What to Do with a Little Girl
“…….”
“…….”
Tyreen and Jake stared blankly at the spectacle unfolding before their eyes.
“Incredible.”
“Yeah. Incredible.”
There was nothing else to say.
Pat-pat-pat!
The instant a vigorous kick struck the floor—
Shwaa!
A tiny kitten twisted through the air in a dazzling spin.
Snatch!
The cat seized the bundle of feathers hard between both front paws.
“Mraow!”
“She caught it again.”
The moment she landed with regal pride, Sirka burst into admiration.
“Mraaow!”
The baby cat—no, the wildcat beastkin Bariya—puffed out her chest, thoroughly pleased with herself. Her nose had flushed red with excitement.
“See? I told you you’d love it, little one.”
Smiling, Sirka tugged the stick in her hand. Bariya poured every bit of strength into her front paws so her hard-won prey would not be snatched away.
“For a kitten, nothing beats a hunting game.”
And indeed, the stick Sirka was swinging was a feathered wand made expressly for cats. Honestly, even Jake had never imagined it would be meant for Bariya when Sirka sent him to fetch one. She was not an actual cat. She was a beastkin.
And yet…
“Good thing I brought it. Who knew she’d take to it like this?”
Watching Bariya hurl her whole body once more at the wand Sirka swung, Jake let out a hollow laugh.
“Our young lady must be a genius of the hunt. However does she hunt so splendidly?”
Tyreen, already hopelessly smitten with Bariya, had gone damp around the eyes. She looked ready to burst into tears, and Jake was thrown. This was not a beastkin given to such sentiment. Bariya had been at the Caliph estate for barely a day—what on earth had happened in that time? He had heard Tyreen lost the child while dozing off. Had that been some kind of turning point?
“Our young lady is surely the greatest hunter of all the cat beastkin in the world.”
At Tyreen’s absolute conviction, Jake nodded, somewhat reluctantly.
Her movements really are anything but ordinary for a cat.
“Yes, that’s it! Little one, pretend these feathers are a hyena and attack!”
“Kyaaong!”
Whether Sirka’s shout had spurred her on, Bariya let out a yowl that sounded almost like a string of curses and swung her paws wide. Feathers shredded by vicious claws could not hold, and in the end they fluttered down through the empty air.
“Kyack!”
But tearing the feathers apart was nowhere near enough. She charged the stick still gripped in Sirka’s hand. Unable to withstand the force, Sirka dropped the rod, and Bariya flailed her paws without mercy. In the end the wand could not endure. It perished completely.
“Perfect, little one. A splendid hunt.”
As though congratulating the death of the imaginary hyena, Sirka stroked Bariya’s head. The little one, who had been panting hard, lifted her flushed nose as high as it would go. Tyreen and Sirka clapped with all their hearts.
……Isn’t this a bit too savage for a cat?
Of course, cats were carnivores that hunted for the sport of it. Even granting that, the child was simply… far too vicious.
“Well done! The very best!”
“Our young lady is wonderful!”
But if he said as much out loud, those ill-tempered tiger beastkin already head over heels for Bariya might well try to kill him. In the end Jake wisely slipped in among them and clapped along.
“Kyaong!”
Just as I thought—I am a magnificent wildcat!
Not a single person realized that was what Bariya was declaring.
Once the contract was settled, the three beastkin of House Caliph each took on a single role. If Sirka’s part was to teach Bariya how to hunt and how to fight hyenas, Sabrina’s was to feed the child well and raise her properly.
“Why me.”
Honestly, Sabrina was not particularly fond of the role she had been given. She thought teaching hunting techniques would suit her better, but both Baden and Sirka had the nerve to object—on the grounds that her methods were far too brutal to teach a child.
When Sabrina made her displeasure known, Sirka sighed and spoke.
“Mother, think back on how those hyena beastkin you hunted a few days ago met their end.”
Sabrina said nothing.
Even those relentless, vicious hyenas had been left in a state so wretched their corpses could not be collected. In the end, Sabrina accepted her role.
After some thought, she set a place not in the dining hall but beneath the gazebo in the garden. She hated feeling cooped up and rarely lingered in the mansion, but stepping out into the wide-open garden at least let her breathe.
“Madam. The young lady has arrived.”
Sabrina, who had been regarding the table heaped with food through unfamiliar eyes, whipped her head around. Before Tyreen, a baby cat was striding over with magnificent dignity.
