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

Her eyes returned to the spear lying on the ground. ”Alright then,” she said. ”If my blood doesn’t work outside, maybe it will work here.”

Roxanna gently placed the fish bowl and the puppy on the ground before picking up the spear. The moment she held it, Calen rushed forward and pressed his tiny paws against her legs, clearly trying to stop her from doing something reckless.

”It’s okay.” Roxanna bent down and patted the puppy’s head softly. ”It will be quick. Don’t worry.”

Without saying anything else, Roxanna pointed the spear toward her left hand. She then dragged the sharp blade across her skin, cutting from her arm down to her palm. At first, she wasn’t sure whether her blood would appear, since she was inside Calen’s unconscious mind. But to her surprise, blood flowed heavily from the wound.

Roxanna winced slightly, but she still did the same thing to her other hand. Calen kept bumping his head against her legs again and again, and he even bit her a few times, trying to stop her. But the small puppy was far too weak to hold her back.

She lifted both of her hands and let the blood drip onto the ground beneath her feet.

After spending time inside this strange world, Roxanna finally understood that this maze had never been created to trap Mr. Fenrir or the shadow monster.

The reason this entire maze existed inside Calen’s mind was because his mind was trying to protect him from all the painful things hidden in his memories, both from this life and his past life.

This maze and the shadow monster were symbols of sickness, but not the kind of sickness that people in the primitive world knew about.

It was a sickness that couldn’t be seen, yet it was just as dangerous as cancer. It didn’t damage the body directly. Instead, it slowly poisoned the mind until the body began to suffer as well.

This was the illness that made Calen secretly want to end his own life all the times.

All this time, his mind had hidden it well because his body was always in survival mode. But after meeting Roxanna in this world, his body slowly began to feel safe, so safe that his mind no longer felt the need to hide his pain.

Things only became worse after Roxanna removed the crystal seal from his neck. At first, he seemed fine after she assured him that she would always stay by his side. But deep down, Roxanna knew that this kind of illness could never be healed in just a day or two.

Sometimes, healing takes a very long time. And it can take even longer when someone hides their pain so well behind a smile.

People often say that time can heal wounds. But to Roxanna, time does not truly heal them. Time only makes people slowly grow used to the pain.

When that happens, they may start to believe that the pain is normal, even though it isn’t. ℯℯ𝑙.

In Roxanna’s eyes, the only real way to heal a wound like that is to face it and bring it into the open, instead of hiding it deep inside.

But what could she say? She wasn’t any better than Calen. She also hid her pain behind a smile and pretended that everything was normal.

Well, that was alright. People could learn and people could change.

Roxanna had once believed that the only way to survive was to keep moving forward without looking back. She had buried her pain deep inside her heart and forced herself to smile, even when everything hurt.

But now she understood that pain didn’t disappear just because someone ignored it.

It stayed there, quietly waiting, slowly growing heavier with time.

If she wanted Calen to heal, then she had to learn to face her own pain as well. After all, healing was not something a person had to do alone.

”If I can’t heal your body, then I will try my best to heal your mind,” Roxanna said softly.

She walked toward the shadow monster, letting drops of blood fall along the path behind her.

After all, this entire maze was Calen’s sickness. So every time her blood touched anything inside the maze, it was the same as healing him.

”I’m sorry,” Mr. Fenrir suddenly said in her mind.

Roxanna smiled gently and looked at the dog. ”Why are you apologizing? Mr. Fenrir didn’t do anything wrong.”

Calen had already apologized to her earlier when he learned what had happened in his past life, so Mr. Fenrir didn’t need to apologize again.

”Your blood is precious,” Mr. Fenrir said quietly. ”But I’m letting you waste it just to cure our mind.”

Oh.

Roxanna suddenly understood that both Calen and Mr. Fenrir were used to doing their best to make others happy. Because of that, when someone did the same thing for them, they felt guilty instead.

”Calen is my husband,” Roxanna said gently. ”And he is just as precious as my blood. That’s why...” Her smile grew warmer. ”...you don’t need to feel sorry if I help you. Husband and wife are supposed to help each other when one of them is in pain and we promised to stay together in sickness and in health.”

Roxanna thought, [Well, technically, my husbands said their marriage vows to the evil Roxanna... but maybe it still counts.]

Luckily, in the primitive world, couples didn’t actually say wedding vows. Their marriage ritual was simple. They would press their bloody hands together and then drink alcohol from the same cup.

Even so, Roxanna still felt a small bitter feeling in her heart. Deep down, she also wanted to have her own wedding ceremony. After all, the marriage they had now didn’t truly feel like it belonged to her.

When Calen and Azul—who were still in their animal forms—heard her thoughts, they slowly realized something was indeed strange about the situation.

Roxanna might be using the evil Roxanna’s body, but her soul was completely different, and because of that, the marriage they had before shouldn’t really count.

Which meant... they should hold a new wedding ceremony. One that truly belonged to her.

Calen let out a small whimper, his puppy ears drooping as he looked up at Roxanna. Meanwhile, Azul slowly sank inside the fish bowl.

But unfortunately, they couldn’t think about the wedding for long because the shadow monster was getting closer and closer to them.

Roxanna finally stopped walking when she reached Mr. Fenrir’s side. She lowered her head and scratched the wounds on her hands again with her sharp nails, making sure they wouldn’t close too quickly.

Fresh blood flowed out once more. It gathered beneath her feet before slowly soaking into the ground.

Roxanna then lifted her head and looked straight at the shadow monster. Its massive body had already slowed down, as if it were hesitating with every step it took.

”Mr. Shadow,” Roxanna said softly, her voice calm. ”You must have been suffering for a very long time.”

Between Mr. Fenrir and Calen, the shadow monster was the one who carried all the painful memories and endured them alone so Calen wouldn’t feel burdened.

But even a monster could get hurt.

Even something that looked dark and frightening could feel tired after carrying pain for so long.

Roxanna slowly took another step forward. ”I know you’re not really his enemy,” she said gently. ”You’re just the one who has been holding all his pain.”

The shadow monster stopped moving. The dark smoke around its body trembled slightly, as if her words had reached it.

Roxanna’s voice softened even more. ”You’ve been protecting him this whole time, haven’t you?”

Behind her, Mr. Fenrir lowered his head because he understood that the shadow monster was not a creature born to destroy Calen.

It was the part of him that had been forced to carry everything Calen could not bear to face.

”It’s alright,” Roxanna said softly. Her voice was calm, almost gentle, as if she were speaking to someone who had been hurt for a very long time. ”You don’t have to carry everything alone anymore.”

The shadow monster trembled. Dark smoke rolled off its massive body, spreading across the maze like a slow storm. For a moment, it looked as if it wanted to move forward again, but its steps stopped halfway.

”You’ve been protecting my Calen all this time,” Roxanna said softly. ”But today, let me protect you, Mr. Fenrir, and Calen as well, alright?”

She slowly started walking again, moving closer to the shadow monster. There was no fear in her steps, as if she truly believed it would not hurt her.

”Mr. Shadow,” Roxanna said with a gentle smile, ”thank you for protecting and taking care of my Calen all this time.”

Her voice became softer. ”I know you must be very tired... so why don’t you rest for a while? And while you’re resting, I promise I will take good care of my Calen.”