Cana noticed that the boy's hands were shivering slightly as he handed the token back to her. Shifting her grip from his ears, she held him by his arms. The boy's beast ears drooped completely, pinning back like a scolded dog's.
Her touch was gentle, yet a profound sense of danger still vibrated through him.
"You have great magic. Why use it for stealing?"
The boy completely froze, his mind halting faster than his own time-stop magic upon hearing Cana's question. Did she just say his magic was great? No one had ever said such a thing about his power. To mortals, it was considered an absolute curse. His parents had strictly forbidden him from ever revealing it to the world, and his entire lineage in this kingdom had already been hunted down and slaughtered because of it.
Why did she seem to have no idea about that bloody history? She didn't even seem to recognize his kind at all.
When the boy didn't answer, Cana wondered if he was mute. She sighed inwardly. Having such a great power, yet it came with a disability.
"Did you know that stealing from others is bad?" she asked anyway, even though the answer was obvious. He wouldn't have sneaked around if he thought it was right.
The boy slowly nodded. Then, he felt a violent glitch in his ability. Time was running out; everything was about to snap back to normal.
"I..." He struggled to force the words out. "Sorry!"
Cana was caught off guard when the boy suddenly slipped from her hold and bolted. A split second later, the frozen world burst back to life, and the people around them resumed moving normally. She realized instantly that his time-control power had hit its limit. She didn't pursue him, but a heavy pang of guilt hit her; she felt useless for being unable to help a mere child.
Back on Earth, children who resorted to stealing on the streets usually had no parents, or were forced into crime just to survive. She could never bring herself to blame the kids. The parents, however—yes. It was their negligence that drove these children to the edge. The adults should be held responsible for the wrongdoings of the young because, in the first place, they were the ones meant to discipline them. Even if a child was disciplined and still went astray, it only meant something was fundamentally broken in the way they were raised.
When she clenched her fist, she felt the cool edge of the Black Star token and remembered she still needed to return it. She walked back to the stall and handed it over, explaining that she had forgotten to leave the payment.
The old woman looked confused. She instinctively checked her pouch, firmly remembering that she had already put the token away. Yet, when she peered inside, the pouch was entirely empty.
Hesitant but bewildered, she took the token from Cana, rationalizing that she must have just been too excited and stunned by such a massive amount of wealth to realize she hadn't actually pocketed it yet.
"I really am getting old. Thank you for your honesty," the old woman said, offering a grateful smile.
Cana nodded back with a polite smile, though her mind remained completely fixed on the fox boy. His raw skill was no joke. If a malicious person ever found him and weaponized his power for their own greed, that kid would face a truly horrific future.
"I also forgot to ask—could I trouble you for some ordinary coins to use for smaller purchases outside? You can just deduct it from your remaining balance," Cana added.
She couldn't exactly go around flashing Black Star tokens in the open streets, essentially signing up vendors to supply Erus for over a year. If she kept doing that, he might actually kill her.
The old woman had actually handed her five gold coins thinking Cana would be shopping for more outside the market.
"Thank you." Cana accepted it though it was still a big amount of money.
She left the stall and followed Letty's group, which had already moved quite a distance away. They had no idea she had fallen behind, but the moment they finally realized, Letty panicked. Her eyes frantically scanned the bustling crowd until she spotted Cana walking calmly in their direction.
"Why weren't you with us?" Letty asked, her voice tight with lingering worry and fear for her own life. If Solari found out she had lost track of her, he would kill her for sure.
"I got blocked on the way by some buyers," Cana lied smoothly.
Letty gripped Cana's arm tightly, ensuring they wouldn't lose her a second time.
"Okay. Let's go," Letty said.
As they walked outside the market building, Cana spotted a row of lively food stalls. There were skewers and various other cooked dishes being sold.
"Can we check those out?" she asked Letty, noting that the woman was no longer letting her walk unattended. She really must have terrified her a few moments ago.
"Yes. You should try the skewers here. They have delicious, freshly grilled meats, too."
They strolled around the food stalls, checking out what they could possibly buy.
Looking at the skewers, Cana felt a wave of hesitation about whether the food was actually safe to eat. The meats belonged to completely unknown species, looking vividly like Earth bugs and pests but with bizarre, extra features—a stark, unsettling reminder that she was definitely in a different world now.
