The beast in Belinda’s arms only turned his head.
He looked very relaxed despite the urgent situation. The feel of the wind, the strangers’ voices and their smell of sweat and blood, all surrounded them at once.
「Belinda, get off the horse.」
Aymon said, still rubbing his eyes.
Belinda quickly jumped off the horse and crouched down behind a tree.
The small beast remained in her arms.
Soon, imposing figures started to pop out from the dense forest one after the other.
“Someone’s traveling alone! Unbelievable!”
A joyous voice exclaimed.
It was the prey he’d been looking for a good while. An easy, delicious meal, walking around all these mountains.
The bandits looked scruffy with their unbrushed hair and dull weapons. However, unlike their physique, the clothes they were wearing were elegant and refined. The detailed embroidery on the heavy fabric proved them to be aristocrats’ garments. Stolen, surely.
The incongruity between their clothing and physical appearance made their strange appearance even scarier.
Are the people they stole those clothes from still alive?
Someone yelled a conventional threat.
“Empty your pockets and hand me everything!”
“Oh, leave it to us to take everything off and see for ourselves!”
The bandits vulgarly smiled at each other.
Belinda was covering her body with a robe, but her pale skin and small hands must have given her away as a woman. She stiffened.
She wasn’t afraid. Well, she was, and she wasn’t. It was a relief to have Aymon, but she was still scared to death.
This is all because of my broken mind.
As she tried to hide her trembling fingers, Aymon spoke to Daisy in a whisper.
「Hey, come have some fun with me.」
He didn’t need to say it twice.
“AHHHHHHHHH!”
The bandit’s scream tore through the silence of the dark forest.
The man on the receiving end of Daisy’s destructive kick flew right into an oak tree.
“Is that horse crazy!?”
The rest of the bandits froze in place. Daisy took the opportunity to go wild, neighing with joy. He kicked and trampled on the men, making sure none of them got away.
Being able to finally spill out his anger towards Aymon (with Aymon’s own blessing!) excited Daisy. The bandits didn’t even have time to reach for their weapons.
“AHHHH!”
“Do something about that thing!!”
“What the hell is that!?”
It was none less than a crazy horse.
They crawled on the ground in an attempt to avoid Daisy, but the small space heavily limited their defense abilities. Even their chance to retreat was blocked.
“Ack!”
“Ow!”
Three of the men flew into trees and the remaining two passed out after well-timed kicks in the chest. The only thing that left them alive was their heavy iron armor.
The forest became silent again as the last of the men collapsed at the courtesy of the fast, overpowering horse.
A birdsong could be heard from here, and a gentle breeze stirred in the air. The peace was broken by a loud celebratory neigh.
Belinda stared at Daisy, dumbstruck.
“Is this what you call too weak to carry two humans?”
「This was very exciting, really.」
Aymon muttered, avoiding the question.
A bit later, Belinda walked over to a bandit and started undressing him. They were a lot less scary passed out on the ground.
She searched through their clothes for money and valuables, with no ulterior motive – what could one feel for a person like this anyways?
「Do you really have to?」
“Yes. These people would have stolen my money, and they would have done worse things if they could.”
Belinda was still fearful as she scoured pockets for money, but she kept telling herself that she’d donate it as soon as she could.
Aymon looked on with a sour expression.
「I’ll do it.」
“No. Leave it to me.”
Firstly, the bandits didn’t attack them because they were interested in a cat. It was her place for revenge.
Secondly, how could Aymon undo a button with his paws?
Having searched through all the men’s jackets, Belinda moved down to start taking off their pants.
「You don’t have to take everything off, do you? What do you want to see?」
She brushed away Aymon’s foot as he tried to hold her back.
“What would I want to see? I just want to make them suffer a bit more. They’ll be cold.”
「I’ll take that off! Just let me do it!」
Well, talk about an awkward topic.
Belinda finally gave up after seeing Aymon’s toughened eyes. She knew that he was impossible to convince of anything when he looked at her like that.
“Go ahead, then.”
She took a step back, interested to see how Aymon would manage with the task. Even Daisy peered over his shoulder to look.
