A tall, ferocious beastman quickly caught his prey, his claws buckling the other's throat and tossed it over his shoulder to the ground.
The prey's chin was dislocated and their pupils were lax. A foul saliva curled over the corners of its mouth and it looked painful.
The beastman stepped a head on the prey's head and put away his claws. Then he turned his dark eyes and looked at the child behind him, "Did you see clearly?"
Under the tree, wearing animal skins, the little boy with the same deep blue eyes nodded, "Saw clearly."
The beastman heard this and doubted his ability. Pointing to a horde of hyenas down the slope, he cruelly said, "You can only return after resolving those."
The hyenas counted at twenty or thirty heads and each had a cheeky grin and a savage face which wasn't all that good to see.
The little boy had the appearance of an eight year old boy and his facial features were exquisite. His eyebrows weren't as rough as the beastman, but rather clear and delicate, more like a human child.
However, in the next second, he grit his teeth and exposed sharp fangs and his beastly nature was revealed.
"I can see my mother once I'm done with these?" The boy asked.
The beastman said, "Only once a week. That is what we originally agreed."
The boy retorted, "That's because mom things you're teaching me survival skills! If mom knew those so-called survival skills was throwing me into the wolf clan to die, she would never forgive you."
The beastman grinned and looked at the child, "So she will never know."
He laid his hand on the boy's head and coldly reminded, "Listen. Don't threaten me with your mother all day. She is my woman, and I will always stand in the same position. You should thank me for throwing you into the wolf clan. Being a leopard, if the stupid wolves cannot even deal with our offspring, what is the difference between you and trash?"
The little boy cleared his throat and remembered that nightmarish night, so he said nothing else.
After a while, the boy said, "I will not tell my mother. In exchange, you mustn't tell her I hunted several deer the other day."
The carnivorous species preyed on the herbivores and there were no problems hunting the others, but only the deer didn't work.
——Because his mother had friends in the deer clan.
The beastman lifted his brow and had no apparent objection to his son's behavior.
"Of course."
The boy lowered his heard and leaned forward, rushing toward the hyenas in front of him.
When they saw he was only a young leopard, they didn't care much about it.
But when the boy rushed forward, he was ready. Who knew that when he opened his mouth and displayed sharp teeth that their venomous bite would snap around the neck of the hyena closest to him.
Now waiting for them to react, the young leopard darted between two hyenas and, learning from what Ryan had done just before, struck his claws into their throats and slammed down on their shoulders, forcing them to fall forward!
With two slams, the two hyenas were successfully removed of their chins.
. . .
The hyenas surrounding him were enraged and rushed toward him.
One by one, the boy evaded them and stepped onto the back of one to leap onto another, stretching out his arm. He hooked around the other's neck and twisted his chin for half a circle——
The hyena immediately fell to the ground.
Before the others could pounce, the boy slammed his feet to the ground and jumped far off. Wiping his mouth, he said, "It's so dirty."
Ryan's arms were crossed over his chest as he watched his son who was besieged by the hyenas, unmoved.
A hyena saw the leopard leader didn't move forward to help and secretly approached from behind, exposing his dirty claws to try and scratch his back.
He was unsuccessful because he was kicked far off by Ryan.
Ryan dropped his long leg to the ground and said to the cub, "Remember to wash before you go home. She doesn't like blood."
Greverdy nodded once and snapped the necks of two of his prey, then he looked back to find Ryan had already left.
*
In the house, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was reading a letter from her parents.
The letter had been retrieved the last time she went to the real world and had been sitting in her mailbox for two months.
Since she had graduated, she rarely went back.
Her mother and father thought that she lived with Ryan and there was no doubts.
The letter said that her father was in poor health, that his memory was getting worse, and that he wanted Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu to come see them.
——But to also bring their grandson.
Her father only knew that Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had given birth to a son, but they had never seen their little grandson.
It wasn't that she deliberately hid him, but Greverdy, the little guy, grew too fast!
It stood to reason that he was only two years old this year, but already looked like he was becoming a human teenager.
If her parents saw, wouldn't they be scared to death?
When she first gave birth to Greverdy, she had taken a look at him one day and her own fright wasn't light.
Later, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu learned from Elder Berson that young leopards grew at a rate five times as fast as humans.
Speaking of that, ever since she had found out she was pregnant, she hadn't felt at ease.
She was worried that the different races would produce an unhealthy child, and she hadn't graduated from college yet, and she dared not want a child.
Ryan had learned that abortion would affect her health and insisted on her giving birth.
Later though, he ended up regretting the decision.
During her pregnancy, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took a year off and because she was so worried about their future child's health issues, her mood was very unstable.
She became more and more fragile than ever before, and even became angry easily.
During the entire time, Ryan was tortured. The hardest thing every day was how to make his little woman happy.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu vented all her tempers on him. Giving him headaches and frowning. Who called this child half his responsibility?
On one of Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's whims, she suddenly wanted to eat braised eel.
She woke him up in the middle of the night and told him to go get fish from the east for her to eat.
There were thousands of kilometers between them and the east, and it took Winter a month to get there.
