Tame or Be Captured (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 015
She diligently searched for animal tracks and tree markings, just as she had been taught.
But suddenly, she remembered that the bandits she’d met that day must have chased her by following her footprints too, and a chill ran down her spine.
For a hunter, tracking an animal’s movements and signs was the most crucial task.
Now she finally understood why she’d always been caught shortly after fleeing the imperial palace.
She had been clumsy at erasing her own traces, and the emperor’s elite knights would never have let such a careless target slip away.
Asha shook her head firmly, trying to push the thought away.
After searching the forest for a long while, she finally spotted tracks that looked like those of a deer.
Judging by their shallow depth, it seemed to be a fawn, recently born.
The footprints continued without interruption.
Since it was lingering nearby, she’d be able to catch it easily as long as she stayed alert.
Asha steeled herself, hid behind a tree, and waited patiently and quietly.
The moment she heard the faint sound of tiny hooves nearby, Asha sprang from the tree, swiftly aiming her sharp arrow.
But immediately, her eyes widened in surprise.
Before her stood a fawn, frozen in place, gazing at her with wide, innocent eyes.
It was the perfect opportunity—her arrowhead pointed precisely at its throat without even deliberate aiming.
Yet still, Asha couldn’t release the arrow.
She saw her own past self in the limping fawn—the very image of a desperate fugitive.
Unafraid, the fawn hopped cheerfully toward Asha and poked its adorable face right near the arrow’s tip.
It clearly didn’t see her as dangerous at all.
“Dangerous. Don’t come closer.”
Asha quickly hid her bow behind her back. The fawn blinked its large, dark eyes and looked around.
Watching this, Asha realized something and asked softly,
“Did you lose your mother?”
Given how it kept wandering this exact area, it seemed it had lost its mother here.
Just then, voices of her companions echoed from nearby.
Asha whispered urgently,
“Go quickly! Don’t ever come back here again, understand?”
As if it understood her words, the fawn leaped away over the hill with bounding hops.
Then, as if bidding farewell, it stared straight at Asha one last time before vanishing behind the snow-covered white slope.
Afterward, Asha felt unsettled and couldn’t focus on hunting anymore.
Time had already slipped away, and though she hastily scoured the area as Naji had instructed, she couldn’t find even a single rabbit burrow.
In the end, Asha returned empty-handed, trudging back dejectedly.
The other members, who had arrived earlier, proudly laid out the animals they’d hunted that day before her.
Asha glanced sideways, checking if the fawn or its mother was among the kills.
Fortunately, no deer appeared among the day’s haul. Asha silently sighed in relief.
Jackal walked by, inspecting each hunting prize one by one, until he stopped abruptly right before Asha, who stood at the very end.
He stared at her wordlessly, and she kept her eyes fixed on the ground, just as silently.
Her space in front remained completely empty.
Geb, unsurprised, snorted openly and sharply turned his head away.
Asha was the only hunter who hadn’t caught a single animal that day.
Jackal didn’t think she’d simply failed to spot any game or had clumsily missed her chance.
With her archery skills, she could easily have brought back rabbits or squirrels.
He knew without seeing it—she’d found prey and let it go.
As the two stood facing each other in silence, Naji, watching from the side, cautiously leaned toward Asha and whispered softly into her ear,
“Sister, should I give you one of the pheasants I caught?”
At that, Jackal instantly scowled, and Naji quickly feigned innocence.
After a heavy pause, he finally spoke.
“Asha Camellia.”
“…Yes, Captain.”
“Since you failed the hunt, you’ll go without dinner tonight.”
His harsh words made all the members turn in shock toward them.
Asha lowered her eyes, crestfallen.
“Yes…”
Jackal stated firmly,
“A hunter who fails to hunt must go hungry. If you hadn’t joined our organization, you’d have had to handle and bear the consequences entirely on your own. You must take responsibility for your choices.”
“Yes…”
“Then let’s head back now.”
Jackal walked past her without another glance.
The members, respecting their leader’s decision, followed him without protest.
On the way back to the village, Jackal remained silent the entire time. The procession felt like a funeral march.
The members kept glancing back worriedly at Asha, who trailed behind limply on her horse.
Normally, if someone caught their first prey on a hunt, they’d celebrate with a party to welcome them as a true hunter.
But if someone returned with nothing, they were all treated exactly as Asha was now.
That was Lycaon’s rule—and thanks to its strict enforcement, they remained safe from danger.
That evening, while everyone ate together at the hideout, Asha stayed alone in her room, drinking water to fill her empty stomach and endure the hunger.
Harsh as it was, his words were right.
She had shown mercy to that young deer, and as a result, burdened her comrades.
As Geb had said, Lycaon wasn’t a charity that fed and housed people for free.
She couldn’t keep consuming their precious food without contributing anything in return.
Just then—
The door opened quietly, and someone slipped softly inside.
It was Naji.
Holding a rice bowl, he gave an awkward smile and said,
“Sister, aren’t you hungry? I sneaked this out without the captain knowing—eat quickly.”
