2 days passed, but Belinda didn’t saw Horác. She remembered this day was the auction’s last day, so maybe he waited for Szelim to get the thing he wanted.

Belinda looked at the 2 bags of fruit candies and sighed. She didn’t care where he was or what he did. She just hoped he would come back in time to sell the candies before they left.

  If he dares to come back late and he’ll sell the candies next time, I will ask for double payment!

Belinda smiled happily and continued to refine. She didn’t realize her smile was a little devilish.

It was late at night when she fell asleep. Maybe she thought too much, she ended up having a nightmare.

In the dream, Horác smiled meaningfully and told her something. She didn’t hear his voice, but she knew it was something bad. Then a big cage appeared and Horác opened it. He laughed when a hungry big monster came out and jumped on Belinda. She was desperate, but her body didn’t move. The monster opened its big mouth. It was enough big to eat her in one bite. She shivered and accepted her fate. She closed her eyes and waited for the pain... But then... She felt her face was licked!

She opened her eyes in disbelief. She saw a white dog crazily licking her. She sat up and looked around. She touched the saliva on her face and knew it wasn’t a dream.

Belinda looked at the beast on her pillow. It was the wolfar she saw at the auction’s house. But compared to before, it wasn’t lively. It seemed to be tired and sick. She touched its fur and felt its bones. It was too thin!

She took out 2 strawberries and the wolfar swallowed it without chewing it. It wagged its tail and waited for more.

„Sleep a little. I’ll give you more later.” Belinda stroked it. She felt sorry for it, but she read that starved animals couldn’t eat too much at once. She didn’t know if demonic beasts were the same or not, but she didn’t want to risk it.

The wolfar was a little disappointed, but listened to her and closed its eyes. It fell asleep in the next second.

Belinda touched the cub’s belly and felt the energy slowly spread. She couldn’t believe no one paid attention to it in the auction’s house. They dared to ask for so much money, but didn’t care about its life!

She played with its fur then looked at the fruit candies. She refined around a thousand pieces after they came to Szelim’s house. She could sell it for a million but compare to the 100 million what the cub cost, it was still a far cry... And that was just the starting price. She didn’t even want to know much it real worth was...

Fluffy, little paws gently held her hand. She was surprised and looked at the wolfar. It was still sleeping, but became attached to her... bracelet? It was an ice beast and it felt better hugging the ice crystal...

Belinda’s face was dark. She removed her bracelet and let the cub sleep with it. She already had a big loan on her shoulders. If she needed to buy similar things as the ice crystal for the wolfar, she would consider reselling it!

She dejectedly went back to refine. She still had 8 years until graduation. If she worked hard, maybe she would pay back everything to Horác...

An hour passed and the cub was awakened by its own stomach’s rumbling. Its appearance was still sickly, but it felt better than before. It saw Belinda sitting on the ground, but its attention was placed on the candies next to her. It was so hungry, and they seemed so yummy...

Belinda concentrated on refining when she heard munching. She looked on the side and her heart almost stopped.

„What the hell are you doing?!” she grabbed the cub and lifted it up. When she saw its big belly, the vein on her forehead jumped. „Just how many did you eat?!”

The cub lowered its head and whined as if it was wronged.

Belinda put away everything. In the academy, she was used to refining in her space, because the pixies were really troublesome. In the beginning, they just took away some fruits, but later they even dared to eat her candies!

But this room was safe. Only Sal visited her, and he only cared for Lucia. She slowly eased her vigilance and left her things in the room. She never thought this little one would rob her.

Belinda hugged the wolfar and went down. It was time to face reality and ask Szelim about the price... Not to mention, she didn’t know if she really could keep it. She still needed to form a contract with Lucia...

In the hall, Horác played with a cup in his hands and sometimes looked at the stairs.

Szelim went back into his workshop. He couldn’t believe Horác threw that half dead beast into his student’s bed! He was worse than those kids, who captured bugs and placed them on the girls’ clothes. If one day he came to him crying, because he was beaten up by one of his students, he wouldn’t be surprised!

Sal sat in the corner. He was sad because his master didn’t let him go to Belinda’s room. He just wanted to play with Lucia! They would leave after 2 days and who knows when they would come back.

After a while, they heard some noises and went out.

Belinda placed the wolfar on the table and looked at Horác. „What do you intend to do with it?”

Horác was surprised. The cub was so lively as if it wasn’t the one he saw a while before. He saw its big belly and frowned. „Didn’t you give it too many fruits?”

„I didn’t give, and it was candy.” Belinda shook her head. „It’s worse than those pixies...”

Horác touched its head and belly. „Let it run some round around the house... Or do anything that can help it to release the energy.”

As if it understood his meaning, the cub opened its mouth and exhaled white mist. When it saw one of Horác’s hands had a thick layer of ice on it, it happily wagged its tail.