Villainess is being pampered by her beast husbands

Chapter 454: Chapter-454

Outside tribe had gone quiet for the night, but in the stone house, the air was anything but calm.

Kaya leaned forward over the little wooden table, eyes bright. "What is the ’full’ story?" she asked, every word soaked in curiosity.

The old man stared at her like she’d given him a headache on purpose.

"You people," he muttered. "Why do you all have the same question? Why are you so obsessed with this story?"

Kaya blinked. "All... of us? How many have come here? Like me, I mean."

He clicked his tongue but answered anyway. "Not a crowd. But you’re not the first. One said he came from a place called ’India’. Another from somewhere he called ’Francis’."

Kaya frowned. "France," she corrected automatically. "You mean ’France’."

"Yeah, that," he waved a hand dismissively. "Francis, France, whatever. Names are strange in your worlds." He gave her a measuring look. "The way they spoke, the way they wrote, even their curses—different. But the ’meaning’?" He shrugged. "We understood them well enough. Just like I understand you."

Kaya opened her mouth, then shut it again. The thought that others from Earth—or close enough—had walked into this same stone house, sat in this same chair, and poked at the same legend left a strange weight in her chest.

"So," she tried again, "did you ever ask them anything? Where they were from exactly, how their world worked, what—"

"I’m not going to ask you what you are," he cut in flatly. "You’re useless to me."

Kaya stared. "Wow," she said. "Rude."

He didn’t flinch. "Even if I wanted to, it’s not like you’re carrying some divine treasure for me to steal. You, your ’India’, your ’France’—none of it helps me. Sometimes you don’t need to know everything about a place you’ll never go." He folded his arms. "Your world is one thing. This world is another. People are different. Choices are different. If you tell me too much, I might become ’interested’. And if I become interested, I might want to ’see’ it. That," he said with a faint scowl, "would be a problem. I like my world the way it is."

Kaya narrowed her eyes. "So you really don’t have ’anything’ you want to ask me? Not even ’what is your world like’, ’how is the sky there’, ’do you also have beastmen’—nothing?"

"You’re the one hunting stories," he replied. "Not me. I already know enough of what I need to know." He sniffed. "And I don’t collect useless trivia just to clutter my head."

Kaya muttered under her breath, "Old people these days..." ƒгeewёbnovel.com

His eyelid twitched. "Did you just call me ’old’?"

She immediately straightened in her seat. That was the tone of a man about to swing a cane at someone’s head. "I’m asking about the story," she said quickly. "The ’beast god’s daughter’ story. Not your... age."

He exhaled through his nose, long and slow, like he was physically pushing irritation out of his body.

"I’ve already told you the story," he grumbled. "At least half of it."

Kaya’s expression hardened. The soldier in her surfaced—sharp, focused, unwilling to back off. "You told me ’half’," she said. "Not the rest. I want the rest. Properly. Line by line."

He gave her a flat, unimpressed look. "Line by line? What do you think this is, a priest’s sermon?" He shook his head. "I’ll tell you the short version. There’s no glorious epic I’m obligated to recite from start to finish."

"I’ll take your ’short’ version," Kaya said, "as long as it’s complete."

He clicked his tongue again but finally settled back, folding his arms across his chest. Candlelight flickered between them, drawing deep shadows in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

"Listen," he said. "I won’t repeat myself."

Kaya nodded once, lips pressed together.

"The story," he began, "is the same one I already hinted at. When the beast god found the girl who carried half his power, his first thought was simple: kill her and take it back."

Kaya’s gut clenched. Somehow, that sounded exactly like what a god would do.

"But," the old man went on, "the child was still too young. Her body, her soul, her power—they weren’t stable. The fragment inside her hadn’t matured. If he tried to pull it out then, he would have destroyed it. And himself."

His gaze went distant, like he could see the scene playing out.

"So he changed plans. Instead of killing her, he brought her here, to the beast world. He raised her under his own eyes. Fed her. Trained her. Watched her. Year after year, she grew up beneath the sky he controlled."

