Chapter 2: Hiltken Heslem

“Isn’t this a cat?”

“W-well, it seems…”

Amel pointed at the beast with a very troubled face.

“It looks like a feline predator…”

“Predator? What’s that?”

Lindsay retorted with as confident an expression as possible. But perhaps because he had already seen Amel’s face and felt something uneasy, he hugged the beast deeper in his arms. It had by then rested its chin on the back of his hand and fallen asleep, limp. As if it could never be taken from him. Only Amel and Rosa looked very awkward.

“It is a predator.”

Lindsay, who had been staring blankly at the beast lying on the bed and smacking its small mouth, turned his head at Amel’s words. It was right after Amel had opened the black beast’s muzzle wide to inspect inside, and examined its ears, forepaws, and everywhere.

“Young Master, unfortunately, that child cannot live with us.”

Rosa came over and stroked his hair to comfort him as Lindsay’s eyes drooped immediately, understanding that whatever a predator was, it meant trouble for him.

“No. How can I send such a cute child back to the forest without its mother? There are many scary animals in the forest. Lots of bugs too… What if it falls off a cliff and dies?”

‘One of those scary animals in the wild is that one…’

Rosa wanted to answer that, but held it in and made a regretful expression.

“They say that child’s home is there originally.”

“Nooo…”

Lindsay hugged the beast and rolled toward the inside of the bed. He burrowed deep enough that Rosa’s hand could not reach, pulled up the blanket, and covered the beast so it could not be seen.

“I’ll do well. Okay? I’ll feed it and clean up so Rosa won’t have a hard time!”

That was something he had already said many times while bringing in three birds, two cats, and two scarlet lizards. The care of those animals now fell to Rosa and the mansion’s employees.

Of course Lindsay had made an effort, but no employee was foolish enough to entrust this young master with the beast’s droppings, changing the cushions cleanly, or catching fresh bugs for the birds.

“It is dangerous, Young Master. It may look cute now because it is young, but unlike ordinary cats, that child is a dangerous beast that could grow up and bite people to death.”

Amel persuaded Lindsay.

“And when it grows, it will be this much bigger than you.”

Rosa added that and subtly pulled the blanket down.

“Then it’ll be good to ride.”

Lindsay pulled the blanket back over himself and said calmly. Rosa and Priest Amel exchanged glances and soon sighed.

“All right, Young Master. Then you really must do everything yourself? Feed it, wash it, and clean up too.”

Rosa said that and reassured him for now. They had to return it to the wild as soon as possible before it was tamed by human hands. She planned to pretend to give in today, and secretly take it out once Lindsay fell asleep.

The two left Lindsay alone in the room and went outside.

“But what is that? A leopard? Or, what, a tiger? Or… a lion? A jaguar?”

At Rosa’s question, listing roughly all the black predators she had heard of at least once, Amel shook his head with an unconvinced face.

“You mean even you don’t know, Priest?”

Amel again could not answer right away and pictured the beast.

The beast, examined closely, was a little large, but had the unripe frailty unique to cats about two weeks old. Its eyes were open, but its ears had not fully opened, the tips slightly folded.

However, unlike kittens of that age whose irises were slightly blue because they had not found their eye color yet, this beast had striking golden irises with clear character. If it had grown normally, it would not have even milk teeth yet; tiny teeth had already appeared. In many ways, its development was suspicious for an ordinary predator.

“…It is very young, and judging by its appearance alone, it is ambiguous either way, but what does it matter? It is a predator anyway. And one brought from Mandela Forest.”

“Please do not take the Young Master to Mandela Forest anymore, Miss Rosa. There are too many mixed-bloods of unknown origin there.”

Rosa let out a sigh with an anxious face.

Mandela Forest was a forest of spirits to some, a forest of demons to others, and a forest of gods to still others. In the legendary Mandela Forest, they said, lived all sorts of unheard-of hybrid races, such as horned horses, bipedal wolves, and birds with human faces.

But in this poor territory, there was no suitable place to take a young master like Lindsay. At least Mandela Forest existed, so he could run freely around that area.

The garden of this uselessly large and old mansion had limited scenery, so there was no way to keep Lindsay, who was full of curiosity, confined to the mansion alone.

As long as they did not go deep, Mandela Forest was the best playground for Lindsay. Wide lawns, a shallow stream, bizarre rocks covered in dark blue moss, eucalyptus trees so green they stung the eyes, and poplars rising sporadically without landscaping… Since she could show Lindsay such varied scenery, it was an excellent walking spot for Rosa.

“The Young Master loves Rouge berries from Mandela Forest so much… If I tell him he can’t go now, he’ll be sad.”

