I Became the Villainess, But My Beast Husbands Can Hear My Mind?!

Roxanna was startled when she saw that Cyrus’s hands weren’t burned at all, even though he was holding the meat with his bare hands over the fire. He didn’t show any reaction at all, as if the hot meat couldn’t burn his skin.

”Oh, he’ll be fine.” Calen leaned against the wall, watching Cyrus cook without any intention of helping. ”We could throw him into the fire and he’d still be fine. Well, his clothes might burn, though.”

What? Did he receive some kind of blessing from the gods or something?

Roxanna frowned slightly as several memories of the evil Roxanna surfaced.

Ah... she remembered now.

In the past, the evil Roxanna had once pushed Cyrus toward the campfire. She had even tried to burn his hands, but he hadn’t been affected by the fire at all. In the end, out of anger, she had locked him in the basement instead.

[That bitch! Why did she have to push my Cyrus into the fire?!]

My Cyrus?

Zeir and Luan, who hadn’t earned that title in front of their names yet, felt restless. They had the urge to strangle the other husbands, but what scared them most was the thought that Roxanna might see them as less worthy.

They kept thinking about it so much that they barely spoke, even while eating dinner together. The delicious taste of the grilled meat only made them more anxious because it meant Cyrus was able to win Roxanna over through her stomach.

Luan began to think that maybe he should bring her more fruit next time. Zeir, on the other hand, decided that he needed to talk to her more. Meanwhile, Azul, Calen, and Cyrus looked completely relaxed, as if they had nothing to worry about at all.

”Zeir, Luan, are you alright?” Roxanna suddenly asked when she noticed that they were barely eating the meat. ”Do you... not like the meat? I can make something else for you.”

[Cyrus’s cooking tastes like heaven, but Zeir and Luan probably prefer the food I make,] Roxanna thought. [Food really does feel different depending on who makes it.]

Both of them shook their heads at the same time. The last thing they wanted was to trouble Roxanna or make her think badly of them.

”It’s fine,” Zeir said. ”I’m just a bit full.”

Luan waved his hand near the meat. ”I’m just waiting for it to cool down.”

”Oh! Sorry,” Roxanna said right away. ”I should have cooled it first for you.”

She suddenly remembered that a cat’s tongue was very sensitive to temperature. What felt warm to her might be too hot for Luan.

She picked up a few pieces of meat with a bamboo spoon and gently blew on them until the steam disappeared. Then she held them out to Luan. ”Here. This should be cool enough now.”

Luan swallowed, feeling awkward, like he was causing trouble for his wife. ”I-I can eat it myself!” He took the spoon from her hand and turned away.

He only didn’t want to bother her, but Roxanna saw it differently. [Ah... is he upset with me? My cats used to turn their backs on me too when I didn’t give them snacks.]

Luan was panicking even more, thinking that Roxanna would probably hate him because he acted like a bastard who got angry over small things.

Just as he turned back to explain, he froze. Roxanna was holding a handful of grapes and offering them to him. ”Try something sweet,” she said gently. ”It might help your tongue feel better.”

At that moment, Luan finally realized that even though Roxanna hadn’t used the word ”my” in front of his name yet, she still paid close attention to him.

Maybe... she wouldn’t abandon him later. Honestly, Luan had been a little nervous from the beginning because he was afraid Roxanna would think that a cat beastman wasn’t very useful.

The fat cat raised by Skiv often reminded Luan of himself. Sometimes, he truly felt like nothing more than a pet. After all, Loba had once kidnapped him from the forest because he thought Luan would make a perfect pet for his evil daughter.

Even after they learned that Luan was a beastman and not just a cat, they still treated him like one. The evil Roxanna had even forced him to catch mice again and again.

”Thank you,” Luan said softly. He lowered his head, finally realizing that the current Roxanna was truly different from the evil one.

She had never once treated him as just a pet.

”Zeir, if you can’t eat too much meat, you can have some fruit instead,” Roxanna said gently.

Both husbands finally stopped feeling restless because Roxanna was paying attention to them as well when she wanted to do something kind for her husbands.

Still, deep down, they both wanted to truly become Roxanna’s husbands, and to one day earn the right to have the word ”my” spoken before their names.

”I will sleep beside her tonight,” Luan said firmly.

On the other hand, Zeir had spread several animal-skin cloths across the floor. The mammoth fur they had gathered still needed more time to be dried and cleaned, so this was the best they could use for now.

”I prepared our bedding, so I’ll be the one sleeping beside her,” Zeir said, unwilling to lose to the others.

Roxanna felt a headache coming on. Every one of her husbands wanted to sleep next to her, but that was clearly impossible. She could make a schedule for who would sleep beside her each night, but she knew they would just start arguing again, especially on the very first night.

In the end, Roxanna clapped her hands and said, ”Alright, alright, listen to me!”

All of them finally turned their attention to her. ”I’ll sleep in the empty room, while all of you will sleep here.”

She pointed at the bedding in the living room, then spoke more firmly. ”Starting today, you’re all living together. That means you have to get along and be kind to each other. Your first lesson is simple: sleep together without kicking or fighting until morning.”

”What? Why are you sleeping alone?!” Calen protested at once. ”Sleeping alone can be scary! You should stay here. Or I can sleep with you in the empty room!”

”Why does it have to be you?” Luan protested as well. ”I can stay with her too.”

”If anyone should stay with our wife, it should be me,” Azul said confidently. ”After all, we shared some... intimate moments last night. Maybe you’d like to do that again tonight, my wife?”

Azul’s words made Roxanna’s cheeks turn red, and she immediately said, ”Azul, you can’t be that shameless!”

”Yes, Azul, don’t be so shameless!” Calen agreed. Then he leaned closer and lowered his voice so only Azul could hear. ”Besides, you already slept with her. You should give the others a chance.”

Azul frowned. ”Why is that? It depends on our wife. If she wants me again, of course we can’t force her to choose the other husbands.”

Roxanna rubbed her forehead, feeling the dull ache grow stronger. If this kept going, they really would argue all night.

”Stop fighting!” Roxanna finally shouted, startling her husbands because it was the first time she had ever shouted so loudly. ”I don’t want to hear any more arguing,” she said firmly. ”All of you will sleep here until morning!”

With that, Roxanna grabbed a few animal skins and a blanket and walked into the empty room. She closed the door harder than usual, and the sound echoed through the space.

The room fell silent.

The husbands looked at one another, exchanging uneasy glances, but no one dared to speak. None of them wanted to make their wife any angrier than she already was.

In the end, they lay down in the living room, though none of them did so willingly. They kept a bit of distance from one another, clearly uncomfortable. Luan even chose the far corner of the room, preferring that over sharing a blanket with the others.

Maybe because the day had been so long and tiring, they all fell asleep much faster than expected.

Meanwhile, Roxanna, who was alone in the other room, couldn’t seem to relax. The sound of crickets and the distant howls of wild animals outside made her feel like she was trapped in a horror movie. With the room wrapped in darkness, every small noise felt louder than it should have been.

[Ding! Ding!]

Roxanna flinched when the system suddenly rang inside her head.

[Congratulations, Host! Side Mission Complete: Sealing the Vow with Cyrus!]

[Reward:

Reduces the chance of surprise attacks at night by 25%

+1200 Spirit Points (SP)]

[Total Spirit Points (SP): 6,400]

She frowned in confusion. Why was the system only announcing this now, when the vow had already been sealed earlier?

[It takes time for a vow to fully take effect, Host.]

Roxanna grew even more confused. [That’s just an excuse you made up to get me to kiss Cyrus.]

[No,] the system replied firmly. [It is a real vow commonly used by the bird clan.]