Chapter 190 A foolish love given unconditionally, life and death in the hands of fate…
"Boss... how could you do this... ugh..."
The child in my memory covered his mouth, looking unable to accept it.
"We don't want to eat you..."
The bleeding from the severed tail quickly stopped, scabbed over, and healed.
However, no new flesh has grown, and a short section hangs down behind the waist.
...
Mainkun reached out and pinched it; it didn't hurt at all, as if it had always been that short.
“…Ah, ahh…”
"Aaaaaaah!!"
Mainkuhn screamed, each scream more piercing than the last.
He looked into the children's eyes, filled with disbelief and unable to comprehend their resistance and pain.
"It's just renewable meat! It's just meat! I just wanted to, just wanted you to live, why—"
"Don't let me... lose... again! Ahhhhh!"
The screams never ceased, echoing with intense pain through the long river of time, without the slightest wear and fading.
"vomit!"
Many audience members covered their mouths and hurriedly left the venue; this memory was truly challenging the limits of human physiology.
"I'll never dare drink meat broth that doesn't make out the ingredients again..."
Vomiting and sobbing mingled together; in the face of such stark suffering, any commentary seemed offensive.
"Mainkuhn..."
The Water Dragon King felt his heart pounding violently. In the past four hundred years, he had never felt such intense heartache and pain.
"His mind has become abnormal; he can no longer empathize with his companions, and the fear of loss has overwhelmed his mind... Leosley, are you alright?"
He looked worriedly at the child's sworn brother.
"..."
Leosley didn't speak, but silently pulled his hand back behind Mainkuen's waist. After a long while, he murmured something.
"So that's how it was broken."
Its tail, almost as tall as a child, is a gift from heaven; its fluff has wiped away tears from children's faces and brought warmth in winter.
...In the end, Mainkun personally chopped it down and ate it.
"I...I thought Kujavina cut him in half..." Paimon sobbed, hiding in the Traveler's arms. "How could this happen...how could this happen..."
"That can't be right, Paimon."
Leosley could feel his almost frozen blood flowing through his body; the ice element brought a chill and discomfort, but also a repulsive, almost ruthless calmness.
Ah, the Duke has long lost the ability to freely vent his emotions.
"You should know that if it were just a simple tail loss, the children's wishes would surely make his severed limbs grow back."
"...Huh?"
"I think I'm not wrong, because it's a child's wish."
He bent his fingers to mimic an animal's claw.
"His body was made whole, yet because of a child's wish, his body was left with a defect, is that so, Ms. Paimon?"
What sustains his life? Wishes? Desires? Emotions? No, none of those matter. The only thing that matters is...
"You went to all that trouble to bring him to court, so you must have found a way to save him, right?"
He turned his head slightly to look at the white elf, whose eyes were filled with a bittersweet light.
"Duke, Duke..."
Paimon couldn't bring himself to say no to those eyes.
"ah…"
The man's tense muscles suddenly relaxed for a moment, like a large dog that had let down its guard and lay down on the ground, gently nuzzling a sleeping kitten.
"Very good…"
…
Young Mainkuhn had a difficult time.
"Aaaaaaah!"
No matter how much he prayed, cursed, or begged the gods, the tail still didn't grow.
"Why... Go to hell... What should I do..."
"Don't worry about us, Mainkuhn."
As she said this, Peruvieri forcefully drove her companion away from the children.
This is not difficult, because Mainkuhn is already very resistant to being touched. As long as you pose as if you are going to forcibly hug him a few times, he will run out of the room in fright.
[I don't care, what solution can you possibly come up with, Peruvieri?!]
The food, even when distributed evenly, is barely enough to feed the children to half full, and Kujavina continues to reduce the amount each week.
"I have no idea."
Peruvée answered honestly.
"But dying is better than eating you."
"Aaaaaaah!!"
[Don't say that word!!]
Mainkuhn will probably never understand their persistence. The cat only knows that everyone is hungry, his friends are hungry, and he himself is hungry. If he is too hungry, he will die.
"No...don't do this..."
"Perhaps we could cut off other parts..."
Jack looked at him for a moment, then made a hugging gesture.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"I'm so sad."
