She knew from his resolute actions that she couldn’t stop him. She worried that vile Fin might harm Valentin. After being hit in the head by the rock Aila had struck him with, he wouldn’t be in his right mind.

He was probably grinding his teeth in rage right now.

When Fin had tormented her earlier, she’d wanted Valentin to punish him in her place, but now none of that mattered. She only desperately hoped he would return unharmed.

“Lock the door tight until I come back.”

But in the end, Aila could only watch Valentin leave the cabin.

* * *

Valentin, who had changed his body to a deer’s form, immediately headed to the cave following the path Aila had described. He might have already fled, but the road to the village was obvious.

Arriving at the cave first, Valentin looked inside. However, only a few drops of blood were on the floor and Fin was nowhere to be seen.

‘Rat b*stard.’

Quickly changing direction, Valentin used his sense of smell to track Fin. From afar came a stench mixing the smell of tanning leather, sheep excrement, sweat, and blood.

Valentin ran in that direction without delay.

Soon after moving, he spotted Fin walking while cursing. Blood still dripping from where he’d been hit, he had removed his shirt and pressed it to his forehead.

Having found his target, Valentin slowly closed the distance.

“That vulgar, poor b*tch.”

“…”

“D*mn b*tch. I’ll crush her someday.”

The closer he got, the clearer Aila’s curses became. Unable to control his anger and fuming, Fin didn’t notice Valentin approaching right behind him.

Valentin gave him no chance to dodge and rammed his thigh with his antlers in one strike. Suddenly attacked, Fin screamed and collapsed.

“Ahhh! F*ck, what the—”

Confirming his attacker was some deer, Fin’s face turned red and blue. Seeing Valentin’s fierce gaze, Fin instantly recognized his identity.

“It’s you. That beastman b*stard.”

Valentin watched Fin fiercely.

“Seeing you like this, you really are a beast. f*cking b*stard!”

Fin, his thigh pierced by the antlers, limped on one leg while looking around. He seemed to be searching for something that could be a weapon.

Then, spotting a fairly thick branch, he scrambled to pick it up and started swinging it wildly in the air. Fin’s arm movements, unable to use one leg properly, were so pathetic they were pitiful.

“Come at me! You filthy beast!”

Unlike the curses spewing from his mouth and his leering eyes, his expression was terrified. Fin instinctively knew better than anyone that he was no match in physical strength.

Yet his pride wouldn’t allow it, so he acted tough.

“I’ll slit your throat and skin you alive!”

‘Shouldn’t you worry about your own life first?’

He wanted to give him a warning personally, but he couldn’t speak human words in this form.

Fin swung the branch while limping, but was actually slowly backing away. As much distance as he created, Valentin moved forward.

“Get lost! Get lost, I said! You beast!”

Valentin charged forward in one rush and rammed straight into Fin’s stomach. Knocked backward instantly, Fin sprawled on the ground, hitting the back of his head.

Standing firmly between the fallen Fin’s legs, Valentin kicked his vital area with his hoof. Fin howled like a beast and writhed in agony. His reddened face twisted hideously.

A deer’s hooves were indescribably hard. Having his c*ck—the weakest part of the human body—kicked by such hooves, the pain was beyond words.

But thinking of the insult Aila suffered, this wasn’t nearly enough. Valentin raised his hoof again.

“Ahhh! W-wait, s-spare me, please, ngh.”

“…”

“Y-you’re doing this because of that b*tch, right? F*ck, I didn’t even get to f*ck her. That thing hit my head with a rock and ran away. S-so please, p-please, s-spare me.”

“…”

“It’s true, I didn’t do anything. Only groped her chest a few times. C-calm down.”

At that moment, Valentin brought down the hoof he’d raised, precisely targeting Fin’s right testicle and crushing it.

“Ahhhhh!”

A breathless scream echoed through the entire forest. Fin now drooled and thrashed about. His whole body trembled abnormally from indescribable pain.

Valentin watched the scene for a moment, then raised his hoof again.

“Hngh! P-please, spare the other one! Ahhh, p-please! I-I was wrong about everything, I-I’ll never come near the cabin again, s-so please, hah.”

His face covered in tears as he begged was disgusting. Valentin mercilessly crushed the left testicle with his hoof too.

The feeling of the squishy flesh touching his hoof was revolting. Still, having completely destroyed the b*stard’s reproductive function made his foul mood lift just a little.

‘With both balls burst, he won’t be able to function as a male anymore.’

Thinking of how he’d tried to r*pe Aila, Valentin wanted to end his life right then, but making him live miserably for the rest of his life with a useless c*ck seemed like a crueler punishment.

Having finished his revenge, Valentin turned without any lingering attachment. He needed to get to Aila quickly now.

‘I need to go comfort her. Hold her warmly. Lick away every spot that b*stard touched and cover her with my own traces.’

Running swiftly, Valentin vowed. He would never leave Aila alone again.

