Baby Lynx of the Tiger Family - Chapter 22

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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 Baby Wildcat
Chapter 22
Beastkin society is broadly divided into Herbivore Beastkin and Carnivore Beastkin.
Unless it’s the New Year Assembly, attended only by the prominent Beastkin houses, or a Chieftains’ meeting where the heads of the clans gather, the two kinds of Beastkin rarely come together.
For the most part they keep their distance, each exercising power within their own clearly divided territories.
Only three houses stand above the rest in the Carnivore Beastkin territories.
The Lion Chieftain Family Leotel, the Hyena Chieftain Family Marina, and finally the Tiger Chieftain Family Kalif.
That’s why no shortage of Beastkin have their eyes on the seat beside Sirka, the beautiful young heir to Kalif who also wields Authority.
Not only the Vassal Families with marriageable daughters, but also the beast houses friendly with Kalif, all looked for a chance to claim the fiancée’s place.
Of all of them, the most eager was Glosa.
“Lady Obli Glosa looks especially lovely today.”
“She’s always lovely, but today she positively glows. And just look at that dress. Isn’t it set with diamonds?”
Obli, renowned as the most beautiful of the Tiger Beastkin, bloomed more brilliantly than ever today.
Smooth, fine skin, hair like gold thread, blue eyes like gemstones, and a graceful white gown to set it all off.
Diamonds strung through delicate lace shimmered softly with every movement she made.
Many could not take their eyes off Obli.
“Isn’t it a bit excessive, though? This isn’t an ordinary banquet. Wearing white to an event where Kalif introduces an honored guest?”
Yet the gazes were not entirely kind.
This was, after all, a banquet with a clearly designated star.
Such a striking white did not suit the occasion.
“Blinded as he is by the chance at a fiancée’s seat, all the same.”
“Glosa’s Clan Head is going further and further over the line.”
Most of the crowd sneered at the father and daughter, who had no sense of tact.
“…Father, I told you. This is far too much.”
Obli had no choice but to bear the scornful glares aimed at her with her whole body.
The gown her father had forced into being only made her shrink in on herself.
She had deliberately arrived last to draw eyes, which made it all the more humiliating.
“Stop talking nonsense. Those words will vanish the moment you marry the Young Family Head. Today, think only of catching the Young Family Head’s eye!”
But her father, whose greed seemed to have burned away every shred of reason, ignored her and squared his shoulders with pride.
The more he did, the lower Obli’s head sank, for she knew shame.
“Announcing the entrance of Chieftain Baiden Kalif and Sabrina Kalif!”
Unable to flee because of her father, Obli had been forced to stand in the middle of the Banquet Hall, and she lifted her head with a jolt.
The side door beside the dais opened, and Baiden and Sabrina entered side by side.
Moonlight Hall stirred all at once.
“So the Lady of Kalif is attending too!”
“Apart from the birthday banquets for the Chieftain and the Young Family Head, she’s never once shown her face.”
At the appearance of such an unexpected figure, people quickly exchanged glances.
The honored guest of Kalif is truly no ordinary person!
And their expectations proved right.
“Young Family Head Sirka Kalif enters with the honored guest!”
Then came Sirka.
The very fact that he entered with her made people believe he had truly brought his fiancée.
Some even looked Kalvin, Clan Head of Obli and Glosa, up and down with a sneer.
That was, until they noticed the little girl held in Sirka’s arms.
Lustrous wheat-colored hair, clear eyes, a slightly upturned gaze, a stubborn set of lips, and a deep blue gown that suited her slight frame perfectly.
Far younger than anyone had expected, she left the crowd flustered.
The direct family of Kalif looked down on everyone from the dais with calm faces.
“I thank everyone for attending this banquet welcoming Kalif’s honored guest. She is a valued person, and I ask that you all treat her as you would treat Kalif itself.”
Baiden’s declaration startled the crowd once more.
In other words, she stood on equal footing with the direct family of Kalif.
Who on earth could she be, for the direct family of Kalif, of all people, to treat her this way?
Before the astonished crowd, Kalif’s honored guest Bariya, still held in Sirka’s arms, looked down at everyone and spoke clearly.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Bariya, and I’ll be staying at Kalif. I hope we get along.”
The introduction was so brief, offering nothing but a name, that it left people almost aching for more.
As if she knew it, Bariya smiled leisurely.
