Someone once said that language was a kind of magic too.
When this magic seeped into Lang’s heart, the scenery before his eyes changed dramatically—the night vision of werewolves far surpassed that of humans.
“Oh, he’s turned back into a full werewolf.”
Ye Tang, who held Lang’s fluffy hand, felt relieved to see that the bleeding had stopped.
She placed the flower crown on Lang’s head and pulled him to sit on the nearby grass.
Lang pushed at the flower crown on his own head that blocked his view, but he couldn’t stop the pounding in his chest. He had a vague understanding of the flaw in that transformation potion now— the greater his emotional fluctuations, the harder it was for his body to maintain a human form. …That said, for him to sit beside Mary without any emotional stirrings was simply an impossible task.
“I came back this time because I have something to tell you.”
The woman’s face appeared serene and gentle under the moonlight. Sitting beside Ye Tang, Lang could clearly see even the subtle changes in her expression, smell the faint fragrance from her body, and feel the warmth radiating from her, whether he wanted to or not.
“I’m leaving this country.”
“Mm… What?”
His distraction lasted only a second before Lang whipped his head around, nearly suffocating.
He couldn’t believe that Mary had chased after him just to personally deliver news that struck him like a bolt from the blue.
“The Queen is a tricky figure, even more troublesome than I imagined. If I stay in this country, she’ll definitely reach out for Angeline and Eva.”
To shoot a person, first shoot their horse. Since the Queen couldn’t bind Ye Tang with a lover, marriage, or benefits, she would surely use Angeline and Eva to bind her instead. Ye Tang could easily imagine the Queen, upon realizing she couldn’t control her, turning to threats and bribes involving Angeline’s future, marriage, and even the safety of Eva and Angeline.
Ever since she had torn apart the fake personality of that dog system, Ye Tang had decided to live following her heart. She would eat what she liked, do what she wanted. No one could force her to work for them; her life was for the things and people that interested her.
She had experienced the scheming and deception of court life before, but this was the first world she had traversed with fluffy beastmen to pet.
Her lifespan in this world was at most a hundred or so years. Why waste those brief decades in a court that held little interest for her? Were fluffy ones not fun to pet? Or was witnessing the growth of the healing angel Angeline not appealing?
“I’m planning a world tour, to see more kinds of fluffy… cough, I mean beastmen. Humans have racial differences based on latitude and longitude, so beastmen must have distributional differences too, right? I wonder if heading east would let me see panda people, Tibetan antelope people, golden snub-nosed monkey people… Ah, but I’d love to see polar bear people too if they exist…”
In the Queen’s palace, Ye Tang had spent most of her time maintaining a “noble and elegant” smile, the kind that didn’t reach her eyes. Over time, she felt her facial muscles going numb.
In front of Lang, Ye Tang didn’t need to wear a mask, so she spoke animatedly, her eyes full of longing.
A world tour… trip.
That meant Mary wouldn’t return to this country, right?
The pain in his heart made Lang’s ears droop involuntarily, but he didn’t interrupt Ye Tang out of sorrow—he liked seeing the stars in her eyes.
Even if those stars didn’t shine for him.
With his fur touching the ground, Lang turned back into a human youth.
“—So, Lang.”
Suddenly called by name, Lang in his youthful form looked up.
Before him, Ye Tang stood and extended her hand toward him.
“Do you want to come with me? After I settle Eva and William, come cross the oceans with me, travel the continents, and take Angeline to see every corner of the world.”
It was impossible that she hadn’t noticed Lang’s feelings for her at all. It was just that Ye Tang couldn’t return feelings of the same depth. After all, her feelings for Lang were still only at the stage of caring.
But that care alone was enough for Ye Tang to want to bring him along on the journey, to see this vast world, to explore mysteries neither of them knew.
As for how their relationship might evolve in the future… that was a matter for later.
Who could guarantee what hadn’t happened yet?
“————”
His open mouth turned into a huge maw once more, fur, muzzle, ears, and tail growing back as Lang reverted to werewolf form. He instinctively reached out, then flinched when he saw his clawed hand.
But in the end, that hand still grasped Ye Tang’s firmly.
“I’m going.”
“I want to go.”
As long as it’s with you, even the farthest place is my home.
Even if our feelings aren’t equal, you are the reason I chose to become human.
……
“And then? And then!? Did Lady Wise Woman and Lord Silver Wolf live happily together afterward?!”
The little girl in the red velvet cloak tugged at her grandmother’s skirt, shaking it nonstop. She was eager to hear the ending of the story her grandmother had told.
The grandmother affectionately stroked the little girl’s head and led her into a grand memorial hall.
The largest exhibition hall in the memorial housed two statues. The front one was enormous, occupying two-thirds of the entire hall.
It was a statue of a woman, who gazed down with boundless compassion, her eyes gently closed in a smile. In the protective embrace of her arms, beastmen of all kinds looked up at the woman with varied expressions.
“Wow~~~ So beautiful~~~!!”
The little girl cried out in delight and dashed forward, only running back at her grandmother’s call of “Don’t run too fast!”: “Grandma! Is this Lady Wise Woman you mentioned earlier!? It must be her! She’s so pretty! Like an angel… no, like a goddess!”
