Baby Lynx of the Tiger Family - Chapter 9

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

The Tiger Clan’s Baby Bobcat
Chapter 9
“…”
“…”
Tairin and Jake gawked at the scene unfolding before them.
“That’s impressive.”
“Yeah, it really is.”
Nothing else came to mind.
Patter-patter-patter!
The moment came with a forceful thump of paws against the floor.
Whoosh!
In midair, the tiny kitten twisted her body into a dazzling spin.
Snap!
The cat clamped down on a tuft of feathers with both front paws.
“Mrrow!”
“Got it again.”
She landed with pure swagger, and Sirka let out an admiring exclaim.
“Rawr!”
The baby cat, or rather the Bobcat beastkin Bariya, puffed out her chest with pride.
Her nose had flushed a bright red from excitement.
“See, sweetie? I told you you’d love it, didn’t I?”
Smiling, Sirka tugged on the stick she was holding.
Bariya dug her front paws in hard, determined not to let go of the prey she’d just caught.
“Hunting games are the best for little kittens.”
Yes, they are.
The stick Sirka was swinging was a feathered wand made specifically for cats.
Honestly, even when Sirka asked him to fetch it, Jake hadn’t imagined it would be used on Bariya.
She wasn’t a real cat, after all. She was a beastkin.
And yet…
“I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t brought it. Never thought she’d take to it this well.”
Jake watched Bariya hurl herself at the feathered wand Sirka was waving and let out a dry laugh.
“Our young lady must be a hunting prodigy. How is she so good at this?”
Tairin, already completely smitten with Bariya, had tears welling in her eyes.
Seeing she looked ready to burst into tears, Jake panicked.
She’s not usually this sentimental of a beastkin.
Bariya had only been at Khalif for a single day. What on earth had happened in that time?
I heard she slipped away while they were napping. Could that have been the turning point?
“Our young lady is surely the best cat beastkin hunter in the whole world.”
Under Tairin’s absolute conviction, Jake nodded with a sour expression.
‘She does move with more than an ordinary cat’s grace, I’ll give her that.’
“Good, that’s it! Sweetie, pretend this feather is a hyena and attack!”
“Kyaaoong!”
Sirka’s cheer seemed to spur her on, and Bariya let out a shriek that sounded like a string of curses as she swung her paw wildly.
Torn apart by those vicious claws, the feather couldn’t hold on and fluttered down from the air.
“Kyaak!”
But tearing the feather apart clearly wasn’t enough for her, so she lunged at the stick in Sirka’s hand.
Unable to match the force, Sirka dropped the stick, and Bariya flailed her paws at it relentlessly.
In the end, the wand couldn’t withstand the assault and was utterly destroyed.
“Perfect, sweetie. What a magnificent hunt.”
Sirka stroked Bariya’s head, gazing at the hyena that existed only in her imagination, now lying dead.
Still huffing, Bariya lifted her flushed little nose high in the air.
Tairin and Sirka clapped enthusiastically.
‘…Isn’t that a bit too vicious for a cat?’
Of course, cats are carnivores who hunt for sport too.
Even allowing for that, the kid’s temper was just… awful.
“Well done! You’re the best!”
“Our young lady is amazing!”
But if he dared say that out loud, those bad-tempered tiger beastkin, who had already fallen head over heels for Bariya, might very well try to kill him.
So Jake wisely slipped in among them and joined in the applause.
“Kyaung! (Of course I’m a magnificent bobcat!)”
Nobody noticed that Bariya was shouting all of that.
* * *
Once the contract was sealed, the three Beastkin of the Khalif Family each took on a role of their own.
Sirka would teach Bariya how to hunt and how to fight off the Hyenas, while Sabrina took charge of feeding her well and raising her properly.
“Why me.”
Frankly, Sabrina wasn’t thrilled with her assignment.
She thought teaching hunting suited her far better, but Baiden and Sirka had both objected, the nerve of them.
Their reason was that her hunting methods were far too brutal for a child to learn.
When Sabrina voiced her displeasure, Sirka let out a sigh and spoke.
‘Think about what became of those Hyena Beastkin Mother hunted a few days ago.’
‘…….’
They were in such a state that even those tenacious, relentless Hyenas couldn’t bring themselves to collect the bodies.
In the end, Sabrina accepted her role as well.
After some thought, Sabrina set up a spot not in the dining room but beneath the gazebo in the garden.
She couldn’t stand feeling confined, which is why she rarely stayed inside the mansion, but stepping out into the open garden let her breathe a little easier.
“Madam. The young lady has arrived.”
Sabrina, who had been eyeing the food filling the table with an unfamiliar gaze, whipped her head around.
In front of Tairin, a baby cat was strutting over with tremendous dignity.