"Oh, this is the best one here," Letty said, dragging Cana over to a specific stall. "This vendor seasons these plant-eaters perfectly. It tastes amazing. Crunchy on the outside, and juicy on the inside!"
Cana blinked. Right in front of her face was a skewered monstrosity that looked like a cross between a grasshopper and a spider. Her face twisted into a look of absolute, unadulterated horror, her eyes wide and her lips twitching as her stomach did a violent flip at the thought of biting into a juicy arachnid-insect hybrid.
"Erus forbids me to eat it," she blurted out, using his name as a shield out of nowhere.
Letty's jaw dropped, and sheer panic instantly flooded her face. The plant-eater was a staple dish for the poor. It made perfect sense to her that someone of Solari's stature would forbid Cana from consuming such filthy street food. She also recalled the meals Cana had cooked before; every dish had been prepared with such exquisite skill and unfamiliar luxury that it belonged on a royal family's table. To offer her a common bug on a stick suddenly felt like a massive disrespect.
"This one—what kind of meat is this?" Cana asked, pointing toward a cut that closely resembled a standard barbecue.
"It's Lycan meat, Lady," the vendor answered warmly.
Lycan? How was that any different from regular wolf meat?
Instantly, vivid images of terrifying, moon-bound shapeshifters from Earth's Hollywood movies flashed through Cana's mind. The thought of eating something that could take a human form made her stomach twist in an entirely new way.
Should she ask them? But what if she ended up sounding like a complete alien to them? She really should have brought Erus along with her. At least when she accidentally used bizarre, otherworldly terms, he was tolerant of her strange phrasing and didn't question it.
If she asked Letty about movie tropes, the poor woman would probably think she had caught some sort of madness.
Cana sighed internally, staring down at the sizzling meat.
Was there actually any edible food for her in this entire market other than mutated chickens and wild wolves?
She glanced up and down the smoky row of stalls, her eyes desperately scanning the hanging carcasses and bubbling cauldrons for anything that didn't look like it used to hunt humans or scuttle across ceilings. It seemed that in this world, if something breathed, the locals would stick a skewer through it, grill it, and call it a delicacy.
Cana was about to give up on the food entirely when her eyes caught the beast boy stealing from a stall, completely unnoticed by the crowd. Her brows furrowed.
Didn't she specifically tell him that stealing was bad?
Without realizing it, she was already marching directly toward the stall the beast boy had just robbed and fled from. But instead of pursuing him to give him a lecture, her eyes went wide at the sight of the food displayed in front of her. It was a skewered little octopus. At last, real food. The savory, roasted aroma was mouth-watering, making her instinctively gulp down her own saliva.
"It's thirty bronze, Lady. Do you want to buy?" the vendor asked, noticing her intense stare.
Cana nodded, a genuine smile breaking across her face. "Good sir, where did you catch this baby octopus?"
The vendor, who completely failed to understand the strange word she used, paused for a moment. "You mean this merman-eater?" He pointed a finger at the supposed octopus.
Cana's mouth snapped shut, and her smile vanished instantly.
Just what the hell was wrong with the names of the food in this world?
How badly she wanted to taste it, but the thought of a half-human, half-fish creature made her stomach churn violently.
"Give me fifty of them," Cana said in a serious tone, her voice carrying the weight of a command. She then handed the vendor a single gold coin.
"L—Lady, this is far too much. I don't have the change for this," the vendor stuttered, a flash of genuine fear in his eyes. He felt as though he had almost treated a high-ranking noble with disrespect.
Again? Cana rolled her eyes heavily in her mind. Not only was she having a miserable time choosing what to eat, but she was also having a disastrous time trying to pay for it. Right then and there, she decided she would force Erus to teach her everything he knew about this world, no matter what it took.
"How many should I buy for that amount, then?" she asked the vendor patiently.
"My Lady, you can have all of it. Even my uncooked supplies!"
"Okay," she agreed simply, not wanting to argue over the currency anymore.
"Should I grill the remaining ones for you, my Lady?"
Cana shook her head immediately.
The vendor smiled gratefully, bowing deeply to Cana before rushing to pack both the fresh supplies and the grilled merman-eaters.
