It’S A Cat, Adopted By A Wolf Family? [EN]: Chapter 136

Kitty, having slipped out of Ethan’s tent, quickly cooled her flushed cheeks. The night air was quite chilly, which helped calm her racing heart.

She checked to make sure something she had brought from the Gridwolf mansion was securely in her pocket, then grabbed her bow and moved on.

Several wolves were already milling about in front of Mr. and Mrs. Gridwolf’s tent.

“Kitty, you’re here?”

“Softpaw, why don’t you go inside and rest? You overdid it today.”

Theo and Deon spoke in steady voices, trying to hide their gloom. They were older brothers who wanted to conceal their troubled feelings, at least in front of their youngest sister.

However, Kitty stood tall between them.

“I’m fine. I think it’ll be enough to rest after seeing Jackal and Karis return.”

No matter how tired she was, she couldn’t fall asleep before confirming Jackal and Karis were safe.

Soon, the scent of wolf blood wafted through the air. Even Kitty, whose sense of smell was inferior to that of wolves, could tell it was Jackal’s blood just by the reactions around her.

Before long, Jackal appeared, carrying Karis, with a flustered Hogwood beside them.

“Haha, Jackal, you’re really something… I told you to hand Karis over to me.”

“Hogwood. Karis is my wife.”

“I know, I know… but look at your arm.”

One of Jackal’s forearms was a mess. Blood had seeped through the tightly wrapped bandage, indicating a deep wound had reopened.

“You let Delta bite your arm instead of Karis. If you overdo it here, Karis will smack you when she wakes up.”

“I can’t let my wife get hurt.”

“You’re a really stubborn wolf.”

Hogwood clicked his tongue and left Jackal alone, figuring the Gridwolf family head wouldn’t die from such a wound.

The color drained from Theo, Deon, and Kitty’s faces.

“Theo, Deon, please prepare a place for Karis to lie down.”

“Yes, Father.”

Theo and Deon pulled back the cloth blocking the tent entrance. Kitty quickly placed a pillow and grabbed a blanket.

Jackal carefully laid Karis down on it.

Kitty covered Karis with the blanket, looking at Jackal with worried eyes.

“Jackal, you need to get first aid again.”

“This is nothing, Kitty. I’d rather you check on Karis.”

Jackal, as well as Theo and Deon, seemed to think that getting their arms bitten for their mate was no big deal.

‘Wolves, really.’

Kitty leaned her bow against the wall and carefully examined the unconscious Karis.

Her brow was slightly furrowed as if she were having a nightmare, and her eyelashes were damp.

She couldn’t tell what was inside, but Karis was clenching her hands into tight fists, drawing blood from her nails.

A faint Blue Moon mana [magical energy associated with the Blue Moon] could be felt within.

“I’ll purify it right away.”

Soft—

Kitty held Karis’s hand, where blood was seeping from the nail marks, tightly in both of her hands. Vibrant mana, like a scorching sun, flowed through her soft palm.

Jackal alternated between looking at Kitty’s mana and the newly formed Gridwolf bow.

“Delta?”

Theo and Deon answered as if they had been waiting for the question.

“Kitty subdued her. Polly’s mirror became part of the bow.”

“Softpaw was so cool. We held a drawing contest for the knights who were there, so you’ll be able to see it soon.”

“That’s a relief.”

Jackal stroked the other hand of Karis.

As Kitty’s mana purified the Blue Moon’s energy, something in her hand fell into his hand.

A small, white fragment of something.

Kitty narrowed her eyes and observed it.

“Jackal, this is…”

“A bone fragment of a baby wolf.”

“…”

“Delta said the leopards dug it up from where Diel was buried.”

A heavy silence filled the tent.

Even as she lost consciousness and was brought to the wolves’ tent, Karis was struggling not to let go of it.

Her consciousness and unconsciousness, the body that had held Diel, were fighting to not lose the small trace left by the stillborn child.

Theo, Deon, and Kitty couldn’t bring themselves to say anything as they looked at Karis’s palm, where blood was seeping from the nail marks.

That it was too thick to be the bone of Diel, who had been buried as soon as she was born.

“Ah…”

Soon, Karis woke up. Jackal immediately ordered that thin porridge and warm water be brought.

Karis gave a bitter smile and looked at Theo, Deon, and Kitty.

“I’m sorry for coming back in this state. Did I surprise you all?”

“…”

“It seems Delta was taken care of well.”

Karis could also sense Kitty’s mana, which had become as strong as the summer sun. Kitty smiled and held her hand tightly.

