Chapter 105: Chapter 105: All of Princess Yu Yun’s Beast Husbands Died

The Beastman Leader gave a bitter laugh. "There’s something you don’t know, Your Highness. It’s not just us. Half the eligible males in the Imperial City are unwilling to become Princess Yu Yun’s Beast Husband."

"Oh? And why is that?"

Yu An recalled that when she left the Imperial City, Yu Yun was a female sought after by thousands of males. How had things changed so drastically?

"Because aside from the Beast Husband betrothed to Princess Yu Yun by the Beast Emperor, all the other commoner males are dead!"

"Other men don’t want to be Princess Yu Yun’s Beast Husband because they’re afraid of dying. I’m afraid of dying, too. And I even..."

The Beastman Leader continued, his voice laced with lingering fear, "I’ve even seen bodies being secretly carried out of the Princess Mansion."

"The faces of those corpses were all frozen in terror, twisted until they barely looked human..."

The memory of what he had seen made him shudder violently.

Yu An frowned. "Doesn’t the Beast Emperor do anything about it?"

The Beastman Leader gave another bitter laugh. "He doesn’t get involved. Besides, the ones who die are all commoners, and their deaths are given plausible explanations. The official story is that Princess Yu Yun likes males who can tame wild beasts, and they were killed by those beasts while trying to curry favor with her."

That way, their deaths are blamed on their own bad luck and their own ambition to win her favor. No one else can be held responsible.

Since they weren’t just vicious thugs, Yu An relented. "So that’s how it is. I can let you go back. You mentioned your Female Mother is sick; I can also give you a Spiritual Medicine that cures all illnesses."

Xiao Quan’s eyes lit up. "Thank you, Princess! Thank you, Princess!"

Yu An waved her hand. "Don’t thank me just yet. I have a condition. After all, I have no guarantee you won’t reveal my secrets."

Xiao Quan swallowed hard. "P-Please, state your terms."

"You must swallow this poison," Yu An said, taking out a pitch-black pill. "If you ever speak of what happened today, your intestines will rot and you’ll die a horrible death."

"But if you remain tight-lipped, the poison will never activate in your lifetime."

A dozen pairs of eyes shot toward the pill. Xiao Quan clenched his fists, stood up, and walked over. "Fine, I’ll take it!"

’It’ll be fine as long as I don’t talk,’ he thought. ’I’m not a blabbermouth. I wasn’t planning on telling anyone anyway.’

Grasping the black pill, Xiao Quan closed his eyes and swallowed it.

Huh?

It wasn’t bitter. In fact, it was sweet!

Lost in his own thoughts, he didn’t see Xiao Yu puffing out his little cheeks, glaring at him angrily.

That was the chocolate ball his Female Mother had given him as a reward today.

It was his!

Knowing they might never see each other again in this lifetime, the Beastman Leader asked Yu An to let Xiao Quan leave the next day, so the brothers could have a final farewell.

Yu An agreed.

She pointed to a spot for them to say their goodbyes while she went to have dinner with her Beast Husbands and Zaizai.

"Brother Dayong, we’ll never be able to see each other again..."

Xiao Quan was sobbing uncontrollably. The Beastman Leader, Zhou Dayong, patted his shoulder and handed him the cloth pouch he always carried.

"Brother Dayong, what are you doing?"

"Take it," Zhou Dayong said, leaving no room for refusal. "We can’t spend money in here, but you and Aunt Chun will need it to live on the outside."

The others also started giving their belongings to Xiao Quan. Pooling all their odds and ends, the dozen or so men couldn’t even scrape together three Gold Coins.

It was embarrassing to admit, but this was their first time doing such a cruel job. They had only ever done small-time stuff before, which didn’t pay much. Every trip to the Ghost Market cost a fortune to rent masks and black robes, and sometimes, if they were unlucky, they’d get robbed.

Over time, their expenses outstripped their income, and they only got poorer the more they worked.

Xiao Quan couldn’t refuse and was moved to tears.

"Time to eat."

