The Spoilt Beauty And Her Beasts-Chapter 590: Then you must tell us everything when you come back
When Isabella finally stood up from the beast’s side, her back felt sore and her legs were a little numb. She smoothed her dress over her stomach and walked toward the entrance. Before she could call anyone, the sound of hurried footsteps reached her.
Ophelia appeared first.
Behind her were Shelia and Luca. Shelia walked with her chin slightly raised, and Luca followed helplessly, as if he had tried to hold them back and failed.
"Isabella, you are back!" Ophelia almost crashed into her. "What is that beast? Is it really from the forest? Did you fight a lot of things? You went hunting while pregnant. Were you tired? Were you hot? Did you sweat everywhere?"
Isabella’s temples started to throb.
Shelia stepped up as well. Her eyes shone with excitement. "Is it true you used just one strike to cut a man’s arm? I heard the guards talking. They said it flew very far. Is that a spiritual weapon? Can I see it?"
Luca reached them and tried to clear his throat. "You two should at least let her breathe. She just got back."
But his eyes were also curious. He wanted to know everything too.
Three pairs of eyes stared at Isabella without blinking.
She felt a sudden illusion that she already had three cubs clinging to her legs, and none of them were even born yet. The headache pressed harder between her brows.
They are worse than my future babies.
"Calm down," Isabella said. "You can ask later. I am going to the interrogation room first."
Ophelia pouted immediately. "Then we will come with you. We can sit quietly. We will not disturb anyone. Right, Shelia?"
Shelia nodded at once. "Of course. I also want to see the faces of the men who dared to scare our goddess. I will glare at them."
Luca sighed. "I will keep them in check. They will not cause trouble."
They turned together as if it was already decided and started to follow Isabella down the corridor.
At that moment, Kian came from the opposite end.
He was still half covered in the cool air from outside. His upper body was bare as usual, and the four stripes on his arm stood out clearly.
When he saw the small group gathered around Isabella, he slowed his steps.
His gaze fell on Luca first.
Luca straightened his back at once. He tried to look like a serious, reliable guard, but his eyes were still shining with gossip.
Kian stared at him for a long second. Luca’s neck shrank slightly.
Then Kian looked at his sister.
Shelia’s confident expression froze, and her hand, which had been about to grab Isabella’s sleeve, slowly dropped to her side.
Lastly, he glanced at Ophelia.
Ophelia’s courage was always soft and fluffy like her body. When she met Kian’s eyes, she instinctively hid half her face behind her meat bun.
No one said anything, but his meaning was very clear.
You are not going.
Ophelia bit her lip. "But I really want to come. I will be very good."
Shelia tried to be bold. Her voice came out a little higher than usual. "Brother, we are not weak. Stop treating us like children. We can watch too."
She secretly feared Kian though, but her pride refused to back down in front of Ophelia.
Kian’s expression did not change. He only looked at her for a while longer. That was enough. Her shoulders drooped, and she looked away like a guilty child.
Isabella almost laughed.
She hid her smile and touched Ophelia’s arm. "Ophelia, listen to your king. He does not want you to come, so you are not coming."
Ophelia lowered her head but still clung to Isabella’s sleeve. "Then you must tell us everything when you come back."
"I will," Isabella said.
Shelia crossed her arms and turned away with a snort, but the redness at the tips of her ears betrayed her. Luca scratched his head and gave Isabella an apologetic look, as if he had just been scolded too.
Leaving the three of them behind, Isabella walked toward the interrogation room with Kian, Cyrus, Zyran, and Osiris.
The room was deep inside the stone palace. Torches burned on the walls, casting flickering light on the stone floor.
The captured poachers were already kneeling in the center. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and several guards stood around them.
Zyran was the first to step forward.
He usually had a lazy smile on his face, but when he walked up to the prisoners, his expression became strange. He still looked amused, but there was something else behind his eyes.
He stopped in front of the men and crouched down so that they were almost eye level. "You were very brave on the mountain earlier," he said.
One of the poachers swallowed. "Y, yes, sir."
Zyran tilted his head. "You chased a gentle beast off its home. You pointed your weapons at my pregnant mate. You even shouted at her. That is bravery, right?"
His tone did not rise. It was not loud. But the air in the room suddenly felt heavy, as if they were all standing inside a deep, ancient tomb.
The poachers’ backs went rigid.
Zyran’s red eyes did not seem ordinary at that moment. In that instant, they felt like they were being watched by something older and far more dangerous, something that had seen countless deaths and did not mind a few more.
The hairs on the back of their necks stood up.
They wanted to avert their eyes, but they could not look away.
"You all talk so loudly about cities," Zyran continued. "Duskspire. Fangridge. Stormhaven. Big names. Strong people. Important buyers. But you cannot even stand properly in front of a few villagers and one female. How will you stand in front of the gods when they ask you what you did today?"
The men shivered.
He is not ordinary.
That thought appeared in each of their minds at the same time. None of them knew why. He was not raising his energy openly, but the feeling of pressure pressed down on their shoulders, forcing more sweat out of their skin.
Behind Zyran, Kian stood with his arms folded. He did not say anything. His cold gaze swept across the prisoners slowly.
Whenever his eyes lingered on someone, that person immediately lowered his head and began to talk more.
"We were hired to bring rare beasts down the mountain," one man said quickly.
"And females," another added in a trembling voice. "If we see pretty females alone in the forest, we take them too. Duskspire pays a lot. Sometimes they send them onward to Fangridge City, sometimes to Dukespire City. It depends on who gives the best price."
Kian’s stare did not soften.
Under that icy gaze, the men kept talking in fear that staying silent would be worse.
"Some bosses like beast cores. Some like fur. Some like wings. Some like bloodlines. They said the rarer the better. They said a single female from a rare tribe can feed them for years."
Isabella’s fists slowly tightened at her sides.
Her thoughts went to Cyrus first. He had survived by luck when she met him. He never talked much about how he got away from his city.
Now she began to see the pieces around him. Men like these. Cities like those.
Then her thoughts turned to Osiris.
She remembered finding his people’s bodies upside the mountain. She had seen phoenix feathers scattered like broken flames across the rocks. At that time, she had believed that they had all died there.
Phoenixes are rare. Very rare.
Her chest felt tight. A new suspicion surfaced in her heart.
Maybe not all of them had died. Maybe some had been taken. Maybe the blood and the missing bodies were both connected to these same routes, the same cities that traded lives like goods.
She had no proof yet, but the feeling would not leave.
She looked at Osiris.
He was standing near the side wall, arms crossed lightly, expression serious as he listened. He was focused on the men’s words, but he did not seem to realize how closely this might be tied to his own past.
For some reason, that made Isabella even angrier.
The poachers finally ran out of things to confess. They knelt there with their heads lowered, shaking.
Isabella stepped forward at last.
"The ones who hired you will not protect you," she said. "You are only useful while you can still move."
Several of the men looked up, eyes full of fear.
She continued, "From today, you will work under watch in this village. You will repair what you have broken, and you will carry what we tell you to carry. If any of you try to run, I will know. I will decide your fate after I learn everything I need."
The guards nodded and moved in to pull the prisoners up.
The men stumbled to their feet. Some looked relieved to still be alive. Some looked like they wanted to cry but did not dare make a sound.
Isabella turned away from them.
Her heart was still burning quietly, but her voice remained calm.
This was only the beginning.
