Ye Tang walked out of the office building after “work.” That’s right—this office building had originally been Tobias’s residence.
Back when it was still Tobias’s residence, Ulysses had looked down on it and disliked Tobias’s extravagant and ostentatious vulgar taste. After Tobias was imprisoned, Ulysses directly ordered his men to take all the items in Tobias’s residence that hadn’t been burned, as well as the damaged parts that could be repaired, and sell them off for charity, thoroughly clearing out the place.
The townsfolk of Lem Town had been exploited by Tobias for over a decade. Apart from Tobias’s lackeys who lived comfortably, everyone else scraped by frugally. This charity sale allowed many townsfolk to buy very nice things for very little money. Ulysses then ordered his subordinates to use the proceeds to rebuild the graveyard of the Walker family, whom Tobias had gotten killed. For a time, everyone in town was grateful to Ulysses, this young earl, and the impressions of the noble lord among the surrounding villages and the miners at Lem Mine also underwent a significant change.
Before the new town mayor appointed by the Queen arrived, Ulysses had been acting as both town mayor and mine manager. Thus, he openly turned Tobias’s residence into an office building.
As Ulysses’s advisor, Ye Tang naturally had to travel back and forth between Abe Village and Lem Town every day. The new road between Abe Village and Lem Town hadn’t been built yet, and the old road—narrow, muddy, and with nearly ninety-degree right-angle turns—wasn’t suitable for carriages.
Ulysses had once planned to have his subordinates take turns riding horses to pick up and drop off Ye Tang, but she refused. Her stated reason was that a widow shouldn’t ride with a man to avoid misunderstandings. However, Ulysses knew Ye Tang didn’t actually care that much about so-called “reputation” or “good name.” She simply did whatever was most comfortable for her.
Through the window, Ulysses saw Ye Tang heading toward Xiu, who was waiting for her outside.
When Ye Tang went to serve as Ulysses’s advisor, she left the stall business at Lem Mine to Lang and Xiu. However, Xiu soon found a job in Lem Town. Every day, he would head from Walnut Grove to Ye Tang’s home before dawn and “conveniently” take her along on his way to Lem Town. After work, he would “conveniently” pick her up to go home.
Without Xiu’s help, Lang’s stall frequency at Lem Mine dropped from every day to three times a week. The rest of the time, he stayed in Abe Village, sometimes helping villagers patch leaky roofs, other times watching the energetic kids for those working the fields.
As soon as Ye Tang emerged from the office building, she spotted Xiu. Unlike usual, there was another tall figure beside him today.
“Yo!”
Gray’s greeting was too flippant, and Xiu “accidentally” stepped on his foot. Wincing in pain, Gray forced a polite smile and greeted her again: “…Uh, hello, Mary.”
Gray was dressed fully like a trendy town lad now. Seeing him take off his cap from his head while wearing overalls, Ye Tang smiled: “Good afternoon, Mr. Gray. And thank you for picking me up, Xiu.”
Xiu let out a light hum and said flatly: “I’m just passing by, that’s all.”
Glancing at Xiu, whose lie was completely given away by his wagging tail behind him, Gray’s expression was indescribable.
Well… Lang and Xiu’s romance had nothing to do with him. If he had to pick a side, he’d say: both.
It was just that the final winner of this brothers’ contest might not be one of the two.
“Ah, um, anyway, let’s set Xiu’s thing aside for now.”
“What do you mean ‘set my thing aside’!?”
Ignoring Xiu’s protest, Gray quickly got to the point: “I’m here to thank you today, miss.”
Like a magician, he pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind him and handed them to Ye Tang. As she reached out, he took her hand and kissed the back of it.
—He had said it before: the winner of this contest wouldn’t necessarily be one of those brothers.
Blame this human woman for being too wonderful. She was practically like a messenger sent by God to save the werewolves. Even just hearing from Lang what she had done for his family and the werewolves, he completely understood Lang and Xiu’s worship and infatuation with her.
