Free Web NovelChapter 36: Episode 036: You Pass
Rue sat on her small wooden chair in the middle of the hot stone courtyard. She held a smooth piece of dark charcoal in one hand and a flat, gray writing slate in the other.
"You are glaring again, Knox."
It was the third day of training. Knox stood roughly five feet in front of her. He wore a simple, loose-fitting linen shirt, his broad muscled arms completely bare.
He was doing much better than yesterday. He had stopped throwing people over tables, and stopped cracking the wood with his fists. But there was still a very massive problem.
"I am not glaring," Knox rumbled, his deep voice vibrating in his chest. freёweɓnovel.com
"Your eyebrows are pulled down so hard they are touching your nose," Rue pointed out flatly. She tapped her piece of charcoal against the slate. "Your jaw is completely locked. You look like you want to murder the slate, eat the charcoal, and burn the courtyard down."
Knox frowned deeper. He reached up and touched his own face.
"This is just my resting face," Knox defended himself. "I am a predator. I am supposed to look highly unapproachable."
"Not at the Full Moon Festival and you are definitely not the only predator, Look at Caius, does he have a resting bitch face?" Rue corrected.
Caius smiled sweetly at Knox before it fell. Knox glared back at him.
She set her slate down on her lap. She looked up at the Black Panther King, he was trying so incredibly hard, but he simply did not know how to exist without radiating pure threat. The heavy Panther Fear Aura naturally leaked out of his skin every time he felt frustrated.
"If you walk into the Convergence looking like that, the rabbit merchants will faint," Rue explained, treating him like a very large, dangerous toddler. "The deer beasts will run. The guards will draw their weapons. You need to learn my ultimate survival tool."
Knox crossed his thick arms. He looked highly interested. "A hidden weapon?"
"No," Rue said. "The deadpan expression."
Knox tilted his head, completely confused. Caius, who was sitting lazily on a stone wall nearby, snorted loudly.
"Where I come from," Rue started, referring to her loud, crowded life in New York, "there are millions of people. You bump into them all the time. People are loud. People are incredibly rude. If you bare your fangs and react to every single annoying person, you will entirely lose your mind."
Rue sat up perfectly straight.
"You have to show absolutely nothing," Rue instructed. "Watch my face."
She demonstrated. She completely relaxed her jaw. She let her pink eyes drop into a half-lidded, utterly bored stare. Her mouth settled into a perfectly flat, horizontal line. She stared right at Knox with an expression so completely empty of emotion, threat, or interest that it looked like she had turned into a stone statue.
It was the exact face she used on the subway. It was the face she used when the hospital nurses brought her terrible food.
"Now," Rue said, dropping the act. "You try." freёwebnovel.com
Knox nodded slowly. He took a very deep breath. He dropped his thick arms to his sides. He tried to relax his jaw. He tried to make his bright golden eyes look bored.
He looked absolutely terrible.
His cheeks puffed out slightly. His eyes widened instead of dropping. He looked exactly like a man who was severely constipated, or someone trying very hard not to sneeze.
Caius burst into loud, bright laughter from the stone wall.
"By the stars," Caius wheezed, holding his stomach. "You look like a sick toad, jungle cat. Please, never do that face again."
A thick, angry vein popped up directly on Knox’s forehead. His upper lip twitched, revealing the sharp, deadly tip of his white fang.
"Caius," Rue warned, shooting the snake with a flat look. "You are supposed to be helping."
"I am helping!" Caius smiled, jumping down from the wall. He walked over with a light, graceful step. "I am providing a natural festival annoyance."
Minx walked out of the fortress kitchen, carrying a fresh jug of cold water. She stopped at the edge of the courtyard, watching the bizarre scene with a skeptical look on her brown face.
"Minx, come here," Rue called out, waving her hand. "We are doing a full mock scenario. Both of you are going to be annoying festival-goers. Knox has to navigate you without killing anyone."
Minx sighed heavily, but she walked over and stood next to Caius.
Rue picked up her slate and charcoal. She drew three quick, sharp lines.
[Rules for the Festival Drill:]
Keep your face completely blank.Pull your predator aura back into your body.Do not react.
"Begin," Rue ordered.
Knox stood in the center of the courtyard. He closed his eyes for a split second, taking a long, deep breath, trying to suppress his aura. It took extreme, intense physical effort. A small drop of sweat rolled down his dark temple.
Caius did not hold back. The snake beastman walked right past Knox and purposely slammed his broad shoulder hard against the panther’s chest.
It was a heavy hit. Any normal beast would have staggered. Knox did not even move an inch, but his large hands instantly curled into tight fists.
"Watch where you are going, you oversized rug," Caius drawled loudly, acting like an incredibly rude merchant.
Knox’s jaw tightened. He turned his head slowly to look at Caius.
"Deadpan," Rue called out from her chair.
Knox forced his fists to open. He looked at Caius. He dropped his eyebrows. He completely flattened his mouth. He stared at the snake with an incredibly bored, empty expression.
Caius paused. He actually blinked in surprise. Without the heavy fear aura backing it up, the giant panther did not look scary. He just looked incredibly tired of Caius’s existence.
"Better," Rue nodded, writing a checkmark on her slate. "Minx, your turn."
Minx walked up. She decided to play the role of a frantic, shouting prey beast. She waved her hands right in Knox’s face.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Minx shouted loudly, jumping up and down. "You are standing right in front of my carrot stall! Move your feet!"
Knox blinked slowly. He looked down at his own sister jumping around like a crazy rabbit. He simply took one calm, silent step to the left, keeping his face perfectly blank.
"Excellent," Rue praised.
Caius watched Knox closely. The humor slowly faded from the general’s golden eyes, replaced by a sharp, quiet observation.
Caius knew exactly how biology worked. He was a cold-blooded killer himself. He knew that when a predator was yelled at, bumped into, or disrespected, their blood literally boiled. Their fangs ached to bite. Their claws burned to slash. It was not just a choice; it was a physical, burning instinct that demanded violence.
Yet, here was the King of the Nightwhisper Jungle.
Knox’s dark skin was slick with sweat. The muscles in his thick neck were completely tight. He was fighting centuries of violent, territorial instinct. He was suppressing his own nature so hard it looked physically painful.
And he was doing it entirely because the tiny white rabbit sitting on the wooden chair asked him to.
Caius pressed his lips into a thin line. He realized just how fiercely dedicated the panther was to getting this right. Knox was not just playing a game to win a mate. He was actively trying to change his entire existence just so Rue wouldn’t be disappointed in him. It was a terrifying level of devotion.
"Final test," Rue announced, breaking Caius’s thoughts.
Rue stood up from her chair. She walked directly up to Knox. She was incredibly small compared to him, her head barely reaching the center of his chest.
She looked up into his golden eyes. Without any warning, she reached out and flicked him right on his scarred nose.
Knox blinked. His eyes crossed slightly, looking at his own nose.
He didn’t flex a single muscle. He didn’t bare his fangs. He didn’t even let out a low rumble in his chest. He just looked back down at her, maintaining the exact, flat, deadpan stare she had taught him. He looked utterly, completely unbothered.
Rue lowered her hand. The blank, clinical look on her face completely vanished.
She smiled. It was a small, quiet, and completely genuine smile of approval. She nodded her head once.
"You pass," Rue said softly.
