The boy’s ears perked up, seemingly sensing her skepticism. At that moment, something resembling a bump sprouted from his head with a pop, and his ears transformed into those of a deer.

The ears were much larger than a human’s, drooping sideways with fuzzy tufts of fur bristling at their pointed tips.

“Eek!”

Aila covered her mouth with both hands and screamed. The boy grinned at Aila, who had turned into a startled rabbit, then hid his ears and antlers again.

“I wanted to show you my magnificent antlers, but I need to become an adult for them to fully grow. I’ll show you later.”

The boy shrugged as he spoke. Only then did Aila realize that the unidentified bump that had sprouted from the back of his forehead was an antler that hadn’t fully grown yet. 

If he hadn’t said anything, she wouldn’t have even known it was an antler—that’s how undeveloped it looked.

“It was real!”

Aila clapped her hands and exclaimed in amazement.

She was so fascinated that the being she had only imagined in her head had actually appeared before her eyes that she grabbed the boy’s face and examined it from every angle. The more she looked, the prettier his face truly was.

This confirmed one thing for certain. The hunter who had called beastfolk a primitive race had clearly never seen a beastman before.

In Aila’s view, their appearance genes were far superior to ordinary humans.

Once his identity became clear, her curiosity and questions exploded all at once.

How many beastfolk lived in the western forest, did they know about the village people’s existence, if they knew what did they think, were there other animal beastfolk besides deer beastfolk, how were beastfolk born…

Questions welled up endlessly, making her heart race. Aila decided to ask what she was most curious about first.

“But why are you only talking now?”

“Because I can’t speak human language when I’m in animal form.”

“But you can hear?”

The boy chewed on his chin. Ah, so that’s how he knew Aila’s name. Because she had stroked the deer’s back and told him her name.

“How do you learn to speak?”

“Same as humans.”

Humans learn to speak from their parents after birth. 

Then this child must have parents too, and they must also be beastfolk, right? Then why was he alone in the forest with an injured leg? Where did his parents go?

Could this boy have been abandoned too? Or did he lose his parents? 

Judging by the circumstances of finding him suddenly alone, the latter seemed more likely.

There must be some reason why he left his habitat in the western forest and came all the way here.

“Your family?”

“I don’t have any.”

The answer she had expected came back, making her cautious question seem pointless. He answered fairly calmly, but she could fully feel the loneliness that someone left alone exudes. 

That was an emotion Aila knew best.

“Did they pass away?”

“Not long ago.”

“What happened?”

“Loggers who invaded our habitat.”

“I see…”

Even though it wasn’t her own situation, her heart ached like it was.

According to what she heard, the western forest had been the habitat of deer beastfolk for generations, but loggers who learned that quality wood could fetch money had barged in without permission and destroyed the forest.

The boy’s father, who had been the leader of the deer beastfolk, passed away fighting to preserve their race and forest, and quite a few beastfolk were sacrificed at the hands of humans.

When the situation reached this point, other beastfolk also scattered in family units to find their own ways to survive, and the boy, left alone, had wandered here and there until he arrived at this place, where he had the bad luck of getting his foot caught in a snare.

Just when he thought he would die, Aila appeared like a miracle and saved him.

“Is your leg okay now?”

Aila, remembering the boy’s injury, lifted the blanket and screamed again.

“Eek! S-sorry.”

The boy was completely n*ked from the waist down. While Aila’s face turned bright red, the boy showed no change. Perhaps because it was natural for animals not to wear clothes, he seemed to feel no embarrassment whatsoever.

“Thanks to you.”

“That’s a relief.”

Aila let out a small sigh of relief and rummaged for spare clothes.

“Um, wear this. It’s women’s clothing, but you need to wear something.”

“Why should I wear this?”

“Well, when you’re in human form, you naturally have to wear clothes.”

“Why?”

“Can’t you just wear it for me?”

Aila handed him the worn brown clothes and turned around so the boy could change. Her ears automatically perked up toward the back. She heard the sound of clothes being turned this way and that and fluttering.

