I Became the Villainess, But My Beast Husbands Can Hear My Mind?!-Chapter 145: By the Campfire (1)

He held her tightly, protectively, and warmly. "You have never failed us, my wife," he whispered near her ear. "You’ve always done your best."

Roxanna stayed silent in his warm embrace. She rested her head against his chest, letting his arms hold her as if he would never let go.

Behind her, Luan stood close. Every now and then, he gently patted the back of her head, trying to calm her down in his own way.

"We will find a way to save Calen," Luan assured her. He then spoke in a very low voice. "I can also kidnap the leader of this tribe if you want to."

Roxanna’s eyes widened. She turned her head so fast it almost hurt. "What did you just say?" she asked, nearly shouting, but she managed to keep her voice down.

Luan blinked rapidly, then turned his face away because he had just been caught suggesting something risky.

"I mean—" he said awkwardly, "I can try to convince the leader of this tribe, if you want."

Roxanna sighed inside her heart. [Elior is right. This husband of mine really does have a dark side,] she admitted silently. [But most of the time... he’s actually kind of cute. So maybe it’s not that bad?]

Luan scrunched his nose in annoyance. He could swear to any god in this world that he was absolutely not cute—not even a little. He guessed the only reason Roxanna thought that way was because of his cat form.

Well... maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

"We’re not going to do anything dangerous to Elior or anyone here, alright?" Roxanna said firmly. "We came here peacefully, so we’ll leave peacefully too."

"And as for Calen..." She took a small breath. "Let me think. I’ll figure out what I can do later."

Because of Luan’s dark remark earlier, her mind finally became clearer, and she started thinking of a plan instead of drowning in sorrow.

After all, there was still time to convince Elior, or maybe... someone else here.

Roxanna looked at the people gathered around the campfire. "Maybe we should talk to the others too."

Cyrus slowly loosened his arms and let her go. He gently wiped her cheeks and eyes, brushing away the tears that had soaked her face.

"Okay," he said softly. "We can do that."

Besides, the fish they were roasting looked delicious. Wait... roasting? They weren’t eating the fish raw?!

The Vixeria Tribe always ate meat raw, so Roxanna had assumed all beastkin tribes did the same. However, it seemed there were still many things in this world that she didn’t know.

"Have you ever roasted fish before?" Roxanna asked Luan.

"No," he replied right away. "Why would I? I like it fresh." He paused for a moment when he realized that Roxanna might be asking because someday she wanted to grill some fish. "But if you want to roast fish, I can eat it too! Don’t worry, I like everything related to fish!"

Roxanna almost laughed. [He really acts like a cat,] she thought happily. [My Luan is so cute!]

Once again, Luan absolutely did not agree with being called "cute." But as long as Roxanna was smiling, he could live with it.

"I was just asking because I didn’t expect them to cook their food first before eating it," Roxanna said with a small smile. "Maybe they learned it by accident."

After all, sometimes the best food was discovered by mistake. Someone might have dropped a fish into the fire once, and found out it tasted amazing.

And since this tribe had no contact with the outside world, no one else would ever know how they cooked their meals.

It felt strangely peaceful, like watching a different way of life unfold right in front of her.

"Miss Fox! Do you want to try our fish?" a woman wearing a skull mask called out, waving at Roxanna. Even though Roxanna couldn’t see her face, she could somehow tell that the woman was smiling behind the mask.

Thinking that this was a good chance to talk with the reindeer tribe, Roxanna nodded right away. "I’d love to!"

She grabbed both of her husbands’ hands and lightly jogged toward the campfire. To be honest, this was the first time someone from the tribe had spoken to her directly.

But maybe before this, they hadn’t approached her because they didn’t want to interrupt her time with Elior.

"What are you making?" Roxanna smiled warmly as she tilted her head slightly. She deliberately acted as if she didn’t know anything so that the other person would keep talking to her.

"We’re roasting fish!" The woman who had spoken earlier stood up. "You know, even though the river near this place is an underground river, it still has fish in it! That’s because our ancestors took fish eggs from beneath the mountain and brought them to the river on top of the mountain."

The woman kept talking even though Roxanna hadn’t said anything or asked any questions yet. The reindeer beastwoman even told her that the fish was called a "Sharp Fish" because it had a sharp front.

"The fish might look scary, but trust me, the meat tastes really good!" she went on. "Especially when we roast it. Our ancestors told us that roasted meat tastes better. Miss Fox, when you return to your tribe, you should also try roasting meat before eating it!"

Roxanna blinked, still smiling. She hadn’t expected the reindeer woman in front of her to talk this much. It was like once she started, she couldn’t stop.

But strangely, Roxanna didn’t mind at all.

After all, she didn’t have many friends in her previous life, because most people preferred to stay away from her instead of talking to her.

Even the person she once thought of as a "close friend" would rather talk to others whenever they were in a group. Back then, Roxanna didn’t see anything strange about it because she had never had a real close friend before, so she thought that was just how friendships worked.