Beauty, the Beasts and Other

Chapter 38

The week went by faster than I had expected.

I had gotten some of the mermen that continuously stopped by the cave to look at me to make a habit of retrieving firewood from the surface for me. If they were going to be nuisances, the least they could do was make themselves useful.

All of them lacked the affinity for fire building and as such, I put my many months of observing my men to good use and kept a fire going at all times.

At night, the cave dropped to temperatures that rivaled this world's winter, so not only was the fire a necessity for food but also warmth. When I'm finally out of this crappy situation, I don't want to see another fish for the next five years at least. It's all I've been eating, and I refused to ask the mermen for anything else.

I intended to be as uncomfortable as I could bare so that my brain would never trick itself into liking it here.

I hadn't made any attempts to break the pearl throughout the entire week. I needed to be smart about how I proceeded. If I caused too much trouble, it is highly likely that Xenon would increase the number of guards in my room, and I couldn't have that.

Bluepool was just as annoying in real life as he was in the novel, if not more. He went on and on about his looks and capabilities and how I should mate with him and feel honored by the offer. I was regretting asking him his name because that seemed to have been the final crack the dam needed to burst open.

He didn't understand the concept of peace and quiet.

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up! I can't hear myself think with your incessant blabbering!"

I had finally blown my fuse one day, but all that did was shut him up for the night. The following morning, he was his usual chatty self.

I tried not to interact much with the mermen, especially Bluepool. I tried not to be overly mean to them. It was difficult to not throw a slew of insults at them every time I saw their faces as I was desperately missing my family, but I needed to remain neutral for now.

I didn't want to try and get close to them, because I wasn't that good of an actress, but I didn't want them to hate me to the point that if I needed help, they wouldn't offer it.

What I'm doing may be perceived as cruel, but they schemed to take me from my family. They deserved to be used.

***

The crowd of mermen went wild as my bubble was pushed in front of them. It was degrading, I felt like I was at an auction house being sold off to the highest bidder, but in this case, it was to the strongest men in a lackluster clan.

"Settle down!" Xenon commanded the crowd, and they all went quiet. "Here is the land female you've all been hearing of. Now she's not Qin, but she has given birth to strong cubs, and she is beautiful, no? She will be mating with a minimum of fifty males. You are all welcomed to win her favor but as for today, she will be choosing five males to start off with. Any comments?"