Baby Lynx of the Tiger Family - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Baby Wildcat of the Tiger Clan
Chapter 11
The Khalif Family’s Grand Library really did have everything.
It was almost fanatical, as if it refused to let anyone call its shelves stupid.
Thanks to that, Bariya was able to find the book she had been looking for.
“?”
“I haven’t really had a proper conversation in years, so my words keep coming out wrong. Ba-rum, bal! Um! Like that. So I’m going to fix it, starting now.”
No matter how important knowledge acquisition is, pronunciation comes first.
I’m not a three-year-old. I’m ten, and speaking like this is mortifying.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I speak perfectly clearly, really. It’s just that I haven’t had a real conversation with someone in so long. That’s all it is. Honestly.”
Ordinary beastkin can’t hold their animal form for more than half a day, no matter how long they try, but she has no time limit.
For three years she lived almost entirely in her animal form, with only the rare exception, and no matter how hard she tried, her pronunciation refused to come back properly.
But she didn’t want to reveal that she was an exception, so she explained it as roundabout as she could.
‘I really am good at talking. This is so unfair!’
If I work hard at pronunciation drills, I’m sure I can get my real voice back!
“Ah, pronunciation.”
Baiden, however, nodded lightly, as though he had only just understood.
“I never thought it was strange. It happens.”
Bariya’s eyes went wide.
Baiden gently stroked her head.
“Unless you’re doing something wrong, nothing you do is strange, so you don’t need to worry about how others see you.”
He told her to wait a moment, that he would bring her a book, and then he left.
Left alone, Bariya fussed with her hair, looking awkward.
Whatever I do is perfectly fine?
In the Hyena Clan, she wasn’t allowed to do anything, but here, apparently, nothing she did was considered odd.
And Baiden, a Clan Head no less, was even fetching the books himself.
He was the biggest beastkin she had seen so far, yet far from acting menacing, he fretted nervously about whether she might get hurt.
Meanwhile, her own father, Darius, had always treated her cruelly.
‘A bastard worse than a tiger.’
Her anger at her father flared up, and she grumbled for no particular reason.
Even so, she kept touching her head, where Baiden’s warmth still lingered.
* * *
“Oo-buu-buu-buu-buu.”
“…”
“Buu-ruu-ruu-ruu-ruu.”
“…”
A sofa set up in the center of the Grand Library.
Baiden had also started reading with Bariya, but he simply couldn’t concentrate.
“Tuu-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr.”
That was because of Bariya, who sat bolt upright across from him, warming up her mouth with a solemn expression.
She was doing exactly what the book told her to do.
“Ho-roo-roo-roo-roo.”
Watching the child earnestly flutter her lips made him want to laugh again and again.
But if he laughed, she would glare at him and demand, ‘Are you laughing?’
Baiden pretended not to notice as much as he could, so she could practice comfortably without feeling watched.
“Byuu-ryung. Ahh, that’s not it. Buu-ruu-ruu-ruu-ruu.”
When a sound like a baby’s babbling burst out, he had to clamp his lips tight.
Thankfully, he hadn’t torn his lip and drawn blood.
“You’ll be parched. Have some water while you practice.”
“Oh, thank you. Um, thank yoo! I mean, thank you!”
Bariya bowed her head quickly and gulped down the water in big swallows.
Then she began reading the book, word by careful word.
“Let’s go catch the bad, I mean, the bad hyena!”
I guess it’s a storybook where the hyena plays the villain.
Baiden clicked his tongue at how fiercely eager she looked, her eyes practically blazing.
Anyone could see it at a glance.
The child had a hunger for knowledge, and she was far smarter than children her age.
And yet those Hyena whelps hadn’t taught her a single thing.
It was clear they had meant to lock her away and raise her as an idiot who knew nothing of the world.
If she could serve as a witness, as a victim, when we deal with those hyena bastards later, things would go much more smoothly… but…
‘It must be terribly hard on the little one.’
Clever as she is, she’s still a child with little experience of the world.
So I’ll have to prepare to bring down the Mariner Family while assuming the child won’t take the stand as a witness.
‘…But what if the little one insists on stepping forward herself?’
Baiden glanced sideways at Bariya.
“Tayo! No, Tahyo! Ta! Do! Cheok! Gyeo! Hyena! Cheok! Gyeol!”
“….”
Just from the way she picked out and shouted words like those, you could tell what sort of child she was.
Whether she testifies or not, it’s fine either way.
I’ll just leave it to Bariya, as she wishes.
“Hyena! Gyeok! Pa!”
Baiden listened to Bariya’s cry of vowing revenge and went back to reading his book.
Listening to what was supposed to be pronunciation practice but sounded more like a bloodthirsty declaration somehow made the book easier to read than usual.
