and south, but judged them as false clues meant to confuse the search. Nothing else of note was found elsewhere. This means the kidnappers likely went west.”
“…”
The duke had been grim and silent since the search began.
Lisa, waiting briefly for his command, spoke again.
“The search results for the west will come soon. Please wait a little longer…”
“Is that the best you can answer?”
“…I’m sorry.”
At the duke’s razor-sharp tone, even Baird and Olga froze and bowed.
Frowning in displeasure, the duke stamped the ground.
His divine form vanished in an instant.
“Ah…! My lord!”
Baird ran after him in a panic, followed by Olga and Lisa.
The duke headed to the western search area.
Arriving first, he received a report from a searcher that traces of the kidnappers had been found.
“So the trail ends here.”
Beneath his cool expression, his golden eyes burned like molten lava.
“We’ll search the surrounding area more thoroughly.”
Baird and the knights scoured the area, using all their senses in beastkin form.
Then…
“…!”
The duke, also searching for Ivi’s trail, spotted something near the tree roots.
A small sunflower seed.
Fortunately, Ivi’s scent faintly lingered.
More scattered sunflower seeds were found shortly after.
“…Well done, Ivi.”
The duke muttered as he picked up the last sunflower seed.
Its scent was stronger than the first.
Judging from the direction of the collected clues, they could predict where the kidnappers were heading.
“….”
He slowly lifted his head.
A low, rumbling voice emanated from his jaws.
“I’ll chew them to the bone soon.”
The hunt had begun.

On a darkened country road.
Clop, clop, clop!
Three horses raced along a narrow path off the well-kept road.
The masked figures rode them.
The child they had kidnapped was no ordinary child—it was one the Black Wolf Duke cherished greatly.
Committing such an act so close to the Black Wolf Duke was extremely risky.
Two more joined the group to ensure caution, moving the child far from the mansion.
They skillfully erased their traces and scattered false clues to confuse any search.
“We’ll reach the mountain path soon.”
This was where they would deal with the flying squirrel stored in the small sack.
“Beep… Beep!”
A sharp sound came from the sack tied at the masked figure’s waist, though it was weaker than the chirping of a chick.
“Don’t bother me and stay quiet if you want an easy death.”
“Beep!”
Ivi screeched but quickly lost strength and went limp.
Her body, burning like fire, left her dazed and exhausted, even too weak to cry out properly.
Still, she struggled, letting out small resistance noises to hide her attempts at escape.
She tried to widen the hole she had secretly made in the sack.
But the tiny gap, just big enough to push out a sunflower seed, wouldn’t expand further.
So Ivi dropped all the sunflower seeds she had saved—her emergency snacks—through the hole.
‘Will someone find the clues I left? Or, better yet… will someone come for me?’
Determined, she summoned her remaining strength to keep struggling.
She clawed at the hole with her fingernails, unaware of the pain.

Then.
Neigh!
Suddenly, a horse shrieked and twisted its body, shaking the sack violently.
“Zzzt!”
The shock snapped Ivi fully awake.
‘What’s happening? What’s going on?’
As she pricked her ears, the masked figures struggled to calm the startled horse.
“Why now? Hey!”
After being struck, the horse resumed moving, though slowly; another horse stopped again.
The masked figure cursed and dismounted.
“Damn it, why now?”
“It must be too dark, they’re scared.”
As they approached the hills, the trees thickened, plunging the area into pitch darkness.
The masked figure checked for pursuers and reluctantly hung a lamp around the horse’s neck.
“I’ve dimmed the light, so hang this.”
“It’ll be noticeable.”
“This distance should be fine. We only have a little further to go.”
The horses resumed moving.
But something was wrong.
The lamp, which should have stayed lit, began flickering.
The horses faltered, and the masked figures complained.
“Damn it! Damn animals!”
“Why is the lamp—ugh!”
Clang!
The flickering lantern shattered.
Startled by the noise, a horse reared and collapsed from fear, as if it had lost the will to escape.
“What the hell—”
The masked figure spun around, frozen.
In the pitch darkness, yellow, glowing predator eyes were watching him.
And there were dozens of them, surrounding the masked figures.
Grrr.
Amid the growls of the hungry beasts, the largest pair of golden eyes flashed.
“Huff… huff!”
Was this what darkness without moonlight looked like?
A coal-black wolf slowly emerged from the shadows, approaching the masked figures.
Instinctively, they trembled, but were trained for such situations, drawing their swords and charging.
“Die!”
Three attacked simultaneously from the front, left, and right.
Reflected in the dark, three blades aimed for the black wolf’s neck.
Then, the black wolf whispered lowly.
“Devour them.”
At that moment.
“Huh?”
Dozens of yellow-eyed shadows pounced at once.
“Ahhh!”
“Please… spare me—”
Crack, crunch!
Flesh was torn and bones crushed.
The horrifying noise didn’t last long. No blood remained where the masked figures had been.
Only their clothes were left—no witness could guess what had happened.
Even the flying squirrel trapped in the sack.
“…Ivi?”
With a rustle of the cloak, the black wolf returned to its human form.
At the duke’s cautious call, movement stirred beneath the pile of clothes where the masked figure had been.
Exhausted, the little flying squirrel—well, child—could barely emerge from the pile.
The duke hesitated, then the moonlight broke through the clouds, illuminating the child as she slowly revealed herself.