“Mrrp!”
Bariya let out a vigorous cry and bounced up onto the chair across from her.
“Mrrrow!”
She planted both front paws firmly on the table and gazed at the dishes with sparkling eyes.
The tip of her tongue poked out, glistening with moisture.
She had apparently played hunting games with Sirka to her heart’s content, and now she was clearly famished.
“First of all, little one.”
“Mrr?”
“Are you going to eat like that?”
Tilting her head at Sabrina’s words, Bariya looked down at her front paws.
“Eeeek!”
Startled by the soft pink pads now exposed in the air, she hurriedly shifted back into human form.
“I-I didn’t realize I was in cat form…”
“Is the animal form more comfortable for you?”
“Yes.”
Bariya nodded at once.
“It’s easier to run away, and it’s easier to hide my presence and my appearance too. That’s why I mostly stayed in animal form.”
The image of how perilously she had survived by running away rose vividly before Sabrina’s eyes.
“Even for a Cat Beastkin, your animal form is quite small. If you want to grow up strong and healthy, you need to stop being picky and eat a balanced diet.”
Lectures she had never bothered giving Sirka came spilling out of her mouth on their own in front of Bariya.
Compared with Sirka, who had developed remarkably early, Bariya looked so small that it couldn’t be helped.
“I’m not picky about anything like that. There’s nothing I can’t eat!”
Bariya wriggled her rear as she eyed the food covering the table.
“Right, you must be starving, so eat quickly… Wait, the food seems to have gone cold.”
Bariya had arrived quickly, but since they were outdoors, the food had already cooled.
“Tairin, go and reheat the food so that…”
“Nah-uh! It’s fine! If it’s too hot, I can’t eat it fast, you know!”
Already blinded by the smell of the food, Bariya began eating right away, before Tairin could clear everything away.
A salad of fresh vegetables, fruit, and cheese. Pasta rich with creamy sauce, and pizza whose tomato sauce was superb.
Meat was the best, but the non-meat dishes were truly delicious too.
“Is it good?”
“Yes!”
Bariya’s eyes sparkled as she nodded vigorously.
‘I’m so glad I made a contract with the Khalif.’
No one can fight alone.
I don’t think I’ll ever regret taking the hand that was extended to me first, after I admitted my own shortcomings.
The world is still worth living in after all!
“…”
Sabrina watched Bariya eating with such obvious happiness, utterly fascinated.
For her, a meal was nothing more and nothing less than a dutiful intake of nutrients for the sake of activity.
Watching Bariya eat so happily, the food began to look tasty even to her eyes.
‘How strange.’
Sabrina found all of this unfamiliar.
Sitting down to a proper meal in the garden rather than a simple tea, with a little girl seated across from her, watching her eat with such delight.
She had never imagined anything like this would happen.
‘No, wait. Maybe there was a time I did imagine it.’
When was it, though?
There had been a time when staying in this mansion was actually quite pleasant.
Not that I dislike it now, but back then the mansion never felt stifling.
When was that, exactly?
“Kyahaha!”
A bright peal of laughter struck her ears like a thunderclap.
She turned her head in a daze to find Bariya beaming, and Tairin playing hand games with her.
“….”
Sabrina couldn’t tear her eyes away from Bariya, who laughed with her whole body as though the garden belonged to her alone.
It felt as though she were watching a small, simple happiness she had been certain would never return to her life.
It was the first time in eighteen years.
‘For the time being, I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the little one.’
Baiden, who always pined for his mate wandering somewhere beyond the mansion walls, would have fainted if he had known.
* * *
Once the joyful game of hunting and the happy meal had come to an end.
Bariya was summoned to Baiden’s study.
Sirka’s and Sabrina’s turns were over, so now it was Baiden’s turn.
“….”
“….”
And a suffocating standoff began.
The air grew so frigid that one might have mistaken them for two enemies who had met on a single-plank bridge.
Silva Brazier, the White Tiger beastkin serving as Baiden’s aide, broke into a cold sweat.
He had been working alongside Baiden when he suddenly found himself caught between the two of them.
He had heard they were close, so why on earth were they acting like this?
Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing.
The chieftain of all tigers, the great Clan Head of the Khalif Family, Baiden.
He was now…
‘What on earth am I supposed to do with a girl?’
Faced with the greatest puzzle of his life, he was in a thoroughly bewildered state.
Not knowing what to do with Bariya, his vision went dark.

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