Interstellar Beast World: All My Husbands Are Powerful and Rich!-Chapter 74: Mortifying

A Beast Without Huntress sent another message through the light-brain, his words heavy with implication.

"As for the last possibility... that one is a closely guarded secret of the Suncrest Lineage in the Central District. No other tribes know about it. I only learned it because I was born into the Suncrest clan myself.

There are rumors of a human female whose sensory abilities were far inferior to those of beastfolk. She couldn’t distinguish gender by scent at all. Yet her genes were said to be absolutely perfect. Not only did she cultivate at an unbelievable speed, but—more importantly—her blood could help male beastfolk break through levels."

The sender paused, then added another line, almost apologetic.

"I’m only telling you this because you seem sincere. Don’t spread this around."

The messages continued, unfolding like a forbidden legend.

"There was once a story within the Suncrest clan about a male with abysmal talent. No matter how hard he trained, he was stuck far below the elite. But after consuming the blood of a human female, he rose all the way to level thirteen.

Not long after reaching that level, he encountered the Beast God itself. The records are incomplete—I read them in our ancestral library, and only fragments remain. I can’t guarantee the truth of it."

Less than three seconds after the final sentence appeared, the entire conversation vanished. The sender deleted everything without a trace.

Jasper stared at the empty screen of his light-brain, fingers frozen in midair, the faint glow reflecting off his tense features. For a long moment, he didn’t move. He had no idea what kind of standing A Beast Without Huntress held within the Suncrest clan, but the bleakness of that username alone spoke volumes. It suggested a life marked by isolation and quiet bitterness—one that likely hadn’t been easy.

Perhaps that was why, the moment the ten million star coins transferred, the man had unleashed everything he knew. Every scrap of forbidden knowledge, every rumor and half-buried truth, spilled out without hesitation—as if he had been waiting for a reason to finally speak. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

But none of it was what Jasper wanted to hear.

A gene disorder meant Rory’s body itself could be flawed at its foundation—unstable, vulnerable, perhaps even short-lived. The mere possibility made Jasper’s chest tighten painfully, dread settling deep in his bones.

And yet, the second possibility was far worse.

If Rory were human...

Why would someone from the Suncrest clan know that human females possessed flawless genes? How could he speak with such certainty that human blood could assist beastfolk in leveling up?

If a human female with such qualities had ever truly appeared within the Empire, it would have ignited chaos. Every major power would have moved at once. The revelation would have shaken the foundations of the known world.

The only way such knowledge could have vanished so completely—erased without a trace—was if someone unimaginably powerful had buried the truth, grinding it into silence until not even rumors dared survive.

Jasper’s jaw clenched.

Where had that human female gone?

If a person with perfect genes and blood capable of advancing beastfolk truly existed, the entire Empire would hunt her relentlessly. The consequences were unthinkable. History offered more than enough proof—the Empire had never been gentle with females.

There were precedents. When male beastfolk rejected the huntresses chosen for them by the Beast God, they were bound by the beast mark and unable to harm them directly before a bond was finalized. So they turned to darker methods. They bribed exiled beastfolk—outcasts cast away by divine decree—to do their violence for them.

Some nobles even kept these exiles hidden, like tools, using them to eliminate females who stood in their way. Even the Interstellar Hunter Alliance maintained groups of such exiles in distant outer regions, pretending ignorance while benefiting from their existence.

More than anything, Jasper prayed that Rory’s condition was the simplest explanation—that her sense of smell had merely been damaged. She had survived alone for years, fought countless beasts, and endured injuries that might have dulled her senses. Perhaps she simply didn’t want anyone to know.

If the truth were one of the other two possibilities, then her silence made perfect sense.

They hadn’t known each other long. They weren’t bonded mates. Trust, especially for someone like Rory, didn’t come easily. Jasper understood that.

What he didn’t understand was how he was supposed to figure out which truth applied—without endangering her.

He wasn’t the only one lost in thought.

On the bed, Burnt Dumpling lay where Jasper had tossed him, leaning quietly against the tightly bound Nix. Since Rory’s warning, Nix no longer dared to openly bully him. Instead, he stretched his neck over with mock nonchalance and began tugging at the burnt dumpling’s feathers, one by one.

Feather plucking continued silently.

By the time anyone noticed, Burnt Dumpling’s right wing was nearly bare.

Yet he remained oblivious, his thoughts far away.

Rory emerged from the dressing room just in time to see the damage. Her expression hardened instantly.

"Nix—stop that!"

Her sharp shout shattered the silence.

Jasper snapped out of his thoughts and immediately shut down the light-brain. The sight before him made his expression twitch involuntarily. With half his feathers gone, the burnt dumpling looked even more pitiful than before.

Rory rushed forward, scooping the burnt dumpling into her arms and rescuing the few remaining feathers from Nix’s mouth.

"Look at what you did!" she scolded. "You’ve plucked him half bald!"

Black feathers were still stuck around Nix’s beak. When he saw her anger directed at him again, he instinctively tucked his head inward, trying—and failing—to hide the evidence.

Only then did Kather truly realize how exposed he was.

The explosion had already burned away his original fiery plumage. This darker layer of feathers had merely been a temporary cover, meant to protect him until new feathers grew in.

Now, thanks to Nix, even that was gone.

As a prince of the Empire, being left half-naked in front of a female was nothing short of mortifying.