Ryan didn't say anything, bit her mouth, and forced himself to go to the eastern sea.
Ten days later, he came back with two lively eels in hand.
When he finally did manage to cook the braised eel, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu still remembered the look on Ryan's face at the time. His teeth were bared and he wanted to teach her a lesson, but he saw her bending over for something and couldn't spit on her pitifulness. So he softened and kissed her head and threatened, "Never again."
. . .
But the next time, he still willing let her instruct him.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn't know what to think when she was pregnant. Holding the letter, she didn't know someone was watching.
Ryan looped his arms around her waist and asked, "What's so funny?"
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu turned and curled her lips, "Laughing at you."
Ryan raised his brow as if to ask what was so amusing.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: "I've been thinking about it lately. You don't like Grevery too much. Is it because I tortured you so?"
Ryan didn't even want to see the kid, but it had nothing to do with that, "Are you going to compensate me?"
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tiptoed and kissed his throat, "How about we recreate another kid?"
Ryan looked pale and held her waist tightly with his claws, "I don't want to."
A descendant was already taking too much of her attention and he wouldn't have the patience for another one.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pursed her lips and was dissatisfied with his answer, "But Greverdy is too independent, he isn't close to me. . ."
Speaking of this, she looked behind Ryan and didn't see Greverdy, "Huh? Didn't you go pick him up?"
"He isn't finished with today's task. I won't let him come back," said Ryan without blinking an eye.
No doubt it was some brutal and heinous "task."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was a little upset, "Ryan, can't you be a bit more tolerate with him? He's only two!"
Ryan said: "Leopards can live independently from the age of two. Living with their parents for too long can reduce his instinct for survival."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: ". . ."
Only this, she could never refute.
The circumstances surrounding leopard and human offspring were so different. She hadn't even tasted the experience of motherhood, and her child had grown up!
Ryan saw her look so melancholy and couldn't help but bow to kiss her lips, "If you want to be close, come find me."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's cheeks went red and she wanted to retort but he was already kissing her.
While Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was pregnant, he couldn't touch her and he had already tasted her entire body.
Now that Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was kissed by him, she subconsciously trembled.
Soon, she melted into the kiss and a soft moan escaped her lips.
Ryan originally only wanted to kiss her, but her body was so wonderful that the sound made it unbearable.
He picked her up and laid her on the table and his hand went to undo her clothes to make arrangements right there——
Suddenly a boy broke into the house, saw the two people on the table and turned a blind eye to it, saying happily to her, "Mom, I'm back."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu hurriedly shoved Ryan aside and jumped from the table, her cheeks red like ripe apples.
In the next second, all her attention was focused on the son who she hadn't seen for a week, "Greverdy, you're back. Was this week good?"
Grevery nodded, "Good. Father prepared a lot of prey for me. I didn't worry about being bored."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu gave Ryan a look and turned to Greverdy, "Don't listen to your father. If you feel bad outside, come home."
Greverdy shifted into a leopard cub and jumped into Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's arms, rubbing against her chest, "No, mom. I like hunting."
Ryan narrowed his eyes and saw that the little devil had not only interrupted his intimacy but had also snatched the site.
"Greverdy, I'll count to three. If you don't get down, I'll throw you into the saber-toothed tigers tomorrow."
The little leopard went stiff and he waited for Ryan to call out "One" then jumped down from her arms!
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: ". . ."
She seemed to finally understand why her son wasn't close to her. . .
*
Dinner was prepared with the prey Greverdy had caught.
After eating, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tended to the wound on the back of her son's hand and asked, "Do you want to go see your grandmother and grandfather?"
Greverdy licked the wound on his other hand and his pretty little face hinted with doubt, "What is grandfather and grandmother?"
The leopard race rarely had a relationship between three generations of parent-child. Even if they did, they were never in contact so Greverdy had never touched upon those two words.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu said: "It's my mother and father."
The boy thought for a moment and said frankly, "I don't want to."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu choked, "Why?"
Greverdy: "I only need mother. No mother's mother is needed."
". . ."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had no choice but to go see her parents with only Ryan.
Who knew that on the day of departure, Greverdy suddenly changed his mind and wanted to go with them.
Every year, his parents would go to a tree and cross to another world, that he knew.
But what the other world looked like, he had never seen before.
He had little interest in that world before but he had seen the gun in his father's case yesterday and changed his mind.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn't know what he was thinking and was very happy to take him along.
There was only one headache. How could she explain to her parents how she had such a big son?
When she arrived in Ireland, she discovered that her fears were superfluous.
Mr. Jǐ was suffering from Alzheimer's and he couldn't remember many things clearly, even her own age he didn't know, much less the age of his grandson.
As for her mother. . . she had already guessed the man her daughter married wasn't an "ordinary person."
She had checked carefully and there was no country in the world called Bornia.
Unfortunately, she was already abroad and even if she had regrets, it wouldn't help.
Fortunately, her daughter was very happy the past few years and she would rather close one eye and pretend not to be aware of it.
