Chapter 379: Still Learning
When it was put that way, there was no way to refuse it as troublesome, and although he sometimes forgot, he had started making an effort to greet others properly.
"So? Why is that guy here?"
Seeing Rohen running around the garden with the children, Leander could not accept it.
Even regarding what happened yesterday, he had noticed that Qiong Xing, though calm, had been angry on his behalf.
And yet, from one day to the next, the man was now running around happily with the children, which left him sulking and unable to accept it.
"He properly apologized."
"..."
"Leander."
Noticing his silence, Qiong Xing softly called his name and gently took his hand.
"Could you give him one more chance?"
"Why?"
He tried to say there was no need for that, but the gentle smile on Qiong Xing’s face stopped the words from coming out.
"Because he truly tried to understand. He could have simply dismissed it as unimportant, but instead he thought about it properly and came all the way here early in the morning, still confused. He cried and apologized, saying ’I’m sorry’ and ’I was wrong’ because of my words. He is trying to understand."
Unable to accept that, Leander looked outside again and saw the man being pulled along by Yue, playing tag with the children.
"He could easily shake off his hands if he wanted to. But he is not doing that, is he?"
It would take time to abandon all his assumptions and fully understand what was happening.
But Qiong Xing said he was trying to change.
"...There’s no way. Humans are—"
"Enemies? But I am human too."
He understood.
He understood what Qiong Xing meant, but...
"Lian is also human, even if she carries Elias’s blood. But... Leander, you are also human, aren’t you?"
"No."
"That is not true. Beastmen are somewhere between beast and human. They are both, and yet neither."
"No!"
No, no, no.
They were beastmen.
They could not become the same cruel beings as humans.
As Leander tried to cover his ears to block it out, the hand still holding his prevented him from doing so.
"I know you may not want to accept it, but there is at least some human blood flowing within you. Because of that, I was able to meet you. I was able to love you. It is precisely because I met you not as a beast, but as a human, that I was able to love you as Leander the person."
Qiong Xing said that because they lived, thought, and possessed personalities not as beasts but as human-like beings, they were able to love each other.
"Because they are human, I can hold hands like this, and I can say that I love them."
He could understand it, but he could not accept it.
If beastmen were beings between beast and human, then why did they have to live in fear of humans?
Why did they have to be looked down upon as mere beasts?
He could never forgive the contemptuous gaze and words of that man from the day before.
"Not everyone in the world will reconsider their way of thinking like I or he did. That is why you do not have to forgive all humans. It is fine to hate them and resent them. But could you at least forgive the one who cried and apologized to you?"
"...He didn’t apologize to me."
He argued that the apology had been directed at Qiong Xing, not him, but when told that they had waited until he woke up just to apologize, he had nothing to say in return.
If they had been waiting for him to wake up, then it was simply his fault for still being asleep.
"He said he wants to properly apologize to you as well, Leander."
"What if I can’t forgive him?"
"Then that is that. My priority is Leander and the rest of my family, so I will simply keep my distance from him or cut ties if necessary."
He had not expected him to go that far and was surprised.
He had assumed they would simply be careful not to meet again, but to think he would go as far as saying he would distance himself completely.
"I was never really cared for by them to begin with. I only ever took care of them, so it would not be a problem even if we never met again."
He said it so casually that it seemed he would not feel any regret even if it truly came to that.
"If he had not apologized, I had no intention of forgiving him anyway, so it does not really change much."
Even if it was selfish of them, he was glad that they prioritized him and the children so much.
With that, Leander decided to observe the situation a little longer, and headed toward the children.
At the sound of Qiong Xing’s voice calling them for dinner, Rohen finally felt relieved to be freed from the children.
It was not that he disliked playing with them, but rather that it had simply reached his physical limit.
As a soldier, he trained every day without fail, but chasing several children around nonstop had been far more exhausting than expected.
Among them were two beastman children who belonged to Qiong Xing, and even though they were still young, their speed and agility were remarkable.
By the time dinner arrived, he was completely drained.
"Thank you for your hard work. I prepared a portion for Rohen as well, so let’s eat together."
"...Hah... hah... yes..."
"Is this guy going to be alright?"
Seeing Rohen out of breath, Leander asked Qiong Xing with concern.
"How was it? My children are amazing, right? They are my pride and joy."
"That’s not what I meant..."
"And they are very cute."
For some reason, instead of worrying about Rohen, Qiong Xing began proudly boasting about his children.
Perhaps realizing that no words would reach him, Leander sighed and lifted Qiong Xing up in his arms, then asked Rohen if he could still walk before heading into the house.
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