“Mraeng!”
Bariya cried out vigorously and hopped up onto the chair opposite.
“Mraaak!”
She planted both front paws neatly upon the table and gazed at the dishes with sparkling eyes. The tip of her tongue, poking out past her lips, was damp. She must have been very hungry after playing hunting games so enthusiastically with Sirka.
“First things first, little one.”
“Maeng?”
“Do you mean to eat like that?”
At Sabrina’s words, Bariya tilted her head and looked down at her own front paws.
“Euaaek!”
Startled by the soft pink pads bared to the open air, she hurriedly shifted into human form.
“I— I mean, I didn’t realize I was still a cat.”
“Is the animal form more comfortable?”
“Yes.”
Bariya nodded at once.
“It’s easier to run away in, an’ easier to hide my presence an’ how I look. So I pretty much had no choice but to stay an animal most of the time.”
It was all too easy to picture how harshly Bariya had lived on the run.
“Even for a cat beastkin, that animal form of yours is awfully small. If you want to grow up big and strong, don’t be picky. Eat a bit of everything.”
Nagging she had never even given Sirka spilled out of her on its own in front of Bariya. Set beside Sirka, whose growth had been extraordinary, the child simply looked that much smaller. She could not help it.
“I don’t pick at my food or anything! I just couldn’t eat ’cause there wasn’t any!”
Eyeing the food that covered the table, Bariya wiggled in her seat.
“All right. You must be hungry, so go ahead and— wait. The food seems to have cooled a little.”
Bariya had come quickly enough, but out here in the open air the dishes had already gone cold.
“Tyreen, go and warm the food again—”
“Nooo! It’s fine! If it’s hot I can’t eat it fast anyway!”
Already blinded by the smell, Bariya started eating before Tyreen could clear any of it away. A salad of fresh vegetables, fruit, and cheese. Pasta loaded with savory cream, and pizza whose tomato sauce was superb. Meat was best of all, but the things that were not meat were truly delicious too.
“Is it good?”
“Yes!”
Bariya’s eyes sparkled as she nodded hard.
Making a contract with the Caliphs was absolutely the right choice.
You cannot fight alone. Knowing her own shortcomings and taking the hand that had been offered first—she did not think she would ever regret it.
The world is still worth living in!
“…….”
Sabrina watched, almost in wonder, as Bariya ate with genuine happiness. To her, a meal was nothing more and nothing less than the obligatory intake of nutrients required to keep moving. And yet, seeing Bariya eat so happily, even the food began to look delicious to her eyes.
How strange.
All of this was unfamiliar to Sabrina. Taking a proper meal in the garden rather than a light tea. A young girl seated across from her. Watching that child eat with such relish. She had never imagined anything of the sort would happen.
No. There was a time, I think, when I did imagine it.
When had that been? There had been a stretch of the past when staying in this mansion was rather pleasant. It was not that she disliked it now, exactly, but back then the mansion had not felt stifling.
When was that, again?
“Kyarr!”
Just then a delighted laugh struck her ear like lightning. She turned her head in a daze and found Bariya laughing wide open, and Tyreen playing a clapping game with her.
“…….”
Sabrina could not tear her gaze from Bariya, laughing with her whole body as if the garden belonged to her. It felt as though she were seeing, with her own eyes, a small and ordinary happiness she had been certain would never return to her life. The first time in eighteen years.
For the time being, I’ll stay here and look after the little one.
If Baden—who forever longed for the mate that roamed beyond the estate—had known, he would have fainted.
After the joyful hunting game and the happy meal were over, Bariya was summoned to Baden’s office. Sirka’s share and Sabrina’s share were done, so now it was Baden’s turn.
“…….”
“…….”
And a suffocating standoff unfolded. The air was so frigid that anyone watching might have taken them for mortal enemies who had met upon a single-log bridge. Baden’s aide, the white tiger beastkin Silva Blazer, broke into a cold sweat. He had been working alongside Baden and, before he knew it, found himself caught between the two of them. He had heard they got along well. Why on earth were they like this?
Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing.
Baden, head of every tiger, great patriarch of House Caliph—right now, he was in a state of extreme distress before the greatest dilemma of his life.
A little girl… what am I even supposed to do with her?
Not knowing what he was meant to do with Bariya, the world before his eyes had gone pitch black.