As Tinari watched the wise king flee in all directions, clutching his tailbone, he felt a persistent, phantom pain in his tailbone and in his heart.
"I no longer know which choice will make Mainkuhn happier..."
"Mainkuhn does lack empathy in some ways, and perhaps for him, eating his own tail in a moment of desperation is not such an outrageous act."
Elhesen was the calmest of them all, though his expression still wasn't good.
"Just like a long-haired tiger will eat the weakest of its cubs."
"But the wise prince is a considerate person. He must know that his friends don't want him to do this, otherwise he wouldn't have secretly done it in the kitchen... Tsk, still the same old him."
Sino was in a terrible predicament. He looked at Kavi next to him and found that the other man had become so withdrawn that he didn't want to say a word.
"...The children have completely rejected the wise king, and we can't hunt enough food at the Hearth House. Alas, the future is bleak."
"Are there ever times when their future is in jeopardy?"
"..."
Several more weeks passed, and many children appeared, starving and exhausted.
"It can't be divided equally anymore."
Peruvelli adjusted the plan, making sure that those with high combat strength ate as much as possible to conserve their energy for fishing, hunting birds, and catching lizards to feed their weaker compatriots... but if they didn't succeed, they would go hungry.
This is an unbearable torture for a child who is still growing.
"Ah...ah ah..."
While once again falling into a deep sleep due to hunger, Rongnuoke vaguely felt an extremely delicious taste between his lips and teeth—the taste of meat.
"!"
He immediately woke up and saw Mainkuhn feeding him with a spoon while his ears drooped.
"Boss!?" Rong Nuoke jumped back in fright. "You wouldn't—"
No, no…
With tears streaming down his face, Mainkun showed him the bird's feet in the soup.
"...It's cooing, my pigeon."
The pigeon, which had been kept in captivity for three years, had thick, fatty meat, and the soup was covered with a layer of oil.
It was meant to be eaten.
[It was meant to be eaten.]
"But why am I so sad?!"
I'm not the one who feeds it most often, and it never helps at all; it just stands there barking. Why, why...
"Boss."
Rongnuoke watched as his tears dripped into the bowl, a sorrowful expression on his face.
"Because you're a person, boss, and people will always suffer for various reasons."
"Ah, ah..."
[Am I even human after all...?]
Mainkuhn cried intermittently as the pigeons were sucked clean by the hungry children, who even chewed the bones to pieces.
When he returned to his bedroom, he saw Kujavina smiling at the empty birdcage.
“If you had listened to me earlier, you wouldn’t have ended up like this. Even the poorest residents of Grey River wouldn’t cook their own pet dogs.”
She assumed Mainkuhn had eaten the pigeon himself, and gave him a mocking smile.
"Are you still picky about food, hmm?"
Mainkuhn didn't speak, his eyes were empty, and he was just crying; his thin, fleshless face was covered in water.
"If you listen to me, you'll have everything you need."
Kujavina smiled at him and tried to coax him.
"Have you learned your lesson this time? You've learned your lesson, and I'll still provide you with the most delicious food... Of course, that will still be your honor alone."
Mother, gently leading her distraught child, led him to the empty dining table.
“Sit down, my dear child.”
She pulled out a chair herself, laid out a colorful meal in front of Mainkuen, then propped her chin on her hand, crossed her legs, and waited to reap the rewards of complete submission.
A rather intense training session for eagles is finally coming to an end.
"Don't you like it? You have to try it, right? Here, try this onion chowder, it's Jack's favorite..."
Perhaps hearing a familiar name, Mainkuen's eyes flickered, then drifted to the onion soup.
"Oh~" Kujavina continued her enticing offer, "For dessert, we have Clay's favorite cake, made with coffee beans and nuts, it tastes wonderful..."
Mainkuhn started eating.
He ate the onion soup, the garlic bread, the still-green tomatoes, the grapes, the tangerines, and everything on the plate—all the things the children liked but couldn't have. He ate it all without wasting a single thing.
"Looks like they're really hungry."
Kujavina found it amusing and, after giving him the cake, added more food several times. Mainkuen didn't leave a single bite; he swallowed it all.
This was so unusual that Kujavina couldn't help but be suspicious. "Are you sulking with me again?"
"..."
