Chapter 46 Strange Movement Anyway, he couldn't remember, and she couldn't remember...
Knowing that witches are inherently wicked, Catherine didn't respond to this. After dividing the roast meat, she stood up and walked into the cave.
The witch took a large bite of the meat in her hand with a bored expression, then her eyes darted around and landed on the remaining two people.
While Benson and Lucas felt uneasy under the witch's gaze, Catherine was already close to Tarasco.
Hearing the noise behind him, he turned around warily.
Now that there's no light outside the cave, the inside can only get darker. Although Catherine's eyesight is much better than when she was purely human, she still has some difficulty seeing the parts of Tarasco completely hidden in the darkness.
"What were you doing just now?" Catherine asked, puzzled.
Tarasco shook his head, then looked at Catherine and handed her the roast meat he was holding.
“I’ve saved some for you, but this definitely won’t be enough for you…” Catherine said, lowering her head and showing a hint of shame. “Have something to eat first, and once you’re fully recovered, you can go hunting again.”
Although she didn't know what she looked like after her body mutated, the fact that she survived the snake attack until Tarasco came to rescue her, and that she could hold on for so long while Tarasco went berserk... made her suspect that when she was in a state of confusion, she wasn't just running away, but fighting against Tarasco.
Judging from his appearance after waking up, he should have some recollection of how he acted when he went berserk.
If my guess is true...
The roast meat in her hand was snatched away. Catherine nodded in confusion and looked up.
...Actually, she hadn't finished reciting all the lines she had prepared.
For some reason, she always felt that Tarasco's movements when he took the item seemed somewhat hurried. As if he was trying to hide something?
Catherine saw him pick up the roast meat and begin tearing into it with the ferocity and bloodlust of a wild beast. Catherine suddenly realized that he must be starving to be eating so quickly.
"Is it good?" Catherine tilted her head and smiled at him.
Tarasco was busy gnawing on his food, his mouth full of meat, leaving no room to speak. Hearing this, he could only nod in response.
For some reason, Catherine felt that he looked exactly like a huge, gentle dog, and she couldn't help but laugh even more happily.
Unbeknownst to her, in the corner behind Tarasco, lay a large piece of wild animal meat that he had hastily discarded. If the light had been sufficient, she could have seen the bite marks on it, identical to those on the roasted meat.
Catherine entered too quickly, leaving Tarasco nowhere to hide the meat, so he could only toss it behind him.
After finishing the barbecue, Tarasco kept staring at Catherine, his intangible gaze seemingly able to penetrate her skin.
Catherine knew that he still wanted the answer to the question from before.
But instead of answering directly, she tentatively asked, "How much do you remember about those things from before?"
Tarasco frowned, but his eyes held a hint of confusion. It was clear that he didn't remember everything that happened that night.
After a long pause, he uttered words that Catherine had anticipated: "I... don't remember very well."
"But I remember, I was in great danger then, and I even rushed towards you..."
Catherine understood. So his earlier apology was based on his anticipation of what would happen next. Catherine immediately felt relieved: "When I saw that you were in a bad state, I found a place to hide until the witch came."
“But my arm still got hit by a rock… You were so scary, you even shattered the rocks next to you.” As she spoke, she raised her arm and brought it close to Tarasco’s eyes.
Tarasco looked down and saw two or three scars on his snow-white skin.
Although several days have passed and the wounds have begun to heal, those few spots stand out even more against the backdrop of the other flawless skin.
"It hurts so much..." Catherine pretended to be aggrieved without any qualms.
Actually, she didn't know where these wounds came from. She guessed that they were probably cut when her body underwent a mutation, and casually attributed them to Tarasco.
Anyway, he can't remember, and she can't remember. Even if it wasn't Tarasco's fault, it must be his fault now.
With just a few words, Catherine effortlessly piqued Tarasco's interest.
From the very beginning, Catherine gave him the impression of being fragile. Humans are inherently a vulnerable race, and she didn't seem particularly powerful even among humans. And because of him, her arms bore so many scars…
Seeing that Tarasco's expression was a bit too serious, Catherine pulled her arm away.
The movement was very light, clearly not to pull away from Tarasco's grasp, but rather to try and get his attention back.
Seeing Tarasco look up at her, Catherine opened her arms, gesturing for him to lift her up.
Tarasco naturally wouldn't refuse Catherine's request.
