New World with Four Husbands

"Just because I’m acting like this doesn’t mean that other hunters are the same." Coco rebutted, stopping in her tracks and turning to look at Leroy.

The man flinched when Coco’s eyes landed on him, his heart racing in worry.

He could feel something was coming from Coco, but he couldn’t pinpoint what— the only thing he could feel was something ominous coming from her.

If a stare like hers could kill, then he’s sure he would have dropped dead by now.

"W-Well, you sure are making it hard to believe that." Leroy stuttered out, the words coming out tumbling and rolling off his tongue. "Besides, it’s not like I said all hunters are like you. I’m sure that there are a couple of good ones, too."

Coco didn’t answer and simple shot him a pointed look.

He swallowed thickly, unsure of what to say to make her break out of that nonchalant mask.

"Guess what?" Coco spoke up, catching Leroy’s attention instantly. "There are good ones, but most of them? They’re worse than me. If you can’t handle my attitude, then becoming a hunter will be difficult for you—"

Slap.

The air froze, and before Coco could utter another word, Leroy who was still seething from the dismissal suddenly lashed out.

Without thinking, his palm had reached out and cracked across her face in a sharp, stinging slap.

For a heartbeat.. There was nothing, but silence.

The team behind them gasped collectively, their bodies going rigid with shock, even the wind seemed to pause at the audacity of what he had just done.

Coco didn’t flinch and didn’t even blink at the sting of the slap.

Instead, she just stared.

Her emerald eyes locked onto Leroy’s blue ones, the look behind them completely unreadable.

There was no anger flaring in them yet, just pure shock at his action, because she couldn’t fathom how someone could do that to her.

Leroy blinked, his hand still hovering slightly in the air after striking her and now he realized, which was a little too late, that he had made a grave mistake towards the person who is in charge of him and his career.

His face immediately drained of color in an instant, his hand jerking back as if he was burned.

His eyes widened as the reality of what he had just done crashed into him like a collapsing building, crushing every bit of his hope that he could get away from this incident unscathed.

Despite doing that, disbelief twisted his features.

He didn’t mean to actually hit her— he had acted on impulse, rage blinding him for a split second and now that second was coming back to haunt him.

Leroy’s face drained of all color, his blood running cold the second he looked up and saw Coco’s expression.

Unlike the team that stood right behind them, paralyzed in their spot with their mouths slightly open, but no words coming out, Leroy could see clearly how Coco looked at him with those terrifying eyes.

So, when Coco slowly lifted her hand, fingertips brushing against the spot on her left cheek where Leroy had struck, he swallowed.

There was no pain, no sting at all.

Coco’s face remained eerily blank, serious.. Almost unnaturally so.

Was it because she wasn’t fully human like them? Did that make her less sensitive to physical pain? Had that slap not even registered as pain to her?

Either way, consequences couldn’t be avoided.

Leroy instinctively flinched when Coco’s eyes snapped up to look back at him, stumbling back a step, his body reacting before his mind could.

But Coco was fast.

Just when he could process what was happening, her finger shot out— flicking him squarely on the forehead.

The contact wasn’t hard per se, but the sheer force behind it sent Leroy crashing backward like a ragdoll, his feet left the ground as he flew several feet through the air before landing with a heavy thud in the snow.

He lay sprawled on the snow, dazed.

The sky above him blurred slightly as he stared up at it, his back screaming in pain, his forehead throbbing where her finger had flicked him.

With those aching parts, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling confused.

What.. What just happened? One second he was standing there— and the next... BAM! He had been launched backward like a pebble skipped across water.

His mind reeled.

What did Coco do? Why was he on the snow now?! How did something so small pack that kind of force?!

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

All of those thoughts were quick to get out of his head when he heard Coco walking toward him, her movements deliberate and unhurried.

As she approached him, her hand slid the unbreakable hoe from her grip and slipped it into the strap secured around her waist, all the while keeping her mouth shut and not letting any kind of emotion slipping to her face.

The sight of her face, which was still eerily composed, with not a hint of rage or sadness in it..

It was enough to make Leroy’s breath hitch.

Even more so when he saw her coming closer, his body stiffening with rising panic despite his aching back and pounding head.

The woman stopped right in front of him, her arms lifting to cross over her chest.

"What.." She started, her voice quiet, but carrying a weight that made the air around him feel heavier. "Could possibly be running in your mind.. For you to slap me?"

Her tone wasn’t annoyed. It wasn’t even angry.

But the question itself seemed to be dripping with danger, like a judge sentencing a criminal.

Leroy opened his mouth, however, no words came out.

Coco continued to stare and the tension in that stare didn’t waver, but strangely, there was no anger burning behind it.

In fact, she felt something entirely different.

She sighed through her nose and suddenly crouched down to Leroy’s level, her crossed arms loosening as she studied his face.

"Say." She hummed, eyes softening. "Do you know how to cook?"