Gaffer took his sit again then reached for her.
With one steady pull, he drew Linda back down to sit beside him and gently patted her head. The gesture was calm as he didn't speak.
Instead, he chose to communicate the way she could. If she couldn't use words, then neither would he.
It wasn't pity. It was just consideration.
Linda understood immediately, and her heart softened. This was what set him apart from every other man she had ever encountered in the beast world.
She lifted her gaze to him.
The truth was, going to the bathroom to wash herself and changing to her human form—it had all been for him. Well… mostly for him.
She had also wanted to see herself as a human, to know what she looked like. And now that she had, she was content.
Slowly, she raised her hands and gestured.
She pointed to herself. Then to her body. Then to him and finally, to his eyes.
'Did you notice anything different about me today?'
Gaffer understood her immediately and felt it was cute.
He turned his face away slightly, trying—and failing—to hide the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. A faint warmth crept into his cheeks.
He shook his head. 'No.'
Then, with his fingers, he gestured back, explaining that she looked the same as she always had.
Linda pouted.
She widened her eyes dramatically and gestured again, more emphatically this time.
'Nothing? Not even my face? You didn't notice anything different with me today.'
Gaffer broke into laughter. It echoed through the room, rich and warm. Ah, he hadn't laughed like that in a very long time.
Linda froze.
She stared at him, utterly captivated.
If this man were a treasure, she thought, he would be a diamond, or maybe a ruby. Sharp enough to cut glass, strong enough to split steel, yet impossibly beautiful when light touched him just right.
If he truly were a diamond, she decided, then he was one meant to be carried everywhere.
When his laughter finally faded, Gaffer looked back at her.
This time, he spoke. "You still look… delicious."
In the past, hearing words like that had terrified Linda. All her life, she had been prey. Something to be hunted and to be eaten.
But now she didn't feel afraid. She felt warm.
Her porcelain-white face flushed, a soft red blooming across her cheeks as she looked away, embarrassed. And strangely pleased.
And Gaffer noticed that too.
Just then, Scliff walked in. He was holding a big file and looking down at it, not noticing the two people seated together.
"Master, Master," he said as he walked in. "The poison land has been cleared. We've taken down the dry leaves from the dead poison land. The green and alive poison land haven't been touched yet but—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
He froze, because he saw a strange girl sitting very close to his master.
Scliff was shocked because the girl was clearly visible, sitting right beside his master. He was shocked because he didn't know who she was. And he was even more shocked because women were almost extinct in the beast world.
'Who is this beast-woman?' he thought.
In his mind, Gaffer was extremely lucky. He had an ex-wife, a current wife, and now possibly a fling. Truly legendary!
Linda noticed Scliff with her side vision. She cleared her throat and shifted back slightly.
She saw the raw meat on the table and shook her head. She couldn't eat raw meat. But she was hungry.
She pointed to her stomach, then to the meat, then shook her head again, gesturing that she was hungry but couldn't eat that.
"It's fine," Gaffer said. "I'll tell the servants to prepare something else for you, Little White."
Scliff's ears bled at the over sweet tone of his matter.
But… 'Little White?'
'Wasn't that what the master called the rabbit?'
He finally began to notice the similarities between the master's rabbit and the girl.
Her skin was extremely pale like the white skin of the rabbit, and she wasn't talking. Just like the rabbit. So this beautiful girl was the rabbit!
He couldn't help but think that even if he didn't want to admit it, the rabbit's human form was extremely beautiful; like fine white jade.
Linda then looked at Scliff and gestured again.
She pointed to her face, then her whole body, then at him, and finally licked her finger.
She was asking if she looked good today.
Scliff stared blankly, trying to decode her gestures.
"She's asking if she looks good today," Gaffer explained.
Scliff immediately nodded. "Yes, yes! She looks very beautiful."
"She?" Gaffer raised a quizzical brow.
"No. Master, Madam looks very beautiful today."
"Only today?" Gaffer asked.
Linda couldn't help but chuckle soundlessly.
Scliff slapped his mouth. "I'm sorry, Master. Madam looks beautiful every day, whether in beast form or human form. Madam looks exceptionally good."
He was all shocked. He never expected the rabbit to look like this. So she wasn't defective at all. She could transform, maybe she just hadn't trusted anyone enough to do so in their presence.
Gaffer then said, "Hand me the prints."
Scliff handed over the documents and the pictures of the gardens that Linda had seen earlier from the window in that room was in the paper.
'So a garden is what they call a poison land,' Linda thought it was funny.
"It's good that the dead poison land has been cleared," Gaffer said. "But we'll also have to clear the fresh poison land."
Linda immediately stopped him.
She pointed at the picture of the fresh garden and gestured anxiously. 'Why destroy it?'
"Do you like this poison land?" Gaffer asked.
She nodded.
"Then I'll give it to you," he said. "Use it however you want. You can tell Scliff what you need."
Scliff frowned. Why was she suddenly given authority over him?
Linda, however, was pleased. She grabbed a pen and began sketching on the clear back of document.
Carrots.
Cucumbers.
Edible leaves.
Vegetables.
Peppers.
She needed her garden filled. She needed to cook she could eat. She couldn't survive on meat alone, and especially not raw meat.
She paused.
'What would I do about oil? And milk?'
'Where would I get those? Beast-cows…?' she thought. 'Whatever!'
She sketched it. She sketch the cow and seeds and sunflower seed and nuts and fruits, and she kept sketching—lettuce, onions, spices, leaves—everything she could remember.
She planned to grow and own them all.
After a long while, she finally looked up and smiled.
She was going to turn this beast world into… LINDA'S EXCLUSIVE BEAST WORLD!!!