The Beast of Alvard Mansion

2. The Hunter

 

Desi did not choose freedom. It seemed that Desi had decided to stay in the mansion’s basement. Every night, Desi unleashed insatiable desires.

 

As the noisy incidents both inside and outside the mansion persisted, Father became busy trying to resolve the issue. He sought advice from others and traced the places where traces of blood were left.

 

At first, he suspected that a giant beast from the nearby mountain range was coming down to the village and eating the livestock. However, there were no traces of slaughtered livestock outside the village. All evidence and traces existed only within the village. It was a creepy message that a terrifying creature was living alongside them in the village.

 

Father forgot the sin of bringing a beast he purchased as a slave to the mansion basement, where it still breathes. He was looking for reasons in the wrong places.

 

Was it a creature that came down from the mountain? A creature hiding in the village? Or perhaps a devil pretending to be a person. He pondered while searching for answers.

 

Desi had no suspicions. Understandably so, Desi washed every morning and remained tied to the chains in the basement. The key was not visible, and during the day, Desi ate only the white porridge brought by the maids, obediently submitting to the people, erasing instincts and desires completely, like a well-trained dog.

 

Therefore, no one suspected Desi. Although they felt Desi’s size growing day by day, they dismissed it as natural. Only I knew that Desi flashed murderous intent in its eyes.

 

Desi, opening its beak in the horse’s body, blood spurting like a fountain towards the sky. Red blood and sparkling yellow eyes in stark contrast. That memory couldn’t be erased from my mind.

 

Driven by the horrifying memory, I distanced myself from Desi. I stopped visiting the basement several times a day. Every time I heard stories of livestock disappearing at night, my heart would shudder, and I would unconsciously lower my head to look at the basement where Desi slept.

 

The basement where Desi slept.

 

That incident happened about a month later. Desi, who had been quietly living in the basement, began to cry every midnight. The crying was so loud and mournful that it disturbed the sleep of everyone living in the mansion.

 

Desi’s cry sometimes sounded like a wolf’s howl, sometimes like a tearing scream. It seemed as if Desi was trying to open its mouth wide and vomit everything in its belly. It was a desperate cry that felt like a scream for relief from pain greater than death. I felt like it was a scream of agony, appealing to the gods.

 

What could be so painful? What could be so unbearable? Now that Desi could roam freely, now that its belly could be filled as much as it desired, why would it cry so sorrowfully?

 

The people in the mansion, who began to lose sleep every night, were furious. Father, who was already suffering due to the unknown creature, couldn’t hold back his anger when his sleep was disturbed.

 

In the end, Father rushed out in his nightclothes, heading for the basement. In his hand, he carried a thick leather whip.

 

Father emerged from the basement, drenched in sweat after vigorously beating Desi. Blood splattered on Father’s nightclothes, and drops of crimson blood fell from the whip.

 

Despite the beating, Desi cried relentlessly every night. Father’s anger exploded at Desi’s abnormal behavior persisting for several days. He couldn’t contain his anger, regretting bringing Desi home.

 

“I shouldn’t have brought such a creature here. I’ll definitely kill it tomorrow.”

 

Father said so, looking at the sharp sword hanging on the first-floor hall decoration.

 

“You said it would be useful for hunting if raised well. It was all a lie. That damned creature. I shouldn’t have believed the words of a slave trader.”

 

My heart sank at the thought of Father killing Desi. Desi was terrifying, but I still realized Desi was a precious friend. To kill Desi… If such a thing really happened, it would tear my heart apart.

 

Desi roaming around and eating livestock with an owner was undoubtedly wrong. But perhaps it couldn’t be helped due to Desi’s nature.

 

I couldn’t understand everything about Desi, but I felt like I could understand a little bit. I couldn’t kill livestock myself, nor could I see it, but I still ate meat.

 

I was tormented by worry all day. What if Desi really died? What if Father killed Desi? My chest felt heavy enough to burst into tears even when I was just sitting there. Ellie tried to comfort me on dark days of worry, but she couldn’t understand my feelings. This heavy burden was mine alone to bear and endure.

