Baby Lynx of the Tiger Family - Chapter 12

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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 Tiger Clan’s little caracal kitten
Chapter 12
‘Hwaiteu isn’t a beast that can be controlled by Authority.’
If it were, it would have obeyed Sirka too.
‘Or is it connected to the Authority Bariya holds?’
If the young Beastkin cat’s survival through the Hyena pursuit, her sending Tairin to sleep and slipping out of this mansion unnoticed, even her subduing Hwaiteu just now, all came down to Authority, that would be something.
‘That’s a dangerous power.’
Baiden’s face grew grave.
The Hyenas, who covet Authority, would never give up the child.
They would try to take her back by any means necessary.
‘I need to talk to Sabrina about this.’
The younger one is, the harder Authority is to control.
Even Sirka had taken quite a while to master hers completely.
Bariya is only ten years old, so the same must hold for her, and she needed to be taught properly.
The problem was that Bariya still didn’t trust them.
He had to make sure she didn’t misunderstand them as wanting to covet her power like the Hyenas did, and the worry weighed on him more than he could say.
* * *
The moment Bariya rode Hwaiteu through the grounds, the entire mansion was thrown into an uproar.
“What exactly am I looking at right now?”
“Is that little miss riding Hwaiteu…?”
“That Hwaiteu, the one that went blow-for-blow with the Knight Commander? And it’s carrying the little miss as meekly as a lamb?!”
Pad-pad.
The sight of it walking without making a single footfall sound left people even more stunned.
That beast always made a racket on purpose, shoving everyone aside as it went!
So it could walk this quietly after all!
“Someone go fetch the Knight Commander. He’ll shed tears of joy when he sees this.”
At someone’s words, one of the knights dashed off at once.
Soon the Knight Commander of the Khalif Family, Lowin Denebiang, came running and clapped a hand over his mouth at the sight.
“I thought I’d never live to see Hwaiteu behave like this, not even in another lifetime…!”
The Knight Commander gazed at Bariya perched atop Hwaiteu and marveled.
“Who exactly is this little cat miss? What did she do to tame Hwaiteu like that?”
“Right? I thought the Young Family Head had brought back some stray kitten out of nowhere.”
“Come to think of it, that young lady slapped the Young Family Head six times across the cheek! Sir Jake Gillian and I saw it with our own eyes!”
The knight who had witnessed Sirka finding Bariya and bringing her back announced this proudly.
The Knight Commander’s eyes welled up.
“Not only Hwaiteu but even the Young Family Head lost to a baby cat Beastkin!”
“She truly is an extraordinary person. The gods, having taken pity on us, have sent us a blessing.”
Everyone, Lowin included, who had suffered much at the hands of Sirka and Hwaiteu, watched Bariya with fond admiration.
Bariya found the whole scene deeply strange.
“Is it really fine for them to act like this?”
Not a single person was watching Baiden’s face as he followed behind her.
“Does it bother you?”
“Shouldn’t it be the Clan Head who’s bothered, not me?”
What was there for her to be bothered about?
If anything, she was pleased that they had recognized her, the magnificent caracal Beastkin.
In the Hyena Clan, she had always lived with only her mother, shut away in a cramped room.
The only people they ever came across were those who looked down on her and her mother, so Bariya found the atmosphere of this mansion, where everyone laughed freely and easily, both unfamiliar and intriguing.
“As long as they don’t challenge our authority, I look after my retainers’ freedom. So long as they know their own duties and do them well, I don’t care what they do or what they chatter about.”
“Isn’t saying things like that challenging your authority?”
“I’m only saying the truth.”
Bariya looked at the retainers once more.
Knights, servants, and maids alike were laughing and chattering with bright faces.
It was completely unlike the Mariner Family, which had always been solemn and strict about its rules.
There, the word of the Clan Head was law.
No one dared to insult the Clan Head or those of his blood, nor even speak of them carelessly.
‘Though I was an exception, even among that bloodline.’
The Clan Head’s eldest son, Darius Mariner.
Being male, he had no right of succession, but he was still a direct descendant of the Clan Head’s bloodline.
Yet despite being his daughter, Bariya had never been recognized as part of the family’s bloodline.
“…This is a good place, isn’t it.”
Here, though, she doesn’t have to read the room.
She needn’t hide her face, nor tremble every time someone walks past.
Everyone can mingle together, laughing and chattering freely.
“Then we’ll have to keep working so that things can get even better.”
Baiden stroked Bariya’s head.
That kindness, and the smiling faces of the people, seemed like something she would not forget for a long time.
* * *
It had already been a week since Bariya signed her contract with the Khalif Family and settled in.
Bariya’s days flowed by with remarkable regularity.
