[BotB] Chapter 10

Sohwa's eyes widened at his blunt words. But that was all. Sohwa's faith in Oge-am's Monk was deep and sincere.

"Our monk is a disciple of the great monk of Cheonmun Mountain, the most famous mountain in the world. He would never do that."

Sohwa flaunted the fact that Dohwi knew well. He laughed without realizing it. Fortunately, he quickly regained his composure, and Sohwa, who failed to see his unbecoming face, hastened her steps home.

"The monk is a good person. You shouldn't think badly of him either."

After that, Dohwi never mentioned Oge-am's Monk again. It seemed he didn't like Sohwa's loyalty, which was almost like devotion.

But he didn't know what had happened between Sohwa and the monk when he wasn't around, so he couldn't understand her loyalty.

"Cheonmun Mountain's great monk...."

Dohwi just muttered quietly.

"I'd like to meet him once. I don't know if he'll meet me, though."

***

It was an ambitious night. As always, Dohwi prepared a hearty dinner, watched Sohwa eat, cleared the table, and prepared a quilt in the inner room. Even after spreading and tidying up the bedding, he sat beside her as if he had no intention of leaving, stroking her head for a long time. His large hand that could cover her head felt good, so Sohwa did not particularly drive him away. Sleep would come in waves when she would close her eyes like this.

"Good night, Sohwa."

"Mmm."

He deeply bowed his upper body and kissed her cheek, his actions exuding an undeniable affection. Dohwi watched Sohwa close her eyes for a moment, and when her breathing became even, he extinguished the lamp and left the room. It had been quite a while since Dohwi had seen her to bed.

During that time, Sohwa thought he was repaying the grace he had received by letting Dohwi serve her diligently, taking on all sorts of tasks. However, everything felt suspicious today due to what she heard from the monk during the day.

'Where does he go every night?'

She had seen Dohwi several times while getting up early to relieve herself. He was hurrying out and then rushing back home. It was night, so she couldn't see well, but something was smeared on his pants, and his forehead and neck were drenched in sweat as if he had been romping in the mountains.

'Did he check my bedding to make sure I was asleep? Is he sneaking out?'

It seemed like a lie that he had forgotten how to return to his original form. It was clear that he was hunting alone every night. Dohwi didn't even like the food that humans eat.

Quietly folding up the cotton quilt, Sohwa crawled to the door and made a small hole in the paper of the door. Looking out through that hole, as expected, Dohwi, wearing only thin trousers, was striding out of the gate.

'Is he going hunting?'

Sohwa, considering following him, realized that it would be difficult to chase Dohwi at her own pace. Besides, she wasn't good at smelling, so it would be a disaster if she lost him in the mountains. Even if Ihwang Mountain was said to be unperturbed, a mountain was still a mountain.

Sohwa, staring at the silk quilt that Dohwi had tidied up, recalled the monk's words during the day.

'He told me to dig under the cherry tree.'

Dohwi would not return home until the hour of the Ox. This was the only opportunity when the one always stuck by her side was away.

With that in mind, Sohwa quickly opened the door and ran to the main room. It seemed strange to be doing this in the middle of the night, but once her curiosity was piqued, it could not be suppressed.

Surprisingly, a large animal skull was buried when she rolled up her sleeves and dug under the cherry tree.

Oh, my goodness. Startled, Sohwa tossed it aside, and another one appeared when she dug next to it. As Sohwa wondered what kind of bones they were, she guessed their identity by looking at the horns on the bones.

'A deer?'

Sohwa, who could not distinguish between a deer and a roe deer, found it strange that so many bones were buried in her yard.

Could it be that Dohwi was really a tiger? Did he hunt all night, eat, and then bury the leftover bones here?

'Then why haven't I smelled anything until now....'

Even though her sense of smell was duller than other foxes, it was strange that she couldn't detect the smell of a tiger and the smell of herbivore bones. The smell of a predator was usually the first thing that instinct picked up.

No matter how long they had lived together since childhood, there was no way she wouldn't recognize the smell of a mature predator entering his prime.