The child with droopy ears didn't react much, which annoyed Kujavina, so she pulled him aside and scolded him.
The content was still the same few points: be obedient, respect your mother, and so on. Mainkuen listened quietly at first, but that quietness didn't last long, and he soon began to sway in his chair.
"Mainkuhn! Sit down!"
Mainkuhn didn't listen, so the executive pressed down on his shoulders with both hands and kept nagging for a long time.
Seemingly disgusted, Mainkuhn lowered his head and vomited all over the floor just as she finished speaking.
"Mainkuhn!!"
Kujavina dodged the splatter of dirt that nearly landed on her shoes with disgust, and shouted, "Clean it up yourself! Don't you hear me!"
There was no response. Mainkuhn just kept vomiting. After he finished vomiting, his body began to convulse like an epileptic. His claws dug deep marks into the hard tabletop. After convulsing for a few minutes, he lowered his head and stopped moving.
"...Mainkuhn! Mainkuhn?"
The executive officer called out a few times, and the more he called, the more he felt something was wrong, so he quickly placed his hand on the child's artery.
...
"Dead?!"
No, how could he die?
Kujavina stood amidst the filth, feeling only absurdity.
I only let him go hungry for a few meals, and then I treated him to a good meal. How could he die?
She placed the child on the table and checked him repeatedly, then tried performing CPR several times before finally confirming that the child was completely dead.
"Damn it! My candidate!!"
She roared angrily a few times, but a strange sense of relief quickly rose in her heart.
He's dead...it's better that he's dead, then he couldn't...
"Ha, what am I thinking? Even if he lives, he can't kill me."
But she had to admit that her anger and absurdity were quickly overshadowed by this meager sense of relief.
“Peruveli is much smarter than him, and perhaps more suited to be king.”
She picked up the body and carried it to the cold storage. On her way, she passed by the kitchen and told Peruvieri the good news.
"Smile, my dear daughter."
Ah, this child has been somewhat melancholic since childhood, so it's normal that he can't smile.
After a long day, the dutiful mother changed into her pajamas, ready to enjoy a peaceful, dreamless sleep in her bedroom.
But when she was half asleep, a cold little paw suddenly landed on her neck.
"Kujavina".
She suddenly opened her eyes and met a pair of glowing beastly eyes.
Do you like my qualifications?
...
"Monster!!!"
Hahahaha!
Kujavina clutched her bleeding neck in terror and fled out the door, while Mainkun licked his paws and laughed on the spot. As he laughed, he began to cry again.
"What should I do... what should I do..."
He wiped his tears with his forearm, which was covered in lividity, and walked towards the bedroom, sobbing. On the way, he bumped into Peruvier, who had gotten up to check on things, and cried to her from a safe distance.
"What am I going to do! As expected, I can't become stronger if no one is afraid of me, waah..."
He raised his hand to show Peruvieri the blood on his claws, and began to sob incoherently.
"Look, look! If I'm emotional enough, I can totally kill Kugavina! I can totally give you your freedom!"
Peruvieri ignored the blood on his claws, grabbed his wrist despite his resistance, and felt the pulse beating.
"But I can't find anyone else, only you, only you are here... What should I do... Do I have to make you hate me... I don't want to hurt you..."
He cried and wailed, his heart filled with thoughts of freedom and friends, seemingly unaware that he had just died once, while Peruvier quietly felt the pulse beating, holding on for a long time without letting go.
“It’s alright, Mainkuhn. You’re a weak idiot, it’s normal that you can’t think of a solution.”
Peruvée lowered her eyelids and watched as the lividity on her trembling forearm slowly faded.
"I've tried my best to pray to the gods for wisdom... but the Little Lucky Grass King ignored me..."
"And I'm very smart... not only smart, but also ruthless."
She wanted to hug her friend, who was radiating coldness, but she refrained and instead gently tugged at the hair on his ear.
"So give it all to me, Mainkuhn. Give me everything you have, whether it's pain, responsibility, struggle, or life."
"Then what should I do... I can't just do nothing..."
Dragging his already broken body and shattered spirit, Mainkuen struggled to get back to his feet.
"That's enough, Mainkuhn."
But Peruvéri forcefully suppressed him.
"We all hate a future without you."
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