The grandmother chuckled: “To beastmen, she truly was a goddess.”
“Under Lord Silver Wolf’s protection, Lady Wise Woman crossed oceans and traveled continents. Wherever she went, humans and beastmen ceased their endless attacks on each other. Both humans and beastmen realized that such mutual aggression was meaningless. Both should use their lives for things that mattered.”
The little girl blinked in confusion: “Things that mattered more?”
“For example, to love others. To protect those important to them. And… to create a better world for the ones they love.”
People passed by the grandmother and little girl constantly.
Some had bird heads, some had finned ears, and others sprouted tiger tails when startled.
Of course, even with such animal-featured humans walking around, those who couldn’t transform or lacked animal traits didn’t make a fuss.
Because in this world, “beastmen” was just a general term like “yellow race,” “white race,” or “black race.” Whether “werewolf” or “rabbit person,” they were merely races among humans.
“Huh? But Lady Wise Woman doesn’t have Lord Silver Wolf beside her! How could they place the statues separating Lady Wise Woman and Lord Silver Wolf like this?”
The little girl had long been captivated by the powerful, handsome, loyal, and loving Silver Wolf from the story. She was indignant that no statue of him stood beside Wise Woman’s.
The grandmother looked a bit helpless: “Because the one who commissioned this statue of the Wise Woman was His Majesty Ulysses…”
“After Lady Wise Woman left the country, the bad nobles secretly freed the Crown Prince who had been under house arrest, helped him seize the throne, and murdered Her Majesty the Queen. With the Queen’s death, no one could stop these bad nobles from digging coal and mining, polluting the environment. Three years later, the capital was struck by a terrible smog…”
Remembering how her father had described that catastrophe in her childhood, the grandmother shuddered. Just hearing about it had become a shadow over her youth. One could imagine how terrifying it truly was.
“The toxic fog killed countless people, but the bad nobles and the new king simply fled elsewhere to continue their decadent lives. His Majesty Ulysses couldn’t stand by as these villains ignored the people, so he rose in rebellion and ultimately became the king of this country.”
“At His Majesty Ulysses’s request, Lady Wise Woman returned to the country and helped him dispel the thick fog blanketing the capital. His Majesty Ulysses wanted to marry her as queen, but Lady Wise Woman once again left without a word alongside Lord Silver Wolf.”
“It’s said this statue was based on a sketch His Majesty Ulysses drew himself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t completed when he passed away…”
The little girl didn’t like hearing heavy topics. Before the grandmother finished, she ran off to look at the other statue.
The other statue was of two figures. A girl sat amid a pile of books, intently reading the one on her lap. Behind her stood a werewolf silently guarding her.
“Grandma! Is this Lady Wise Woman and Lord Silver Wolf?”
“No, this is a statue of the Great Scholar and Lord Wise Wolf. The Great Scholar was Lady Wise Woman’s daughter. She’s also the origin of the cloak you’re wearing now.”
The grandmother didn’t scold the little girl for her wandering attention. She walked over, bent down, and smiled: “The red velvet cloaks seen everywhere in Abe City commemorate the Great Scholar. Do you remember the story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’?”
“Yes!”
The little girl replied in a clear, crisp voice: “Little Red Riding Hood goes to deliver food to her grandmother and meets the Big Gray Wolf on the way! The Big Gray Wolf tricks her to rob grandmother’s house, but Little Red Riding Hood’s mom shows up, scolds him, and he reforms, realizing work is the right path!”
“Right. That’s the story.”
The grandmother nodded with a smile: “The Little Red Riding Hood in the story is the Great Scholar.”
“The Great Scholar inherited Lady Wise Woman’s wisdom and kindness. She translated human books for beastmen and beastmen speech for humans; she was an outstanding linguist. The Great Scholar, who had read extensively, was also a renowned historian who revealed to humans and beastmen the history they had forgotten in the river of time—a history where they once helped and supported each other.”
“Not only that. The Great Scholar was very skilled at creating fairy tales; she was a brilliant fairy tale author. Several of the fairy tale books by your bedside were written by her. She was also a botanist and a gourmet! Her story with Lord Wise Wolf is another beautiful tale!…”
The little girl didn’t hear the rest of the grandmother’s words. She had spotted a very handsome man.
The man was tall, with long silver hair tied back, deep features on a caramel-colored face. Most captivating were his eyes—flawless silver.
That silver sea reflected the statue of the Wise Woman, outlined in gold by the sunlight.
The little girl stared, entranced, until her grandmother called her back to her senses.
When she looked again, the silver-haired man was gone.
Outside the memorial, Abe City basked in brilliant sunlight. Vendors hawked red velvet cloaks on the streets, and countless parents bought them for their children and helped them put the cloaks on.
Who, hundreds of years ago, could have imagined that the legend of the Wise Woman and Silver Wolf, and the beautiful tale of the Great Scholar and Wise Wolf, would all begin with this cloak?
—’Little Red Riding Hood’ and the Big Gray Wolf Who Became Human (Complete)