Letty, who had just witnessed the entire transaction, could no longer find the words to stop her. Even the three ladies accompanying them stood with their jaws dropped, utterly stunned by how extravagantly Cana shopped.
When everything was packed, Cana casually tossed the supplies into her dimensional space. She then handed Letty and the three ladies ten grilled merman-eaters each. They all looked incredibly joyful, thanking her with an excessive amount of gratitude.
"I need to use the restroom," Cana told Letty as they walked.
"I was actually about to suggest the same thing. Let's go. There is a public restroom nearby, and don't worry, it is well-maintained," Letty said reassuringly.
Cana nodded, though sneaking away to pee was not her real purpose at all.
Once she entered the cubicle, her irises shifted, changing color to resemble the vast universe. The look in her eyes turned so fierce it could kill with a single glance. With a sharp snap of her fingers, her body vanished into thin air.
In the next blink of an eye, she reappeared in a narrow, dark alley. Tucked into the furthest corner was the familiar silhouette of the beast boy, hiding in the shadows while quickly eating his prize.
"Didn't I tell you that stealing is bad?"
Upon hearing Cana's voice, the beast boy immediately dropped to the cold floor. His body trembled violently, utterly unable to fight the suffocating pressure emitting from Cana's aura. He couldn't even summon his own ability to escape.
Was heaven finally about to punish him for living as a curse in the mortal world?
Then, Cana snatched the grilled merman-eater right out of the boy's hand. With just a touch of her fingers, the food crumbled into fine dust, adding a fresh wave of horror to the boy's chest. Every instinct in his body screamed that she was no ordinary mortal.
"What is your name?" Cana asked.
The beast boy merely trembled, shaking his head in sheer panic.
"Ease up. I'm not mad at you, but at what you have done."
When the boy still didn't dare to move, Cana pulled several grilled merman-eaters from her storage and held them out to him.
"Here. I bought these for you. You can eat them without guilt, and without committing a sin."
The beast boy was too stunned to speak, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. In front of him was a massive handful of skewers that Cana was casually offering. Was this real? Or was she trying to lure him in, waiting to kill him the moment his skin brushed against hers?
Seeing that she had no choice, Cana sat down on the dirty floor to level herself with the boy's height.
"Sit up," she told him gently. "Your own fear is what's making the pressure feel heavier on you."
Using her free hand, she carefully guided him to sit up and face her. She then transferred the heavy bundle of skewers into his hands, which were still trembling violently.
"Again, what is your name?"
Even though he was utterly confused and terrified by what was happening, the boy managed to shake his head. "Beasts don't have names," he answered directly.
Cana smiled, her eyes filled with hidden meaning. "Of course. Beasts like you were destined to be hunted and killed by mortals. When that happens to you, you have no choice but to accept such a dark fate."
The boy's ears lowered completely. The woman in front of him was so random and incredibly confusing. Her words and her actions simply did not match. One moment she showed him kindness, and the next, she mocked his existence.
Cana opened her palm, facing it toward the boy who was bracing himself to be turned into dust.
"Mark it with your claws," Cana said, a command so far from what he had expected.
The beast boy was thoroughly confused now, genuinely thinking that while Cana was incredibly powerful, she was also completely crazy. Why would she let him scratch her palm? It was as if she were asking to be marked as a beast's prey.
"I won't harm you. Just do it now. My time is limited," she said, her voice laced with absolute authority.
The beast boy swallowed hard before letting his sharp claws extend. Whether he lived or died today, it made no difference to the miserable fate waiting for him, just like the ancestors who came before him.
With a hesitant effort, he scratched Cana's palm, fully expecting to crumble into dust the very next second. But Cana merely stared at her bleeding palm and let out a deeply satisfied grin. She even nodded, looking like a total lunatic—a masochist enjoying the pain. The wound didn't even last for a few seconds; it healed instantly, leaving behind nothing but a tiny, faded mark on her skin.
Cana pulled out even more grilled skewers from her storage and piled them into the beast boy's arms before standing up.
"T—Thank you, but... these are too many," he stammered.
"Have a feast before we meet again, Daeven."
With another sharp snap of her fingers, Cana vanished right in front of the stunned, speechless beast boy. Left alone in the dark alley, before he could even fully realize what happened, tears unconsciously spilled over his eyelids and trailed down his cheeks.