Han Li came over pushing a small cart laden with steamed buns, meat buns, and rice porridge.

With nothing else to do in the space, a few of the males had been busy. Mo Yan, who knew how to cook, had been kneading dough and steaming buns, meat buns, and flower rolls as reserve rations. The others, who couldn’t cook, made other things.

Zhou Dayong led the other men over. "Is this... food?"

"Yes," Han Li explained, pointing to each item. "Help yourselves. When you’re done, push the cart and the bowls and chopsticks over there."

He pointed to a spot and then left.

The dozen or so men looked at each other, hesitant to touch the unfamiliar food.

Finally, Zhou Dayong gritted his teeth. "Let’s eat. Since Princess Yu An didn’t kill us, she wouldn’t go to the trouble of poisoning us now."

He was the first to grab a meat bun and take a huge bite. He had been prepared for it to taste awful, but when the soft dough and scalding hot meat filling exploded in his mouth, he froze.

"Brother Yong! Brother Yong! What’s wrong?"

Xiao Quan nudged Zhou Dayong, worried. "Is it really bad? I still have some dried meat..."

"This is so fucking good!"

Zhou Dayong excitedly cut him off, stuffing a meat bun into Xiao Quan’s hands. "Brothers, eat up! I’ve never had anything this delicious in my life!"

The other Beastmen were baffled by Zhou Dayong’s reaction, but they trusted he wouldn’t harm them, so they also picked up the food and started eating.

They hadn’t thought much of it, but the moment they took a bite, they suddenly felt they weren’t unlucky, but fortunate!

The dozen-plus males were too busy eating to talk, just stuffing their faces. Someone managed to comment between bites, "Brother Yong, would you say we’re lucky or unlucky?"

They had lost their freedom but gained delicious food!

"Of course we’re lucky!"

Zhou Dayong mumbled, his mouth full, "Your Brother Yong here once had a bite of cooked food gifted by a noble. The taste of that couldn’t even compare to an eighth of this!"

He already felt that life was life, no matter where you lived. Now that he had eaten this delicious... uh, right, this thing was called a meat bun.

After eating the delicious meat bun, he felt that losing his freedom wasn’t so bad after all.

Xiao Quan stopped after eating two. He took two more, shyly explaining that he wanted to bring them back for his Female Mother to try.

An idea popped into Zhou Dayong’s head. He pulled Xiao Quan aside. "Xiao Quan, how about I go with you to plead with Princess Yu An? We can ask her to let you bring Aunt Chun in here too."

Xiao Quan scratched his head. "Is that possible? This place is like something out of a fairy tale, and the food is more delicious than anything I’ve ever eaten. Would Princess Yu An agree?"

In fact, the same thought had crossed his mind the moment he tasted the soft steamed buns and meat buns, and the sweet rice porridge that he could eat without even chewing.

His Female Mother’s teeth had been shattered by someone, so she couldn’t eat beast meat. She relied entirely on him grinding it into a fine paste for her to swallow.

Even so, she couldn’t eat much.

’If only my Female Mother could have some of this rice porridge!’

"It doesn’t hurt to try. What if she says yes?"

Zhou Dayong steeled himself. "Worse comes to worst, we’ll have Aunt Chun offer that treasure of hers to Princess Yu An."

Xiao Quan refused without a second thought. "No way! That thing is my Female Mother’s lifeline. Even I’m not allowed to touch it."

"Are you stupid? How can a dead object be more important than a person’s life? Staying alive is what matters!"

Without another word, he started dragging Xiao Quan toward where Yu An was. At the thought of his Female Mother, Xiao Quan didn’t resist.

When she heard their request, Yu An was noncommittal. "I’m not lacking anything. As for this treasure you speak of... you can’t even describe what it is. How am I supposed to know if it’s a real treasure?"

Zhou Dayong rubbed his hands together and said in a low voice, "Princess Yu An, while we don’t know what kind of treasure it is, Xiao Quan’s Female Mother values it immensely."

"Xiao Quan’s Female Mother once served by the side of the current Beast Emperor’s sister, that princess."