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

He added, ”One of our ancestors, Michaela, told us that she once had a daughter named Roxanna, and... she predicted that her daughter would come into this world sooner or later.”

Her lips slowly parted, but no words came out. Everything she had just heard felt too strange and too impossible to accept.

Daughter?

She had never known anything about her biological mother. All her life, the caretakers at the orphanage told her the same story: she had been left at their doorstep on the night the first snow fell.

It was a bitterly cold night, and they said she would not have survived if one of them hadn’t opened the door.

Because of that story, Roxanna grew up believing only one thing; her mother must have hated her enough to abandon her, not caring whether she lived or died.

But now, she suddenly discovered that her mother had once visited her school and watched her dance on stage? Even more shocking, her mother had also come into this primitive world and brought the modern picture with her?

”What?” Roxanna finally found the strength to speak. ”What do you mean? Michaela? I don’t know that name.”

The white-haired elder looked at her gently. ”Michaela told us this long ago,” he said. ”She said her daughter—Roxanna—would not remember her, but she was always remember you.”

Roxanna stayed silent, her chest tight, her thoughts spinning. She could only listen as they continued.

”Michaela is one of our precious ancestors,” the elder said. ”She was the one who taught us many new things, including a great deal of medical knowledge.”

A faint smile touched his aged face. ”She called herself a nurse, and even though she repeatedly said that she wasn’t a doctor, her knowledge of health was many times greater than ours.”

The elder’s gaze drifted, as if he were looking into the past. ”About a hundred years ago, she suddenly appeared at the peak of the Golden Mountain. Her clothes were unlike anything we had ever seen.”

He paused. ”She told us she had drowned in the ocean in her own world... and then woke up here.” His eyes softened with emotion. ”We believed—no, we still believe—that she was sent by God to save our tribe.”

Elior then added to the elder’s words. ”At that time, our tribe was going through a very dark period,” he said softly. ”Most of our women were unable to conceive, no matter what we tried, so no children were born.”

His voice grew heavier. ”We believed we had been cursed by the God of the Golden Mountain. We thought we had committed some unforgivable sin. But when Michaela appeared,” Elior continued, ”everything began to change.”

Even though the voids had not yet opened in this world a hundred years ago, the Golden Tribe would still have been in danger if they failed to produce descendants.

This was because they had strict rules that forbade marriage with other tribes. Even after the voids appeared, they never opened their tribe to other beastkins, except for reindeer beastkins.

To outsiders, it might have seemed harsh, even prejudiced, but for the Golden Tribe, it was never about pride or hatred.

After all, they knew their bloodline was extremely valuable and was often hunted by other beastkins. Naturally, they did not want to risk tainting their sacred blood.

Other tribes had hunted them for generations, hoping to claim the strength and unique traits carried within their lineage. Opening their tribe carelessly would not only weaken what they protected, but it could also place their females in danger.

So they chose caution by choosing distance. It was not out of cruelty, but out of fear... and the desperate need to survive.

More than anything, those strict boundaries were meant to shield their female reindeers from being exploited, treated as prizes rather than people.

When Michaela, who possessed modern knowledge about fertility, began observing the tribe, she quickly realized something the others had never imagined.

There was no curse or divine punishment. The beastwomen were simply exhausted. Their bodies were worn down by constant fear of being attacked, endless pressure, and the harsh conditions they lived in.

More than that, the females were also lacking vegetables in their diet. Most of the time, they ate fish from the river, but surviving only on fish meat, especially when they were reindeers, was not entirely appropriate.

Because of this, Michaela asked the beastmen to bring fresh vegetables from the foot of the mountain. She even tried to create a hydroponic system underground by using luminescent stones, bringing fertile soil from beneath the mountain, and making compost fertilizer from leftover vegetables.

Since they had a river underground, finding water was never a problem.

”Wait... you have hydroponics?!” Roxanna burst out, her eyes wide with disbelief. ”You can actually grow plants down here? But... I’ve never seen any of you eat vegetables.”

Aelin laughed softly and waved her hand. ”Ah, that’s because the giant fish we caught earlier was only a snack,” she said casually. ”We do eat vegetables. They’re usually served at lunch or dinner.”

Elior spoke calmly, as if what he was saying was the most natural thing in the world. ”We keep the hydroponic garden inside one of our huts,” he explained. ”It’s easier for us to monitor it there. That’s why you didn’t see it. You would only know if you went inside.”

Roxanna looked at Elior in disbelief. ”Leader... aren’t you worried?” she asked. ”What if I use that information for something harmful? Why would you tell a stranger something so important about your tribe?”

In truth, Roxanna had already found them strange for allowing her and her husbands to enter their secret living environment.

She was certain they had passed through concealed paths near the mountain’s peak just to reach this underground sanctuary, and yet the tribe had welcomed them without hesitation.

Elior had explained that he believed in Roxanna and her husbands, but was that kind of belief really enough to ensure that strangers would not bring ruin to his home?