Beauty and the Beasts

All the sadness Bai Qingqing felt instantly disappeared. She looked up at Cortis and asked, “Don’t you like kids?”

“I want you to bear me a child because I like you, and you females will show more affection to the child’s father,” Cortis answered her without hesitation, despite his intense dislike of his own kind—especially his own children—for distracting his female.

Bai Qingqing’s face flushed and she said shyly, “That’s not the point, okay? The point is that I get… that thing every month. It’ll be bad news for me if people find out.”

Cortis chuckled softly and replied, “Don’t worry. This house is my territory. I won’t let anyone come near it, so no one will find out.”

Bai Qingqing felt a huge burden being lifted off her shoulders upon seeing how calm Cortis was. “Mm.”

“I brought you the thorny fruit.” Cortis pulled away from Bai Qingqing and held out the plant in his left hand.

Bai Qingqing rubbed her eyes and looked at it. The thorny fruit wasn’t what she had expected. It looked like a cape jasmine plant, with its mulberry-like leaves and many small, thorny fruits.

Bai Qingqing’s face lit up instantly. She clapped her hands and said, “It’s still fresh. Let’s go plant it.”

When Cortis opened the wooden door, Parker was digging a hole outside.

Bai Qingqing was itching to plant a tree. However, Cortis pushed her back into the house and said with an authoritative tone, “Don’t come out.”

“Okay, then.” Bai Qingqing grabbed a stick from outside and placed it under the door. “But I can still keep the door propped open, right? I want to watch you guys plant it.”

Bai Qingqing had difficulty placing the stick under the door despite using all her strength as the rain was too heavy. In the end, Cortis helped her to keep the stick in place so that the door would stay propped open.

When Parker returned after the tree had been planted, he felt happy seeing that Bai Qingqing was no longer as gloomy as she had been over the past few days.

“Qingqing, I’ll head out to hunt,” Parker said.

Bai Qingqing glanced at Cortis’s stomach and guessed that the snake hadn’t fed for the past three days. She asked Parker softly, “Parker, could you catch one extra prey?”

Parker paused for a moment before he smiled and replied, “Okay.”

Parker replied so readily that Bai Qingqing and Cortis glanced at him oddly.

Parker then transformed into a beast and excitedly ran out of the house.

Instead of heading towards the jungle like he normally did, he slowed his footsteps and paced back and forth at the outskirts of the village.

There were many odd-shaped puddles in this area left behind by beastmen who had planted rice.

Parker chose an empty piece of land and used his front paws to dig into the ground with all his might.

The sky began to darken. Bai Qingqing stood outside the door as she anxiously waited for the leopard to return. “It’s so late. Why isn’t Parker back yet? Is it because he went out to hunt for two prey?”

“I’ll cook something for you to eat first,” Cortis said.

Bai Qingqing shook her head. “I’m not that hungry. You can take a shower first.”

The firewood had already been prepared. Cortis started a fire and heated up a pot of water.

When Bai Qingqing took off her clothes, she was surprised to see that her period, which had arrived two weeks late, had finally ended.

“Hehe… this is great.” Bai Qingqing felt relieved and delighted and hummed the song “Happy New Year”[1.”Happy New Year” is a children’s song sang in celebration of Chinese New Year.] as she showered.

Cortis couldn’t help but look in Bai Qingqing’s direction. As her graceful, feminine figure came into view, her fair skin made her body seem particularly eye-catching in the darkness.

“Sss—”

Bai Qingqing stopped humming upon hearing something rub against the ground. Her instincts told her that something was wrong. Just when she was about to turn back, a cold body pressed itself up against her back and a pair of arms wrapped around her.

“You’re not bleeding anymore?” Cortis’s voice was alluringly hoarse.