Chapter Eighty-Seven: A Little Fierce Beast in the Belly

“Even he knows that? He still wouldn’t lay a hand on me?”

I suddenly bit my lip and stared at him wide-eyed. “Then what do you mean by this? You know perfectly well I didn’t do anything! And yet you locked me up here and tormented me! What are you trying to do!”

At that moment there was only one sentence in my head, looping endlessly:

There’s a little feral beast in my belly! There’s a little feral beast in my belly! There’s a little feral beast in my belly...!

I didn’t pay the slightest attention to any question of attitude or tone. For the first time ever, I shouted at Forgetful River.

And in my hysterical state, with strength I didn’t know I possessed, I snapped the leather strap binding my wrists with a single jerk.

When it broke, I froze completely, staring as it fell to the floor with a soft slap.

Such thick leather! It would probably take a knife quite a while to cut through it. How could two wrists possibly tear it apart like that?

I was stunned by the terrifying strength in me. Had the thing in Forgetful River’s hand simply not been sturdy? Or had I really been with him so long that I’d become twisted too...?

Forgetful River said nothing. He looked calm, almost without a ripple, just watching.

“Master, I...” My hands were still at a loss, not knowing where to put themselves.

Maybe he had only wanted to restrain me and keep me from running away, but what I’d just done was nothing less than defiance.

And yet I wasn’t resisting. I was only... only a little angry.

I looked at Forgetful River and stammered, “I... I don’t know...”

“Normal.” He curled the corner of his lips. “My little cub, having that kind of strength is perfectly normal.”

My head started buzzing again.

“No! You said you knew I hadn’t done anything to betray you, so why did you still say I’d betrayed you?!”

Heavens knew, I had nearly been scared to death by everything he had just done.

Especially when I saw the pain in his eyes. If he knew everything, how could he have been hurt so badly? He was the one who knew best how to act, wasn’t he?!

“My female goes out and even loses her underwear, then comes back smelling like another man. Shouldn’t that be punished?”

“But I didn’t know!”

I admitted that what he said made sense. This was my fault.

But I wasn’t a normal human. Who could possibly have guessed that once I turned into a cat, my clothes would just fall off my body?

If anything, blame the heavens for playing with me. Other people became human and were still dressed properly. Only I was left with nothing but a naked layer of skin. Who was I supposed to argue with?

“That’s your excuse?”

“I...” I didn’t know where my anger came from. In any case, my spirit had plunged into hysteria. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore!”

“You disregard my words, going out behind my back again and again. Isn’t that betrayal? You can tell Fishy, so why can’t you tell me?”

“Why should I tell you!” I sniffled, and the tears would not stop falling.

Wronged.

How was I supposed to know that after suddenly turning human, my clothes would slip off?

How was I supposed to know why the underwear happened to vanish just like that?

How was I supposed to know that my underwear, after disappearing, could come back?

And how was I supposed to know that once it returned, it would be soaked in Youluo’s scent?

The heavens were toying with me, weren’t they?

“Why are you still being so stubborn when things have come to this?” Forgetful River seemed truly angry now.

“I just didn’t!”

After I shouted, Forgetful River suddenly lifted me up.

I lost my balance completely and cried out in alarm, only for him to sit down the next moment and lay me across his lap, lifting my skirt.

“Hey, hey—!”

I flailed my arms, but he pinned me down firmly.

Perhaps Forgetful River knew that little leather straps like that could never hold me, so he used one hand to trap both of my wrists.

I stared blankly at him gripping my hands so hard, as though he meant to punish me.

I pouted and deliberately kept silent. It was only spanking, wasn’t it? Who was afraid of who...

But before I could finish thinking, I heard a whoosh!

Not a smack...!

“Aaaah—!!”

I shot up at once, wanting to reach back and touch it, but it was useless.

Damn it all! He was hitting my bottom with a little wooden stick!!!

“Forgetful River, you bastard!!” I roared in fury.

In the end, the little stick came down again and again on my backside, not too hard, not too light. I didn’t even know how many times he struck.

