I’ve always been the delicate one — soft curves, a tiny waist, and zero tolerance for discomfort. After getting pulled into this beast world, my beast husband spoiled me just the same. But then a new female showed up in the territory. She was nothing like me. She hunted alongside the males, tough and tireless, never once complaining. Cang Su’s eyes lit up the moment he saw her. After that, he couldn’t stop finding fault with me — my chest was too full, my waist too small, I was too fragile. He said I was too high-maintenance. Everything had to be just right — hot water to drink, fully cooked meat to eat, soft fur wrapped around my body at all times. He brought that female in to train me. For three years, every time I pushed back, she beat me for it. And Cang Su would threaten me. “If you don’t shape up, I’ll send you to the Snake Clan’s territory!” He knew perfectly well that snakes were my biggest fear. Until one day, he pulled that threat out again. I couldn’t take it anymore. I shoved him away, tears streaming down my face. “I’m done with you. I want a different beast husband!”
The only response I got was Luo Yao’s vine whip cracking across my chest. A searing line of pain spread from the point of impact. I looked down, eyes blurring with tears. The fur wrap I wore had split open, the pale skin of my chest showing through the gap. A red welt blazed across my skin where the whip had landed. My skin had always been sensitive. A small scratch was enough to make me cry. There was no way I could just endure this. “Luo Yao, you’ve gone too far!” But Luo Yao only looked at me with self-righteous certainty. “You’re the one who’s gone too far. You’re Cang Su’s female — how dare you speak to him like that?” My eyes burned red. The pain made my breath hitch in sharp little gasps. I stared at her in disbelief. Cang Su heard her words, and something flickered across his face — just for a moment. Then he turned on me with a sneer. “Look at yourself. Useless. In this entire territory, who else would ever take you as their female besides me?” “Luo Yao’s right. Don’t be so ungrateful.” He studied me with cold, impatient eyes, his gaze pausing on the curve of my waist with undisguised contempt. I knew exactly what had changed. The moment Luo Yao arrived, he started resenting how fragile I was. I couldn’t go out hunting with him the way she could. He resented every little thing I needed. Heated water. Cooked meat. Soft furs to keep my skin from chapping. Nothing like Luo Yao, who wore nothing but a grass skirt and walked into any situation without a second thought. But I had tried, once. I’d actually tried to be more like her. The fever that followed nearly killed me, and only then did he see that I was different — and decide to accommodate me. I thought about that, and something hardened in my chest. I clenched my fists. “There are plenty of males in this world. I don’t need you specifically. You clearly don’t even like me anymore — so let’s just end this.” Cang Su’s expression didn’t change. If anything, he looked more irritated. “Enough. I only wanted you to learn half of what Yao knows before letting you go. But if you keep this up, don’t blame me for what comes next.” He was completely sure my words were just an outburst. Sure that I couldn’t leave him. After all these years, I’d been difficult — but always obedient in front of him. So he’d always believed I couldn’t survive without him. What he didn’t understand was that when I’d first arrived in this strange world, I was utterly alone. No one. Nothing. Just fear. He was the one who walked up to me and held out a handful of small sweet berries. He was the one who offered to be my beast husband. That’s why I’d held on to him so tightly. He was the only anchor I had in a world I didn’t know. But now he didn’t want me. All he’d given me for a long time was pain and humiliation. So fine. We could be done. The coldness in his voice only made me more certain. I wiped my face and said it again. “No. I told you — I don’t want you anymore. I’m going to find someone new.” I pressed my hand over my torn top and turned to go. Cang Su grabbed my arm. The grip was immediate and brutal. My wrist went red in seconds, a deep ache radiating up through the bone. He didn’t seem to notice. He just glared at me. “I’ve clearly spoiled you rotten.” “I had Yao train you for three years. Three years, so you could become a female worth having. I did that for you — and this is how you repay me?” Luo Yao, who had been quiet up until now, stepped in right on cue. “Cang Su, this is my fault. I just couldn’t stand watching her disrespect you like that. Maybe I should leave.” She paused, then sighed with practiced exhaustion. “I just didn’t realize she was this fragile. When we go out hunting, we take hits far worse than this. Most of us don’t even flinch. She just… she’s never going to make it as a proper female at this rate.” Cang Su let out a cold sound of agreement. “She’s been pampered too long. No ability, no spine, and now she wants to speak to me like that. She needs to be corrected.” Before I could react, he shoved me down onto the stone bed beside us. I panicked, twisting and fighting against his hold. “Cang Su — what are you doing? Let go of me, please—” It was useless. His grip locked my arms down without even straining. When I stopped being able to move, Luo Yao smiled and stepped forward. The vine in her hand this time was aimed between my legs. “Exactly. Ruan Tang, the way you’ve been acting is a disgrace to every female in this territory.” “I’m going to teach you some manners.” —
