chapter 1
“I have no use for thieving stray cats that steal food in my territory. Throw them outside the wall.”
A cold, mocking voice came from above. I dropped to my knees and rubbed my palms together desperately as I begged.
“Lord Jerian, please—just this once. My mother was only hungry…!”
“Quiet, Kittia. I merely honored your mother’s request to spare your life.”
“Lord Jerian!”
“If you want to live, never show your face in front of me again!”
The moment Jerian—the ruler of the cat territory—finished speaking, his subordinates waiting in the corner of the warehouse grabbed me and hauled me up.
My mother, who had collapsed unconscious on the ground, was lifted like nothing more than baggage and dragged outside. She had already fainted, and the magic maintaining her human form had worn off. Her body and tail hung limply.
I followed after them, shouting urgently.
“Please, sirs! Be gentle with my mother! She’s carrying—”
“Shut it, Kittia. Your mother’s finished anyway. Why did she have to touch Lord Jerian’s food stores?”
They lifted me effortlessly with one hand. After days of starvation, I must have weighed almost nothing.
“Please…!”
My eyes burned, and tears streamed down, but they showed no hesitation as they threw me.
Thud—!
My back slammed into the ground with a dull impact. Blood filled my mouth, and when I spat, a few broken teeth fell out.
My head rang as if I’d been struck by a carriage, but I clenched my fists.
If I lost consciousness and reverted to my cat form, it would be a disaster.
Even in human form, I was only six years old—but as a cat, I wouldn’t be able to catch my falling mother.
“Mom!”
When I looked up, my mother was being thrown after me. Thankfully, the warehouse wasn’t too high. I barely managed to catch her.
She should have been heavy after falling from such a height, but after days of starvation, my mother’s body was light enough for me to hold.
On a freezing night cold enough to dry even moss, my mother and I were cast out from the territory of the cat beastmen.
“Mom…”
I hid in the grass and stroked her body over and over, just like she used to do when I was sick.
But no matter how much I touched her matted fur and caressed her neck, she didn’t respond. Fear grew inside me as deep as the dark night.
“Mom…”
I returned to my cat form and licked her cheek desperately. As my gray-and-white fur brushed against her, I finally heard a faint breath.
“Kittia… my soft little paws…”
“Mom!”
“I’m sorry… because of me, you too…”
I quickly shook my head. My broken teeth made my words slur.
“No… it’s okay. The babies in your belly… they’re growing. You hadn’t eaten for days, so you couldn’t help it… But…”
My gaze fell to the blood soaking her tail. Even I, still a child, could tell something terrible had happened to the little ones inside her.
“I’m sorry, Kittia… I don’t think the babies will… ngh!”
“Mom!”
Panicking, I frantically licked her face. Her already fragile breathing grew more ragged, her voice fading.
“Kittia… I don’t think I’ll make it. You must go… before the patrol starts…”
“Mom, let’s go together… please?”
“No. It’s too late for me. Leave this place and go far away… Yes… to the wolves’ territory…”
The wolves’ territory? I didn’t understand why she was saying that.
“Mom, you’re bleeding! Don’t talk!”
“Kittia… I’m sorry. If I had known this would happen, I would have told you sooner… You have… a special power…”
“Huh?”
She placed her paw gently on my right hand. A warm, mysterious energy flowed into me through her soft pads.
Something complicated flashed through my mind and vanished in an instant.
“Mom, what is this?”
“You’ll… understand… someday. My Kitti… is as brave as the wolves… so you’ll be fine… even alone…”
Tap—
Her paw slipped from mine and fell to the ground. Her labored breathing stopped.
All I could do was call out to her again and again.
“Mom… Mom…!”
My head spun, and I couldn’t tell where everything had gone wrong.
Was it when the stronger beastmen fought and drove the cat beastmen into the shadows? Or when my father and brother died suddenly in an accident?
“Mom… I don’t understand anything… I don’t know what this power is… or what I’m supposed to do…”
Her chest no longer moved. I didn’t even have time to grieve—her cold body terrified me.
How much time had passed?
“I’m sorry… little ones. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you… I’m sorry, Mom…”
I hugged her cold body tightly, then returned to my human form and buried her deep in the ground.
