The Spoilt Beauty And Her Beasts-Chapter 510: Why are you breathing like that?
Then Isabella slowly pulled her arm back out.
Holding a full bag of nuts.
The wind spirit’s pupils expanded like a starving wolf spotting prey.
"MY BABIES—"
Isabella yanked the bag back before it could eat her fingers. "Next time," she said with a long, suffering sigh, "don’t disappear when I need you."
"I wasn’t disappearing," the wind spirit argued. "I was resting."
"You sleep more than a hibernating bear."
"I am delicate!"
"You are a menace."
Isabella tossed the bag gently upward.
The wind spirit snatched it midair with the grace of a professional thief, then screamed, "FREEDOM!" before shooting into the sky like a comet—
And vanishing back into Isabella’s fan with a crack of wind.
Silence fell across the peak.
A quiet, peaceful silence.
Except for one tiny voice:
"...pip."
Glimora hugged Isabella’s leg, pressing her cheek into it affectionately. Her tail wagged gently, little eyes full of comfort and relief that the chaos had settled for now.
Isabella sighed, bent down, and kissed the top of Glimora’s head. "You’re the only normal one."
Osiris scoffed softly. "That is... questionable."
Isabella shot him a glare that could peel bark off a tree.
He didn’t flinch.
He never flinched around her.
If anything...
He stepped a little closer.
"Are you... ready to descend?" he asked, voice lower than usual.
Isabella blinked slowly.
He sounded—
Not mocking.
Not superior.
Not arrogant.
Calm.
Gentle.
Almost... soft.
She clenched her jaw immediately. "Yes."
Osiris nodded once, stepping back like nothing happened.
But something had.
Isabella felt it in the air between them.
Glimora felt it too; the tiny creature flicked her gaze back and forth between them like she had just sensed a shift in destiny.
Isabella shook it off instantly.
"We’re going down," she said.
Osiris nodded. "Then let’s go."
But before she moved, Isabella glanced at her hands — still glowing faintly from the dew, still aching from digging, still trembling from carrying power and pain.
And in her mind, Shelia’s face flickered again.
Alive.
Smiling.
Waiting.
The Ashvine Root pulsed in her spatial pocket like it heard her.
Isabella exhaled.
"Let’s bring her back," she whispered.
Osiris looked at her again with an unreadable expression, something warm flickering behind his eyes.
He turned away before she could notice too much.
But she had already seen.
She hated how her chest tightened.
And she hated him more for causing it.
They stepped toward the descending path.
Little Glimora ran ahead, tail swishing in excitement and relief.
Behind them, the wind spirit peeked out of the fan once — tiny head popping out — just to say:
"REMEMBER MY NUTS NEXT TIME."
Isabella threw a pebble at the fan.
...
The descent down the mountain was supposed to be peaceful.
Supposed to be.
But of course, Osiris existed.
Which meant peace was illegal.
Isabella stepped onto the narrow path winding down from the peak, Glimora trotting happily by her side, tail flicking like she had forgotten every life-threatening moment that had happened five minutes ago.
Behind them, Osiris followed with the casual arrogance of a man who thought gravity bowed for him. His footsteps were slow, relaxed, unnecessarily loud — like he wanted her to know he was there.
As if she could ever forget.
The air shifted as they moved downward. The mystical glow of the peak faded into a colder blue shimmer, the fog stretching long across the mountainside like drifting silk. Broken stones jutted from the ground, cracked by ancient magic.
Isabella clutched the strap of her dress tighter. Her hands still tingled from the dew.
Osiris, naturally, noticed.
And naturally, he had to talk.
"Are we going back to the lagoon?" he asked casually, as if they were old friends taking a stroll instead of two enemies trying not to murder each other.
"No," Isabella said flatly.
Osiris blinked. "Then where?"
"Home."
He frowned. "Home...?"
She didn’t even glance at him. "Yes. Your home."
He paused.
"My home?" He took a step forward, long legs easily matching her pace. "I don’t know where my home is."
"That’s not my problem."
His brows furrowed, a mix of irritation and disbelief. "Isabella."
"What?"
"Explain."
"No."
Osiris’s jaw flexed, clearly unamused. "You can’t just say you know where my home is and then keep walking."
"I can," she said. "I am."
He stared at her with that expression — the one that said he was five seconds away from grabbing her shoulders and making her look at him. But Isabella kept walking, head high, fan clipped to her waist, radiating the energy of someone who fully intended to out-stubborn the universe.
Osiris exhaled loudly.
Very loudly.
Just to annoy her.
It worked.
"Why are you breathing like that?" she snapped.
"Like what?" he asked, completely innocent.