* * *
“No matter how I look at it, Bariya’s got a stage-born streak.”
Sirka, who had come down from the dais, burst out laughing with Bariya in his arms.
“Not even nervous, and you’re laughing at them instead. Impressive.”
“I wasn’t laughing at them. I just laughed.”
Bariya protested, but it fell on deaf ears.
Honestly, anyone looking at us would think I was mocking everyone by acting like I’m the best of them.
“Not scared at all?”
“Not at all. Honestly, I was a little surprised myself.”
I meant it.
From the moment she was born, she and her mother had been locked away in a storage room, all because she had disappointed Marina.
When she ran, naturally she had hidden from people’s eyes and lived in the shadows.
She had spent her whole life in places no one would notice her.
This was the first time she had ever stood before so many people, and it felt so effortless that even Bariya herself was a little bewildered.
Once, she would have been worried about her Authority being exposed.
Now, that fear is gone.
‘Am I really cut out for the stage, like Sirka said?’
I can’t tell whether it’s because I’ve gotten so used to hiding, or whether I was simply born this way.
‘Honestly, it feels good.’
Bariya, nestled in Sirka’s arms, which had grown so familiar, glanced around the Banquet Hall.
There were the scents of tiger beastkin, and there were scents she had never smelled before.
One thing was certain: not a single person was failing to look at her.
Some looked on with envy, some with burning curiosity.
And others with eyes full of hatred.
‘Huh, hatred?’
Wait, there’s something odd mixed in there.
There were so many people, yet it wasn’t hard to find the familiar gaze I had so often received from my father.
A middle-aged man with faded blond hair and green eyes.
Not far from the platform where they stood, he was glaring at her with bulging eyes.
Seriously, why?
‘Damn it.’
I don’t know the reason, and I haven’t done anything wrong to deserve a look like that, so why should I have to avoid it?
Bariya glared right back at him.
“Hah!”
The man let out a laugh of pure disbelief.
As if I’m the one who should be baffled.
“Little one? What’s wrong?”
Sirka, noticing Bariya’s expression, asked.
“We’re in a staring contest.”
At that, he turned his head with a puzzled look and discovered Kalvin Glosa glaring at Bariya, and he clicked his tongue.
“Should I have him thrown out?”
“No, I’ll win this one myself.”
I could tell by instinct.
That man was a tiger beastkin, yet he was someone even her strength could overcome.
‘Compared to Kalif, a tiger like that is nothing but chaff.’
Honestly, Hwaiteu is far stronger than him.
“But why are you glaring at me? If you’ve done something wrong, you have no right to complain.”
“It’s because of greed.”
Greed?
Puzzled, Bariya soon spotted a young woman standing beside the man, her face clouded with gloom.
The pretty beastkin who had cast longing glances at Sirka in Madame Renoir’s dress shop.
“Ah, because he wants a marriage?”
Sirka nodded at Bariya, who had reached the conclusion in an instant.
“It isn’t just that father and daughter. Most of the people here are eyeing the position of my partner.”
“I don’t get why anyone would want that, and I especially don’t get why they’d glare at me because of it, you know?”
“It’s because they’re idiots.”
Sabrina, who had been sipping her wine, cut in.
“Mother.”
Sirka tried to stop her, but Sabrina just shrugged.
“It’s better to say it outright than to hide it. That way the little one can prepare. The little one is clever.”
“That’s right. I’m clever. The Clan Head said so too.”
“Right.”
Baiden, standing there with his stern air, nodded.
The quiet hours they had once spent reading books together in the library had, at some point, turned into Bariya’s study time.
It began when Bariya, reading, came across a passage she didn’t understand and started asking Baiden about it.
Baiden was a good teacher, and Bariya was an eager student.
“Bokdeongi’s rate of learning is remarkably quick.”
By now, I’d been forced to get used to that strange nickname, Bokdeongi, with no idea where it came from.
First “Aga,” and now “Bokdeongi.”
Looks like Kalif doesn’t have much talent for nicknames.
“Anyway, the reason those people are so wary of Aga is this.”
Sabrina scoffed and went on.
“They’re terrified that Kalif’s honored guest, Aga, might slip into the empty fiancée’s spot beside Sirka.”
Bariya’s eyes went wide at the monstrous statement, something she had never even imagined.
And before she could stop herself, a single reflexive sound escaped her.
“Ugh!”
Sirka was hurt.

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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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