Chapter: 197
Jess had a dazed expression, tongue slightly out, looking as surprised as a puppy pulling its head into its shell.
It was as if a buffering icon had appeared above her head, spinning around. Jess was frozen in place, unable to move.
Skit-skit!
The cat beastman, instantly catching on that it was her chance to escape, darted away from Lian. With its black ears drooping, it crawled along the ground like a bug, quickly moving toward the door.
To avoid triggering the dazed Jess, the cat beastman crept to the wall, keeping its distance as much as possible.
Thump.
“Nyah?!”
Jess’s vision blurred before she suddenly appeared beside the cat beastman, grabbing it by the nape. The cat beastman crouched down, knees bent, and began to sweat profusely.
“I-I don’t know why you’re upset, Commander! But it’s all my fault! So please, let go! Let me gooo!”
Her voice ended in a panicked “ack-ack” typical of cats. Desperation made her sound like a wild animal.
“…Ah.”
Jess, who had instinctively caught the fleeing prey, finally snapped out of her stupor at the cat beastman’s frantic cries.
“Ah… oh… huh?”
Jess’s face flushed a bright red in real-time. Her previously unfocused eyes began to shake and roll as if she didn’t know where to look. Her ears, which usually stood perked up, flopped down, then went back up again, while her tail wagged frantically like it was reflecting her owner’s emotions.
In a fluster, as if needing to dash to the bathroom, Jess suddenly threw the cat beastman into the middle of the room.
“Nyah?!”
The cat beastman screamed but effortlessly spun in the air to land on the ground. The moment Lian’s gaze shifted to the cat beastman, Jess squeezed her eyes shut and bolted outside.
“Uwaaa…!”
Following her exit was a whimper that echoed behind her.
“What was that…?”
The cat beastman, on all fours, arched its back in a defensive posture, muttering in disbelief. It was hard to keep up with the situation as the Commander, who had seemed poised to attack, was now fleeing with a weak squeal.
“You… did something, didn’t you?”
It quickly turned its gaze back, spotting a bewildered Lian, who was equally flustered. He meekly nodded in response.
“Uh, yeah… I just, um, covered myself in pheromones, that’s all—”
“What…?! Wait, aren’t you human?”
The beastman’s eyes widened in surprise before she started sniffing, her nose twitching.
“Hmm… There’s definitely a strange pheromone scent…”
She approached, following the pheromone trail like a dog. Thanks to the pheromone organ now on Lian’s neck, she inched closer, preparing to bury her nose against him.
“Uh, um, isn’t this a bit too close for comfort…?”
Feeling the pressing proximity, Lian instinctively raised his hands in surrender, tilting his head away. Fascinated by her discovery, the cat beastman didn’t register Lian’s protests and buried her face in his neck.
Swish…
“Nyah?!”
At that moment, a terrifying gaze gripped her tail tightly and yanked at her ears. Instinctively, she whipped her head around to the source of the menacing aura.
…
When had Jess come back? She peeked into the house, clutching the doorframe with both hands, her face barely visible. Her chilling gaze pierced through at the cat beastman. Behind Jess, a phantom of a growling wolf, eyes rolling back, dripped saliva menacingly.
Skit-skit!
The cat beastman quickly detached from Lian and plastered itself against the wall. Its face pale, it glanced fearfully at the doorway. Naturally, Lian’s gaze followed.
“…No!”
The moment Lian locked eyes with Jess, she widened her eyes and made the cutest surprised puppy face before vanishing in an instant.
Pitter-patter!
The sound of her retreat echoed faintly.
“Whoa…”
The cat beastman clung to the wall, frozen in place, before sliding to the ground as soon as Jess’s presence grew distant.
“I really thought I was going to die this time…”
*
Not long after Jess left, other beastfolk arrived to fix the broken door with a clatter. From bits of overheard conversation, it seemed Jess had instructed them to repair it.
Once the door was fixed, the cat beastman finally stopped clinging and settled down in Lian’s accommodation.
“If I go out, I’m definitely going to get caught and killed… for sure…”
The only safe zone for her was staying by Lian, who, with a glance, could send Jess running away. In a way, it was Lian’s fault that she was being attacked by Jess, so she was granted a temporary stay in his lodgings.
‘I’m also curious about things…’
Turning to the curled-up cat beastman, Lian observed her as she frantically brainstormed ways to survive. There was absolutely no space between them, as the cat beastman awkwardly stuck to the wall, scared of Jess’s surprise attacks.
Glancing cautiously, Lian cleared his throat and opened the conversation.
“Um… can I ask you something?”
“Nyaa?! What… what is it?”
Lian’s simple question made her tail puff up in surprise, revealing just how tense she had been. Lian briefly thought it would be cute if Jess could get all puffed up like that.
“I was curious why Jess ran away… also, the weird way she reacted before.”
As he scratched the back of his neck, Lian glanced nervously around. He already knew that Jess had fled because of the pheromones on his neck, but he was clueless about what exactly about the ‘pheromones’ scared her away.
‘Was she disgusted? Is there an unpleasant implication I’m not aware of?’
Feeling anxious, he clenched then relaxed his fists while staring at the cat beastman.
“Is that really what you’re asking right now? Doesn’t that mean you had no clue what it means?”
Caught off guard by the cat beastman’s remark, Lian briefly rifled through his thoughts. What did it mean to cover someone else with pheromones?
‘Hold on… could this mean…?’
Lian couldn’t hide the trembling in his gaze as he covered his mouth with one hand.
“No… there’s no way… I only got just a little bit on me. Could it really mean that Jess covering me in pheromones signifies something like that?!”
He knew in theory that marking someone with pheromones was like saying, “You’re mine,” but he thought it only applied if they were smeared head to toe, like Jess had done to him.
‘If that’s the same meaning, then right now… does it mean I just confessed?!’
A rush of heat flooded his face, steam practically billowing from the top of his head. Upon seeing Lian like this, the cat beastman shrugged.
“Yup, you got it. For beastfolk, if we cover each other in pheromones, it shows interest; if it’s between the opposite sexes, it usually means we want to mate.”
“Cough…!”
Caught off guard by those unexpected words, Lian crumpled to the floor.
‘M-Mate… what?!’
To put it simply, Jess had lathered him in pheromones, and he had also brushed a little onto her. By mutually covering each other, it had inadvertently turned into an invitation of “Wanna mate?”
With a meaning even more shocking than a confession, Lian was left dazed like a character who was about to lose their last HP.
*
Splat!
While Lian was rolling around on the floor, Jess had returned to her accommodation, furiously scratching at a huge pillow. She wasn’t using her claws, so only the sound of fabric scraping filled the room.
“Ugh… ugh…”
Her face flushed red, Jess was like a puppy digging into the ground, refusing to stop tearing into the pillow, looking on the verge of tears.
For Jess, who always charged headfirst into things, Lian’s pheromones were a massive shock.
Thud!
Jess buried her face in the pillow and let her tail droop down, her ears flicking nervously as she tried to hide her feelings.
Her mind was racing with questions: ‘Why did Lian cover himself in pheromones?’, ‘What was his reason for doing so?’ Was he aware when he marked her?
“Ugh…”
After some time of mulling over, Jess began to curl up, letting out sounds that indicated she was truly distressed.
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