The crack of the whip came down hard. “This one is for showing disrespect to your beast husband.” My vision went dark at the edges. The pain and numbness hit at the same time, and I couldn’t hold back the cry that tore out of me. Cang Su didn’t stop her. Instead, he moved to bind my wrists and ankles to the stone bed. Then he stood over me, looking down at my tear-streaked face with something like detachment. He said two words. “Keep going.” I hadn’t even recovered from the first blow when a sharp burst of pain exploded across my mouth. Luo Yao had hit me across the lips. She was smiling as she looked at me. “Just hold on a little longer, Ruan Tang.” “Cang Su is your beast husband. He asked me personally — I can’t let him down.” “This one is for insulting your beast husband with your words.” The vine came down again. It landed across my chest. I screamed. The place where she struck me went completely numb. “This one is for being so delicate you burden your beast husband into finding soft furs to keep you covered.” Then the second blow. Then the third. Across my waist. Across the back of my thighs. Each one came with its own justification. My whole body was shaking. I turned toward Cang Su through the pain and the tears. “It hurts. Cang Su — it hurts, please let me go—” His expression was glacial. Unmoved. My heart went cold and quiet. It felt like something heavy had settled into my chest and was pulling me down into the dark. Luo Yao lifted her arm again. The vine aimed for my bare thigh. “This one is for—” A low, flat voice cut through the room. “Enough.” I was drenched in cold sweat. I forced my eyes open. It was Cang Su who had spoken. He stared down at me and released the restraints. His voice was hard. “Ruan Tang. Do you understand what you did wrong?” I said nothing. I pushed through the pain and got myself upright, then walked toward the door in silence. As I passed him, his voice came again, tightly controlled. “Still nothing to say? Want to go through this again?” I stopped. Then I turned and slapped him across the face as hard as I could. My voice was wrecked from all the crying and struggling. “You clearly want to be with Luo Yao, Cang Su. Go ahead. Be her beast husband.” “I hate you.” The slap didn’t seem to leave a mark on him. But my palm immediately burned hot and red, like I’d hit stone. Still, he went still for a moment. I’d never done anything like that before. He was too surprised to stop me — he just let his expression go cold and came back with another threat. “Don’t push your luck.” Something iced over in my chest. I shoved him aside and stumbled out, making it back to my own room. I hadn’t set foot in this place since Cang Su brought Luo Yao here to train me. But thankfully, my things were still here. I dug through a corner of the room until I found a small wooden carving in the shape of a snake. A snake-clan boy had given it to me not long after I first arrived in this world. Back then, he’d followed me around for days. Wherever I went, he went. He didn’t care about the cold looks Cang Su kept throwing his way. But I was terrified of snakes. One look at those gold slit-pupils — the ones that marked him as a snake-clan male — and I was almost shaking too hard to function. I could never bring myself to go near him. He must have seen the fear on my face, because it wasn’t an act. Something in his expression dimmed a little. After that, he stopped following me. But before he left, he put the wooden snake carving in my hands. He told me that if I ever needed him, all I had to do was break it. He’d find me within three days. I took it without fully understanding why. I hid it from Cang Su and kept it. I never thought I’d actually use it. But now, compared to how I used to feel about snakes, the thought of Cang Su scared me more. I turned the carving over in my fingers, then snapped it in two without hesitating. Looking at the two broken pieces, something in me unclenched. I felt lighter. I started gathering the few things I could take with me. There wasn’t much. A few worn pieces of clothing, some small trinkets. That was it. Ever since Luo Yao had come to the territory, Cang Su had stopped giving me anything. The hunted meat, the small red berries I loved most — all of it went to her now. These days, he was more her beast husband than mine. But it was fine. Three more days, and I’d be out of here. Goodbye, Cang Su. No. Not goodbye. More like: never again. I was still turning that thought over when Luo Yao walked in, easy and unhurried. She looked at the state I was in and let a smirk settle across her face. Then she said something I hadn’t seen coming at all. “For a fellow transmigrator, you really are a disappointment.”
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