“It’s thanks to Karis dealing a fatal blow to Delta.”

“It’s hard to call tearing off one of her arms a fatal blow.”

She chuckled, perhaps feeling a little relieved.

‘Wolves are wolves after all…’

Kitty blinked, once again feeling the difference in strength.

Karis drank a little warm water. She didn’t touch the thin porridge.

Instead, she looked with sad eyes at the few bone fragments she had been clutching tightly even as she lost consciousness.

“…This isn’t my child’s.”

Her voice was calm.

The bone was too thick and hard to be that of a newborn.

But the moment Delta mentioned her stillborn youngest daughter, she had lost all reason and judgment.

She felt like she wouldn’t be forgiven if she didn’t desperately protect this item related to her child.

Afraid that Diel would be hurt, looking down from heaven at her mother’s calm appearance even in her name.

So she didn’t even think about judging whether Delta’s words were true or false.

Karis pressed her lips tightly together. She didn’t want to put anything into her mouth that would become blood and flesh, whether it was thin porridge or anything else.

She felt like her whole heart was being sucked into that deep pit she had dug with her own hands once again.

Soft—

Kitty gently grabbed her.

“Karis,”

“…”

“It’s a little late, but let’s go. To where Diel is.”

Karis looked at Kitty with tearful eyes, then carefully threw off the blanket and stood up.

Jackal, Theo, and Deon followed her.

* * *

It had been a long time since she had been surrounded by leopards and had a difficult birth. For others, that time was enough for the landscape to change more than twice.

But not for Karis.

She groped through her memories and found the place where she had endured the labor pains.

With her body still not fully recovered, she crossed the ridge and traversed the dew-covered fields, soaking her clothes.

The mid-slope of the nameless mountain she arrived at was desolate.

As if to say there was no living thing here, the weeds were curled and twisted into a light brown color.

The weathered rock was much smaller than she remembered. The wind wasn’t as fierce as that day, and the sky was full of stars as if nothing unfortunate had ever happened.

There was no trace of Diel Gridwolf anywhere.

Nevertheless, she knelt down step by step below the rock. Her fingertips caressed the dry ground pitifully.

“…Baby.”

A tearful voice trembled faintly.

It was here.

It was here that she first held Theo and Deon in her arms, and buried Diel, who couldn’t breathe in the end, with her own hands.

“…I’m sorry. Mommy’s very late, right?”

She said she’d be right back.

She couldn’t keep the first and last promise she made to her child. It was only after so much time had passed that she arrived here.

Tudok—

Her tears fell in drops on the dry ground.

“Have you been doing well… well…”

Karis couldn’t finish her sentence.

There was no way she could have been doing well.

This place was desolate and cold.

Diel must have been alone all along in this remote place where no animal footprints were imprinted.

Was her child lonely and alone even in heaven?

Was she resenting the mother who had left her alone as soon as she was born into the world?

As her thoughts reached that point, her heart broke.

Karis tore at her chest and sobbed.

“I should have been buried here with you that day. If I had…”

Then I wouldn’t have to worry about my child being alone in heaven.

Karis couldn’t finish her words and hung her head.

Kitty hugged her tightly as she clutched the cold, hardened ground.

“Karis. Diel won’t be alone in heaven.”

At the kind voice, Karis raised her head, which she had been hanging, and looked at Kitty.

“Just like the Gridwolf family took care of me when I lost my family, my family there will be taking care of Diel.”

Karis’s eyes trembled greatly at those words that sounded like salvation.

“It might be a little awkward at first, but Diel will come to love my family’s cozy embrace and soft jelly.”

“Kitty…”

“They’ll eat delicious food with the cats, take walks together, and become a family.”

Kitty glanced at Theo and Deon.

“She’ll feel a little upset that she’s different from everyone else during shedding season, but she’ll be happy again because she’ll have older brothers to look up at the night sky with whenever she feels down.”

The fear and guilt had already disappeared from Karis’s face as she looked at Kitty.

Kitty wiped away her tears and smiled brightly.

“And, in the end, she’ll come to love even the sadness that led her to meet other precious people.”

“…”

“Just like I did.”

Kitty hugged Karis once more, then took something out of her pocket.

It was something she had asked Vaniel to take care of before leaving the Gridwolf mansion for the leopard territory.

Karis carefully opened the small box that Kitty had brought.

Everyone in the Gridwolf family couldn’t speak for a moment as they checked the contents.

Inside were small candles to put on a cake and a small chrysanthemum that had not yet bloomed, just like the ones Theo and Deon had prepared for the funerals of the little ones.