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

[+1 Hunted Tiger]

[+1 Hunted Tiger]

[+1 Hunted Tiger]

Roxanna couldn’t hide her excitement after she hunted three more tigers. Now, she only needed to catch one more to complete the mission.

Carla tied the tigers together with thick vines before dragging them away as if they weighed almost nothing. Even after all that work, she didn’t look tired at all.

By then, they had actually hunted more than ten tigers, and Carla had taken down most of them herself.

Before the sun finally set, Roxanna successfully caught one last tiger by luring it into a pit.

[Congratulations, Host! Side Mission Complete: Hunt with the Fellow Females!]

[Goal: Catch 5 Tigers!]

[Reward:

- 18,000 Spirit Points

- Pack Hunt — Effect: Whenever the Host hunts together with at least three allies, everyone’s hunting efficiency increases by 20%, and the chance of successfully surrounding prey is greatly improved.]

[Reward: +39,000 Spirit Points (SP)]

[Remaining Spirit Points (SP): 381,950]

”How many tigers have we hunted now?” Roxanna asked excitedly as soon as the mission was complete.

From now on, she and the others probably wouldn’t have to worry about running out of prey anymore. With this new passive skill, hunting would become much easier.

”I think... around twelve?” Carla answered after a quick count. Then she looked over the pile again and shook her head. ”No, seventeen!”

Roxanna clapped her hands happily, and the other females quickly joined in. Hunting tigers was no easy task, so they all felt they deserved a small celebration.

”If we eat the meat while drinking alcohol, it’ll taste even better!” Sonya said with a grin.

The others immediately nodded in agreement.

”True! True! True!”

Neria smiled. ”I think we still have plenty of wine fermenting.” She added, ”Cyrus just made a fresh batch a week ago. He makes a lot.”

She wasn’t exaggerating when she said ”a lot.” Cyrus had brewed so much wine that most of their storage warehouse was filled with barrels of it.

It was because, ever since she returned from the Aquillian Kingdom, Roxanna had been in a terrible mood. Seeing her like that had affected all of her husbands deeply.

Calen threw himself into hunting and chopping trees for firewood.

Zeir chose to spend most of his time patrolling the forests around the settlement.

Luan, on the other hand, stayed close to the settlement. The black cat spent his days repairing damaged huts, reinforcing the fences, and training the younger beastmen.

As for Cyrus, he threw himself into making wine. The bird beastman flew across the nearby forests to gather the sweetest wild grapes and berries before carefully fermenting them into barrel after barrel of wine.

Even though each of them coped in a different way, they all shared the same goal.

They wanted to keep themselves busy, because watching Roxanna force a smile while hiding how much she missed Azul hurt them more than any hard work ever could.

And now that she had finally begun to move on from her sadness, Roxanna couldn’t help but feel guilty toward her other husbands.

Azul wasn’t her only husband. She had four others waiting for her, and she should have been giving each of them the love and attention they deserved.

They all understood that she had been heartbroken. None of them had ever blamed her for grieving. But that didn’t mean they deserved to be ignored.

”Can we go home now?” Roxanna asked with a small smile. ”I really want to go home.”

[I just want to see my husbands now,] she whispered to herself. [I want to hug every single one of them.]

High above them, Luan watched silently from the branch of a tall tree in his black panther form. The corners of his eyes softened as he listened to her thoughts, and he let out a long, heavy sigh.

”She can barely be happy again, yet she’s already thinking about everyone else,” Luan muttered to himself with a helpless smile. ”She’s really impossible to change.”

As Roxanna and the others began walking back toward the settlement, Luan naturally followed them from the treetops, leaping from one thick branch to another while keeping a safe distance.

Then, without warning, a strange sensation shot through his entire body.

His muscles suddenly lost their strength. ”What?”

Luan’s eyes widened as his body went limp in the middle of a jump and he couldn’t even grab the next branch.

Crash!

His body slammed through several branches before hitting the ground with a heavy thud. The impact forced him out of his cat form, and he shifted back into his human body.