She woke up at a leisurely hour, ate breakfast, played hunting games with Sirka, and then had lunch with Sabrina.
She read books in the library until evening, ate dinner, read some more, and then went to sleep.
Maybe it was because she’d never lived so regularly before, but after just a week, she already felt healthier.
And today. Bariya had decided to carry out the plan she’d been putting off.
“Today, I’d like to read by myself.”
Thanks to a week of painstaking effort, Bariya had succeeded in correcting her pronunciation, and she spoke to Baiden, who was already waiting for her in the library.
They’d always read together in the library, but today she didn’t want to show what she was reading to anyone.
“Very well. I’ll tell everyone not to enter until you’ve left the library, so don’t worry and read in peace.”
Baiden nodded readily, as if her nervousness had been for nothing.
Before Bariya could even ask, he had already arranged an environment where she could read comfortably.
“Thank you.”
After ruffling the hair of Bariya, who bowed deeply, Baiden left the library right away.
To be honest, Bariya also enjoyed reading with Baiden.
No matter how loudly she warmed up her voice and read aloud, Baiden never once gave her a disapproving look.
If anything, he worried a great deal about whether she was thirsty or hungry.
‘But I can’t put it off any longer.’
She hurried to the bookshelves she had memorized in advance.
“One, two, three, four, five.”
Books on the subject she wanted filled no fewer than five shelves.
I expected as much, but there are more books than I thought.
Bariya pulled out the one that looked most promising among the books within reach.
History and Origin of Spirit Beasts
Spirit beasts.
This was exactly the book Bariya had been searching for.
Beastkin are born through the union of beastkin, but spirit beasts are born when they receive the mysterious energy of nature. Every spirit beast is born in animal form, but once it matures, it can undergo Humanization, and from then on, spirit beasts and beastkin cannot be told apart by the naked eye.
It was just as Mother had described.
Spirit beasts can recognize one another.
However, unless a spirit beast speaks up, beastkin who pass right by it cannot tell whether it is a spirit beast or an ordinary beastkin.
Spirit beasts are children born directly of nature.
I heard that it is nature’s will to protect its precious children from danger.
All spirit beasts possess Authority, and this Authority alone is the sole means of distinguishing spirit beasts from beastkin.
Some beastkin inherit the blood of spirit beasts and manifest Authority similar to theirs, but the Authority of beastkin is a lesser version of the Authority possessed by spirit beasts.
The Authority of beastkin can never surpass the Authority of spirit beasts.
Some of it she already knew, and some of it was new to her.
Those born directly from a spirit beast’s womb possess far greater strength and superior aptitude than other beastkin.
However, this applies only to beastkin born directly from a spirit beast’s body, and does not apply to beastkin whose father is a spirit beast.
Things she had only dimly guessed at began to take firm shape as she read further.
Bariya now understood why Darius had tormented her mother so, and why he had raged so fiercely when Bariya was born not as a hyena but as a caracal beastkin like her mother.
Bariya’s mother.
Claire Bell had been a caracal spirit beast.
Darius, coveting that Authority, spent an astronomical fortune searching for a spirit beast, and in the end he found Claire, who was living alone in the wilds.
At first, Darius played the part of a gentle gentleman, and Claire, unaware of his true intentions, came to the Mariner Family, formed a bond with him, and gave birth to Bariya.
Tragedy began from that very moment.
Instead of the hyena beastkin Darius had wanted, the child was a caracal beastkin who resembled Claire.
Even though she had been born to a spirit beast mother, Bariya’s Authority was vague and ambiguous, and when Darius saw her, he changed completely and revealed his true nature.
Claire, who had lived in a fine room, was cast out into a secluded chamber without a single window, and with every path of escape completely sealed off, she was left to live with Bariya alone.
Claire had meant to endure until Bariya had grown enough to withstand at least the pursuit of the hyenas.
But on the day Darius first laid a hand on their daughter, she could bear it no longer and fled, risking her life.
And so, so that Bariya would never again be captured by the hyena beastkin, she handed everything over to Bariya and died.
‘Bariya, my little one. I suppose I had this Authority all for your sake. I always knew this day would come. My child, don’t be lonely. Mother lives on inside you.’
Authority: .
Power that can transfer everything to a specific person: strength, knowledge, memories, and even the authority of a spirit beast, down to one’s very life.
It was the first time Claire had ever used her authority on Bariya. She gave up everything, and in the end she vanished from the world without leaving so much as a fragment of her body, turned to dust.
And Bariya fled alone, carrying all that her mother had left within her. Thanks to her mother, she was able to evade the relentless grip of the Hyena Clan for three whole years.
Even now, Bariya cannot forget the moment when a warmth that reminded her of her mother filled her entire body.

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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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