The Beast That Licks Me - Chapter 1.5

Yes, that’s what happened. There weren’t many times when she thought being physically weak was fortunate, but this time it truly was.

“This is no time for that. I’ll go fetch the physician again.”

Rosette stopped Becky, who had stopped sniffling and was about to get up.

“I’m fine. It was just a simple fainting spell.”

“It wasn’t just a fall. You bled a little.”

“Blood?”

“Yes, some dishes fell to the floor with you, and fragments must have scattered. Your finger and forehead were injured.”

“Woof!”

Evan, who had been curled up beside Rosette, puffed out his chest proudly.

“Evan would have healed it right away, right?”

“That’s true, but……”

“Then it’s fine. It’s past midnight, so everyone should be asleep by now. I don’t want to cause a commotion.”

Becky couldn’t overcome Rosette’s stubbornness. Eventually, Rosette practically chased her out.

“You must be tired from staying awake so long. Go to bed.”

“Ah, alright. My lady, I’ll stay up for a while, so pull the cord if you need anything. Understood?”

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

Rosette vaguely acknowledged Becky’s words and sent her out. Thud. The door closed and silence filled the room. Rosette stared at the closed door for a long while before spinning around. Feeling her gaze, Evan tapped the bed sheet with his tail. A gesture telling her to come quickly.

“Evan, you go out too.”

“Whine.”

Evan pretended not to hear, turning his head away and burrowing into the bed. This magical creature. Rosette narrowed her eyes.

Rosette eventually gave up urging him and lay down on the bed. Her position, avoiding where Evan was, felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“Move over a bit. You pig.”

“Growl.”

Evan wrinkled his nose and burrowed right into Rosette’s arms. After struggling to escape from Evan’s suffocating embrace, Rosette finally sighed and stretched out.

“Do whatever you want.”

“Woof-”

Satisfied, Evan licked her cheek.

“It’s wet……”

Rosette quietly accepted the sensation of warm, thin jelly touching her cheek. When his playfulness didn’t get a response, Evan tilted his head. Rosette stared blankly at the ceiling and murmured.

“Evan, they say I’m getting married.”

“Woof?”

“Marriage, you know. Well, not much will change. I’ll still be an Alpaine, and I’ll still live here.”

Compared to women who take their barely-seen husband’s name and leave their lifelong home to settle in a new place, it was much less of a change. Still, it was equally depressing.

“I won’t be able to have children either, so nothing will really change.”

The chronic illness Rosette suffered from was a blood clotting disorder. Even a small paper cut could be life-threatening for Rosette. That’s why she needed Evan, a divine beast. Evan’s saliva acted like holy water, but only for Rosette. So ever since she fell into water at age five, whenever she got injured, Evan always healed her.

There was one thing even Evan couldn’t prevent. Menstruation. Because it wasn’t an injury but a natural phenomenon. So Rosette took medicine to dry up her womb before her first period. Thanks to that, Rosette, now eighteen, had never once menstruated. Stefan knew this fact too.

“Then what will change? Hmm, Stefan moving in here, I suppose?”

At the mention of Stefan, Evan made a disgusted face. Finding that expression ridiculous and cute, Rosette smiled slightly.

“Do you dislike Stefan that much?”

“Woof!”

Evan, who normally liked everyone, strangely didn’t care for Stefan. Whenever Stefan tried to initiate physical contact with Rosette, Evan would growl and block between them. Because of this, the two had never properly touched each other.

“How much do you dislike him?”

“Grrrr……”

Evan bared his teeth, trying to look as ferocious as possible. Then, finding that insufficient, he jumped down to the floor and looked around, searching for something.

Finding a rubber ball, Evan pointed to it with his front paw, then grabbed it in his mouth and began shaking his head wildly. Then he flung the ball far away. The rubber ball hit the wall with a “thud, thud” sound and rolled into a corner. At this violent yet lovable movement, Rosette couldn’t help but laugh.

