Arc 1: A whole new world

Ash wasn’t willing to part with bed today. Cozy as it was, she had her trainings and a tiger to hunt for. It surprised her when she found herself leaning on his soft tummy. 

I clearly remember crawling inside last night... 

When she put the back of her hand on her mouth to stifle a yawn, “Ow-Ow, why’s here a cut on my lip? I bit it in my sleep? Sheesh. What tastes citrusy in he- Is it midday already?!” 

She ran to the river to rinse her mouth.

Kaywin actually woke up at dawn, brought back the alligator, skinned it, sniffed out the same herbs Ash had used from her bag and made breakfast. Fortunately, meat was soft beneath the hard shell and didn’t go bad. 

After last night, sleep was a luxury he couldn't afford. making himself useful sounded like the best of ides until he remembered she had forbidden him from moving. Panicked, now he was pretending to sleep in the corner of the cave while getting goosebumps at every word she spoke. 

“Kitten!” 

Ah. There comes the call. He's been caught.

“Stop pretending, you stubborn tiger! The food outside, you made it, right?” With one eye open he looked at her meekly. At that moment, he didn’t have the courage to transform and confess anything. 

Ash glared at the clueless beast. As a injured, he needed that rest! No matter how cute and humanly he looked with that hanging head and apologetic expression, he was but a-

But a what? 

From what she could see, he was clearly...

“I guess I can’t treat a free tiger like a house pet.” 

Calmer now, she caressed his head, “Fine. Just don’t hurt yourself, ok?” 

Now for the food somehow 'cooked' by said free tiger...

Ash only put apiece in her mouth after thoroughly checking the meat for any blood, impurities or smell. If she knew what animal it was, the Bengal in her might’ve not enjoyed the food as heartily.

After breakfast, she took her time brushing the tiger’s fur with her comb. 

Kaywin was left void for better words to describe the feeling than fascinating. 

Noticing how she wasn’t confronting him about his vice, he happily concluded she doesn’t remember, a little disappointed too. It just might be better to- 

“I think I saw ‘him’ in my dreams last night, you know, the one I named you after. He was so handsome... we even kissed.”

Ack! She remembers! 

Linking this to that, he guessed an inkling to what the 'kissing' action meant enough to chock on his food, still coughing when she gently slapped his head. “There there, have some water. I never knew tigers chocked on food. You’re really something.”

Kaywin planned on not letting her get too tired from playing again. After the sun goes down he needed to discuss his identity and maybe... only maybe, mate properly. 

With all thats happened, he was sure of 2 things. 

1: No matter how unbelievable it seemed, she felt real, she was real. 

2: He'd thrive to be a part of her life.

That’s why today, Kaywin showed her ways to climb decently and aim accurately. It’s all about timing, posture and angle anyway. 

“Not only you know all this, you can even teach? WHAT ARE YOU? Be honest.” 

While he was contemplating the hue of dusk on her already golden face, the face zoomed in on him. Been unwary, an uncomposed half pitched yelp left his throat as he tried to flurry anywhere but to slam over the very face, to which she wittily reached out and held his neck.

But the positioning...

It was all too similiar to-

His eyes had unknowingly fallen on her lips.

Sure, the sun setting right behind him had caused a moment of blur in her vision, but she wasn't delusional enough to try to picture the face from last night, placing it right over... But she was seeing it. 

The resemblence.

It was uncanny!

So much that she wanted to lean right over and-

A shadow passed over them.

Too big to be of a bird's, to dark for a cloud- but it sure was enough to clear the spell in the air.

Eh? Spell? As if, you damned thirsty ho-

The shadow fell and left again. Seeing the tiger change his stance, Ash spared no second to jump over his back, hugging his neck tight.

“Beware the thorns, Kitten.” 

It was irritating, how things here appeared out of the blue. The emotion turned up a notch when Kaywin recognized the intruder as a rootless eagle who escaped during the rescue operation of the fox female resting in their crew right now. The claw wounds he left on it were still raw. 

Why’s it narrowing those bloodthirsty eyes at my female? Is it... It’s thinking of revenge?!

Before Kaywin could move a muscle, however, the black eagle dug its claws into Ash’s long braid and yanked her upwards, high in the sky! 

"Hey! You-" 

Unable to struggle for the sake of her scalp, she could only pat around to get ahold of its scaly bird legs. Once found, she gripped it hard and pulled herself upwards, so the pull on her hair loosens.