“Didn’t Lang swear to you? That he’d protect you. Well, I swear too. As long as I live, if you call for me, I’ll do anything for you. The dirty deeds Lang’s conscience won’t let him do, the wicked things Xiu lacks the courage to challenge—if you command it, I’ll handle them all for you.”
Not letting go of her hand after kissing it, Gray gazed up at Ye Tang from below.
“Thank you for saving my mom and dad, for saving my little sister, for reuniting our family. Thank you for keeping me from committing an unforgivable sin, thank you for giving me the chance to learn that not all humans are bad, not all werewolves are right, that good and evil have nothing to do with race—”
What do you call some rando showing up out of nowhere like this? Xiu’s fur bristled all over. He really hated that he’d believed Gray’s words about just wanting to thank Mary, so he’d brought Gray right to her.
“Let go of Mary!”
“Ah, that hurts! Xiu, why’d you scratch my face? Have you forgotten? Back then, you used to chase after me yelling ‘big brother,’ ‘big brother.'”
Gray and Xiu started roughhousing. Ye Tang couldn’t help laughing at the sight of the two fluffy ones clawing at each other.
Her laugh was like a clear breeze parting the dark clouds, sunlight spilling through the leaves. Gray froze first, and Xiu, who took the chance to yank out a few hairs from Gray’s tail, flushed red under his thick fur upon realizing how childish and ridiculous he must look in Ye Tang’s eyes.
Kicking Gray in the butt to send him away, Xiu walked with Ye Tang on the road back to Abe Village.
“That Gray guy’s been way too smug lately… Tsk, all he did was become a mailman and get some praise? So cocky—he’s bound to get his comeuppance sooner or later.”
The young werewolf lad harbored a bit of secretive, petty scheming, trying to lower Ye Tang’s opinion of Gray—head-on he absolutely couldn’t beat Lang or Gray. His two big brothers each had their strengths: one a fake-playboy nice guy, the other a hothead even his own kind feared when riled up. He was younger, smaller-built, could do less than them. While his bros fretted over not winning the human woman, he didn’t even qualify to stand at the starting line.
Ye Tang felt little about Gray’s oath.
This wasn’t the first time she’d helped someone, nor the first time she’d earned trust and loyalty afterward. For werewolves who pledged loyalty so easily, Ye Tang’s only thought was, “No wonder they’re canines.”
“Gray became a mailman?”
Though annoyed that Gray had caught Ye Tang’s attention, since she asked about him, Xiu answered honestly.
“Yeah, he became a mailman. Cost a bunch of human delivery guys their jobs. Those humans nearly came looking for trouble.”
With his natural agility and skill, Gray delivered newspapers, mail, or whatever far faster than humans. Places a normal paperboy took fifteen minutes by bike, he reached in five by leaping rooftops. Mail a regular postman couldn’t finish in a day, he cleared in two hours.
With Gray around, Lem Town’s post office, telegraph office, and newspaper didn’t need more mailmen or paperboys. The suddenly unemployed ones nearly stormed the place.
“‘Nearly’?”
Xiu both loved and hated how Ye Tang always keenly grasped the key points.
“Gray doesn’t know human writing—he can deliver but doesn’t know where or to whom. There are lots of werewolves like him. Some can’t even speak human languages well. So Gray just hired those jobless humans to teach them and the village kids human language and writing. The paperboys earn just playing with the village kids, and postmen don’t have to get up early and grind long routes for one or two pennies anymore.”
“I see…”
Ye Tang smiled as she listened to Xiu all the way.
In fact, as the earl’s advisor, she heard wind of everything happening in town. She’d already heard about what Gray did.
Gray’s actions started from self-interest, for the werewolves, no doubt. But he’d also freed child laborers, giving kids a chance to learn together—that was fact.
It aligned perfectly with Ye Tang’s wishes.