* * *

Returning to the cabin, Aila was still sitting on the bed. Worried, she jumped up from her seat as soon as she saw Valentin.

He tightly embraced the slender body that crashed into him. As he gently stroked her thin back, Aila rubbed her forehead against his chest then looked up. Scratches were visible here and there on her white face.

“What did you do?”

“I firmly told him never to approach you again.”

“How?”

“Thoroughly.”

Valentin gave a short answer along with a kiss on her forehead.

Aila didn’t need to know the details. With her kind nature and inability to do bad things to others, he didn’t want her to know what he’d done to Fin.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“No, it’s not your fault. Fin deliberately targeted the gap when you weren’t there. He must have been watching us from somewhere.”

“No. It’s my fault.”

‘So you can blame me. I’ll never leave you alone again.’

Valentin repeated this while caressing Aila’s face. Slowly and carefully.

“That b*stard touched you, didn’t he?”

Aila, looking up with wide eyes, nodded slightly.

Recalling Fin’s words that he’d only managed to touch her chest, Valentin examined her and saw the front of her clothes was completely torn. Through the tattered clothes, her pale collarbone and part of her chest were exposed.

Thinking that b*stard had seen and touched such pretty skin made rage surge again.

‘That son of a b*tch. Should I have just killed him?’

All kinds of curses rose to his throat, but Valentin pressed them down and swallowed them inside. He didn’t want to utter bad words in front of startled Aila.

“But nothing major happened.”

“I know.”

Thinking Aila would keep remembering what happened if she continued wearing the dirtied clothes, Valentin first brought out new clothes.

“Let’s change your clothes first.”

“I’ll put them on myself.”

“No. I’m going to dress you. I told you. I won’t leave you alone.”

“It’s not leaving me alone. I can just change over there.”

Even after mixing their bodies many times, Aila still felt embarrassed showing her body. Moreover, she seemed even more so now because her body bore wounds from another person.

That’s why Valentin wanted even more to take in each of Aila’s wounds with his eyes. He needed to see clearly the atrocity that b*stard committed, so he could decide whether to go back and end his life or not.

“Not leaving you alone means don’t disappear from my sight.”

“…”

“I’ll dress you.”

Knowing well that she couldn’t win once Valentin started being stubborn, Aila resigned herself. She raised her arms when told to raise them, lowered them when told to lower them.

Having quickly changed her clothes, Valentin sat Aila on the bed.

“I need to wipe your face and hands too.”

Valentin moistened a clean cloth with water and carefully wiped the wounded areas and the parts that b*stard’s hands had touched. Each movement was cautious.

Rather than subtly pressing his lower body against her and acting clingy like usual, he truly concentrated only on carefully cleaning her body.

When wiping around the wound on her white cheek, he was really careful. Even someone handling fragile porcelain wouldn’t be more delicate than this.

Aila sat obediently, leaving her body to Valentin’s touch, occasionally frowning.

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s okay. I can bear it.”

“If you’re bearing it, it means it hurts.”

“It doesn’t hurt much. It just stings.”

“That’s what hurting means.”

“Yeah, it hurts a little.”

After several questions, a truthful answer finally came out. It pained him that she deliberately pretended to be fine so Valentin wouldn’t worry. He wished she would freely act spoiled and whine instead.

When he blew on the wounded area wiped with the warm cloth, Aila grimaced. 

He brought emergency medicinal herbs good for wound healing, ground them into fine powder, mixed it with water, and gently applied it around the wounds.

“Mmm, it hurts.”

“Bear with it a little. If you endure well, I’ll give you a kiss.”

“What’s that?”

“Then I’ll suck your lips. I’ll suck your tongue too.”

When he played around by saying the same thing but cleverly changing the words, Aila laughed, finding it absurd. Then Valentin laughed along.

‘She’s prettiest when she smiles.’ 

Sometimes when he pinned her beneath him and pushed her hard, she cried that it was difficult, but except for those times, Aila was pretty when she smiled.

While changing her clothes, he noticed her white arms and legs were covered in bruises. If he’d known she was this hurt, he should have smashed that b*stard’s limbs too.

“From now on, stay right by my side. I can’t handle the anxiety. I won’t go anywhere without you anymore.”

Valentin kissed Aila’s lips deeply and hugged her tightly again.

* * *

After that incident with Aila, Valentin didn’t leave her side for even a moment. Truly not even for a single instant.

From opening his eyes in the morning until closing them, he clung to her like a cicada stuck to a tree. At first, she let him be, thinking Valentin also felt anxious. She thought he’d be okay after some time passed.

However, far from getting better, it worsened day by day, and now he even followed her to the embarrassing place where she relieved herself.

Scolding him not to follow was useless. There were limits to overprotection—she was also a woman, so what did he plan to do by following her even to where she relieved herself?

“Valentin, please.”

“What’s the problem?”

Clear green eyes looked directly at Aila. His face truly didn’t know what the problem was. He presented the absurd logic that if she didn’t want to show him alone, she could just show him too.