Down there, her tiger was flaring murderous intent, roaring with all his might. No matter his strength, Ash knew he won’t be able to help her unless he grows wings. She almost had an escape route plotted in her mind, but the damned eagle just had to carry her towards the cliff and kept hanging over the crater she had no idea about the depth of. Why does it feel like it’s doing what it’s doing not to get me but provoke my Kitten?

First thing first, she needed to rid his grasp. But if she did so there would be no ground to greet her. Is it already time to use the rope technique I’ve been practicing out of caution? Ash unwrapped one end of the rope and made a loop, tears pricking at her eyes from the excruciating pain tugging at her scalp. Then she took out her blade from the pouch she always hung around her waist, intending to release herself.

It was at that moment, a deep cry of her name suddenly halted her in her actions. She snapped her eyes towards the source. The place where her tiger was now stood a tanned man; his bulging muscles and extra height made him seem like a professional championship wrestler, except, she could see 'him'. 

2 tiger ears were protruding out of his cloudlike wavy, short and white hair. His silver eyes narrowed in a feline slit, black and white feline tail shook along with his deep masculine voice when he yelled, panicked, “ Ash! What’re you doing? Drop that blade!”

Her gaze shook as she noticed 4 dark blue lines horizontally drawn on his torso, 2 across either of his pectorals. “Dear me female, don’t be reckless. I’ll save you!”

“Kay... win?” 

This can’t be... THE Kaywin? From the novel Beauty and the beasts? O.M.G!  

“I am.” he replied, “I would’ve told you tonight, but... Please hang in there, I-I-” 

She couldn’t believe her eyes or her ears. He sounded so helpless.

A: “The reckless is YOU! What’ll you do from there?” To think she’d have to part with her bias mid-intro... “Back off. Don’t worry. I’ll live.” 

"No! No... don't say that..." 

Before his face flooding with tears clouded her judgment any further, before his pleas mess up her plan, Ash put force on her blade. “If fate has us, let’s meet at the city gate. Alas, I was curious what stone fruits from the desertside tiger village looks like.” This was her spewing whatever information came to mind from the novel. ”I’ll be waiting...”

“Ash!” 

Slashing through the very start of her braid, Ash could hear his roars fading into distance while she speedily fell down. 

”I’m selfish. I couldn’t bear seeing you suffer any longer. Adeiu, Mon minou.”

He's only known me for a day most. Missing me won't be that hurtful on him, right?

Her loop was thrown at a targeted branch and fastened. Centering all her strength on the vine as she swung, she found herself face to face with a waterfall. 

From that oh-so clear river? What the- 

As planned, she tied the other end of the vine to a second branch. On a closer look the crater wasn’t that deep. Fog was actually the product of the waterfall crushing against the lake beneath. 

While swinging, Ash used force from a different angle to unfasten the first knot and prepare for a third. She could very well stop the work and let herself fall in the lake. but she couldn’t swim to save her life so...

Screech~ 

That damned eagle! Did he see me? 

She accidentally used too much strength in swinging, which sent her flying past the water curtain. There was a desolate little cave on the other side. Too shocked, she forgot to let go and swung back out. A huge black shadow was already lurking outside, so she hastened to land in the cave. 

Phew, would’ve flattened to chips if it was a wall instead of a cave. 

Her stinky mud disguise had washed off due to going in and out of the water curtain multiple times. Eagle beastmen did have dull sense of smell but- One can never be too cautious. To think I’ll use 'this' as a disguise... 

Ash opened the small sachet of sample perfume she had been saving and also sniffed at when the stench of mud made her nauseous. just when she hesitated to use up such expensive item she heard another screech.

“(A mere female making such a fool of me? Feisty, huh?)” 

The rootless eagle circled around the waterfall scanning for a glimpse of his fugitive prisoner with dark-lust filled eyes. 

“(Where are you, little plaything? Oh, let me-)” 

Last of his memory was of a sharp floral scent assaulting his nose and a sudden flash of red marring his vision. After that, all went pitch black.

***

Ash woke up from her slumber to the morning light tapping on her eyes. How laughable fate was. The night before was the coziest night of her life. Whereas last night was the most uncomfortable, all cold and tense. Her body felt heavy and sore. 

Speaking of cozy, reality finally dawned on her. 

“That tiger was actually KAYWIN!! And I slept hugging him!”

Beauty and the beasts, one of the good Chinese novels out there, was of reverse harem genre, in a world full of humans with beast counterparts. Out of the 4 male leads, Kaywin had always been her favorite. ‘Strength’ is his attribute as a tiger. A man of few words, born to be leader, never acting on jealousy, a peacemaker, smart, warm, workaholic and most importantly a white feline- all in all just her type. What she mentioned about stone fruits and city gates, it didn’t seem foreign to him, further proving her conjecture.