Ye Tang had already suggested to Ulysses establishing a children’s school in Lem Town. In the future, whether human children or werewolf children, they could all attend.
—Many divides start from “not understanding.” Have humans and beastmen learn, live, and grow together as classmates from childhood, understanding each other on that basis. Far easier than waiting till adulthood, with fixed views, to get humans and beastmen to accept one another.
“…Mary, did you know?”
“What?”
Xiu glanced at Ye Tang, his heart pounding especially fast: “After Gray’s little sister was sold to the capital, she fell in love with the manservant caring for her. Now they’re both free, they want a human wedding, to live as husband and wife… even if they can’t have kids.”
“That’s news to me.”
Ye Tang thought for a moment: “Let me guess—the problem now is Gray’s sister and her fiancé can’t hold the wedding, right? Because no priest will witness a werewolf-human union.”
Xiu, who’d wanted to hear Ye Tang’s views on werewolf-human unions, was stunned. He started wondering if there was anything Ye Tang couldn’t guess.
“You got it…”
“Then hold a wedding that doesn’t need a priest. If they truly love each other and want to live together, what does it matter without a priest’s witness or official papers? Do couples with priestly blessings and papers never divorce?”
“True feelings don’t change because of a piece of paper. If a piece of paper can change it, it wasn’t true to begin with.”
With that, Ye Tang and Xiu arrived at the entrance to Abe Village.
Under the big tree in the village, Lang was playing with the children.
“Lang, why are your ears so big?”
A child climbed on Lang’s thigh, trying to touch the fluffy pointed ears on his head.
Lang lowered his head toward the child, letting her ruffle his ears without restraint: “So I can hear you better.”
“Lang, why are your eyes so big?”
Another child hugged Lang’s muzzle, staring curiously with her big round eyes.
So Lang blinked at her: “So I can see you more clearly.”
“Lang! Why are your hands so big?”
“So I can catch you better!”
The child who’d climbed onto Lang’s neck from behind nearly tumbled headfirst, but Lang reached back, scooped her up, and set her on his lap.
Angeline sat in Lang’s lap, hugging a thick book. She turned around, her glass-bead-like blue eyes—so like her mother’s—shining brightly.
“I got it! I know why your mouth is so big, Lang!”
“Hm?”
Rubbing Angeline’s little head, Lang deliberately struck an exaggerated gentlemanly pose and smiled as he asked: “Then can my kind and beautiful Miss Angeline tell me why my mouth is so big?”
The little girl beamed, her eyes curving, and proudly announced her great discovery: “Because God wants Lang to sing the most wonderful songs with the biggest voice!”
Lang was stunned for a moment.
Angeline proved worthy of being that person’s daughter. Her words were like a curse-lifting incantation that saved him, who had loathed his own appearance and felt inferior about his origins.
“Ah haha, hahahahaha…”
“Lang?”
Angeline tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Lang, who had suddenly burst into laughter and was laughing until tears streamed down.
He wiped the corners of his eyes with his claws, then stroked the top of Angeline’s head again. “Since Angeline likes my singing, I’ll sing for Angeline to hear.”
“Ah! So sly! We like listening to Lang sing too!”
The boy who had been climbing the tree shouted and quickly slid down the trunk.
“Yeah! We all like Lang’s songs!”
“We like them!”
“We all like Lang!”
“We like him the most!”
The children gathered around in a group. Some kissed Lang, while others hugged him. Mimi and Kiqi proudly pounced into their big brother’s arms. The shy Ben softly said to Angeline, “Thank you.”
Angeline did not quite understand why Ben was thanking her. But being thanked felt nice, so she smiled and let out an “Mm!”
“Jeez… Lang is doing something stupid again.”
Xiu stood with his hands on his hips, verbally complaining about his brother, though his eyes betrayed an unconcealable envy.
Ye Tang followed behind Xiu, walking along with a smile. Everything before her eyes made her unable to hold back her laughter.
If she could, she truly hoped this beautiful moment would continue just like this.