Chapter 158: Cindy Yam Soderbell

Cindy trotted behind the guard on her short little legs.

Soon, the two arrived at a corner of the rear courtyard of the lord’s manor.

After Lily became the lord of White Mountain Territory, she had carried out several expansions of the lord’s manor, enlarging the rear courtyard several times over and even opening a path to the back mountain. This way, in certain critical emergencies, it would be possible to escape from the manor via the back mountain. Furthermore, to prevent the risk of being surrounded, there were about ten such routes leading to various places both inside and outside White Mountain City.

The area where the Magical Beast Cub was kept was along one of those paths from the rear courtyard—originally not part of the manor grounds. It was enclosed only after the second expansion. Initially, the plan was to build a few warehouses there, but the arrival of the Magical Beast Cub led to the area being converted into an enclosure.

As soon as Cindy entered the large warehouse, she instinctively covered her nose.

The stench inside was overwhelming.

The guards on duty looked alarmed when they saw Cindy.

Leaving aside her background, the five-year-old Cindy appeared taller than typical children her age, resembling a seven- or eight-year-old. She was also extremely beautiful and adorable, like a delicate doll. Anyone could tell that she would undoubtedly become a great beauty in the future.

However, everyone in the lord’s manor—from the guards down to the servants—was well aware of little Cindy’s fearsome reputation.

She wasn’t the type of child who played pranks or bossed around servants.

In fact, if that were the case, they might have preferred it.

For example, after somehow learning about fighting dogs, she demanded the guards find her several. She fed only one particularly strong and fierce dog with meat and excluded it from the fights, while the others were given only minimal sustenance. A few days later, she tossed a large piece of meat into the enclosure where the dogs were held, simply to see what they would do.

In another instance, she had two hounds brought in, then caught a wild wolf and starved it for two days. She then had it thrown into the same enclosure with the also-starving hounds. Her reason was to observe whether the wild wolf was stronger than the hounds or vice versa under the same conditions.

The first experiment ended with the well-fed hound being torn apart and devoured by the others. The second experiment saw the wild wolf kill both hounds but suffer grave injuries itself and eventually die.

Many guards felt Miss Cindy’s actions were excessively cruel.

But a minority believed her behavior aligned more with the temperament of a powerful lord.

Regardless of their stance, they all shared a common understanding: Miss Cindy was not an easy child to handle.

They even instinctively tried to keep her away from animals.

Because so far, not a single animal had survived more than a month under Cindy’s care. Most absurd of all, she only liked ferocious beasts. She had no interest in gentle pets like kittens or puppies.

Now, as Cindy looked at the black kitten chained by the neck, her expression turned disappointed. “Why is it just a kitten?”

That kitten, about the size of a palm, was in fact the cub of the Shadow Panther.

Akar had originally thought the Demonic Sword might possess special abilities, so he had the cub sent to White Mountain Territory.

Ion and Yam tested it several times using the Demonic Sword but found nothing unusual. They considered killing it to extract its blood, but recalling Akar’s suggestion, they figured raising the cub and turning it into Bloodline Potions later would be more profitable. Thus, they spared it and raised it instead.

However, Magical Beast Cubs had a long growth cycle.

Typically, it took at least a decade, and the higher the tier of the beast, the longer it took to mature.

This Shadow Panther cub had a growth cycle of roughly twelve to fifteen years. Before reaching maturity, it could easily be killed by an ordinary person with a stick. But once fully grown, it would possess the strength of a Second-Tier Bloodline User, and with a few more years of raising, it could even rival a Third-Tier Bloodline User.

At that point, not just ordinary people—even Bloodline Users with slightly lower strength—could be killed by it.

This cub had recently entered its rapid growth phase, so its appetite had significantly increased. Although it hadn’t yet developed special abilities, its individual strength was already approaching that of a First-Tier Bloodline User. This was why additional guards were assigned here—to prevent the cub from escaping its restraints.

“Miss Cindy, even if it’s just a kitten, it’s still a Magical Beast Cub. Please be careful,” one of the guards reminded her. “Someone's already been injured.”

Cindy nodded, not rejecting the guard’s concern. “I’m here to feed it.”

“Miss Cindy…”

Another guard seemed about to object, but the one holding the meat stepped in first to stop him.

Though young, Cindy was very assertive, and mere words would not sway her.

The guard handed her a large piece of meat and pointed at a long scratch marked on the ground. “Miss Cindy, don’t forget what you promised me. Don’t cross this white line.”

“Alright.” Cindy didn’t say much. She took the meat, squatted near the white line, and called out with the meat in hand, “Come eat.”

The Shadow Panther cub didn’t immediately approach. It cautiously observed for a while, ensuring there was no danger, before slowly inching toward Cindy.

“Huh?”

The guards watching the scene couldn’t help but murmur in surprise.

They had been tending to this cub for years but had never seen it act so docile. Even the guard who fed it the most had to be extremely cautious every time, fearing it might bite his hand off. They never squatted near the scratch line—feeding it meant tossing the meat toward the cub and staying clear.

It was always a matter of keeping distance—both sides not trusting each other.

But Cindy knew nothing of this. She only remembered her promise not to approach the cub. So she figured: if the cub came to her, that had nothing to do with her.