* * *
“Little one, it’s dinnertime. Let’s leave the book for later and go eat today.”
Bariya, who had been absorbed in her pronunciation practice, closed the book at once when Baiden spoke.
“Okay.”
As Bariya slid off the sofa, Baiden let out a sigh.
“Thank goodness. Honestly, I was worried you’d say you’d rather read than eat.”
“No way, I won’t do that. Going hungry is the worst thing in the world.”
Especially since she hadn’t been able to eat much at the Mariner estate, which was why she was so small.
Bariya didn’t want to go hungry anymore.
‘Those bastards are beyond saving.’
At the sight of her, Baiden clenched his fist tight.
The more he learned, the deeper his loathing for the Mariners grew.
“…Right. They’ve prepared a good meal for us again today, so let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Bariya marched on ahead with great confidence, though she had no idea where she was going, and before long she ran straight into someone she never expected.
“Huh.”
Grrr.
Hwaiteu, the white tiger Sabrina doted on.
It was the first time since she’d been brought back here that she had come face to face with the white tiger.
“….”
Baiden, who had been following behind Bariya, glanced at the child who had stopped in her tracks.
Hwaiteu had been granted permission to roam the mansion freely, but he hadn’t expected the two of them to cross paths like this.
He had been ready to lift her onto his shoulders at the first sign of fear…
“You, that white kitty from the other day, right?”
Far from being frightened, Bariya lifted her chin with confidence and pointed a finger at Hwaiteu.
She even planted one hand squarely on her hip.
She looked for all the world like a homeowner confronting an uninvited guest, and Baiden let out a dry laugh.
“He isn’t a kitty. He’s a white tiger that Sabrina cherishes. His name is Hwaiteu.”
“Tiger, kitty, what’s the difference?”
Tigers are felines too, of course, but coming from a catkin like Bariya, I don’t know whether to find it adorable or not.
‘Well, Bariya’s bravery is every bit a match for any tiger-kin’s.’
Baiden regarded Bariya with quiet pride.
Little did he know that this Bariya was not a kitty at all, but a lynx notorious for its foul temper.
Bariya reached her hand out toward Hwaiteu.
“Chchuk, chchuk. Hwaiteu, ugh. Figures, it won’t fix my pronunciation right away. Kitty, come here, come.”
When she beckoned with her small hand, Hwaiteu padded over lazily.
Unlike the still-small Bariya, Hwaiteu had been showered with Sabrina’s affection and had grown into a body far larger than that of an ordinary white tiger.
Yet there wasn’t a trace of fear anywhere on Bariya’s face.
“Because of you, I got dragged back here, and I was going to give you a proper scolding if we ever met again.”
Grrr.
“Well, things turned out fine in the end, so I’ll let it slide just this once.”
Baiden was flabbergasted by Bariya’s threat.
But what truly left him speechless was Hwaiteu’s attitude.
Whimper.
‘A whimper?’
That haughty white tiger, who feared nothing thanks to Sabrina’s favoritism, was whining and fussing in front of this tiny creature?
“But if you get in my way one more time, I won’t let you off. Got it?”
Kkiiing.
Under Bariya’s scolding, Hwaiteu, who had been whimpering and fussing, flattened himself onto the floor.
As if he truly regretted what he’d done.
“Got it? Do this properly from now on. I’ll be watching you.”
At that moment, Bariya, who had been merrily scolding Hwaiteu, hopped up onto the back of the prone beast in one swift motion.
“Baby…!”
Baiden startled and reached out a hand, but he stopped almost at once.
Grrrr-grrr.
When Bariya, now perched on his back, patted his head, Hwaiteu let out a contented purr and narrowed his eyes.
Anyone could see that he was plainly delighted.
Bariya stroked the glossy fur of Hwaiteu’s back and grinned with unmistakable pride.
Of course. A great lynx beastkin like me has to tame even a wild beast, right?
“Alright, now lead the way to the dining hall.”
Growl.
Hwaiteu headed straight for the dining hall.
He swayed far more than he had when Bariya rode on Baiden’s shoulders, yet she could still feel how carefully he was trying to walk.
‘Riding Hwaiteu across the plains someday would be even more thrilling.’
Of course, once we left the mansion, those Hyena bastards would be on our heels in no time, so that would have to wait.
‘Those Hyena good-for-nothings are truly useless.’
Today, too, Bariya gnashed her teeth at them.
“Huh.”
Left behind, Baiden let out a breathless laugh of disbelief.
Watching Hwaiteu sway his tail as he moved off with Bariya on his back, the sight was utterly absurd.
That the one who had been allowed to ride on Hwaiteu’s back alone, Sabrina, should now be claimed by that tiny cat Beastkin.
Truly, it was something to live long enough to witness.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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