Now there was such a lovely grandson and her heart's troubles instantly disappeared. She just wanted to get close to Greverdy.
Unfortunately, Grevedy had never seen his grandparents since he was a child and didn't like touching strangers. In the face of Mr. Jǐ's enthusiasm, he licked his lips.
"Verdy, come. . . grandmother and grandfather." Since Mr. Jǐ had fallen ill, he had rarely smiled.
Greverdy looked at the old man in front of him and said aloud, "Grandfather, my name is Greverdy."
He paused and then added, "Augustus Greverdy."
Mrs. Jǐ looked at Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and complained, "What is with that complicated name? Your father and I cannot read it."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu smiled, "Hold onto one's beloved and not demand enlightenment, mother, isn't that what you have always taught me?"
Mrs. Jǐ startled and immediately chuckled, saying nothing else.
But, Greverdy heard this sentence and was curious, "Mom, what does my name mean?"
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu touched his head and tilted her own, glancing at Ryan, "It means mother has you so I don't have to go looking for anything."
Ryan understood the little one's meaning and looked at his son, who had quietly smiled and grinned.
Fool, your mother is confessing to your father, you're blind to be so happy.
*
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu staying in Ireland for ten days with her family and didn't know back until winter hit.
Her parents sent them off to the airport and were very reluctant to part with their grandson.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu promised to bring Greverdy to see them often and they were satisfied.
Greverdy grew too fast, and in just three years, he would go from an eight or nine year old boy to a seventeen or eighteen year old teenager.
Not to mention her parents being surprised, but even Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu when she saw this son of hers so much taller and stronger than herself was startled.
Wouldn't he also die prematurely?
Ryan bent a finger to press against her forehead and dispelled that messy idea, "The leopards slow their grown after adulthood. We have the same lifespan. You won't have to worry about that."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu let her heart settle back down.
It was a pity that before Greverdy had reached adulthood, her father suddenly died of pneumonia.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu learned of her father's death and rushed to Ireland to see her father one last time.
Mrs. Jǐ couldn't accept her husband's sudden death and she cried in mourning with Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.
Ryan let her appese her mother and single-handedly arranged for the burial.
After the funeral, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and her mother's mood had stabilized.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pondered for a while then said to her, "Mom, don't you like Greverdy? Later on, won't you come stay with us?"
"Little Darling," her mother said, "Mother has lived here her whole life. There is no way to accept a new world."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu's eyes widened in surprise that her mother had discovered it.
Her mother said, "Mother respects your choices, and I hope you'll respect mother's. Little Darling, I want to stay here in your father's place."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was silent for a long time and found it hard to say, ". . . I know, mom."
Probably because of the guilt in her heart, from that time onward, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu traveled between the worlds frequently.
However, the frequent travel through time and space wasn't healthy for the body. During that time, her body quickly thinned and she was very tired, sometimes she would fall asleep even while speaking.
Ryan was distressed and asked her to reduce the number of times she went, but she refused anyway.
"Ryan, my mother was forty four when she gave birth to me. This year, she is sixty nine. The life span is only seventy years. If I don't go see her now, how many times will I get to see her?" She held his neck and seriously asked.
Ryan didn't answer the question. For him, there was no difference between seeing more or less, because he could not understand this affection.
For him, her health was most important.
Fortunately, two years later, her mother finally passed away.
Although she had been mentally prepared, when she looked at her mother, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu still couldn't help but cry.
Mrs. Jǐ had already prepared everything before she died and she was buried next to her father.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and Ryan buried her that day when the weather was clear and sun was bright.
After the funeral was dealt with, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu left the cemetery and was about to look back to find Ryan when she fell straight to the ground.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was unconscious for three days and when she woke up again, they had returned to the leopard tribe.
Probably due to that, illness came upon her like a mountain and she laid in bed for half a month.
When she was sick, Ryan hugged her and sat on the roof under the sun, and he opened his mouth to bite her cheek.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu whined, "Why did you bite me?"
Ryan replied, licking the teeth mark, "Next time you don't take care of your body, it won't just be a bite."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was silent for a moment then hugged his neck and promised, "There won't be a next time. . ."
After all, she had lost her parents, and she didn't want to lose anyone else.
Ryan saw her thoughts and his hand held her chin, "Little Darling."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: "Eh?"
Ryan: "You know, besides your parents, you have me."
He kissed her lips, "You will never lose me, so you can put all your feelings on me."
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pulled the corners of her mouth into a smile and looked into his blue eyes.
——"You will die after me?"
——"Of course."
End Chapter 77
End Gentle Beast
Oh my good heavens! It's over. Like, it's actually done. I can't believe it. I just cannot believe that I have actually completed this. I am so proud of myself. I never thought I'd actually get it done, even though I hoped. I'm so happy to all of you that stuck through to the end, and even those that dropped it part way. I know that some people were upset with the way things progressed once their romantic relationship really kicked off, and I get it, but. . . sometimes, creative allowances have to be made. I am happy that Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu is happy, whether what makes her happy would make me happy. . . that is not my concern.
Blessed be, I love you all. Happy reading henceforth!