“So I got isekai-ed... no, transmigrated into the novel? Wow.” For any fantasy novel reader, that is a dream come true. “Could the haunted hut actually be a dimension door?” That explained where all entrants vanished to. “According to isekai rules, am I here earlier from the story’s start? Is that why Kaywin was spending time with me instead of the fl? Makes... sense...” 

Memories of what she had done to the poor virgin in his thirties came crushing down on her. All the feeding, cuddling and head rubs... suddenly Ash felt like hitting herself. “No wonder he was flustered. He’s a grown man! Ugh, why did I... Don’t tell me; the Kaywin I kissed in my dreams, was it him too?" 

That was her first kiss in this world! 

"No way!" She couldn't believe it was real. She refused to believe it at all. It was a dream. It had to be. 

Then she remembered something even aggrivating. "Did I really run to and fro in front of him buck naked?! ...someone kill me.”

Half an hour of self-discrimination later, she had a thought. “Crude or not, he still kept me company. We even promised to meet again (her own delusion). Meaning, he doesn’t not like me, right? What if I steal him? He’s no villain but he was forever the neglected one due to his soft nature. Let’s avoid the other 3, they aren’t my type anyway. But him...” She thought of how gently he taught her things, how snugly he held her to sleep and the way he looked at her, “I like him.” Not as a 2d fictional crush but for real. She wondered if the hut had wish granting powers. Because lying there, she had a wish to make love to a handsome 2d charecter.

Looking around the cold cave, Ash was suddenly crept out. It was oddly clean for a wild cave. Nothing ghost related, as she never feared one, but something was off and ominous about that place. Confirming the area outside safe and silent, she jumped on a chain of rocks along the cliff wall. Luck just had to play tricks on her, as she immediately slipped and fell in the lake. 

At least she managed to arrive the shore by hugging the rocks, despite much difficulty. 

I swear God, you... sigh. My next destination should be the City of beastmen.

She promised after all. So she walked ahead, hoping to find a village to rest in or at least a person to ask direction from. Her perfume disguise had also washed away in the lake water so she needed to be quick. But this creepy feeling of being stared at... is it the eagle?

Walking with her eyes searching the surrounding, she accidentally bumped her knee against a rock. 

“Ugh! Why you little- oh. This is...” 

Laid there was a folded reel of white fabric on the flat rock that reached upto her chest. Cool and soft to the touch, it felt like fine silk but was resilient like elastic. The surface was uneven, as if skillfully embroidered white in white. 

Wet and naked, shivering in cold, she could really use a cloth. But- 

“Why’s it so neatly folded in the middle of nowhere? It feels too much like a... hell nah!” 

The sole ml of the novel she practically hated, this was a type of fabric only he could produce. Ash drew her hand away as if it electrocuted. If possible she never wanted to be involved with that man. So she darted out, as fast as possible, and only stopped when the scene changed and she found herself walking through a picturesque forest.

***

Ash believed sometimes danger hid in beauty. But God, was the forest she stepped in stunning. Unlike the green thorny forest she was in, colorful fruits and flower vines hung in every direction. 

She climbed the tallest tree in sight and peeked through a hole in the trunk, “Might as well finish sight-seeing while I dress.” Still embarrassed for how she’d been around Kaywin, she used a layer of leaves first, then tied them with green flowery vines to better camouflage herself.

Her alert ears sensed heavy movement, as if a dozen creatures were running in a group. 

Then came a shrill cry in a youthful feminine voice, “Don’t- Don’t come near me. I’m Chinese! My flesh is poisonous.” 

Ah~

To think I’d hear those words in a place like this in person... 

Ash could see ‘her’ through the peephole, a girl around 16-17, with a cute round face, slim-tall figure, long brown hair, big brown eyes, wearing a grey dress, the novel’s fl- Bai QingQing. Hehe, is it my time to shine?

The next moment should be the first ml’s moment, rescuing the poor girl and gaining the right to mate. Ash quickly checked the pouch tied to her waist, the only object she got out with her. 

I have hundreds of thorns, they are not more than 40 and densely packed. All I need to heed is avoid hitting her. Pulling out the sling she made with the elastic band cut out of her dress, Ash mindlessly shot the wolves chasing behind the Chinese brunette. 

Damn you, jerk. You hurt my Kaywin so much in the novel! This is revenge- 

You wanna shine here?

Let’s share the limelight!