Silas Thornton let out a soft breath, walked into the house, and shut the door behind him.
Something at his feet blocked his way.
He looked down. It was a fruit knife.
His brow furrowed as he bent down to pick it up.
CLICK.
The bedroom door opened.
Silas Thornton looked up.
The girl had changed into a long-sleeved shirt and pants. Her shirt featured a white, plump-looking strawberry mochi character.
'Isn't the cub hot dressed like that? It's the middle of summer.'
Holly Wyatt blinked, her hands pressed to her sides, clutching the hem of her shirt as she gently shook her head.
Her round eyes were fixed on the two ears atop the man's head. 'I really want to pinch them.'
'Why is the cub shaking her head? Did I say something just now? I don't think so, right?'
Holly Wyatt froze, not daring to move.
She had discovered two years ago that whenever she was within three meters of this man, she could hear his thoughts.
They were a stark contrast to his cold, sharp exterior.
His mind was like a restless, energetic husky, darting all over the place.
Through his rich inner world, she seemed to have confirmed something else as well.
This man was not human!
Literally, physically not human!!
He was a wolf!
A big, black wolf!!
His ears and tail were real!!
When she was three, she was abducted by human traffickers and beaten so badly she went deaf. Because she didn't receive timely treatment, she gradually lost her ability to speak as well.
She became deaf and mute. So young, she couldn't explain where her home was.
The man's thoughts were the first clear, external sounds she had heard in all these years.
Aside from her adoptive family, he was the only other wolf in the world who didn't mind that she was deaf and mute.
Back when she was three, only her adoptive parents hadn't minded her being deaf and mute. They took her in and raised her as their own.
Even after her adoptive parents had a child of their own—a boy, no less—they didn't abandon her. They even paid for her education.
The year she graduated from high school, she received her university acceptance letter. For the first time, she left the mountains to embrace her glittering future.
Unexpectedly, her birth parents recognized her and brought her back to their home.
When her adoptive parents and younger brother found out, they were happy for her and told her to get along well with her family.
But things didn't turn out as one might hope.
In her birth parents' home, there was an older brother and a younger sister.
Her brother was their biological son, but he was always stern-faced. Perhaps it was the age gap—he was ten years older than her, and they had nothing in common.
The sister was adopted by her birth parents and was only two months younger than her. Compared to her own timid and shy nature, the sister was cheerful, outgoing, and likable.
When she first set foot in that house, she was genuinely happy.
But when her father told her she was to be married off to a complete stranger and should even stop her schooling, she grew terrified.
She tried her best to refuse, using sign language, lip-reading, and writing to state over and over that she was unwilling.
But every one of them took turns trying to persuade her to get married.
They said that since she was deaf and mute, school was pointless. Marrying into a good family and having someone to take care of her for the rest of her life was the proper thing to do.
They also forbade her from leaving the villa, afraid something would happen to her if she were alone.
After a week of this, her spirits were completely crushed.
It was then that the man appeared, rescuing her from that house with his chaotic inner thoughts in tow.
Two years ago, he had said one thing: "I'll take care of her."
He actually paid five million to sever her ties with her birth parents, took her away from that house, and brought her to Bervenia.
He registered her residency, bought this large, single-story apartment in the city center, helped her with university enrollment procedures, left her a large sum of money, and arranged for someone to look after her daily needs.
Once everything was settled, he vanished like a phantom for two years.
And so, she lived alone in this empty house for two years.
She thought the man had forgotten about her, so she accepted her reality and worked hard to live her life.
She studied hard and saved money, planning to bring her adoptive family to live in Bervenia after she paid the man back.
She never expected him to suddenly return.
Silas Thornton glanced at the clean floor, his brow twitching slightly.
'Did the cub clean the house? It's so spotless. I don't even know where to step.'
'What if I get it dirty and the cub starts crying? The cubs in the pack love to cry all the time.'
