FWF Chapter 783: Safe Space
Chapter 783: Safe Space
Joy’s voice was flat, but her eyes held darkness as she went on to say,
"Every day was horrible. That filth of a woman would mock my mother, scold her, abuse her. She treated her like a doll...a toy to play with."
Cassius’s grip on the fence tightened. The wood began to crack under his fingers.
Joy noticed and she felt a strange sense of comfort.
He was angry for her mother. Just like she was.
It made her resonate with him.
"It wasn’t just my mother who suffered." She continued. "I did too. Nothing like what she went through—she bore the brunt of it to protect me—but that awful woman didn’t let me off either."
She spat the words like poison.
"She gave me menial tasks. Wiping floors, scrubbing dishes, cleaning out the latrines."
Her disgust was palpable. She would have loved to chop that woman up all over again.
"But there was one good thing that came out of it."
Her expression softened.
"One of my jobs was taking care of the animals. I had to clean their area, feed them, change their water—all those things."
"But while others hated that job because of the smell, because of how dirty you got..."
A brightness entered her eyes.
"I absolutely adored it."
Cassius listened intently.
"I got to spend time with so many lovely creatures. They were cute. Adorable."
Her voice grew wistful.
"Compared to how disgusting and cruel humans can be, those simple-minded animals were in a completely different dimension."
Cassius understood.
From the moment she was born, Joy had only seen the cruelty of humans.
Their selfishness, their greed, their capacity for evil.
Animals were different. Simple. Innocent. They didn’t scheme or betray.
Around them, Joy could let down her guard.
"The animals were probably the only happy part of my life back then." Her voice was soft. Nostalgic. "I used to wait day and night just to go clean their pens. I would purposely stall, drag out my time, just so I could stay with them longer."
Cassius smiled.
"So basically, they were your friends."
He realized how that sounded and quickly added,
"I’m not trying to mock you or anything. I’m just saying—the way you describe them, the way you liked spending time with them...it sounds like you treated them as companions."
Joy didn’t get offended.
Instead, she smiled.
It was a beautiful smile—nothing like the cold, sharp expressions she usually wore. It caught Cassius completely off guard.
"Friends, huh?" She muttered under her breath. "I guess you could call them that. I even named them. Had conversations with them."
She let out a small giggle.
"Yeah. They were definitely my closest friends back then."
Cassius saw it. A glimpse of the innocent Joy from the past. The girl she should have been.
Then her expression darkened.
"But after I became the Saintess...the animals who used to come to me, who used to cuddle next to me, started avoiding me."
She gripped the fence.
"It was like they were looking at a stranger."
Her voice cracked.
"And I realized what I had become. What my purpose was. So I left them behind. I went to the capital."
She let out a deep sigh.
"It was the same there. The animals I took in didn’t want to be near me. My mother had to take care of them while I watched from the side."
Her face was somber. All the happiness in her life had been stolen away.
She looked at the hairless donkey in front of her.
"Even right now, I was really excited to meet the Montegro. I’ve read about them for years. Such a wonderful species—"
Cassius interrupted.
"What? A wonderful species?"
He pointed at the donkey in disbelief.
"You mean that hairless, dumb-looking thing over there?"
Joy’s head snapped toward him.
"Cassius..." Her voice was ice. "Don’t ever say such things about the Montegro."
He blinked.
"Even if I can’t defeat you, I won’t let you off." Her eyes blazed with anger. "Apologize."
"But it’s so ugly!" He protested. "And weird. And it’s got that fat—"
Joy’s eyes flashed.
Golden light flickered at her fingertips. Her axe and hammer were moments away from manifesting.
Cassius quickly raised his hands.
"Okay, okay! I’m sorry! I won’t say anything else!"
Joy huffed.
"Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to the poor Montegro. You hurt his feelings."
Cassius glanced at the donkey. It was cluelessly chewing grass, completely unbothered.
Still, he gave it a little bow.
"I’m sorry, Peach. I shouldn’t have said those things about you. I hope you can accept my apology."
A satisfied look crossed Joy’s face. Then she paused.
"Peach? Is that its name?"
Cassius nodded. "Vivi named her."
He pointed at the donkey’s butt.
"Look at it from a certain angle. Doesn’t it look like a peach?"
Joy leaned over and her eyes widened in pleasent surprise.
It actually did. Plump and round and perfectly shaped!
"Peach." She murmured. "What a wonderful name."
Cassius added with a poke, "She’s also a girl, by the way. Not a boy."
Joy’s lips parted and she immediately bowed her head to apologise.
"I’m sorry, Peach! I shouldn’t have misgendered you!"
The donkey just huffed and continued eating, as if the damage had already been done.
Joy looked sad, while Cassius was utterly amused at how the women who wouldn’t even full give in to the Empress herself was bowing to a donkey.
"You really do love animals, huh?"
Joy puffed out her chest proudly.
