[BotB] Chapter 20

"Stupid male foxes pushed out by food competition have been wandering this mountain for a few years now... There was no helping it. Their presence would have been unpleasant for you too." 

"So, you gave it to me to hide my scent?" Sohwa asked nervously, swallowing the question that almost slipped out, 'Was it not to hide my scent?' 

Dohwi casually shrugged and locked eyes with Sohwa, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly as he began to speak again. "The scent of heat doesn't seem to be fading." 

His tone was polite, like that of a scholar, but it was enough to make Sohwa blush. He was saying he could smell her scent, which attracted males. 

"Have you been feeling... heated?" she asked in a low voice, her ears burning. Unable to avoid his penetrating gaze, she felt like a young animal in front of a predator, trembling uncontrollably. 

"Let's eat first. Talk later, okay?" Dohwi said with a gentle smile, and the atmosphere, tense as thin ice, returned to normal as if nothing had happened. 

Dohwi handed her a large, meaty chicken leg, but Sohwa had long lost her appetite. She had thought that her heat only occurred during specific times, but to realize it had been constant was disheartening. The thought of having spread her scent all over saddened her. 

"...Oh dear. It must have been hard for you." The scent she emitted wouldn't have been irritating to those of a different kind, but it would have been unpleasant nonetheless. She too had felt disgusted by the brief mating seasons of badgers that visited around the same time each year. 

And how much more for a fox under the same roof, constantly in heat? 'Yes, that must be why he did it.' Sohwa tried to dismiss the incomprehensible actions of Dohwi, deciding to overlook them. 

Once she parted ways with Dohwi, these would no longer be her concerns. His straightforward answer allowed Sohwa to finally make up her mind. 

"Dohwi, I can't take care of you anymore." The moment she said this, Dohwi's hand, which had been serving her food, paused abruptly. He glanced at her sharply, his eyes as accurate and swift as an arrow finding its target. 

"Aren't you capable enough to take care of yourself now? You should go on your way." 

The words came out more smoothly than usual, as if this had been on her mind for a while. 

Unlike the composed Sohwa, Dohwi's expression now carried an intense energy. "You promised to take care of me for life," he said with force in his voice. 

"When did I say that? I only agreed to stay with you until you grew up. Back then, you seemed so frail and pitiable, I just offered my kindness," Dohwi replied, his voice as still as the calm before a storm. 

"Now you should be independent, start a happy family. Find a beautiful mate, have children. Of course, I should do the same." 

Listening quietly, Dohwi roughly dried his hands with a towel. His large, long fingers moved brusquely, reflecting his inner turmoil ready to erupt at any moment. 

"You're leaving me." 

"It's not leaving. I'm telling you to go out and live well," Sohwa said. Despite doing all the chores, she was the true owner of the house. 

"With the way my body is... it might be uncomfortable for both of us." 

"If you dislike it," Dohwi cut her off before she could finish, emitting an unusually fierce energy. 

"If I can't leave..." 

His brown eyes, filled with anger, glared at her as if to devour her. Sohwa's heart sank at the sight of this rebellious look she had never seen before, and she began to vividly imagine him grabbing her by the neck with his large hand. 

"Then I will..." she stammered, but Dohwi commanded in a low voice.

Sohwa remained seated."No, I must..." she started, but as she attempted to rise, Dohwi's strong grip held her back. "Ouch!" she exclaimed when his hand accidentally clutched her injured forearm. 

Surprised by Sohwa's sensitive reaction, Dohwi abruptly turned her arm and leaned in closer, noticing the injury. The scent of blood was unmistakable. "What's this?" His handsome face hardened, his thick eyebrows knitting together as he pointed to her arm with a flicker of irritation. "Are you hurt?" he asked, not waiting for an answer before he began to strip her jeogori, almost tearing it off in his urgency. "What is this? Who did this to you?" His question wasn't really directed at Sohwa. Examining her arm, turning it this way and that, Dohwi quickly recognized the shape of nail marks. 

His eyes blazed with recognition of the assailant. "Damn vixens. I'll kill them all," he growled, vowing not to let them off easily.

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