The Beast of the Albard Mansion - Chapter 21
The hunter who had been scouring the village returned to the mansion without finding any significant clues. My father looked at the hunter with a disappointed, distrustful gaze, clearly displeased with the lack of progress.
“So, what will you do now?” my father asked.
“To catch the beast, we’ll need to release the hunting dogs.”
“Hunting dogs?”
“I brought a few dogs with me.”
The hunter, who had arrived in a black carriage, had three large dogs sleeping in narrow cages inside it. As soon as the dogs were let out of their cages, they began barking ferociously. Their eyes were bloodshot, and sticky saliva dripped from their large muzzles. They looked so fierce that no one dared to approach them.
“Sit!” the hunter commanded, instantly subduing the savage dogs. “It will be night soon. Since the beast roams at night, we can start the search then.”
The hunter threw the carcasses of the livestock he had gathered around the village to the dogs. The dogs buried their noses in the carcasses and sniffed them for a long time.
“Why are you giving them those rotting corpses?”
My father asked, pinching his nose to ward off the stench of the carcasses that had been dead for over a fortnight.
“The beast’s scent might still be on the carcasses. When the beast appears tonight, the dogs will pick up its scent.”
My father, observing the dogs, suddenly seemed to have an idea.
“If it’s about keen-scented dogs, I have one as well.”
“You, Count? If it’s a dog you use for hunting, it won’t be much help. These dogs have undergone special training,” the hunter replied dismissively.
My father raised his chin arrogantly.
“You’ll be surprised.”
I watched the scene from a distance, holding my breath in anxiety.
My father ordered a servant to bring “it” from the dungeon, grinning as he did. The moment I heard that, I shut my eyes tightly. It felt like my worst fears were coming true.
The hunting dogs might have caught Desi’s scent from the carcasses. If they did, the well-trained dogs would surely bark viciously at Desi. I anxiously bit my nails, worried that Desi’s involvement in all these events would be revealed.
Before long, the servant appeared, leading Desi. Desi had a muzzle on and a leather collar around his neck. The servant was holding Desi’s leash, and Desi followed obediently.
Desi, who had once needed eight servants to subdue him, had become docile since deciding to stay at the mansion of his own free will after I had given him his freedom.
“Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”
The hunting dogs began barking fiercely as soon as they saw Desi approaching. But when Desi narrowed his eyes at them, the dogs immediately tucked their tails and lowered their bodies, whimpering. The once threatening hunting dogs now trembled in fear. My father laughed heartily at the sight.
“Hahaha! I thought they were supposed to be great hunting dogs, but apparently not.”
The hunter, ignoring my father’s mockery, was focused elsewhere. He stared at Desi in astonishment and even took a few steps back when Desi stepped into the garden.
Desi had grown significantly and was now a bit shorter than my father but much taller than me. He had the height of a teenage boy, around 17 years old, like my second older brother.
Although Desi was shorter than adult men, his strength far surpassed theirs. I couldn’t imagine how strong he would become when fully grown.
The hunter rubbed his eyes repeatedly, as if doubting what he was seeing, and then spoke seriously.
“Where did you find that beast?”
“Oh, I bought him from a slave trader in the Kingdom of Ostre. He traveled across the continent and the sea, stopped briefly in the capital, and then came to our mansion,” my father replied.
“Did you really think you could tame that?”
The hunter laughed incredulously.
“It took some time to tame him,” my father boasted.
He puffed out his chest with pride. He seemed eager to impress the hunter with his achievements.
“No matter how fierce an Osk may be, it’s still just a beast,” my father added.
“How can you call that an Osk?”
The hunter’s face grew serious. He looked at my father and shook his head, as if unable to comprehend what he was hearing.
He opened his mouth as if to say something but then closed it again. His eyes kept darting to Desi, showing his unease.
“What’s wrong?”
The hunter whispered something into my father’s ear, speaking so quietly that I couldn’t hear from a few steps away. I stood next to my father, trying to catch what the hunter was saying. Noticing me, my father placed his hand on my head.
Finally, I heard the hunter’s hushed voice.
“You must be careful with that beast. It’s not an Osk.”
“What do you mean?”
“Are your eyes failing you? That’s a werewolf. You have a dangerous werewolf in your house.”
The hunter looked at my father, his face pale with fear.
