Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 15.1
Chapter 15.1
The one standing in front of Christine with a complicated expression full of emotions was Toma.
‘Is he going to act defensive again?’
Christine smiled and greeted him. She was confident that she could overpower the boy no matter how childishly he tried to trouble her.
However, after a long hesitation, what Toma said was surprising.
“I… I’m Toma. I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t know Mr. Edgar had brought you here.”
It seemed that Toma had come to her deliberately to humble his pride and apologize. Seeing him humble himself so much even though he was at an age where he only cared about himself, he seemed to respect Edgar greatly.
‘He might have gotten a bad scolding from the man who was with Edgar yesterday.’
Christine thought about accepting the apology and moving on, but she changed her mind. There was something she wanted to test on a chimera, and Toma seemed to be the perfect target.
“You wouldn’t apologize if I wasn’t Edgar’s guest?”
“N-no. It doesn’t matter whose guest it is, it’s my fault for behaving badly.”
Normally, the conversation would have ended when an apology was exchanged, but Christine went one step further.
“Toma, I don’t think you’re a bad kid. Bad kids don’t apologize.”
“…”
“They say it’s harder to admit one’s wrongdoing than it is to do something bad. Thank you for being brave and apologizing.”
Christine’s calm voice caused ripples in Toma’s mind. Toma thought that because she was angry about yesterday’s incident, she would just accept his apology roughly and walk away.
However, she smiled and praised him for apologizing. The more he listened to her kind words, the more he began to feel guilty.
The little boy’s heart was pricked, and his eyes soon turned red.
“Thank you, *sob*, for saying that. I got angry without realizing it yesterday, so…”
“Don’t cry. I think you’re a good kid. Did I make you angry?”
Christine gave Toma a handkerchief with a sweet smile. With that, the tears that were pooling up in Toma’s eyes flowed down his cheeks.
‘He’s still a kid. He’s crying as soon as I comfort him.’
Christine grinned and watched as Toma wiped his tears with her handkerchief. After crying for a long time, he answered her question with a voice mixed with hiccups.
“I wasn’t upset with Miss Christine. Actually… The lady of the family who bought me as a battle slave is a noblewoman with long straight hair, so I get upset when I see someone with a similar hairstyle.”
“A battle slave?”
“Yes. I was trained by an instructor in the basement of a mansion for several years since I was a child, and Mr. Edgar saved me.”
“…”
Christine was unable to say anything for a moment. She knew that nobles and wealthy people would secretly buy chimeras to satisfy their desires, but…
‘They bought this young child and trained him from an even younger age?’
The chimeras were born with special powers that could only be passed down in the grand duke’s family, but they were just as intelligent and rational as humans. How could they do such a thing to such a young child?
Suddenly, it dawned on her that all the chimeras living here must have similar wounds. Her heart felt heavy.
“I can’t say anything about a story like that. To be honest, even I would be angry to see women who looked like that if I were in your shoes.”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant…”
Toma rambled, feeling as if he was somehow making an excuse that what he had done was justified.
“I was wrong. Mr. Edgar said that suppressing one’s emotions is also an important virtue.”
“Still…”
“A-and! Miss Christine doesn’t look like that woman at all. On the contrary! You’re a hundred times prettier.”
After shouting a little loudly without realizing it, Toma’s face turned red like a tomato when he realized what he had said.
Christine chuckled at his boyish reaction, typical of a teenager.
“Oh my, thank you. So did you actually harass me because you liked me?”
“N-no, that’s not it…! Anyway, I apologized!”
Toma handed the handkerchief to Christine before disappearing from view.
He was surprisingly cute unlike when he was being mean, so she burst out laughing again as she grabbed the handkerchief.
‘Let’s see.’
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