Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Fifty-eight

The four lines were much shorter when we got back and we queued up with the remaining females, collecting our seeds. With two sacks placed next to me, I found a nice corner of the stone floor to sit and lean my back against the wall before encouraging Winston to attend the training. It was a necessary evil. I unfortunately knew next to nothing about crop planting. The best I could grow were tomatoes because they didn't hardly need any care.

He didn't want to go but after our little conversation with the Ape King, I knew baldy wouldn't risk my death and the war with the mer tribe that would follow it. I hadn't lied. I had made sure a little wolf passed on the details of the Ape King's elusive mate to Lance and Harvey. Risking Shuu's safety with that information was another reason I proposed the marriage alliance.

Winston went reluctantly but was reassured knowing it was only next door. I had to promise not to leave the auditorium. That was easy enough. After the stress of this morning, I wished I could just meld into the shadows, invisible to everyone, and rest. Unfortunately invisibility was not a skill I could master.

I noticed a nervous looking tiger female who, after spotting me, started to make her way over with what I was sure would be an invitation to stroll in the courtyard. She was stopped by a couple wolf guards and ushered out of the auditorium. There went Rosa's first step to get me alone. The reprieve was short lived though as Bai took the opportunity to approach me instead.

Dressed in a snow leopard pelt made into a half-length cloak and skirt, Bai slowly inched her way over. She was alone. Parker was most likely in the other room also getting a lesson on sowing.

"Hi Bailey." The girl said shyly. "Can we talk?"

I didn't answer right away. In truth, I wanted to say 'no way in hell' but a part of me still felt reluctant to brush her off. She had grown up in the modern era with modern comforts, loved and pampered by her parents. She followed their traditional values but somehow ended up here in a world where every day is a struggle to survive. Yet she kept to her values no matter how dangerous the situation. Though I personally felt that to be quite foolish, I would say the same about a male who would rather die that forfeit his pride. It was admirable if not quite logical. Not to mention she had wonderful ideas on how to make this difficult world just a little bit easier to live in.

I swear I could see tears in her eyes. I was taking too long to answer again, inadvertently torturing the girl.

"Have a seat." I said and patted the stone floor beside me.

Her face lit up like I'd offered her a way back to her world but then she looked around nervously. "Can we go somewhere a bit more private?"

Darling child, that's how you get people killed. "No." I said firmly and she shrank at my strict tone. "It wouldn't matter where we were in this castle, a wolf's ears will hear everything anyway."

She thought about that for a moment before nodding her head, accepting my logic. Then she bent down and, careful not to flash her surroundings, sat on the floor next to me. "I wanted to talk with you about our mate's fight the other day."

"Hmmm?" I motioned for her to continue. She said it as though us females had nothing to do with the incident. Friggin victim mindset.

She pulled her knees to her chest and looked at the floor, "Curtis tends to overreact when it comes to my safety. He thought everyone there was trying to hurt me."

I looked at her like the idiot she was but she didn't see my expression as she was still playing shy, staring at her toes. Nah chickadee, Curtis is just an ass. "Most males are defensive of their mates. That's why we females have to be sure to set clear boundaries and rewards. Without them, some male beasts, especially insecure ones, will attack anything that moves."

She pursed her lips, not liking how much of a lecture my words sounded. "He can be a little intimidating and hard to reason with, but his heart is in the right place."

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, "Qingqing, I do not care where his heart is. He was senseless and nearly killed me. You can stop making excuses for him and instead use your smarts to figure out a way to prevent such accidents in the future."

She looked over at me, her expression lost and desperate. "But how? It's not like I can stop him."

I opened my eyes enough to give her an exasperated look. "That's where you are wrong. You have more power than you think, you just don't know how to use it properly. He loves you. Like most males with their mates, that love can be so strong that it can either make life worth living, or cause your death. You are the one that controls the outcome." The memory of how the Mer King from the novel ate Qin after he finally found her flashed in my mind. 

"That love can make him blind to your needs and even his own. Many males don't understand what it is to have their needs met. Especially the needs they aren't even aware of." I thought of the Scorpion King's father and how he foolishly thought that getting rid of his lover's other mates would make their lives better. 

"For example, if you rely on only one or two males, are you relying on them so much so that they feel like they have no choice but to push themselves past their limits to be stronger, more brutal? All males want to be strong for their female and no one enjoys sharing their mate, but sharing the burden of keeping their female alive and happy can actually be better for their mental health. When they can focus on a singular task because they know the other needs are being met, the whole family benefits." I thought of my own fox parents and how all eight of my papas had a specific role to fulfill. There was a hierarchy, yes, but mama knew how to juggle all their needs and put her foot down when they were being foolish. 

I missed them and the memory of their last days made my eyes burn and my throat tight.

Bai, not noticing the change in my emotions continued her protests, "But I don't want a lot of mates. It isn't fair to them. I want to be in love with whoever I mate with. I don't think it's fair to make them share. I wouldn't want to share if the situation were reversed."

I snorted. Love? What does she know about love? The love we read about in novels can't begin to include all of the conversations and negotiations needed to keep a family together long term. Love is hard work and just because the love I feel for each of my mates is different, doesn't make it less.

"You say having more than one mate isn't fair, but neither is not having enough. If the situation were reversed as you say, and there was only one male born to every ten females. What if not only the survival of our species depended on that male having multiple females, but also that male's physical wellbeing? What if that one male was Curtis or Parker? Are you saying you wouldn't be willing to put away your petty jealousy for the one you claim to love? Because I would. No matter how much it hurt, I would find a way because they deserve it. Because I love them."

She looked like a fish out of water, repeatedly opening her mouth in reply but then closing it as she thought through the logic. Her face flushed red an her inability to provide a counter argument and I took the opportunity to end the discussion.

"I know why you came to me Qingqing. You want to make sure our relationship hasn't been damaged by what happened. It hasn't." There was nothing there to begin with, I said internally. "I will not seek you out, nor do I wish to be anywhere near Curtis. But I will not chase you away and I will not seek revenge for my near death. In return, the next time you come up with an idea to make life easier, share it with me. Or maybe the next ten ideas, and then we'll call it even. Deal?"

A relieved smile graced her puppy-like innocent features and she nodded in acceptance.

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a princess to punish." Out of the corner of my eye I had caught the image of an enraged Rosa trying to push past the wolf guards at the door. With murder in her eyes she screamed to be let inside as her males growled at the ever increasing number of guards barring her way.