Chapter 47.2

Although Oswald constantly argued with Kevin and blocked him throughout the day, he secretly enjoyed seeing Kevin reveal his side and talk about his life in front of him.

Whether it was being picky about food or complaining about certain people and things, as long as it was a side that others couldn't see, Oswald liked it very much.

Perhaps this was a bit twisted. Oswald chuckled to himself.

But Kevin had no interest or patience to continue discussing these matters, and soon his attention returned to Oswald.

"Warmer now?" Kevin wanted to grab Oswald's hand to see how the white hair was doing, but he felt warmth in his hand— at least the temperature of his palm had unconsciously returned to normal. He didn't know if it would continue to rise or if it would go back to the previous alternation of cold and heat.

Oswald let out a "hmm." He hadn't been paying attention to himself while speaking, and now that Kevin had pulled him back, he realized that he was slowly recovering from the stiffness caused by the cold earlier.

But the dreadful thing was... there were more white hairs on his hand.

Thinking of Kevin's "molds" metaphor, Oswald felt a sense of unease and a faint urge to chop off his hand. It was almost a crime to look at it for too long.

"It's okay, it's not ugly." Instead of showing any empathy, Kevin calmly raised his hand to touch the white hair, with an expression of indifference on his face.

"Sometimes you don't even realize how many things you remember, and not all of your dreams are absurd and baseless. I think you're not far from transforming... Tsk, it's quite interesting to touch."

The bastard didn't feel satisfied after touching it twice, so he playfully grabbed it again and shamelessly asked, "Does it hurt?"

Oswald glared at him angrily. "What do you think? Your Excellency, are you addicted to teasing?"

Kevin wanted to ask if something similar had happened in the past, but now he knew that it couldn't be the case, otherwise, Oswald wouldn't be staring at the white hair with a surprised and stiff expression.

He didn't just touch it for fun. After touching it twice, he raised an eyebrow and guessed, "If it's the giant beastman blood inherited from your grandfather, then your grandfather must have been quite the beast. The quality of the fur... it could be a white lion, a devil tiger, or a snow wolf. Not bad at all, it wouldn't be a loss if you changed."

Oswald: "..." Can you please stop talking?

The young emperor couldn't understand how he could transform from a human into something non-human without losing anything.

Besides, even if the dream was real, how could his pure-blooded giant beast-human race grandfather be the same as him, a half-blood? What if the result was missing limbs, or if everything else changed but his head remained the same? How could he bear to look at that?

If he were the only one in this secret passage, it would be different. But there was someone beside him, and what was even more terrifying was that he had some other feelings for this person.

Which idiot would willingly show their flaws in front of someone they liked?

Oswald thought proudly, Whoever wants to show up can show up, but I won't.

"The fur of a white lion feels rougher than yours, so let's rule that out." Kevin, unaware of Oswald's thoughts, continued analyzing the possibilities as if he were playing a game.

"How do you know so much about fur? Are you a pervert?" Oswald angrily slapped his loose paw and clenched his fingers into a fist to prevent Kevin from seeing it.

"I've had many pets before." After Kevin finished speaking, he thought for a moment and realized it wasn't a good thing to boast, so he made a slight correction. "I mean, I've taken care of many animals."

In days of yore, the Temple of Light reared a menagerie of fearsome beasts. It was rumored that a vast valley lay both before and behind the temple, where these creatures were allowed to roam free.

The master of the temple would often come to the valley to admire his charges, or to affectionately stroke their great heads.

His taste was simple, with but one standard: he preferred his beasts to be as handsome as possible. Thus, the majority of his specimens were mighty and majestic lions, tigers, and wolves.

Kevin's taste in beasts was simple yet refined. He favored lions with their untamed ferocity, tigers with their long fangs and regal bearing, and snow wolves with their snow-white fur, calm eyes, and heroic spirit.

He once remarked that the snow wolf was the only creature that could match his temperament, a statement that earned him two years of teasing from the goddess Thenis.

Kevin's prized possession was a Sirius, a snow wolf with the added beauty of a pair of wings. These creatures were once plentiful in the world, but they are now all but extinct, a relic of a bygone era when the old gods still walked the earth.

Kevin clapped his hands and stood up. He believed that mixed blood, especially Oswald, who had only a small percentage of giant beastmen blood, would not be affected by Betan Day as much as ordinary giant beasts.

At most, he would grow a few tufts of hair and turn into claws. His analysis just now was merely a jest.

"Is your body temperature normal? Let's start when it is. Don't waste time here." This time, Kevin did not hesitate to help. He reached out to pull the emperor, who was relying on him and strode forward.

The artificially chiseled road was uneven, and here and there, stagnant water seeped in from nowhere, forming shallow depressions in the recesses.

The sound of footsteps, water splashing, the sound of their breathing, and the echoes all mixed together, making it impossible to hear anything else.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Kevin suddenly realized that Oswald's footsteps behind him had slowed down. It was as if he had been left behind for a while.

"What's wrong?" Kevin stopped and turned around to ask, but a protruding and curved stone wall blocked his view.

Kevin stopped short, his ears pricked up. He could hear a strange noise coming from behind the stone wall. It sounded like something was beating against the wall with its wings.

Kevin's heart began to race. He peered through the fluorite light, and his blood ran cold. On the wall opposite the stone wall, he could see a huge shadow. It was not the shape of a human.

Kevin knew that he was in danger. He had to find a way to escape.