 

It was all my fault, giving Desi raw meat, giving Desi the key, and loving Desi too much. If something happened to Desi, I would experience even greater guilt and pain. All of this was the result of my actions. A small ripple became a tsunami and overwhelmed me.

 

All of this was a problem I had to face and a sin I committed.

 

Before midnight, I went down to the basement. If Desi started crying again tonight, Father would not be able to contain his anger and would try to kill Desi. I had to make amends for what I had done before a bigger disaster struck.

 

Ignoring the problem wouldn’t solve it anymore. The desire to close my eyes tightly and pretend not to know was stronger, but I gathered the courage to face Desi.

 

The stairs leading to the basement felt unusually dark and long. Would Father come down with the whip again tonight? The basement air was filled with the smell of blood.

 

I paused for a moment at the intense smell and as soon as I took the last step into the basement.

 

“Celie.”

 

Desi’s voice echoed.

 

My heart pounded. Desi seemed as if he would stand grimly, flipping the horse’s blood like he did that night. So I couldn’t look ahead, I just bowed my head deeply and stared at the ground.

 

“Celie.”

 

Desi called me again. It was a mournful and sad voice, like the cries I heard every midnight.

 

I lifted my head with difficulty. And I faced the wounded beast. His body was covered in whip marks, his clothes torn, making him a pitiful creature.

 

There was no terrifying and ferocious beast like the one I saw that night. There was only a pitiful creature trembling and crying. Desi cried as if lying, with a face full of bruises, tears streaming down his cheeks.

 

Desi’s body was full of traces of Father’s abuse. But what seemed to make Desi suffer the most wasn’t the visible wounds.

 

Desi didn’t care about the wounds on his body, twisting his body continuously to add more wounds. Desi was struggling with lonely thoughts and unescapable solitude.

 

“Why are you crying, Desi?”

 

Seeing those tears, I felt like bursting into tears myself.

 

Actually, I wanted to cry too. I wanted to cry so much because everything was too scary for me to handle.

 

“Because I miss you.”

 

Desi said he cried because he missed me. I gave Desi freedom, but Desi was still waiting for me like a dog tied to a leash. In the basement where I didn’t come. Mourning in the emptiness that couldn’t be filled with slaughter. I spent all day just staring at the basement stairs.

 

Will I come down today? Will he come to meet me? When the sun sets and rises again, will I be able to see him tomorrow? Desi, who became exhausted from the hopeless waiting after a month, cried for the first time in his life, with pain more unbearable than being beaten.

 

“Stop crying every night. Father might try to kill you.”

 

“But it feels like my heart is being pierced by a knife. It hurts so much, and it’s my first time feeling this pain. I don’t know what else to do except cry.”

 

“If you keep crying, Father will keep hitting you. So stop crying now.”

 

“But you didn’t come. It’s too painful if I don’t even scream. It’s lonely. I miss you. Please save me, Celie.”

 

I didn’t want to come to the basement because I was scared of Desi. But seeing Desi writhing at my feet, tears streaming down his face, my fear disappeared like melting snow.

 

Desi, with his huge frame, lay down and whimpered. It was my first time seeing a man cry, so I gradually dispelled my fear. Desi, trembling with fear, looked more like a frightened child than a terrifying beast that preyed on livestock.

 

“What should I do for you?”

 

“Just come to see me like before. Even just once a day. Even for a moment.”

 

“Then will you stop crying?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

So I promised to meet Desi once a day. Desi also promised not to shake the mansion every midnight with his cries anymore.

 

After a long time, I sat down with Desi and had a conversation.

 

“Desi, you shouldn’t eat horses.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“And don’t eat other people’s livestock.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Desi sat in front of me, nodding his head slightly, bowing his head and looking at me.

 

Desi seemed to not know what he had done wrong. He didn’t know why he shouldn’t eat horses or why he shouldn’t eat livestock with owners. He didn’t know why I was scared of him, and he didn’t know that indiscriminate slaughter was wrong. Desi was just acting on instinct.