Anyway, every time he hit me once, I cursed him once.

By the end, those words had become: “Master, I was wrong!”

No backbone.

I really had no backbone.

But let anyone be laid here and beaten like that to the end, and they’d give in too.

I used to hear on television those constables beating people say, “Let’s see whether your mouth is harder or my club is harder!”

Now I admitted it: the club was harder, even if it was so small.

When Forgetful River had had enough, he simply brushed his hand over me, and I felt no pain at all.

Just like the finger he had cut before, he seemed to have some sort of automatic healing ability!

To let a monster have such a power was a sin against the heavens!!!

Still, even though I had softened just now, I still believed I wasn’t entirely at fault.

So after Forgetful River let me down, I stood there rubbing my backside, lips pressed together, saying nothing, and then tears started dripping down again.

Forgetful River seemed to cool off. He no longer touched me, nor came close, but sat in the chair without speaking.

I stood where I was, not crying violently, but feeling a grievance swell within me like a flood, spilling out from my heart.

After crying for a while, I pouted and gradually calmed down.

Maybe... this really was my fault.

I shouldn’t have hidden it from Forgetful River and gone out, and I shouldn’t have kept going out after he had warned me again and again.

He’d gotten angry at me, probably because...

But what about Youluo’s scent...?

I took two steps forward and realized Forgetful River was seated, so I probably shouldn’t be standing over him, though the difference in height was really only a little bit.

So I crouched down, grabbed Forgetful River’s hand, and looked up at him. “Master— I really didn’t go looking for Youluo...”

“If you had no contact with him, then how did those two things end up mingled together? How did they pass through his hands?”

I nodded, knowing this was the crux of the matter, and kept explaining. “Yes, but I don’t know why his scent ended up on my underwear. But I do know why my underwear had the smell of mating on it.”

“Oh?” Forgetful River sounded rather interested.

I blushed a little and stammered out what I had actually wanted to say a long time ago.

Because I truly couldn’t say it to his face, I did as I had before: I rested my hand on his knee and laid my head against his leg, too afraid to look at his face.

“Master... actually... I like you... I...”

I drew in a deep breath, thinking how shameless I was being, yet I still had to continue.

“I said it just now... maybe I stopped being fully human long ago! I’m just a cat. When I smell your scent, I can’t help feeling genuinely thrilled. I... I know that’s utterly shameless! But... it wasn’t for anyone else! It was for you!”

Forgetful River didn’t seem to react much to my confession, but by the end, a faint smile did appear.

It was different from the smile before. I knew this was the beginning of his forgiveness.

“So... believe me once. This really has nothing to do with me.”

Forgetful River didn’t answer, as if thinking about something. It was only a long while later that he asked me one question.

“From now on, when you go out, will you still sneak off on your own?”

“No! I’ll definitely tell Master!”

“And do you remember who the master is?”

“I remember! It’s you!”

“Setting aside whether you ever truly treated me as your master, the fact remains that you disregarded my words again and again. You’re the sort of thing that ought to be tossed out and drowned.”

“I-I-I...” Suddenly I felt a chill all over.

There was even such a punishment as drowning?

“Come here.”

Forgetful River reached out. Rarely, truly rarely, he had forgiven me.

I let out a long breath and hesitated only a moment before throwing my arms around him, leaning against him, my head tucked near his chest.

“Was that enough to teach you a lesson? Can you remember what you said just now?”

“Yes.” I pouted and sniffled.

I would never forget this for the rest of my life. It was the first time I’d ever been disciplined like this... So humiliating.

The earlier matter had been settled. The matter after that, however, had not even begun.

I clung to Forgetful River for a while, feeling aggrieved, then suddenly remembered something.

“Master, am I really pregnant?”

“Otherwise why would I hit you with a little stick?”

That answer made me freeze.

“Are the two related?”

He looked at his own hand and gave a low laugh. “I was too strong.”

“Oh.” I nodded, but then lifted my head again to confirm, once more: “Am I really pregnant? Yours?”