"Of course, I do! If I said I was the number one animal lover in the world, no one could take that spot from me!"
She said it with such conviction.
Then she realized how she was acting. She quickly straightened up and looked away.
But Cassius had already seen her and he couldn’t help but think about how cute she was right now—how the innocent side of her, the side she had buried deep, emerged whenever she talked about animals.
He wanted to see more of it.
But she was a tough nut to crack.
Then his eyes lit up.
He could use her love of animals against her.
"Joy." He said casually, leaning toward her with an enthusiastic look. "Do you want to pet the donkey?"
She looked at him sharply.
"Do you want to pet its fur?" He met her eyes with keen interest. "Feel just how soft its bottom is?"
Joy heard his words and her heart seized.
It was exactly what she wanted. Her greatest desire, dangled in front of her like a carrot before a starving horse.
To pet an animal. To feel its fur or in this case, its skin beneath her fingers. To have a creature trust her enough to let her touch it.
And Cassius was offering it to her on a silver platter.
She couldn’t help the excitement that flared in her chest.
But she pushed it down, forcing her voice into something cold and harsh.
"Don’t lie to me, Cassius." Her eyes narrowed. "This isn’t something to joke about."
She gestured at the empty space between her and the donkey.
"With how much animals are afraid of me, it would be a miracle if I could even get close to them—let alone touch them." Her voice was sharp, her gaze unwavering. "Don’t tempt me with false promises."
Cassius leaned back against the fence, his posture casual, his expression unbothered.
"Why would I lie about something as simple as this, Joy?" He spread his hands. "It’s beneath me."
"And unlike you, I’m actually popular among the animals here."
He puffed out his chest, looking insufferably proud.
"Whether it’s the birds that wait for me by my window every morning, or the little critters that scurry around the garden, or even the deer that come to me in the forest..."
"...I’m basically a princess among creatures."
Joy’s eye twitched.
Cassius continued, his voice smug. "So it shouldn’t be too hard to help you with this one."
He pointed at the donkey, which was staring back at them with its usual lazy expression.
"Not to mention, Peach and I go way back, so it shouldn’t be a big deal."
Joy felt her anticipation building. Despite her skepticism, she wanted this so badly.
But she knew Cassius. She knew his reputation, his tricks, his endless desire to seduce.
So she forced herself to be wary.
"What sort of compensation do you want?" She asked coldly. "What are your demands?"
Cassius put a hand over his heart, his expression shifting to one of exaggerated hurt.
"Oh, how pitiful am I?" He shook his head sadly. "Here I am, doing my best to help her fulfill her dreams, and she doubts me like this. Truly, I am a martyr!"
Joy didn’t believe the act for a second.
Cassius straightened, his tone becoming calm.
"There’s no need to worry about that. All you need to decide is whether you want to touch it or not."
Joy looked at the donkey. It was swaying its fat bottom back and forth, completely oblivious to the drama unfolding before it.
It was cute. Adorable. She wanted to touch it so badly.
So, finally, unable to hold herself back, she gritted her teeth and said,
"I do...I want to touch the Montegro."
She looked up at him, the words tasting like ash in her mouth.
"So, please...help me, Cassius"
The reluctance on her face and the way she looked like she was swallowing poison gave Cassius a deep sense of satisfaction.
Joy noticed and felt a flash of anger.
But before she could snap at him, he coughed and turned to the donkey.
"Come here, Peach!" He called out in a coquettish, sing-song voice. "Come over here, darling!"
He put a hand over Joy’s shoulder, pulling her closer into his embrace.
"This older sister here..." He gestured at Joy "...wants to pet you. So come over here. Give her a chance to feel your fluffy—"
He paused, realizing the Montegro was completely naked.
"—I mean, your smooth, slippery skin."
Joy was too focused on the donkey to notice how close they were.
She also sneered internally. She knew that no matter how much Cassius called, the Montegro would only walk a few inches before stopping.
The creature was notoriously stubborn. It didn’t take orders from anyone, not even its own masters.
She was about to enjoy watching Cassius fail.
But then—
The Montegro turned its head.
It looked at Cassius and let out a low noise.
Neigh! Neigh!
Joy blinked in shock.
It sounded like...communication!
Cassius too nodded, as if he understood perfectly.
"I know." He said sympathetically. "She’s really scary. Just looking at her makes me shiver all over."
The Montegro let out another sound.
Neigh! Neigh!
"I agree with that as well." Cassius nodded again. "Her eyes are particularly terrifying. I don’t want to look at them either. They make my own eyes burn."
Another sound.
Neigh! Neigh!
"She truly is a formidable woman."
The donkey made more noises, and it almost seemed like they were having a conversation, a back-and-forth between man and beast with both of them contributing equally.
Joy stared in sheer disbelief.
It was absurd. It was ridiculous.
But it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen!
She had always wanted this—to communicate with animals, to understand them, to be understood in return.
And Cassius was doing it so casually, like it was the most natural thing in the world!