 

“If you want to eat meat, eat the sheep in the east field. Sometimes sheep disappear because there are many wolves there. But don’t eat too much.”

 

“What about animals without owners? It’s okay if there’s no owner, right?”

 

“Yeah. No one will say anything about hunting.”

 

Father also hunts in the mountains and fields. Animals without owners don’t need to pay a price. People only pay for people. The deaths of mice on the road, animals in the fields, and birds in the mountains seem to not be deaths. They are not mourned, not blamed, not punished, and not paid for.

 

“Okay, I’ll only eat things without owners.”

 

With that, all the problems were solved, but there was a lingering discomfort in my heart. There might not be any more trouble, but I felt that nothing had actually changed.

 

Desi would still live under my feet, continuing to prey on animals. Father would try to use Desi. He could kill Desi anytime.

 

“Celie, come play with me tomorrow too.”

 

I nodded helplessly.

 

I had to come see Desi every day like before. Desi was still my friend, but somehow it didn’t feel as comfortable as before. I worried about Desi and felt sorry for him, yet I was afraid.

 

Because Desi’s bright yellow eyes were staring straight at me. His gaze was relentless. My breath caught in Desi’s voice. I just wanted to hide in front of him. I could avoid Desi’s gaze, but I couldn’t hide in front of him.

 

I felt like if I turned around and ran away, he would chase after me. I thought it would be better to just give up and sit down. The more I tried to escape, the more I felt like I was provoking him.

 

It was an instinctive sense that I could understand.

 

* * *

 

 When Desi stopped crying, Father didn’t kill Desi either. It seemed like a waste to kill something that was bought at a high price.

 

The incidents of village livestock dying also quieted down. Instead, occasionally, sheep living in the fields would disappear. Since the livestock inside the village didn’t die, Father’s temper softened. But Father believed that those creatures would appear in the village again someday.

 

“Those creatures are very vicious and persistent. If they run out of food again, they’ll come down to the village.”

 

It was said not to be relieved by the immediate disappearance of the animals. They would appear in the village again someday, and then there might be even bigger trouble with their increased numbers.

 

Father invited a renowned hunter to catch the beasts. Father raised his voice, saying that the hunter wasn’t an ordinary and common hunter. He said the hunter had caught fairies living in the Adriatic Forest and animals that were part tiger and part bear. He even claimed to have caught a legendary white-winged horse. He said that he had caught rare creatures and presented them to the royal family. It was clear that he wasn’t an ordinary hunter.

 

He was reputed to be skilled at catching giant beasts the size of a house. He couldn’t catch dragons, but he could catch wyverns smaller than dragons.

 

Father couldn’t hide his excitement at the hunter’s acceptance of his request, which wasn’t easy even for nobles to achieve.

 

“What’s happening in our village wasn’t an ordinary event. Seeing his interest, my thoughts were right after all.”

 

The hunter wasn’t someone who moved by money and power. He was someone who moved to catch rare animals. He preferred rare and difficult-to-catch animals the harder they were to catch.

 

Because of the hunter’s reputation, my worries grew. Desi was just a normal child who ate a lot of meat. Although he became aggressive when hungry, he was mostly docile and obedient. Lately, he listened better, sitting when I told him to sit and lying down when I told him to lie down.

 

The threat that if he didn’t listen, I wouldn’t come tomorrow seemed to work better than hitting or starving Desi. No matter how much Father hit Desi, Desi didn’t give in, but if I said I wouldn’t play with him, Desi acted as if he were dead.

 

After hearing Father’s story at dinner time, I went downstairs immediately after finishing the meal.

 

“Desi, we’re in big trouble.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Father brought a hunter.”

 

“A hunter?”

 

“Yeah. He’s a terrifying hunter who can catch even very large beasts. If that person comes, he might catch Desi.”

 

Desi smiled slightly at my words. His lips curled up, revealing sharp fangs.

 

“Am I worrying you?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Aren’t you scared of me?”

 

“I am, but I still worry.”

 

Desi nudged his head forward, indicating that he wanted to be petted. I stroked Desi’s head affectionately.