There was not much to Aymon’s strategy – he simply scratched and clawed away until all the buttons came undone.
There was nothing to be found on the men except their underwear, which wasn’t a very pleasant sight. Belinda wanted to put all their pants back on just so she wouldn’t have to look, but she decided to endure the sight for the sake of making them suffer some more.
One of the men slowly opened his eyes. He’d fainted after a kick from Daisy but seemed to be coming to his senses.
“Now… This…”
The man tried to speak in a dry voice.
The last thing he remembered was the backside of a horse, and now he was lying on the floor in his underwear. He kept on trying to form an articulate sentence without much success.
「What are you saying?」
It only took a swish of Aymon’s paw to knock him out again.
Belinda lowered her gaze slightly as she watched. All the bandit’s eyes were beautifully golden as if the sun had melted down into them. She’d never seen eyes like that… Except for her mother’s.
She considered going up to them to get a better look but was held back by the sight of the abhorrent naked bodies.
“Aymon, take the bracelet and the ring.”
So she decided to focus on stripping the bandits of their jewelry. It felt good to be the thief stealing from the real thieves.
Aymon quickly gave up on trying to get the ring off with his paw.
「Should I just take the whole finger?」
“…..”
Belinda silently shook her head. It was a beast’s way of thinking, simple and cruel. She couldn’t believe that thought would even cross someone’s mind.
She decided to take the ring herself. It came off easily with a hard pull. She tossed it in her pocket and approached Daisy.
“Good job, Daisy.”
The horse gave a satisfied laugh as Belinda stroked his back. She never thought that horses could laugh, but apparently…
Daisy didn’t get to have much attention to himself, since Aymon was soon at Belinda’s feet whining to be picked up.
「I want pets too!! Pick me up!」
What a needy leopard.
***
A few nights had passed.
Aymon either didn’t sleep at all, or he’d move as far away as possible from Belinda who was on the bed.
Even the previous day, Belinda woke up in the middle of the night to drink water only to see Aymon staring right at her.
“What are you doing?”
He flinched in surprise when he noticed she was awake.
“Why are you awake??”
Is it that surprising? Sheesh, only dead people never open their eyes.
She felt Aymon’s fluffy paw against her cheek.
Why would he do that if he just wanted to touch me? He knows I don’t mind it.
Aymon wasn’t usually like this, but whenever she asked him to sleep in a bed with her, he ran away to hide in a corner, only to stare at her all night.
Is he trying to say that he likes me or that he wants to avoid me? I don’t get him.
He was a strange creature indeed.
“Aymon, do I smell weird or something?”
「Huh?」
They were eating in a quiet field. Aymon looked up from his almond cookies on the grass. Belinda asked again, also munching on a snack.
“You haven’t even hugged me today.”
「…….」
It was true. All he did was annoy Daisy. It upset Belinda a lot.
Still, she was worried that she might have a smell. Aymon was sensitive to that.
Earlier that day, he picked out the smell of rotten leaves in the forest ahead of either her or Daisy… Well, it wasn’t clear whether he was just being affected by the lack of sleep, or it actually smelled like rotten leaves.
“I always wash myself thoroughly, but you keep avoiding me.”
「You do smell.」
Belinda hurriedly raised her arm and checked. Could he hate the smell of humans so much that he’d notice even after a wash?
「It’s getting thicker, actually.」
Aymon bit into a cookie with a sigh.
Belinda felt even worse after hearing that. What if Aymon wouldn’t want to be around her after he grew up? Should she at least use perfume?
「But don’t worry, Breedee. I’m patient. I promise I won’t hurt you or take you by surprise.」
“…..”
She knew Aymon was trying to comfort her, but it didn’t register in her brain. All she could think about was having to shower more.
Daisy, who’d been listening to their conversation, went up to Belinda to take a sniff himself. The ticklish feeling made Belinda laugh.
Aymon started to get nervous.
「What is he doing over here!?」
Daisy stepped back with a discontented look after he received a push from Aymon.
Even the crazy horse that did away with five men in a forest seemed like a meek foal next to this crazy leopard.\n