The Spoilt Beauty And Her Beasts-Chapter 599: Luca And Asael Like You.

That night, the wind outside howled louder than usual.

Inside the stone palace, the fire in the stone pit burned steadily, filling the rooms with warmth.

Isabella lay on the thick fur bedding, her eyes half closed. She should have been tired enough to sleep quickly after a whole day of walking around the village.

Instead, her stomach started protesting.

She rolled to one side, then the other.

Cyrus, who was sitting nearby sorting some herbs, noticed immediately.

"Are you uncomfortable?" he asked.

She stared at the ceiling.

"I want roasted nuts," she said. "With sour fruit juice."

He blinked. "Together?"

"Yes."

"That combination..." he began.

She squinted at him. "Do you want your hatchlings to cry from hunger in the middle of the night?"

He stood up at once.

"I will get it," he said quickly.

He wrapped himself in a cloak and stepped out into the cold.

Cyrus ran across the village, his breath turning white as it hit the air.

The nuts were in a storage pit. The sour fruits were hanging in a cool corner inside another room. He tried not to wake too many people, but some of them still saw him rushing around with a slightly panicked expression.

"Is Goddess Isabella hungry?"

"Yes."

"In the middle of the night?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you still talking? Go faster."

He finally returned carrying a small basket of nuts and a jug of sour fruit juice.

When he entered the house, Zyran and Osiris were already there.

Zyran lounged on a fur near the fire, holding a small pouch.

Osiris sat on the opposite side, staring at the pouch with narrow eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Isabella asked, raising a brow.

Zyran grinned. "I heard you were hungry. Luckily, I keep my own secret stash of good things."

He opened the pouch and poured out some roasted seeds that smelled fragrant and slightly sweet.

Osiris clicked his tongue. "Selfish panther. You never shared those with me."

"They are for my future children’s mother," Zyran replied proudly. "You can smell them from afar."

Osiris’s lips tightened. "I am also a future children’s father."

They immediately started glaring at each other again.

Cyrus placed his basket and jug down beside Isabella.

"I brought what you wanted," he said.

She looked at the items spread out before her.

Roasted nuts. Sweet seeds. Sour fruit juice.

Her eyes lit up.

She took a nut, dipped it in the sour juice, and put it into her mouth.

"...Hmm."

The flavor was strange. The sourness cut through the richness, making the nut taste new and exciting. Her taste buds, which had been bored of regular meat, woke up.

The three men stared at her face nervously.

If she frowned, they might never see the inside of these storage pits again.

"It is good," she said finally.

They all relaxed at once.

Osiris scooted a little closer.

"If you want something sweet next, I can roast fruit with honey," he said. "I have been practicing."

Zyran immediately leaned in from the other side. "Do not trust him. Last time he burned the fruit. I will roast meat, then dip it in sour juice. You will like it more."

Cyrus frowned slightly. "She should not eat too much greasy food at night. I will make a warm drink with roots to help her digestion."

Isabella listened to three different suggestions for her stomach and felt a little dizzy.

"I am pregnant, not a testing ground," she muttered.

Bubu snickered.

[Pregnancy Mood Quest unlocked: Do not bite any of your mates for one whole hour.]

She closed her eyes.

"I do not need your rewards," she replied in her mind. "Keep them."

[Reward: slight increase in emotional stability for you and the babies when exposed to annoying males.]

She opened her eyes again.

"...I will consider it," she said reluctantly.

The three men watched her expression change for no visible reason.

"What are you thinking about?" Zyran asked suspiciously.

"Whether I should bite you first," she answered bluntly.

He immediately leaned back, pretending to be offended. "I am the most delicious one. Of course you want to bite me."

Osiris scoffed. "Your ego is too big. If she bites you, her teeth will break before your head shrinks."

Cyrus sighed softly. "Please do not encourage her to bite anyone."

Kian stepped inside at that moment, having finished checking the outer patrols.

He took in the scene with one glance.

Isabella surrounded by scattered food, three males hovering around her like nervous servants.

He walked over and picked up a nut between his fingers.

"You should drink the juice first," he said calmly. "Then eat slowly. If you eat too fast, your stomach will hurt."

Isabella tilted her head.

"I did not tell you what I wanted," she said.

"I heard Cyrus asking the others where the nuts and sour fruits were," Kian replied. "I guessed."

Of course he guessed.

He always watched quietly from the edge, but he remembered everything she liked or disliked.

A strange warmth crawled into her chest again.

She sipped the sour juice obediently, then continued her strange tasting.

Half an hour later, the floor was a mess of shells and skins.

The men were a mess too.

Zyran and Osiris had already argued three times, each time about who brought the better food. Cyrus had gently taken away things that looked too heavy for her and replaced them with lighter snacks. Kian had quietly moved the firewood closer when she shivered and adjusted the furs behind her back without saying anything. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"New mini quest," Bubu announced suddenly. [Pat the head of at least one mate and say something nice. Reward: slight increase in their obedience value for one night.]

"I refuse," Isabella thought immediately.

[You have been complaining they do not listen to you,] Bubu said. [This is a good chance.]

"They listen too much," she muttered under her breath.

Zyran heard her and leaned in. "What did you say?"

"Nothing."

She ignored Bubu and continued eating.

Ten minutes later, she reached for a nut and found none left in the basket near her.

"Cyrus," she said. "More."

"There are no more for tonight," Cyrus replied gently. "If you eat too much, your stomach will hurt. You already finished half a basket."

Her temper pricked.

Pregnancy had made her more sensitive. Small things that she would usually shrug off suddenly felt like personal attacks.

"So now you want me to starve," she said flatly.

Cyrus blinked. "That is not what I meant."

Zyran snickered quietly.

"That is exactly what he meant," Osiris added helpfully.

Cyrus glared at them.

Kian looked at Isabella.

"You can scold me instead," he said. "I approved the amount of nuts stored."

She was about to snap at him when all four of them knelt slightly in front of her without even realizing they were in the same position.

"So who is at fault?" she demanded.

They looked at each other.

"We are," the four of them said together.

Her lips twitched.

She looked at their faces, all bracing for impact, and suddenly felt something inside her soften.

Without thinking too much, she reached out and patted Cyrus’s head.

"You are the easiest to bully," she said. "So I will forgive you first."

His eyes widened slightly, then softened.

She then stretched her arm and patted Zyran’s hair once.

"You are too noisy, but at least you bring food."

He grinned like a satisfied wolf.

Osiris leaned forward eagerly, and she flicked his forehead.

"You bring flashy birds. That is useful, so I will not complain today."

He rubbed his forehead with a pleased smile.

Kian had not moved closer.

He simply watched her quietly.

She hesitated, then reached out and pressed her hand against his hair for a moment.

"You..." she began. "You are doing better now."

It was a small sentence, but Kian’s eyes changed.

The low tension around him loosened, like a lion whose fur had finally been stroked the right way.

Bubu exploded in her mind.

[Quest complete. Reward granted. For the rest of the night, their obedience value is slightly increased. Enjoy.]

Isabella realized what she had just done.

"...You tricked me," she thought.

[You trick yourself,] Bubu replied, sounding delighted. [You are very soft-hearted.]

She wanted to smack the glowing screen.

But when she looked back at her men, all of them looked strangely happy with those simple touches.

Her irritation faded.

Fine.

Just for tonight.

She lay back down on the furs. The babies inside her shifted slightly, as if responding to the warmth from her belly.

With the sound of the fire crackling, the low voices of her men murmuring nearby, and Bubu snickering in the back of her mind, Isabella finally drifted off into a deep sleep.