Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 42.1

Chapter 42.1

Edgar examined the chimera’s tears in the cloth pouch. The gems were smaller than a corn kernel, and some were so small they looked like grains of sand.

‘How did she manage to collect such small things?’

The chimera’s tears that Edgar had seen so far were bigger than a human’s eye. Or maybe they had to be that big to be made into jewelry and sold on the black market.

In order to make gems of that size, the merchants of the underworld would hang living chimeras somewhere and drain their bodily fluids, or deliberately inflict large wounds on them so that they continued bleeding.

But… Christine had only collected gems that one wouldn’t accept even if they were given for free. It seemed that she had been collecting them little by little from the training grounds or lending handkerchiefs to the children.

According to Edgar’s judgement, Christine was capable of harming or even abducting a young chimera. However, she did not do so.

He knew what that meant.

‘She’s in a situation where she needs the power of the chimeras, but she doesn’t mean to hurt them.’

He couldn’t help but laugh when he imagined Christine picking up the tiny gems that fell to the ground, unable to harm the chimera children even though her mother’s life and her own were at stake.

Would it be more correct to say that she has a soft heart or that she’s not bold enough?

Christine Baines dared to sneak into the Black Fang Guild to harness the power of the chimeras, but she did not dare to harm them. It seemed that the way she smiled at the chimeras and played with them wasn’t completely fake. The lonely voice that had agitated him must have been sincere to some extent.

When his thoughts reached that point, Edgar wanted to act on a whim.

He opened the pouch filled with the chimera jewels and placed them on Christine’s body.

“Ugh…”

When he did, she seemed to feel a little more comfortable, like when she touched him. Since she was in a situation like this in the first place, she must have collected the jewels to relieve her pain.

Edgar quietly looked down at her, breathing heavily, and thought.

Clearly, there was some unknown connection between the mother and daughter and the chimeras. However, he did not know how the power of the wolf god flowing through his and the chimeras’ bodies could calm the symptoms of the mage’s curse.

He had never even heard of Richard’s power calming a mage’s mana that moved at will.

That was why Edgar thought it was necessary to find out why the power of Richard or the chimera’s tears were relieving this woman’s symptoms. If the chimera’s tears had any unknown properties, it was his duty to research them to find out.

In order to save the chimeras that were being sacrificed somewhere in the present moment, he had to know why those who were worse than humans wanted them for.

Who knows? Maybe in the process, he would find out why Christine had repeatedly appeared in his dreams.

So, to put it bluntly, Christine Baines had become the object of his observation from this moment on.

The object of observation had only two duties.

To stay where he could see her, and to live.

“Isaac.”

When Edgar, who had been silent for a while, called his name in a heavy voice, Isaac reflexively bowed his head.

‘Since chimera’s tears were found in her room, it seems like Christine is no exception.’

Isaac knew better than anyone how harsh the person he served was when it came to anything related to the chimeras.

That was why he raised his head in surprise as soon as he heard the words that followed.

“Put this pouch back where it came from. Put everything back where it belongs so that Christine doesn’t think someone has searched her room.”

Thud.

Even as he accepted the cloth pouch that Edgar threw at him, Isaac couldn’t understand the situation. So, right now, Edgar Richard was…

‘Is he turning a blind eye?’

Isaac asked again, thinking that he might immediately receive an order to lock her up in the underground basement or drop her down the cliff in the Black Forest.

“Aren’t you going to punish her?”

“…”

Isaac’s question was valid.

Edgar chuckled and ran his fingers through Christine’s hair.

“Because I said I would let it go once.”

“…”

“Get out.”

“U-Understood.”

Isaac quietly disappeared, surprised that Edgar had made an exception. As expected, it seemed like taking care of the pearl necklace he would give to Christine wasn’t a wrong choice.