“So you hate him that much.”

Evan nodded his head as if to say, “What more is there to explain?”

‘Yes.’

“Good thing you’re not the one marrying Stefan. If they’d asked you to do it, Stefan would have been bitten to pieces by now.”

Rosette said this with a slight smile. This divine beast never gave her time to be depressed. Having fully expressed his dislike, Evan returned to being an elegant divine beast and rested his head on Rosette’s arm. Her posture seemed quite natural, as if she had often served as his pillow.

Evan was gazing at Rosette with gentle eyes. Her heart stirred at those eyes full of deep trust. Rosette patted Evan and confided in him as she always had.

“Today was my birthday, but nothing went my way.”

“Woof?”

“I couldn’t even dream of the trip I so desperately wanted, and now I’m getting married too.”

Rosette lamented her situation with a low, mocking laugh. Evan perked up his ears, attentively listening to everything.

“Evan, shall I tell you a story?”

Responding to his name, Evan tilted his head curiously.

“Listen. You know, when I was young, I once watched a fish in a bowl.”

“Hmm?”

“It was a very small fish, so the bowl was small too. I felt so sorry for it that I released it into the garden pond.”

“Woo-woo.”

Hearing a cry that didn’t seem to belong to a wolf, Rosette blinked before continuing her story.

“Do you know what happened?”

Evan shook his head with a slight shiver.

“It died within days. They say a creature that has only lived in a bowl cannot survive even in a pond.”

“Whine……”

Evan’s eyes moistened, showing pity for the fish’s fate. Rosette kissed Evan’s soft forehead and said.

“These days I feel like that fish. A very weak fish that has lived its entire life in a safe bowl and might die immediately if it goes outside. Yet despite that, I feel like I’m suffocating inside this bowl……”

Even while speaking, she felt her breath tightening. Rosette got up and strode toward the window without putting on her slippers.

Click. As soon as she opened the door, the cool night breeze wrapped around Rosette’s body. It was chillingly cold, but her mood seemed to improve a little. However, the stuffiness, like something still knotted in her chest, wouldn’t go away.

Rosette stared blankly outside. The crescent moon hung behind the pointed spires. It was a dim day with many clouds. The Count’s walls were high. Soldiers were guarding around the firmly standing walls. Rosette looked at them dryly and said.

“Maybe I should just run away.”

Once she said it out loud, she really wanted to do it. But she was afraid. Rosette had never been outside the capital. She rarely even went outside the house.

Besides, she would have to take Evan with her, but Evan was too big for that. A noble lady with a 2m divine beast would be too conspicuous even by her own estimation. They would be discovered quickly. Rosette looked at Evan bitterly and muttered.

“It would be nice if you were human.”

Rosette said this while leaning against the window. The river breeze from far away chilled her body temperature. Rosette’s room was on the 5th floor. The view from above was strangely cold. Quite impulsively, Rosette stepped onto the window.

Evan watched Rosette with a tense look. Holding the window frame with her hands, she placed her other foot next. In an instant, Rosette stood on the windowsill.

The wind buzzed in her ears. Her whole body trembled from her calves up. The scenery was completely different from when she was standing on the floor. Rosette bit her lip tightly. If she took just one more step from here.

“……!”

That’s when it happened. Evan bit Rosette’s chemise. Losing her balance, Rosette fell backward. Crash! Rosette’s body and Evan’s body collided violently.

Evan, who was almost crushed under Rosette, didn’t make a single whining sound this time, despite how much he usually exaggerated.

“Ugh……”

A dull pain ran from her spine to her tailbone. Rosette reached back to rub her b******s.

“It hurts……”

Evan didn’t say anything this time either. He just licked Rosette’s palm as if he understood everything. A desolate wind blew through the wide-open window. Looking alternately at Evan and outside the window, Rosette curled up her body like a pill bug. The carpet where Rosette’s face was positioned began to get wet little by little.