Kaya listened without blinking.

"She lived among his disciples. Learned their techniques. Picked up battle skills, spiritual arts, cultivation methods—little pieces, here and there." His lips curled. "Most of it, she wasn’t ’supposed’ to learn. But she was stubborn and slippery. Always running from training, sneaking into places she shouldn’t be. Sound familiar?"

Kaya decided to ignore that.

"The beast god thought," the old man continued, "that once she was strong enough, he could separate the power. Strip the fragment from her soul and reclaim it. She would die, yes—but he would be complete. A fair trade, by a god’s standards."

Kaya’s jaw clenched. She said nothing.

"But gods can be fools too," the old man said. "The more she cultivated, the more that power fused with her. It stopped being a bead lodged inside her soul and became... ’her’." He tapped his chest. "One whole thing. No clean line to cut."

Kaya felt an odd chill crawl down her spine.

"And then," the old man added dryly, "because disasters never come alone, she fell in love."

"There it is," Kaya muttered. "Of course."

He ignored her. "She met a beastman—one of his own people. A ground tribe warrior, not particularly powerful compared to her potential, but strong enough by normal standards. They sparred. They argued. They bled together. Eventually, they fell in love and married in secret."

He paused to let that sink in.

"The beast god?" The old man snorted. "Naturally, he did ’not’ approve. His precious half-power, his future ascension, tying itself down to some lovestruck mortal beastman? He nearly burned the whole mountain that day. But by the time he discovered it, the bond was already carved into their souls. Killing the husband wouldn’t solve it."

Kaya frowned. "People say there were... two or three husbands."

The old man shot her a look. "You are a bloody annoying child. Yes, there were more. Do you want to tell the story, or will you let me finish one husband before we assemble the full collection?"

She spread her hands in surrender. "Fine. Continue."

"It’s said," he resumed, "that one day, when she skipped her cultivation again and slipped away from the training grounds, she met the second one. A male from the bird tribes. Records conflict—some say eagle, some say vulture, some say falcon, a few even dare to say phoenix. Point is, he belonged to the sky."

He leaned back slightly, eyes half-lidded as he pictured it.

"He was injured when she found him. Not dying, but badly hurt. Broken wings, torn flesh, blood on the stones. She healed him—stubborn girl that she was. Used up her spiritual energy. Burned her own hands to mend his body."

Kaya’s chest tightened for a reason she couldn’t quite name.

"When he recovered," the old man said, "he challenged her to a fight as repayment. Foolish, proud, full of that bird-tribe arrogance. She accepted, of course. They fought. And she won. Hard."

A faint smirk tugged at Kaya’s mouth. "Good."

"The sky beastman fell in love right there," the old man continued. "Hopelessly. He chased her. Pestered her. Insisted the gods had tied them together. In the end, under pressure from politics, prophecies, and his own annoying persistence, she married him too. She used to complain he was irritating." He eyed Kaya. "I believe her. I know the type."

Kaya raised her hand. "How do you know he was irritating?"

"Same way I know ’you’ are irritating," he replied instantly. "Some personalities, you can smell from one sentence."

She huffed but let it go.

"So she had two mates," the old man summarized. "One from the ground, one from the sky. Different tribes. Different tempers. Both deeply, stupidly in love with the same troublesome human girl who carried half a god."

He let the image hang there: one woman, two powerful beastmen orbiting her like stubborn moons. freёweɓnovel.com

"And after that?" Kaya pressed. "People say more—snake tribe, others—"

"I told you," he cut in, "I’m telling you the short version. What matters isn’t counting how many men called her ’wife.’ What matters is what that did to the world."

Kaya fell silent.

"The disciples grew restless," he said quietly. "Jealous. Afraid. Imagine it: a ’human’, raised from nothing, holding half the beast god’s power, married into different tribes. Ground. Sky. Others, depending on who you ask. She had influence she didn’t even want. And everyone else could feel it."