Chapter 40
Yuria stood frozen, watching the two fight. Of course, it was possible that what she saw as a battle to the death was actually part of the lesson or Cain’s way of teaching, but still—!
How could he beat a little child so ruthlessly? Every time Fren was hit by Cain, Yuria felt the pain as if she had been hit herself. The energy emitted by Cain’s aura felt like an unearthly enemy pulled from the depths of hell, viciously charging towards Fren. It looked like Fren would be seriously injured before he could even begin to learn how to control his energy. The fight between the two was vicious and bitter, the battle simulated a life-and-death duel. It wouldn’t be surprising if someone’s life was suddenly at risk of perishing the moment a hit landed.
In the end, Yuria, unable to stand it, intervened, “Don’t hit my Fren!” She cried out just as Cain was about to land a deadly kick to Fren.
Despite being in the midst of concentrating on the fight with Fren, Cain, who had sensed Yuria’s presence, stopped his actions like an obedient puppy before she even finished speaking. Without missing a beat, Fren’s fist slammed into Cain’s face.
The man’s expression looked somewhat empty. It wasn’t that Fren’s punch had hurt, although, if Cain had been any other demon he would have staggered back, bleeding from the sharp attack, but to Cain, it was like being slapped with a cloud.
Well, a little stronger than that…?
After being hit by Fren’s fist, Cain didn’t swing anything else at Fren. Fren, too, stood still, not attacking, satisfied with the fact that he had landed a solid punch on Cain.
As soon as they stopped fighting, Yuria hurried over to Fren.
“Fren, are you okay?” Yuria cautiously touched Fren’s face. Luckily, his face was intact, without having taken any damage, but his body wasn’t in the same condition. His clothes were torn to rags, and his exposed body was covered in bluish-purple bruises and fresh cuts. Yuria gingerly touched each of Fren’s wounds, confirming the severity of them, as if she were handling crystal china that would shatter if brushed with the smallest amount of force. The scars on his tiny body, on his tiny hands, appeared extremely painful.
“…Mommy.”
“Does it hurt a lot?” Yuria inquired, even a small cut on a piece of paper was painful, so how much would wounds to this extent hurt?
“… Fren’s okay,” Fren replied with a puppy-like expression. Yuria could even see ears on top of his head drooping sulky.
In truth, the wounds didn’t hurt that much. Especially since Cain exerted control over his energy on each attack to ensure Fren wasn’t seriously injured. That was why Fren had only suffered this many wounds from fighting him. A wound of this size would heal in a matter of minutes; fighting Cain had taught Fren to instinctively heal his wounds.
“Fren…” Yuria made a hurt face when she heard the child saying he was okay although it was obvious he wasn’t. Fren nuzzled into Yuria’s arms, trying to act cute, not forgetting to lift his head and give Cain a sneering look. Such a sight made Cain choke for a moment.
“Ah… it hurts.” Although he seemed completely fine on the outside, Cain staggered back with a deliberately painful expression on his face. The only mark on his body from the fight was a reddened cheek where Fren had struck him.
Yuria immediately reacted with indignation, “Of course it hurts, after beating a child like that, a human’s heart should hurt too!” Hearing Yuria scolding, Cain shut his mouth.
“On this tiny body, there’s nowhere to hit,” Yuria said with a frustrated expression. At her words, Cain glanced at Fren, he may be small, but it wasn’t like there was nowhere to hit. Besides, Fren had obviously learned how to heal wounds a while ago, and Cain didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t using it on purpose.
“I didn’t hit him,” Cain said somewhat apologetically, having put aside his frustration at Fren’s provocation. Plus, his words were true, he had never intentionally hit Fren, rather it was Fren who became injured from attempting to attack an individual ten times the child’s strength.
“His body is full of wounds like this and you say you didn’t hit him?” Yuria glared at the man making excuses.
“That’s….” Cain opened his mouth to defend himself, but Yuria’s gaze grew more murderous, so he clamped his mouth shut.
It was unfair.
The little brat was in Yuria’s arms, and he was being scolded. All he had done was teach Fren how to control his energy. Cain’s eyes drooped down, with a look of utter disbelief and disappointment.
Yuria flinched at the sight. She couldn’t believe she was thinking that way about him, but Cain’s current look was so pitiful that she couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for him. He looked like a large, heartbroken wolf lying on the floor with its ears down and even its tail curled up. He looked like he’d shrunk to two-thirds of his size from all the cowering.
“I’m sorry for what I said,” Yuria said, looking at him sideways, while still embracing Fren.