Holly Wyatt blinked, then trotted over to the entryway cabinet and pulled out a pair of black men's slippers.
'Damn it! Why are there men's slippers in the house?!?! The cub brought a man home!!? I'm going to kill him!'
The voice was a little loud, making Holly Wyatt's ears ache.
She raised a hand to rub her earlobe and placed the slippers in front of him.
The man's tail drooped to the floor, sweeping gently across the clean surface.
'It's as if I really felt the warm fur!!'
Startled, she quickly stood up.
Silas Thornton looked down, saw the tag still attached to the slippers, and breathed a sigh of relief.
'Oh, they're new. Thank goodness... thank goodness... I knew it. The cub was so against mating and reproducing back then, there's no way she'd bring a man home so easily.'
"Thank you," Silas Thornton's cold voice came from above her.
Holly Wyatt pursed her lips, the tips of her ears turning red. She shook her head gently and immediately scurried away.
'Huh? The slippers are a little small, but it's fine. I'll make do.'
'Why is the cub so far away from me? Did I scare her just now? Was my tone bad? I don't think so... Didn't I even follow human rules and say thank you?'
Holly Wyatt's fingertips, hidden in her sleeves, gently rubbed together, as if the warmth of the man's tail still lingered on them.
She cautiously took a step toward him.
However, Silas Thornton didn't notice.
'Am I that scary? The cubs in the pack... seem to be pretty scared of me too...'
Silas Thornton tried to make his expression look less cold.
But he failed.
'Forget it... Born with a poker face, that's what humans call it, right? Is this what they call a poker face?'
Holly Wyatt secretly pursed her lips into a smile and nodded gently.
"Don't play with knives from now on." Silas Thornton walked in and placed the knife on the table. "It's dangerous."
'Cubs in the pack can fight, but human cubs can't. Human cubs are too fragile. They can't touch something as dangerous as a knife.'
Holly Wyatt nodded obediently.
'Tsk. Speaking of which, it's been two years. Why does the cub seem even scrawnier?'
Confused, Holly Wyatt looked down at her own pale little hands, then pinched the soft flesh on her arm.
'I'm not scrawny.'
She had been living very well these past two years.
She could eat her fill, go to school, and live in a big house. She had put on quite a bit of weight.
She was already very satisfied.
Holly Wyatt looked up at Silas Thornton, her grape-like eyes blinking with confusion.
'Tsk, she really is too thin. Her face isn't even as big as my palm. And her height... doesn't seem to have increased either. Do human cubs grow this slowly?'
Holly Wyatt's pretty brow furrowed slightly.
'Nonsense!'
'I grew three centimeters!!'
'That's a whole three centimeters!!'
'I broke 160 centimeters!!'
'Besides, I'm already twenty. It's perfectly normal to stop growing!!'
'Why did the cub stop looking at me? Is she angry? Is it just because I told her not to play with the knife? She's not supposed to play with it!!! That's a knife!! With the cub's delicate skin, she'd get hurt with just a tiny scratch! Even if she's angry, she's still not allowed to play with it!!'
Holly Wyatt pursed her lips and turned her gaze back to him.
She fumbled in her pocket, took out her phone, and looked down to type.
'Does the cub have something to say? She's not going to curse me out, is she? Ugh... cubs in the pack cursing... seems pretty normal. As long as it's not profanity, anything else is fine.'
Holly Wyatt's brow was furrowed as she typed.
'How could I possibly curse at him?'
He was the one who had saved her from that house.
The one who saved her from having to marry a man she didn't know.
The one who made it possible for her to continue her education like a normal student.
At first, she thought this man had bought her to eat her. After all, he wasn't human; he was a wolf.
She never imagined he would actually raise her like a child and had no intention of eating her.
He was her benefactor.
'What does the cub want to say? Why is she typing for so long? Are human insults... really this long?'
Holly Wyatt puffed up her cheeks and held her phone up in front of him.