Inside the bowl Naji brought were porridge and one boiled pheasant leg.
Asha’s face softened slightly with emotion.
“Naji… Thank you, but I’m fine. What if you get in trouble too?”
“It’s okay! I get scolded all the time anyway, so what’s one more time?”
Naji replied with an innocent grin.
“No, really. This was my choice, so I should bear the consequences. You go back and eat quickly. If they notice it’s missing, they’ll suspect something.”
Asha tried to reason gently, but Naji stubbornly refused to leave.
“I hate being hungry! It’s seriously exhausting!”
Just then—
“…I knew I’d find you here, Naji.”
At the low voice suddenly coming from behind, Naji jumped and spun around.
Jackal stood at the doorway.
“C-Captain…”
“Who told you to disobey orders?”
“Well… Could you please just overlook it this once?”
Naji stared at him with pleading, cat-like eyes, bright and hopeful.
Jackal sighed expressionlessly, then pulled something out from behind his back.
Naji’s eyes widened in surprise, then he quickly bit back a giggle.
“…I’ll keep it a secret—so you keep it a secret too.”
“Yes! Then I’ll take my leave now!”
Naji snapped a quick salute and dashed out of the room with a bright smile.
In Jackal’s hand was another rice bowl filled with food.
In fact, it held an even larger portion of meat than the one Naji had brought—a better meal altogether.
Slightly embarrassed, Jackal cleared his throat loudly into his fist, then set the bowl on the table and said sternly,
“Go ahead and explain yourself. I’ll listen.”
“There’s nothing to explain… I really did let the game go…”
Asha couldn’t meet his eyes.
Jackal remained silent for a long while before speaking calmly again.
“From the very first time I saw you, I felt this—you don’t belong among hunters.”
Hunting, in truth, was an utterly brutal act.
It required taking another’s life—demanding the resolve to boldly strike a blade into the enemy’s throat without hesitation.
But no matter how he looked at her, she simply didn’t fit that role.
Asha sat gloomily, expecting him to tell her to quit hunting right then and there.
But just then—
“…So instead of hunting, find something else you can do.”
Asha lifted her head in surprise.
“Something I can do…?”
“Yes. You told me you wanted to hone the power of the butterfly. Then do that. Find a way to contribute to the organization yourself. Someone who was chased until yesterday can’t suddenly become a chaser overnight.”
Jackal walked over to the bed and sat heavily on the edge, then held out the bowl.
“Eat.”
This time, Asha obediently took the bowl and began eating quickly with her spoon.
She was so hungry that the meal tasted as sweet as honey.
Watching her munch away eagerly, Jackal said,
“To clear your head, tomorrow come with me for a walk in the nearby forest on my horse. If you can’t hunt, you’d better master horseback riding at least.”
Asha, mid-bite, looked up in surprise.
“With Shephy? Is that really okay?”
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
Asha barely held back a cheer.
Jackal had only suggested it to lift her spirits, yet somehow found himself wearing an even more excited expression.
But Asha, too thrilled at the thought of seeing Shephy, didn’t notice his expression at all.
The next morning, Asha changed into comfortable clothes for their walk and, just in case, grabbed her bow.
But the moment she opened the door, a gray-blue horse stood quietly waiting right outside.
Her eyes lit up with joy, and she cried out,
“Shephy!”
“Pwoong.”
Asha gently stroked Shephy’s face with a happy smile.
He lowered his head shyly but flicked both ears happily at her touch.
“Your master gave me permission to take a walk with you today. But I feel like I should say hello to him before we leave—where is he now?”
As Asha looked around and started heading toward the main hall, the horse tugged gently on the reins.
She turned back, puzzled, and Shephy shook his head.
“You mean I don’t need to go find him?”
“Pwoong.”
Come to think of it, since he’d personally brought the horse here, there was probably no need to report formally.
Unaware of this, Jackal, who had come himself with his own advice locked away in silence, suddenly felt embarrassed and let out a sigh.
Sosa would’ve definitely mocked him openly with a loud snort if he saw this.
But the moment Asha lightly mounted his back and whispered something, all such thoughts vanished.
“I really missed this back.”
As Asha fondly stroked his neck and back, Jackal froze completely.
That line—“I really missed this back”—would surely haunt him every night from now on…
Asha rode out for her walk, now quite skilled at handling the horse.
Strangely, Shephy seemed to already know exactly where she wanted to go and moved his hooves accordingly.
Asha asked curiously,
“Shephy, remember you promised me we’d go out together sometime? Could we maybe go today?”
Jackal fell into thought for a moment.
After pondering carefully about a place suitable to take her, he answered,
“Pwoong.”
He immediately turned and began galloping off.
Asha gasped in surprise and gripped the reins tightly.
It was an incredible speed.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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No way…did Karaf set up this situation with the assassin or kidnapping attempt to earn points?
Not practically, it is a form of torture. Jackel didn’t jump into the water on his own while tied to the boulder.
It seems backward that the Empress is invited to a Duchess’ tea party.