The frozen earth tore my hands and broke my nails as I dug with my bare fingers, but my chest hurt so much I barely felt the pain.
After covering the grave with moss so no one would find it, I finally realized—
I was truly alone now.
“…I already miss you… what do I do, Mom?”
Sniffling, I wandered nearby for a long time. But when I saw the distant lights of a patrol, I knew I couldn’t stay.
I wiped my face with dirt-covered hands, spat out the blood in my mouth, and clenched my fists.
Jerian… I’ll grow stronger and avenge you, Mom.
I forced my trembling legs to move.
I didn’t understand everything she said, but her final wish was for me to be brave, even far away.
If I stayed here and got caught by the patrol, I’d never get revenge.
“Mom… I’m okay. Kittia is a brave cat—just like a wolf. So please… rest peacefully.”
After whispering that, I turned and walked on, desperately trying to leave the cats’ patrol zone without even knowing where I was going.
Tap… drip…
Rain began to fall from the pitch-black sky, where neither stars nor moon could be seen.
I wanted to turn back, afraid the soil would wash away and expose her body, but I forced myself to keep going.
Mom would want me to be happy.
But where could I go to be happy? Could I ever be, without her?
I stopped for a moment and lowered my head.
In a puddle at my feet, I saw the reflection of a crying little girl—tangled gray hair, filthy clothes, and a frail, starved body. No one would take her in.
And I don’t even have relatives outside the cat territory…
Just as I was about to collapse, I sensed movement.
I quickly hid in the bushes and watched a group of beastmen passing by.
“Young masters, you shouldn’t come this far out to play ball. You’ll frighten the other beastmen.”
A large man grabbed two dirty boys and lifted them into a carriage. Their sleek gray hair marked them unmistakably as wolves.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Wait… wolves have gray fur… and so do I. And wolves stick together…
I remembered something my mother once said—young animals all look similar before they grow, often only distinguished by fur color.
And her final words… had been about the wolves’ territory.
If I stay like this, I might starve to death before I ever get revenge. Just for a little while…
The Gridwolf family, rulers of the wolves’ territory, were said to be wealthy and generous to their own kind.
If they discovered I was a cat, I might be bullied or thrown out. But beastmen weren’t mindless animals—they had reason. They wouldn’t just eat someone of another race.
Unless they go mad like they did years ago…
It was risky—but better than staying here and dying.
Shivering in the bushes, I stared in the direction the carriage disappeared.
A few days later.
Theo and Deon, the two sons of the Gridwolf family, lay sprawled on a sofa, muttering lazily.
“That stupid ball went over the wall again.”
“I’m bored of this game.”
“Why don’t we have a little sister? We could dote on her.”
At that moment, the clear sound of a bell rang. Annoyed at the interruption, the two wolves answered with sullen faces.
“What is it?”
A knight guarding the door spoke awkwardly.
“Young masters, I’m sorry. There’s someone suspicious lingering nearby…”
“Who?”
As Theo and Deon looked around, a small voice came from below.
“Um… down here… a little lower!”
“Hm?”
Theo lowered his gaze—and saw a tiny, scrawny cat beastman child.
With filthy hair, ragged clothes, and blistered hands and feet, she looked so pitiful it was almost suspicious.
“What are you?”
Deon growled. The startled cat child steadied herself and spoke.
“Um… is this Lord Gridwolf’s residence?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Then I found the right place!”
Her emerald eyes sparkled with joy. They were so bright and clear that the brothers couldn’t bring themselves to chase her away.
Kittia spoke calmly, just as she had rehearsed.
“Hello! I’m Kittia, a young but brave wolf. I heard that Lord Gridwolf provides work for poor wolves without families…”
She smelled unmistakably like a cat—and her missing teeth made her words slur—yet she claimed to be a wolf.
The brothers exchanged looks in disbelief.
Brother, should we fatten her up and roll her around like a ball instead? As punishment for lying?
Sounds good. Cat fur is soft, after all.
“Come in for now.”
“Yay—! Thank you so much!”
Unaware of their wicked thoughts, Kittia beamed brightly as she stepped into the wolves’ den.