"Like a dying buffalo."
Osiris leaned slightly closer as he walked. "Maybe I breathe loudly because you’re tiny and very easy to overlook."
Isabella stopped walking.
She turned her head.
Slowly.
Deadly.
"Say that again."
Osiris’s lips curled, smug. "You’re small."
"I will push you off this mountain."
"You can try."
She whirled and kept walking before she actually did it.
Glimora let out a tiny snort-laugh behind her paw.
Osiris wasn’t done.
"In fact," he continued, walking leisurely with his hands behind his head, "you’re so small, I sometimes wonder if you’re a disguised squirrel."
Isabella inhaled through her teeth.
"Osiris," she said through a smile that held murder. "May I ask you a question?"
"You may."
"Have you ever... choked on air?"
He blinked. "...No?"
"You should try it. Now."
Glimora burst into giggles. "Pip-pip!"
Osiris smirked down at Isabella and said, "You get angry so easily. It’s cute."
She tripped.
She actually tripped.
Osiris caught her elbow before she fell.
"Careful, little—"
"LET GO OF ME!"
She yanked her arm back so hard he almost lost his balance.
Osiris raised a brow. "See? If you were taller, the wind wouldn’t bully you like this."
"I hate you."
"I know."
"And yet you keep talking."
"You like my voice."
Isabella made a strangled noise so vicious that even Glimora slowly backed away.
Osiris watched her with a satisfied expression, the bastard.
But he didn’t stop.
He never stopped.
"So," he said casually again, "where is this home you’re supposedly taking me to?"
She ignored him.
"Isabella."
Silence.
"Isabella."
More silence.
"Isabell—"
She whirled so fast her hair slapped him in the face. "WHAT?"
Osiris blinked. "Do you know where we’re going?"
"I do."
"Do you truly?"
"I do."
"...Are you sure?"
She bared her teeth. "Do you want to walk down this mountain without legs?"
He paused thoughtfully. "That would make walking difficult."
"SO STOP TALKING."
He shrugged. "Fine."
Ten seconds passed.
TEN.
"Are we close?" he asked.
Isabella stopped walking.
A full vein appeared on her forehead.
"OSIRIS."
"Yes?"
"Shut. Your. Mouth."
He raised his hands in surrender. "Alright."
Five more seconds passed.
"Why are we going home?"
She screamed internally.
Glimora made the tiny distressed noise of someone watching a dangerous animal poke a sleeping dragon.
And Isabella... kept walking.
Because if she stopped, she was going to commit crimes.
⸻
They travelled downward along the winding slope, the fog thickening in gentle curls. Strange plants grew along the path — red bark trees with glowing leaves, stones with runic cracks, little orb-shaped insects hovering like blinking lights.
Osiris, of course, commented on everything.
"What is that?"
"Not your business."
"What about that?"
"Not your business."
"That rock is glowing."
"Your head is empty."
He blinked at her.
"That was unnecessary," he said.
"No, it was accurate."
He leaned down slightly, matching her pace, eyes glinting. "If you hate me, why do you keep looking at me?"
"I’m checking if you’re still alive so I know when to start celebrating."
He smirked. "Cute."
She nearly swung her fan at him.
Glimora hurried ahead a few steps, then turned around and squeaked as if saying, Mama stop fighting before the mountain eats us.
Osiris snorted. "Your child is more mature than you."
"She’s not my child."
"She acts like she is."
"She is NOT."
"Mm."
She stomped in indignation.
He smirked like she was the funniest creature he had ever seen.
Which only made her walk faster, hair swishing behind her like an angry banner.
⸻
But while Isabella was desperately trying not to strangle him, her mind was working.
She knew her next destination.
She knew what she needed.
Firemoss.
Located inside:
A magma-split rock halfway down the mountain.
While Osiris talked, she was replaying the system window in her head.
The glowing text.
The warning note.
The risks.
Her jaw tightened.
One wrong move... and she could burn her hands off. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
She exhaled slowly.
Almost there, she told herself. Almost halfway.
Her eyes scanned the surroundings as she descended, searching for—
A crack.
A split.
A sign of heat.
Anything.
But the fog only thickened.
Her heart gave a small jump.
There.
Just a faint shimmer.
A thin, wavering line of warmer air drifting near the path.
Her senses prickled.
That was it.
That was the marker.
She stepped forward.
She parted a branch—
And froze.
Osiris walked right into her back.
"Why did you stop?" he asked, annoyed, rubbing his chest.
She didn’t answer.
She just stared ahead.
And as Osiris followed her gaze...
His brows lifted.
"Oh," he muttered.
Before them...
Halfway down the mountain...
Was the entrance.
