‘One mountain can’t hold two tigers…
unless one is male and the other female!’
‘Brother Leopard…
don’t tell me he’s raising me to be his child bride?!’
Susu shuddered at the thought.
But on second thought, maybe it wasn’t so bad.
She was a cub whose teeth hadn’t even fully grown in.
Her chances of surviving in this dangerous jungle until she could fend for herself were slim to none.
But if she could latch onto Brother Leopard right now, then…
Her odds of survival would be much, much higher.
And once she was grown and could survive on her own, it wouldn’t be impossible to find a way to escape!
With this plan in mind, Susu immediately felt at ease.
‘A woman’s gotta be flexible, after all.
Right now, I’m weaker than him, so I just have to swallow my pride.
Besides, my face is covered in fur, so even if I get embarrassed, no one can tell!’
‘To survive?
Hell, what’s there to be afraid of!’
While Susu was lost in these wild thoughts, Brother Leopard returned with his prey.
Seeing that Susu was awake and hadn’t run away as usual—not even scrambling back into the tree hollow—a flicker of surprise crossed Brother Leopard’s eyes.
But more than that, he was clearly pleased by her actions.
He dragged his prey—an animal roughly the same size as his previous kills—and dropped it on the ground.
Then, as if rewarding her, he came over, lowered his head, and nuzzled her small frame, a pleased, almost placating purr rumbling in his throat.
Now that she had accepted the reality of her situation, Susu didn’t refuse the Black Panther’s affection.
Brother Leopard nuzzled her for a moment.
Unlike before, he didn’t try to give her a spit bath, but instead turned away to deal with the prey he’d just brought back.
It had only been a suspicion before, but watching him up close now, Susu became even more certain: there was more to this Black Panther than met the eye.
He meticulously skinned the prey, peeling the hide off in one complete piece, just as he had done before.
Only then did he tear a strip of tender, fresh meat from the animal’s back and offer it to Susu.
Once he saw her start to eat, he finally turned to fill his own belly.
Brother Leopard was very generous this time.
For the first time since arriving in this world, Susu actually felt a little stuffed.
So, she promptly got to her feet.
While it was still light out, she decided to walk around the area to help with her digestion.
Susu’s movement, however, caught the attention of the still-eating Brother Leopard.
He lifted his head from his half-eaten meal, his gold eyes narrowed, and he stared unblinkingly as she reached the edge of the clearing.
After observing her for a moment and seeing she had no intention of going far, he relaxed his guard a little and went back to filling his belly.
Susu, of course, did not miss the Black Panther’s reaction.
She was well aware that even though she had accepted the fact that she needed to stick with Brother Leopard to survive, he didn’t know that.
He hadn’t lowered his guard around her at all, still worried she might vanish the moment he wasn’t looking.
Susu sighed to herself.
‘Looks like I have a long, difficult road ahead of me if I want to successfully win Brother Leopard over.’ At the very least, she first had to earn his trust.
She needed to make him believe that, for the time being, she wouldn’t try to run away from him again.
Susu didn’t know how to get along with such a massive black panther, but she knew how to learn by imitation.
After a moment’s hesitation, for the sake of her future freedom, Susu decided to throw her dignity to the wind.
She turned and trotted over to the still-eating Black Panther’s side.
Mimicking his earlier gesture, she carefully but deliberately nuzzled against his body.