Mommy Wolf: Raise A Cub, Claimed By His Beast Daddy-Chapter 36: Darling of the Earth (II)
"B-but... you—a bear—uwaaahh!" Jojo stammered before he wailed again. He was so scared that he thought he would actually lose Sisi. He even prayed to the Moon Goddess for the first time, promising that he would be a good and devout wolf as long as Sisi would be alright.
Sisi saw that Jojo was in no condition to talk right now, so she looked at Marik, who simply shrugged it off.
"I don’t know what happened either. Your skin just absorbed the Acate leaves and replaced the torn ones with new ones," Marik commented nonchalantly. "Are you sure you’re just a human? Because you’re more like a... no, never mind. Did you dream of anything while you were injured, at least?"
Sisi paused as she tried to recall her dream, then shook her head.
"I don’t remember either..." she said.
Marik stared at her for a while. "Is that so?"
"Mhm..." Sisi nodded, but her gaze shifted slightly, which Marik caught on immediately.
He still had suspicions but decided not to press further, knowing Sisi didn’t want to talk about it.
Either way, Sisi was safe, and that was the most important matter.
"I’ll be guarding the entrance. I tried to start a fire, but it’s difficult. You have to teach me how to use that thing you always use to start a fire," Marik said.
Sisi chuckled. "That’s called a match. I’ll start the fire for us later."
"Good."
As Marik was about to head back to the entrance, Sisi suddenly stopped him. "Marik."
"Hm?"
...
"Thank you, for saving Jojo’s life." Sisi bowed her head slightly. "I know we wouldn’t have survived without your help."
Marik scoffed and said nothing.
Honestly, he would feel much better if Sisi thanked him for saving her life instead of Jojo’s.
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he still didn’t want anything to do with that wretched Dawn Star. After all, killing that little wolf boy was still part of his life mission, just like when he killed the Dusk Star a while ago.
But since Sisi was so sincere in her gratitude, Marik could feel his heart softening. He simply took it as a roundabout way to repay his debt.
He could wait until Jojo became an adult to kill him, after all. As long as Jojo finally left Sisi’s side, then Marik wouldn’t need to hesitate anymore.
*
Meanwhile, Sisi was busy calming the crying pup. When she said she didn’t dream of anything, she was actually lying.
Yes, she did dream. But it was so strange that she thought it wasn’t worth mentioning.
After she heavily injured the enraged bear and rushed to Jojo’s side to protect him, Sisi felt her body grow cold. After sustaining such grievous injuries, she knew her chance of survival was low.
Yet, at that moment, she only cared about Jojo’s safety. She didn’t want her sacrifice to be in vain. She wanted Jojo to live, even if he wasn’t by her side anymore.
So she entrusted Jojo to Marik, hoping she could pass the torch to him. Even if Marik couldn’t save her, at least he could repay his debt by taking care of Jojo, right?
Everything went dark after that.
She could hear Jojo’s wails, but no matter how hard he cried, she couldn’t respond.
She kept sinking and sinking, until she couldn’t even hear Jojo’s cries anymore.
In those depths of helplessness, Sisi’s wish to see Jojo one last time grew stronger and stronger.
’Jojo, I wish I could stay a little longer by your side. I... this woman who thinks of you as her own son, wants nothing but to protect you.’
’I know that you’re not weak. You are a strong boy who can achieve great things in the future. So please... even if I can’t watch you grow up, please grow up healthy.’
That was the last prayer Sisi uttered before she truly lost consciousness.
Her heart was submerged in a deep cold once she realized she wouldn’t be by Jojo’s side anymore. But she had done everything she could while she was still alive.
*
She thought that was the end of her, until she suddenly saw a bright green glow in front of her.
She opened her eyes with difficulty and found herself lying in front of a giant—no, a massive tree.
Sisi felt her strength gradually return. Once she could stand, she walked closer and closer to the tree.
She traced the giant vines that sprawled across the trunk with her fingertips. Strangely, even these vines felt familiar to her, as if she touched them daily—yet she had never visited this tree, at least not in her seventeen years of memories.
"Long time no see, Elder."
The sentence slipped naturally from her lips as she stared at the majestic tree with cloud-like leaves. Yes, she could feel the tree was alive and greeting her with joy, as if it had been waiting for her for a very, very long time.
You... have... returned... my... darling...
The tree whispered into her ear through the breeze that gently caressed her hair.
At that moment, Sisi suddenly felt heat surging through her body, and she was pulled back— as if she had traveled through a wormhole and was dragged back to reality.
When she opened her eyes again, she heard Jojo’s sobs, and she found she could once again fulfill her wish to protect him, at least until she truly reached her final breath.
The dream was vivid yet strange. So strange that Sisi had no intention of telling anyone. Not Jojo, and certainly not Marik.
*
Jojo finally fell asleep after crying for too long. He nestled deep into Sisi’s embrace, hugging her so tightly that she couldn’t even shake him off.
In the end, Sisi lit a bonfire with the match and warmed up inside the cave, now with Marik by her side.
She didn’t have the heart to tell him to leave. After all, without him, she was sure that not only she would have been hurt, but Jojo as well.
She glanced at Marik, whose eyes were focused on the bear pelt he had been trying to dry for the past three hours, and murmured again, "Thank you for saving Jojo."