“Put on the top and bottom undergarments first, then put on the outer clothes last. Stick your head through the biggest hole, and pull both arms out through the sides with sleeves.”

“Which one is the undergarment? Where are the sleeves?”

“The white cotton ones, those are the undergarments.”

“I don’t understand any of this. I just won’t wear them.”

“You have to!”

So this is what it means for their habits to be closer to animals.

Even though the boy had transformed into human form, he didn’t understand at all why he needed to wear clothes. Thanks to this, she additionally learned that in their habitat, they don’t wear clothes even when in human form.

But this wasn’t the western forest, so he had to follow the human way of life.

He couldn’t walk around outside n*ked, and even if he only stayed inside the cabin, Aila was watching, so he absolutely had to wear clothes.

“Um, I’ll turn around and help you, so don’t be surprised.”

After taking several deep breaths, Aila turned around slightly. The boy was just staring blankly while holding the clothes in his hand.

His body, not yet very large, was smooth from shoulders to arms, and his flat stomach had fuzzy fur sprouting on it. His body was as pale as his face.

While scanning his skin that gleamed like fine porcelain, her gaze inadvertently moved downward.

And she caught sight of a body part different from her own. Suddenly her earlobes grew hot and she started hiccupping out of nowhere.

“Hic, hiccup, hic.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Hiccup, p-put your, hic, foot, in here.”

The boy obediently moved as instructed. Aila shifted her gaze to empty space and quickly helped him dress. Only after the boy’s nakedness was covered by clothes did she let out a breath.

The boy ran his arms around and examined his body, seemingly finding the clothes awkward. The size was small, making him look a bit ridiculous, but his pretty face made it work anyway.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

He had been lying still in bed for over a week. She had fed him thin soup from time to time, but since he hadn’t properly chewed and swallowed anything, he must be famished.

Aila had once gone without food for about a week before. When her stockpiled food ran out and heavy snow fell in the forest, she had survived by drinking only water.

Her whole body had no strength and her stomach cried out for food. The boy must be finding it hard to endure with his stomach shriveled up by now.

“A little.”

All she had in the cabin was thinly cooked vegetable soup. Even that was several days old, so it might have spoiled. Just as she was debating whether to go pick some fresh grass, she remembered there were mushrooms and wild berries in the basket.

“Anything is fine.”

“Wait just a moment.”

Aila brought the basket she had set down near the cabin entrance and placed the largest and most appetizing mushroom into the boy’s hand.

The boy brought the long mushroom to his nose, smelled it, then promptly put it in his mouth. Since he had a human face, his eating also looked human.

Aila picked up a mushroom to eat but put it back down. Right now, she had many questions about the boy before her.

“Do you have a name?”

“Valentin.”

The boy answered, having quickly finished one mushroom. Aila pushed all the mushrooms in the basket toward Valentin.

“That’s a wonderful name.”

“Your name is pretty too.”

Valentin said while nibbling away at the mushrooms.

“Did you pick these mushrooms?”

“Yeah. Are they good?”

She brought him water as the boy chewed. She wondered why she felt full watching someone else eat.

“Aila.”

“Yeah.”

Valentin, having finished all the mushrooms, made eye contact.

“Now tell me about you.”

“About me?”

“Do you live here alone?”

She tried to steady her voice, which had become gloomy. They were in the same situation, but she didn’t want to seem pitiful, so she calmly laid out her story.

“I’ve been alone since before. My parents passed away when I was very young, so I don’t even remember them. I’ve lived here since I was born. I have no relatives, no friends…”

“How did you survive alone?”

“Well, I find as much food as I can in the forest, and I drink water from the well. Food is scarce, but it’s been livable.”

That’s what she answered, but in truth, she had gone hungry many times due to lack of food. In winter, she had survived eating just enough not to die.

“Wasn’t anything difficult?”

If she listed the difficult things, there would be no end. Having to endure the cold with thin clothes, having to carry heavy water buckets with small hands, having to dig herbs until her hands were ruined, having to chop firewood until her shoulders ached…

But those were hardships she could endure.

What Aila truly found unbearable was that no one reached out to her or offered help, and therefore she felt such tremendous loneliness.