Chapter 118 The pain of losing a brother, the preference for sons has its reasons...

"..."

Dizzy and confused, Mainkuen lay in bed, his eyes wide open, not even wanting to lift his hands.

[Peace of mind…]

"Maine, is that alright?"

[…Brother, what are you asking…]

His thinking was so dull it was like it had rusted; he had nothing but peace of mind.

[It's all good...it's all good...because he's my older brother, he can do whatever he wants to me...]

"Yeah."

Leosley picked up the nightlight and turned it up, allowing the light to clearly illuminate the boy on the bed without being too glaring. Then, his large, calloused hand, with its distinct knuckles, reached out to his unsuspecting brother with an undeniable, gentle strength.

"Good boy/girl."

The first thing I took off was the scarf around my neck.

"..."

He had heard Villette describe the electric shock scars hidden beneath the cat-god's fur collar, but when these gruesome marks were branded onto the skin of Mainkuen, the skin of a young man, the visual impact was indescribable.

"..."

Pain, violence, and a resentful past.

'I must say, they really are brothers.'

He felt a bitter taste in his mouth and roughly wiped the scar on his neck.

'Please, don't resemble them in these ways.'

Next up was an ill-fitting trench coat. It was so old and oversized that Leiosley couldn't even hold Maine in place. With just a gentle tug on the sleeve, the boy's arm slipped obediently out of the sleeve.

The cheap fabric shows signs of corrosion; is the wearer struggling financially? No, the undergarment is acceptable.

Continue undressing.

Leosley's mind raced as he tried to piece together the missing details of his brother's life over the years. Just as he was about to lift his shirt to check his abdomen, he suddenly heard a muffled murmur.

"No…"

It's Mainkuhn.

Although it was very slight, he clearly expressed his resistance.

"Brother...no..."

'He's still conscious.'

Leosley was somewhat surprised.

'That's true, pheromones are just that—pheromones, not date rape drugs.'

"Stop, stop... Waaah..."

'She was vehemently refusing, and her hands and feet were showing signs of struggling. Ugh, I really hate being seen.'

So, should we give up? Or follow our brother's wishes?

No.

Leosley simply pried open his mouth and sprayed some medicine onto his thin tongue.

"elder brother…"

He pried open Maine's teeth, watching his tongue curl slightly in confusion, and finally, following his instincts, he scraped the barbs against the pheromone-receiving area of ​​his palate like a beast, and knew that he would no longer resist.

Sure enough, as soon as he let go, Mainkun shut his mouth quietly, and his golden pupils lost focus, leaving only a docile, hazy look.

"Good boy/girl."

To soothe him, Leosley stroked his soft, drooping cat ears and, without hesitation, immediately took off his shirt.

"!!"

In an instant, he understood why his usually obedient brother was so resistant to exposing his body to him.

The numerous scars on his arms, densely packed like a rugged mountain, with edges that had even begun to turn white due to their age, prompted Leosley to immediately bring out a lamp to shine on them and then carefully touch them with his hands... Branding, whipping, cutting, stabbing—he was shocked to discover that although the tools used to create them were diverse, they were clearly all for torture.

This is just the beginning.

A thin chest, clearly defined ribs, a slender waist and abdomen, a slightly hunched back... Wherever his palms and fingertips touched, besides the old, shocking wounds, there were also many fresh, small abrasions and bruises. But what about more serious injuries? Had there been a fracture? Had the internal organs been severely damaged? He couldn't tell at all by sight and touch alone.

With a slightly hurried motion, he pulled down Mainkuen's pants, grabbed the boy's long but equally scarred legs and bent and stretched them a few times to check them, before Leosley gently turned Mainkuen over.

His gaze fell on the severed tail, and he remained motionless.

Its fluffy, soft tail, almost as long as its body, was once the pride of Mainkuen.

"Brother, brother!"

"Look, I don't need you to buy me toys, because I'm softer than all the plush bears combined!"

"Here, feel it, hehe."

"..."

Leosley reached out and grasped the boy's short tail, making a circle with four fingers and probing the cut surface with his thumb, just as Navelette had described.

A smooth silhouette with an abrupt, angular finish.

Click.

The nightlight is broken.

"Aww!!"

A surge of intense anger jolted Mainkun from his slumber. He sprang to his feet and yanked his severed tail from the human's grasp.

Brother, brother!?

This made Mainkun realize what had happened instantly. He looked down at his naked body and then looked in horror at Leosley, who was clearly not right in front of him.

"Did my movements wake you up? I'm sorry, could you lie down for a while longer?" the other person advised calmly, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with it.

...

Stop acting, brother.

Although you try to act normal, the demonic power and the shards of glass at your feet don't lie.

Mainkuhn instantly became uneasy. He trembled and pulled the blanket over his body in an attempt to salvage the situation, but it was no use. The deed was done, and his body immediately erupted with a convulsion that even pheromones could not suppress.

"Aww—!"

The inner turmoil forced him to scream out loud. Hidden under the covers, he unleashed his anger on his beloved brother for the first time:

"I told you not to look!"

Maine.

Leo tried to say something, but the only response was a shooing sound.

"hiss--!"

Maine.

Leosley wouldn't be easily frightened. He had raised the child from infancy to adulthood, and no one knew Maine's mind better than him. So he went straight up and opened a small hole in the bedding fortress.

"hiss--!"

That clear accusation seemed to vanish in an instant, leaving only fragmented syllables and silence.

This did not change Leosley's expression. He calmly took off his gloves and shirt, bent down, and bare his arms, placing his strong arms in front of the small incision.