When the cub finally reached Cindy, sniffed the meat cautiously, then grabbed it and tried to flee, Cindy swiftly extended a hand and grabbed its tail. The startled cub howled in pain, dropping the meat.

Before it could react, Cindy pulled its tail with her left hand, dragging it toward her.

Shocked, the cub’s instincts kicked in, and it lunged to bite her.

But Cindy had already released the tail and, as it turned to bite her, she quickly reached out with her left hand again, grabbed the cub’s neck fur, and lifted it up.

With all four legs off the ground, the cub flailed wildly, but Cindy simply burst into a fit of hearty laughter.

Her actions thoroughly terrified the surrounding guards, who scrambled to separate her from the cub. Though the cub must not die, they were well aware of who was more important between the two.

Before they could intervene, Cindy stuffed the chunk of meat into the Shadow Panther cub’s mouth, prompting more frantic flailing and howling.

“Eat!” Cindy looked down at the cub from above. “If you don’t eat, I’ll shove it into your mouth.”

The cub struggled desperately.

But it quickly discovered that the more it struggled, the deeper the food was shoved into its mouth—so deep it was almost choking and unable to breathe. Left with no choice, it had to bite and chew furiously. As a result, the speed at which the food was forced into its mouth slowed down considerably, so it had to chew even faster.

A chunk of meat nearly as thick as a small calf's leg was quickly devoured.

Then came the second chunk.

The Magical Beast Cub had no choice but to quickly eat that one too, followed by a third, and then a fourth.

With the rapid chewing of all this food, it soon realized that it couldn’t eat anymore. But the horrifying sound of laughter still echoed around it, and the food being shoved into its mouth had not stopped.

Soon, it felt unbearably bloated.

Yet if it didn’t hurry and finish eating, it would be choked to the point of suffocation, so it had no choice but to eat everything in its mouth as fast as possible.

The Magical Beast Cub was overwhelmed with indignation.

Fortunately, although each chunk of meat was thick like a small leg, there were only six or seven pieces in total. It only amounted to about twice its usual meal portion.

“No more?”

Holding up the Shadow Panther Cub with her left hand, Cindy reached out with her right to grab another piece of meat, only to find none left. Her face showed a hint of disappointment.

But seeing the Magical Beast Cub’s belly swollen and round, limp in her hand and barely struggling, nearly rolling its eyes back, she thought for a moment and put it down on the ground.

Then Cindy poked its belly, not expecting it to suddenly flip over and lunge at her left wrist. However, Cindy reacted just as quickly, pulling her hand back in an instant. Due to the length of the chain, the cub’s bite missed, and it couldn’t pounce. Meanwhile, Cindy’s unrestrained right hand struck it directly on the head with a slap, making the Magical Beast Cub stagger backward.

The Magical Beast Cub quickly regained its balance and bared its teeth at Cindy.

“You seem full of energy.”

This time, however, the Magical Beast Cub didn’t dare attack Cindy again.

Because it had already realized that this small two-legged creature in front of it was far more terrifying than all the big two-legged ones it had met before.

Though it had not yet matured, its innate Magical Beast instinct to bully the weak and fear the strong had begun to awaken.

“I’ve decided. From now on, your name is Little Black.” Cindy’s eyes sparkled as she grinned. “How many meals does it eat a day?”

“We usually feed it three times a day.”

“So that means it’ll eat again tonight, right?”

Seeing the sudden smile appear on Cindy’s face, the nearby guards immediately had a bad feeling, and even looked at the Magical Beast Cub with sympathy.

“Yes.”

“I’ll feed it dinner tonight!” As expected, Cindy didn’t disappoint the guards' predictions.

Then Cindy sighed again. “If only I could eat like it does.”

The guards were confused, but one of them still replied, “If Miss Cindy feels she didn’t get enough to eat, we can have the cook prepare more meat patties for you.”

“Oh no, that’s not it.” Cindy shook her head. “Mother doesn’t let me eat too fast. She says it’s not graceful. If I eat too fast, I’ll be punished with etiquette lessons. But those are so boring. I want to attend swordsmanship lessons like Brother Aches. But Father says I’m still too young and can’t start swordsmanship training yet. I have to wait a few more years. But I’ve already secretly picked up swords before—I can even lift yours.”

“Miss Cindy, being able to lift a sword and being able to wield it are two different things,” one of the guards gently said. “Sir Yam said you could start sword training in two more years. He must have his reasons. For now, you should enjoy your childhood. Because once you start sword training, you might not find it fun anymore.”

The other guards seemed to remember something as well and all smiled warmly. “Sir Yam’s sword classes are indeed very strict.”

Cindy glanced at the guards.

Of course, she didn’t bother arguing with them.

She had already tried swinging a sword many times—every time Aches practiced swordsmanship, she would watch and memorize his movements, then imitate them on her own afterward.

But she didn’t plan to talk about any of that.

At the very least, not to these guards.

Because she remembered something her father once told Aches during training: “You don’t need your subordinates to know what you can do. You need them to know what they should do.” Moreover, while she hadn’t met many other five-year-olds, she had a stupid cousin she had seen several times. All she had to do was observe what got him punished and what got him praised. Then she would know what she should and shouldn’t do.

As for those things that might get either punished or praised depending on the situation...

Wouldn’t it be fine as long as no one found out?

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