Reincarnated As A Lion In Another World-Chapter 67: The Matter Of Love
Katari was what some would call a crazy person, in its truest sense.
And indeed, Katari was crazy, at least, her mind didn’t run the same way others did.
Like she said, Kael was the only one who gave her a sense of meaning in her life. It was like a traumatic bond, one that had been so ignored by everything, even Kael, when she was little.
From the moment she started to hang out with Kael, she grew attached to him because of his lackluster attitude to address her properly.
He might have given her brown rat meat and played with her in awkward manners but that was enough for the bond to establish.
It could be said that she was imprinting on Kael, seeing him as a provider, even though she never understood that concept.
Although she was clingy, Kael never bothered to chase her away, causing her to become more attached. It got to the stage where Kael’s absence from her sight made her feel lonely.
When their father had tried to harm Kael, she had impulsively stood up to him, although her efforts were supported by Nalii, Priya, and Diane at that time
Following that was some sort of stigma from the remaining pride members. Even her mother began to interact less with her and focused more on mating with the pride leader to have a new child.
In an alternate timeline, this would have spelled doom for Katari as neglect from the mother could easily cause the cub to die from not being protected or cared for.
With no one to shield her or teach her how to hunt, she would have eventually died and become forgotten in the harsh land of these wild creatures.
Only Kael was staying beside her at that moment. He led her on their own little private hunts where she could learn how to use her space powers in the field.
The art of stealth, Kael would show her how it could best be used for hunting. A good amount of the skills she learned, she learned it with Kael by her side.
Kael was flawed by his inability to express himself emotionally, his words when trying to show he cared could sound bland. But she preferred Kael like that, she preferred that the only words to come from him were orders on what she should and shouldn’t do.
Kael was not just a step-brother or the pride leader, he was her life pillar, without whom she would probably sink into a spiral of depression before losing her sense of self and potentially becoming a monster.
She now understood how her mother had felt for her own pride leader. She was aware that even if she had children for Kael in the near future, they would never hold as much importance as he does in her heart.
Alas, she was a lioness, not a human, much couldn’t be expected of her in the subject of the mind as hers were simple.
There was never a moment where she voluntarily removed her senses from Kael. It was either she had his scent or he was in her line of sight or she could hear his footsteps.
If she couldn’t be close to him at any given moment, it was not of her own will.
Even now, as she lunged at N’bayé, her senses were still trained on Kael.
Her body hit the transparent barrier surrounding N’bayé. Space twisted around her claws as she scratched relentlessly.
N’bayé frowned, taking note of the crazy look in Katari’s eyes. She could see it, Katari really intended to kill her.
N’bayé raised her leg to send a swift kick at Katari’s exposed belly. Immediately, Katari was sent flying until she hit the wall on the other side.
She slid down the wall, leaving some cracks on it and she landed on her four limbs in a crouching position. Her eyes never left N’bayé’s form.
Space blended around her as she disappeared from view. N’bayé frowned harder, this wasn’t as trivial as she thought.
"Are you seriously fighting me because I don’t love Kael?" N’bayé asked as the runes on her body lit up, trying to determine the presence of the lioness.
"Anyone who doesn’t love him can betray him!" Katari snarled. N’bayé waved her hand in the direction she heard the voice.
A blue flame arc sped in that direction but hit nothing but the wall.
"That’s not how love works, Katari. Just because I don’t love him doesn’t mean I would betray him.
I already see him as my pride leader and I even mate with him occasionally. The chances of him being the father of my children are certain by now, why would I betray him?"
N’bayé’s words only seemed to make Katari more angry and therefore more crazy.
N’bayé hurriedly stepped aside just in time to avoid an invisible flying claw slash that sliced into the wall behind her. Looking at the wall, N’bayé could tell that her barrier would not have defended her from that attack.
"Are you perhaps angry that Kael likes me?
Or you’re mad that I might become the first mother?" N’bayé asked, trying to get into the mind of Katari.
Katari let out a skull-tingling chuckle, "No, I’m angry that you do not love him. You do not deserve his affection if you cannot reciprocate."
N’bayé stretched her hand to the side to catch the fur of the invisible lioness. She held Katari up by the scruff of her neck using her tremendous arm strength.
"So you are jealous?" N’bayé asked.
Katari didn’t answer, instead, she teleported out of N’bayé’s grasp. Katari knew that N’bayé wasn’t taking this fight as seriously as she should, if not she would have incapacitated her before she could even turn invisible.
"Listen, I may not love Kael, but I will learn to. I have no choice but to learn how to genuinely love him if I want to coexist with him for a long time." N’bayé said.
Still, Katari didn’t answer.
"Your understanding of what love is may be flawed because I know that it’s not something that can be forced, it needs time.
I could have lied to you and told you yes the first time, you would believe me because that is what you want to hear.
But what would be the point, lies need to be supported by lies and it creates a place of discomfort. I don’t want this pride to be a place of discomfort for me.
Kael’s goals are my goals, you can rest assured. But mundane things like love which in my opinion is nothing more than a necessary hindrance, cannot be forced.
I may look like a threat, but maybe that’s because you’re not strong enough to not care about it."
N’bayé’s last words were like a heavy blow to Katari’s heart. She remained silent but her desire to attack diminished by a lot.
N’bayé continued, "We are all focused on getting stronger, and here you are, causing inner turmoil.
Do you think Kael would be happy to see you do this? To see you fight me?
There is a long period of prosperity and luxury ahead of us if we can all stick to our objective. Every other thing will naturally come to us, including this love you speak of.
Speaking of which, maybe you should also ask Kael if he loves you. Ask him if he actually loves any of us, using your own definition of love."
Katari stared at N’bayé, her eyes glazed over as her mind began to get occupied by something else. Of course, she never intended to ask Kael if he loved them.
She knew that she wouldn’t like his answer.
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Now wasn’t the time to ask such a question.
N’bayé sighed as she heard the footsteps that Katari purposely revealed as she walked out of the cave.
She really didn’t want to be forced to hurt Katari. At the same time, she was worried.
If Katari ever became a tier 3 lion, she would be troublesome. She shuddered just thinking of the unpredictability and power Katari at Tier 3 would possess.
’I need to make preparations.’ She thought to herself then returning to the rune she was drawing on the wall before Katari interrupted her.
And through all this, Nalii slept soundly, her body growing bigger little by little.
####
Outside, the lionesses were lying under the clouded sky, letting their bodies rest after the meal.
Kael rested his head on Olivia’s chubby body, using her as a pillow as he gazed at the clouds.
His ears picked up Katari’s steps as she walked out of the cave. Because of N’bayé’s runes that she drew on the walls recently, no one could tell what was happening inside the cave from outside. So he didn’t hear anything that had happened before Katari walked out.
Kael continued to daydream. He imagined a day when he would stand at the top of the mountain, and his roar would cause the creatures of the world to bow.
He imagined dividing the mountain among the lions of the clan he wanted to build. He imagined the luxurious life he and his consorts would have.
He imagined achieving all that the previous Primordial Lions couldn’t.
’Soon,’ he thought, closing his eyes to better visualize his future and maybe sleep off.
However, Kael would never have thought that the dream he was about to have would reveal a chilling piece of information to him.