Rougeberry was a fruit similar to a raspberry but with a strong, uniquely astringent and sour taste, a rare fruit found only in Mandela Forest.

Of course, no one sought it out just to eat it, so calling it precious was a bit off, but Lindsay especially loved the fruit, and when he went for a walk he would pick a basketful.

Moreover, Mandela Forest was a nationally restricted area, so it was the best place to let Lindsay run freely without being seen. Of course, the problem was that as Lindsay grew, he kept leaving the area Rosa designated.

“It can’t be helped, Miss Rosa. The Young Master’s safety comes first, doesn’t it? Along with the safety of this mansion’s employees.”

“Yes… I suppose so.”

Rosa answered reluctantly.

“We can just take that beast back to Mandela Forest. It will survive on its own. Even if it doesn’t, that is the unavoidable law of nature.”

Lindsay, who had been listening to the conversation with his ear pressed to the door inside the bedroom, tiptoed and quietly crawled back onto the bed.

“Mew”

“You don’t want to go either, right?”

“meww”

“I don’t want to send you away either.”

Lindsay placed a few Rougeberries he had picked in the forest today on his palm and pushed them toward the beast. Sniffing with its small nose wrinkling at the scent of unripe fruit, the beast soon opened its mouth and nibbled the berries.

Having tasted the fruit, the beast shook its head wildly and rubbed its face with its forepaws.

“You don’t like it? I think it’s good.”

Lindsay said that, picked up a Rougeberry himself and ate it, then held another out to the beast. The beast turned its head sharply away from his hand, as if it never wanted to see it again. After repeating that a few times, the beast crawled away from Lindsay entirely and turned over. Lindsay laughed out loud.

Rosa, who had come to check Lindsay’s bedding and saw the scene, milked a little from a nursing mare and diluted it with water. When she pushed the plate of diluted mare’s milk right in front of the beast that had turned away, it sniffed and readily followed.

Lindsay hugged the beast, whose muzzle and nose were soaked from burying its head in the plate and lapping it up. He dipped his finger in the mare’s milk and let drops fall onto its muzzle. After licking his finger a few times, the beast opened its triangular muzzle and sucked hard on his finger. It seemed to think milk came from there.

Lindsay tapped the soft gums and the tips of its fangs, which were smaller than his fingernails.

“How is even the inside of your mouth so cute?”

The mare’s milk in the plate quickly ran out. Lindsay made a face as if he were the one more full.

“Victor.”

Lindsay, chin propped on a fluffy pillow, watched the beast sucking hard on his finger and muttered.

“Um…”

“Hmm, not great.”

Lindsay lay looking at the ceiling and busily combined every name he knew in his head.

“When it’s grown, it’ll be bigger than me, so I have to give it a name that’s strong yet cute, the most handsome, cool, big, and pretty in the world.”

Franz? No, no… Verdine? Yerkin? Pamrit? Ian? Reinhardt?

“Ha… This is hard.”

Lindsay pressed his small hand to his forehead. He looked as if all the worries of the world were in that small head and bothering him.

Looking at the dark ceiling, he rolled every name he had ever heard in his short seven years on his tongue, and at some point fell asleep.

When the chattering stopped, the beast, which had tilted its head as if puzzled, burrowed into his armpit. It pressed its muzzle to Lindsay’s cheek, chin, and nose tip, sniffing, then comfortably rested its chin on his shoulder.

The beast, which had been crouched with its limbs tucked in, at some point rubbed its back comfortably against Lindsay’s side, stretched out its legs fully, and lay down.

“Hiltken Heslem.”

Lindsay, who had eaten breakfast in bed and was sitting still while Rosa changed his clothes, said.

Rosa, undressing him of his old linen pajamas, looked at him with a puzzled face.

“This one’s name.”

So that was why he had seemed unable to sleep late last night. Rosa let out a laughing sigh as she looked at Lindsay, who must have stayed up thinking of a name that fit well, even considering the family name.

The night before, the two babies had been sleeping too tightly in each other’s arms, and when they tried to take the beast from Lindsay’s arms, it cried with a ringing sound and woke Lindsay right away. Thanks to that, their plan to secretly take it out after he fell asleep fell apart.

“I have granted it the family name, so now it is my sibling.”

Who gives a royal family name to a mere beast? Rosa laughed as if dumbfounded and dutifully fastened the buttons of his silk shirt.

Lindsay, holding the beast, no, Hiltken, in his armpit, stared blankly at Rosa’s hands as she fastened his buttons and carefully adjusted the folds of his cravat.

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