"Hiss!"

Mainkuhn instinctively tried to back away.

"My left arm was slashed three times, and it was extremely painful at the time."

"..."

Mainkuhn was abruptly stopped in his tracks by these words, but he was still trembling.

"ha."

Through the blanket, he heard a mournful laugh, the sound soft and muffled.

“The man who attacked me was our adoptive father. I tried to block with my boxing gloves, but he was too tall and strong, so I couldn’t stop him. The knife got stuck in my bone, and blood splattered into my mouth. It was salty and bitter, so I swallowed and pulled the knife out and stabbed him to death.”

"!"

Mainkuhn, who was under the covers, suddenly shuddered, completely absorbed by the words. His body was huddled under the covers, but his short tail was raised high, and his reflective eyes were staring unblinkingly at his arm outside the covers, where he could almost see the blood and the knife stuck in it.

"Want to touch it, Maine?"

He heard his brother coaxing him.

"..."

Mainkun shoved his nails into his mouth and bit down hard, enduring the pain without moving.

"It doesn't matter."

Leosley laughed again, this time much more genuinely, and continued.

“Because of my adoptive mother’s existence, when I saw her husband die, I screamed loudly. She cursed at me and tried to slash me with a knife, attempting to pierce my neck through my throat. But I dodged and didn’t die. It just left a long wound that slid from my throat to my chest.”

Maine.

He asked again, with an almost seductive patience.

"Would you like to touch it?"

“…Ugh.”

He didn't hear a reply, but he heard a faint sob, and his heart softened. He reached under the covers, grabbed his brother's sharp claws, and placed them on his chest.

"Touch it, Mainkuhn."

"This is a symbol of our good fortune in being able to reunite."

"Waaah..."

The blanket didn't speak, it just cried, but Leosley clearly saw that the hand immediately curl its nails and carefully and reverently explore its chest with its knuckles. When it touched the scar, it stopped moving, but just pressed it to estimate the depth of the wound and feel the pain that had long since healed.

Leosley indulged him by letting him touch her for a while, then lowered his voice.

"According to the principle of equivalent exchange, Mainkuhn."

"I have already given you my chest, can you get out of the blanket and let me see your body clearly?"

"..."

The claw froze for a moment, then abruptly retracted, but Leiosley caught it with lightning speed.

“I always won in the underground boxing ring, and a lot of people disliked me and wanted me dead. Maine, don’t you want to touch the scars of these victors?”

"Meow!"

Mainkuen meowed in desperation; no one wanted to touch these wounds more than him! He wanted to see, to personally confirm how much suffering his brother had endured, how much agonizing pain he had borne. Those damned tools, along with their hateful master, should all be broken and crushed—

"Then come out from under the covers and let me see you."

"..."

"If you don't come out soon, I'll have to put my clothes on. This kind of opportunity doesn't come around every day."

"Waaah!"

Mainkuhn was about to cry again, this time out of desperation, as he tried to control his stiff tongue:

"You don't look at me."

"I...see you..."

"No, I taught you that you have to be fair."

“…Ugh.”

The stalemate seemed to have reached a dead end.

Leosley took a deep breath and decided to break through the last barrier.

"Maine, stop blocking me. I know you're resisting because you're ashamed."

"It's because you saw me and I saw your scars."

"You see how I suffer because of your pain."

"Therefore, you felt doubled, unbearable pain for my suffering."

"How pitiful, yet how endearing, this truth is," Leosley's steady voice carried an almost compassionate tenderness as he grasped his brother's stiff, scarred arm and pulled it out firmly, revealing his sorrowful vertical pupils.

“But that’s so unfair, Maine.”

"How can you allow yourself to be angry for me, but not me to be angry for you? This is not the definition of family."

"…No…"

Mainkuhn was clearly bewildered by this theory. He opened his mouth to refute it, but he was mute. Leosley seized the opportunity to spray him with some more spray.

"..."

The effect was immediate. Mainkuhn instantly forgot what he was arguing about and looked up at Leosley in a daze.

"Want to touch it?"

Leosley nonchalantly bent his arm, displaying the more prominent scars, as if he had done nothing wrong.

"..."

touch.

Many, many scars were branded on the Duke's body. Even just touching them with his knuckles, Mainkuen could imagine the excruciating pain he had endured. Tears then dripped from his beastly eyes, falling into the scent that represented 'safety'.

"Waaah—"

[He suffered so much—]

"Oh dear, I can totally understand why you don't want me to see it."

Leosley seemed to be comforting him with a smile, but Mainkuen could feel his brother's gaze on him, and a sadness no less than his own rose in his heart, so he shrank back again, wanting to hide under the covers.

"Stop hiding, Maine, do you want to see the gift I have for you?"

Gift?

"Yes."

A snow-white fur coat was draped over the young man's shoulders, with a silver-gray fur collar sewn at the neckline; it was the perfect size and warm.

"I've wanted to say this for a while now. In the dead of winter, you're just running around in a trench coat. Aren't you cold?"

"!"

Mainkuen stared blankly as his brother buttoned up his clothes, carefully wrapped the fur collar around the scar on his neck, and took out a specially made half-face mask from the box, the smiling cat mouth covering the sharp teeth.

"He looks like a young master now."

Leosley watched with satisfaction for a while, then yawned wearily, firmly grasping Maine's hand and leading him to bed.

"You're not allowed to leave tonight. Come with me to meet some friends tomorrow morning."

-----------------------

Author's note: Just in case, I'll write this out: you should never spray pheromone spray into a cat's mouth; that's the wrong way to use it.