He lifted Catherine onto his carapace, and she wrapped her arms around Tarasco's waist, pressing her face against his body. The warmth of the human's body soothed the cold beast, gradually calming his anxious and depressed mood.
"I don't blame you, really. I know you weren't fully conscious at the time..."
After saying this, Catherine looked up and met Tarasco's gaze, which was fixed on her. His gaze was so focused that a smile involuntarily crept onto Catherine's lips.
"If I blame you, that's not fair to you."
These two sentences were enough to successfully appease Tarasco.
The innocent monster, captivated by the sweet words of the human, surrendered everything to her.
-
The following days were relatively peaceful—at least for Catherine.
Because of the barbecue incident, neither Benson nor Lucas escaped the witch's numerous pranks, and they lived a miserable life. Meanwhile, the witch, now with two toys, stopped bothering Catherine. Bored outside, Catherine spent most of her time with Tarasco.
Tarasco's recovery seems to be very slow, and it's unclear whether there's something wrong with the Vatican's mark—actually, compared to humans, this recovery speed is already quite fast, but compared to his previous terrifying self-healing ability, it's rather pathetic now.
So these days, his food is brought in by Catherine.
That evening, the weather in Devil's Forest was unusually pleasant. At dinnertime, the sky was still slightly bright. Four people sat around the fire, the flames flickering, casting a thin yellow veil over their faces.
The witch stared at the still-cooking roast meat in front of her, growing somewhat bored. She glanced up at Benson across from her…
"This fire is getting a bit dim, I'll go get some more dry wood." With that, he quickly got up and left.
The witch's eyes then shifted to Lucas beside her...
"Ah! I'll go get it for Uncle Benson..." Lucas hadn't even finished speaking when he disappeared.
The witch frowned: "...How boring!" After saying that, she turned her gaze to Catherine on the other side.
Catherine: ...
Actually, she wanted to run away too.
Catherine subconsciously turned the roasted meat in her hand, turning the side that was almost cooked back over.
The witch's pointing voice immediately came: "Wrong, wrong! Turn back! Otherwise, it'll burn."
Catherine obediently turned around again, and just then, she suddenly remembered the secret book she had brought back. It seemed that since bringing it back, she hadn't seen the witch look at that book again.
Catherine glanced at the witch out of the corner of her eye and saw that she was staring intently at the roast meat in her hand. She couldn't help but ask, "Why do you want me to take back the secret book? Is there anything recorded in it?"
Perhaps it was because the witch had been unusually "approachable" in the last few days that, although Catherine remained wary, her vigilance towards the witch inevitably decreased.
The time spent by the fire was so peaceful that she couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering her.
The witch glanced at her, her upturned eyes appearing even more alluring in the firelight: "Hehe, a child's excessive curiosity isn't a good thing~"
Catherine turned her head, her eyes glistening with tears, and looked at her: "You really can't tell me?"
The witch rested her head on her shoulder, lazily gazing at Catherine for a moment. Finally, she chuckled softly, cupping Catherine's face in her hands: "Little girl~ Your eyes are beautiful, but they can't tempt me~ I've told you, this is something children shouldn't hear."
Catherine was about to say something more when she suddenly stopped, her face turning pale instantly.
"Ah, I forgot."
Seeing the dark undulations on Catherine's arm, the witch tapped her head.
"As you get older, your memory really does get worse. The things inside your body must be a bit unstable lately."
Catherine gritted her teeth and nodded.
In fact, while fleeing the Vatican and fighting her way through, she had already sensed the instability of her body. She hadn't reached the level of bleeding that would cause a mutation, but she still vaguely felt some strange reactions within her body. She gritted her teeth and endured it for a long time, thankfully managing to suppress it in the end.
This kind of situation happened once or twice more on the way back.
However, after returning to Devil's Forest, this strange situation seemed to disappear, and it hasn't recurred in the past few days.
Catherine attributed this to the change in her surroundings after leaving the Devil's Forest, which caused the spider eggs inside her to move abnormally. After returning, the environment returned to normal, and the spider eggs fell into dormancy.
But who knew that this strange behavior would start again?
"Hehe, come with me~" The witch stood up, tapped her finger, and several vines sprang up from the ground, binding Catherine and leading her away with the witch.
At this moment, Catherine was in unbearable pain and her consciousness was fading. She only felt a feeling of being restrained before losing consciousness.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
