Mommy Wolf: Raise A Cub, Claimed By His Beast Daddy-Chapter 75: Sleep Powder (I)

"Tsk. This will be the last time I share my hunt with you if you keep feeding those eagles," Kael said before cutting off a big piece of meat for Sisi to bring to the eagle beastmen outside.

Sisi smiled as she accepted it. "Thank you."

She stood up and walked out of the cave.

As Jojo watched her leave, he pouted and said to the crimson-eyed demon, "Daddy, don’t be mean to her. Sisi just wants to share. She said sharing is good, it helps you make friends!"

"You don’t need friends who only weigh you down," Kael lectured. "If you have to hunt for someone every day, then that isn’t friendship in the first place. She’s been teaching you too much human culture. We don’t need friends, Jojo. We’ve always done well, just the two of us."

"But—" Jojo had no way to refute that. He was only repeating what Sisi had told him before, even though he hadn’t fully understood her meaning back then.

After all, the demon wearing his father’s face was right. Jojo and his father had always been alone, and they had been doing just fine, until the ambush.

Kael ignored Jojo’s troubled expression and handed him the best cut of venison. "Here. Eat more so you can grow big and tall."

"Mm... okay."

Sisi walked toward the eagle beastmen resting some distance away from the cave. They were perched in a tree, with Marik hanging upside down beneath them, secured tightly with rope. It was their preferred arrangement, since birds naturally favored high places.

She offered a thin smile as she took out a small bottle filled with red powder from her pouch and sprinkled some onto the meat she carried.

The powder came from Titin Mushroom, a type of mushroom that induced deep sleep once consumed. Sisi had collected it not long ago from a cluster of Titin Mushrooms growing near the old cave.

It wasn’t dangerous. She had learned how to prepare Titin Mushroom soup back at the orphanage, it was commonly used to treat insomnia. The Matriarch often took it due to her chronic back and neck pain, which made sleeping difficult.

The effects weren’t immediate. It usually took around fifteen to thirty minutes to work, but once they fell asleep, they wouldn’t wake for at least five hours, unless they were struck hard enough in the head.

Sisi had originally collected the powder for Marik. He once claimed that he didn’t need sleep, but his exhausted expression said otherwise. She had planned to brew medicine for him.

’Who would’ve thought I’d use Titin Mushroom so deviously... Marik should be thanking me for this,’ Sisi thought.

She still didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Marik had been responsible for Jojo’s suffering in the past.

He must have harbored a lifelong grudge against Jojo’s father, whether due to the curse or personal matters. Yet in the end, it was Jojo who suffered the most.

’But I can’t ignore the fact that he protected Jojo, taught him, and raised him with genuine love. He’s a good father figure, if not for his sin...’

Sisi didn’t want to judge too hastily. Whenever Marik spoke of Jojo’s father, there was a burning fury in his eyes. Whatever Kael had done must have been so cruel that even a man like Marik could harbor such hatred.

’Kael...’

Sisi didn’t know what to make of Jojo’s father. For now, he treated Jojo fairly, but his temper was clearly volatile.

What would happen if Jojo made a mistake in the future? Would his own father beat him?

Kael, the Beast King, looked like the kind of ruler who only listened to himself. Perhaps he had a qualities of a great king, and a terrible father.

Both Marik and Kael were complicated beastmen.

So Sisi chose the only side that mattered;

Jojo’s.

She would do whatever it took to ensure that Jojo grew up healthy, even in such an unforgiving environment. Marik’s death would only harm him.

’What would happen to a four-year-old if he witnessed his godfather’s severed head displayed on a stake after brutal torture caused by his own father?’

Sisi didn’t want to know the answer. Her hands trembled slightly.

She walked up to the tree where the eagle beastmen were perched and called out, "Hello, good sirs. I’m here to deliver meat from the Beast King."

Grishaw and his subordinate had been napping, they hadn’t slept at all the previous night. Full sleep wasn’t permitted, but napping in short intervals and waking every thirty minutes to check on the tiger beastman was standard practice for eagle corps soldiers.

At the sound of a woman’s gentle voice, they opened their eyes and looked down.

And there they saw her.

She had already been captivating the night before, even during the blizzard. Now, with the storm gone and sunlight illuminating her features, both eagle beastmen found themselves momentarily speechless.

"Good sirs, please come down. I’ve brought meat from the Beast King."

"F-from the Beast King?!" Grishaw and his subordinate immediately leapt from the branches, wings flaring as they landed before her.

Grishaw was the first to speak, though the situation felt surreal. Just last night, they had tried to capture her even using planning to use their sharp talons to get ahold of her.

She had retaliated mercilessly, binding him to a tree with her power. Grishaw had been genuinely terrified, convinced he would be absorbed and turned into fertilizer.

And yet now, they were smiling at one another, as if everything that had happened was merely a bad dream.

"Is this truly a gift from Our King, miss?" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Well... not exactly," Sisi replied honestly. "I asked for a share of his hunt so I could give it to you."

She guessed that Kael’s reluctance to share his prey was well-known among his subordinates. It would only seem suspicious if she claimed otherwise.

"Please take this as an apology for last night," she added softly. "I was too harsh on you. I’m sorry."