“…I was wrong,” Cain responded, looking even more somber. The aura around him seemed as if he wanted to dig a hole, bury himself inside it, and cover it up with soil.
Yuria continued, “When I saw that Fren was injured, I lost my temper for a moment…”
“It’s okay… I just…” Cain replied, staring blankly up at the sky, looking so pitiful that Yuria wondered if she really had been much too harsh on him. At such a sight, Fren frowned in displeasure. He knew that Cain was doing it on purpose. Further Fren knew that Yuria had a weak heart, and Cain was deliberately playing on her pity to win her over.
“Mom…” Unable to ignore Cain’s behavior, Fren weakly called out to Yuria. Her gaze switched to the child and with it, Cain’s face contorted.
“Fren hurt…” Before Fren was conscious of it, tears were forming in the corners of his eyes.
“Then, should mom take care of it? Let’s go home and get your wounds treated.” Yuria spoke, worriedly gazing at Fren.
“Ung.” Fren gave a small nod, satisfied that he’d finally gotten Yuria’s attention back.
And right at that moment— a sudden thud echoed around the clearing. Yuria turned her head to see Cain sprawled on the ground.
“Cain?” Yuria gasped, held Fren in her arms, and walked over to the man lying on the floor. Cain looked fine, so she assumed he wasn’t injured, but asked anyway.
“Cain, are you hurt?” Yuria inquired worriedly as she leaned down to make eye contact with him.
In response, a small smile of satisfaction tugged up at the corners of Cain’s mouth. That clever little brat, pretending to be vulnerable in front of Yuria, pretending to be an innocent child who didn’t know anything— he could do that too…and it worked better than he thought. He’d been able to turn her attention back to him in no time at all.
Cain nodded, “It hurts…” while looking as vulnerable as ever. His now quiet, faint voice revealed his pain…well, in actuality, he was purposely making his voice sound strained as if struggling to speak.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to you,” Yuria apologized.
If Cain appeared to be in this much pain, how badly was he hurt? Yuria’s face was filled with concern.
“…You’re not hurt,” Fren muttered softly, dumbfounded by Cain’s obviously faked, appearance.
“Fren?” Hearing Fren’s muttering, Yuria looked at him, puzzled.
“That– no, Cain not hurt.”Fren said in an attempt to dissuade Yuria from tending to Cain’s non-existent injury. Aside from the last one, none of Fren’s attacks had been successful. It was blatant to everyone but Yuria, that Cain was just trying to get her attention, but the child wouldn’t let that happen. Yuria’s attention should only ever be on himself, he didn’t want to share her attention with Cain.
“But he’s in so much pain,” Yuria said, glancing between Cain and Fren, it didn’t seem like Fren was lying, but Cain did look like he was in a lot of pain.
“But Cain not injured.” At Fren’s words, Yuria examined Cain’s condition. Sure enough, there were no visible wounds, just as Fren said.
Cain bit his tongue as he realized that his trick was about to be discovered.
For real, this brat is not helpful at all.
If he didn’t have a wound, he could fake one.
“Keugh– it seems it’s internal.” Cain forced himself to cough up blood. Unless Yuria was a physician, she wouldn’t be able to diagnose internal injuries. Moreover if necessary, he could just make an internal injury. That was the kind of wound he could create if he released his energy through his body.
“Ca-Cain!” Yuria called out to him, alarmed at the sight of his blood. Unlike Yuria’s worried expression, Fren’s face was distorted, fully displaying an entirely different emotion.
I didn’t think he’d intentionally create a wound.
“A, a physician—!” Yuria shouted in hast, if Cain was right, it was an injury Yuria couldn’t treat.
“I’ll… be fine if I rest for a while, but I don’t have the strength to get up…” Cain stretched out his hand as if he was struggling, then dropped it, as if even raising his hand was a challenge.
“I’ll help you!” Yuria couldn’t just leave the injured Cain lying on the ground outside. At that thought, Yuria quickly picked him up, showing no signs of struggle with lifting him, as if she was lifting a mere doll.
Cain, who had planned to simply accept Yuria’s support, was momentarily taken aback by the unexpected turn of events. Nevertheless, he didn’t mind the way things were heading, so he meekly slipped into Yuria’s arms. The fact that he was being held by such a small body bothered him, but he liked the warmth he could feel so clearly. In her arms, he felt like it was just him and her in the world.
“Cain, are you okay? Are you uncomfortable?” Yuria held him gently, but she couldn’t be sure she was doing it right, after all it was her first time carrying a full-grown man.
“Not at all, not even a little.” Cain shook his head firmly in response.
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