”Damn it.”

He pushed himself up with trembling arms, but another wave of heat rushed through him.

His entire body felt as though it had been set on fire. His breathing became heavier with every passing second, and beads of sweat quickly formed on his forehead.

Luan gritted his teeth so hard that his jaw ached. ”Not now,” he murmured.

He knew exactly what was happening.

He had entered his heat.

Unfortunately, Roxanna and the others had already walked far ahead. They were laughing and chatting about tonight’s celebration, completely unaware that he had fallen behind.

Luan let out a heavy sigh and lowered his head onto the forest floor.

”My brother was right,” he murmured weakly. ”I should’ve stopped secretly following everyone around.”

===

”Cyrus!” Roxanna called out the moment she spotted him in front of the storage warehouse, where he was carrying another barrel of freshly fermented grapes.

”The others told me you’ve been making so much wine.” She beamed as she skipped right up to him. ”Can you open one of the barrels for us? I hunted a lot of tigers today. Do you want to cook them? I can help too.”

Cyrus froze for a moment. He slowly turned around, still holding the heavy barrel on one shoulder. The moment he saw the bright smile on Roxanna’s face, his eyes widened in surprise.

”You’re smiling.”

Roxanna blinked. ”Huh?”

”You’re smiling again,” Cyrus repeated softly.

For the past week, every smile she had shown had looked forced, as though she was only pretending to be alright so no one would worry.

He slowly walked toward her and gently cupped her face in his hands. ”How are you feeling now?”

Roxanna felt a little flustered as his warm hands held her cheeks so gently. Maybe because she had been touch-starved for an entire week, even the smallest bit of affection made her heart race.

”I-I’m fine.” She bit her lower lip before continuing, ”Carla and the others taught me how to hunt dangerous animals like tigers. Next time, I can take you hunting too. What do you think?”

”That sounds wonderful,” Cyrus said with a warm smile. ”So... shall we have some wine?”

Roxanna’s fox ears perked up immediately. ”Yes, please!”

A soft chuckle escaped Cyrus’s lips. He gently patted her head a few times before carrying out a barrel of wine that had been fermenting for the past week.

After that, he called Calen over and asked him to cut the tiger meat into smaller pieces so everything could be cooked faster.

Roxanna wanted to help as well, but Cyrus shook his head. ”You’ve been hunting all day,” he said. ”Go and rest for a while.”

”But I want to help.”

Seeing how determined she looked, Cyrus finally gave in with a helpless smile. ”In that case, tell me what to cook.”

Roxanna immediately took out her cookbook and eagerly flipped through the pages until she found a few recipes she liked.

She read out the ingredients one by one and explained each step, while Cyrus listened carefully and followed her instructions without missing a single detail. The two of them worked side by side, and before long, the delicious smell of roasted tiger meat and rich seasonings slowly spread throughout the settlement.

Soon, several large clay stoves were lit in the middle of the settlement.

Calen carried over baskets filled with freshly cut tiger meat, while Zeir returned from his patrol with bundles of wild herbs and edible mushrooms he had gathered in the forest. The other females also joined in, washing vegetables, peeling roots, and preparing the seasonings.

The quiet settlement gradually became lively again.

The sound of chopping, laughter, and playful teasing filled the air.

”Don’t burn it!” Sonya shouted as one of the younger females nearly dropped a piece of meat into the fire.

”I know! I know!” the girl laughed, quickly pulling it back.

Meanwhile, Cyrus stood in front of the largest clay stove with a wooden spoon in one hand and a clay pot in the other. Following Roxanna’s instructions, he carefully added each ingredient at just the right time.

A rich aroma slowly drifted through the settlement.

”It smells amazing...” Carla sniffed the air, her stomach already growling.

”It isn’t ready yet,” Cyrus said with a chuckle. ”Be patient.”

Once all the dishes were ready, Cyrus invited everyone to eat together. However, the first piece of roasted meat went to Roxanna.

”Be careful. It’s still hot,” Calen reminded her.