Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 121: Episode : I want Icecream

Here we go again.

"Oh god," Roxy gasped, her voice trembling. "Z... I didn’t..."

She leaned in, shock marring her expression. Tears welled up in her eyes again, not the frustrated tears of overstimulation, but the hot, stinging tears of remorse.

"I didn’t mean to!" she cried, reaching out but then pulling back, afraid to touch him again. "I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened! My skin just... it felt like it was burning, and you grabbed me, and I just reacted! I’m sorry, Zarek! Please don’t hate me!"

Jeez, okay, time out.

Roxy suddenly felt like she was no longer herself anymore, and it was the baby’s fault, she was being too emotional, too cranky, and now this?

Zarek stood motionless by the bed. His golden eyes were wide, the vertical slits of his pupils dilated. He looked at his wrist, then back at her.

For a Dragon King, a creature of pride and fire, being struck was usually a declaration of war. In the wild, a female striking a male was a challenge.

She had struck him before, but that was different.

But Zarek didn’t fight back. He saw the terror in her eyes. The way she shook, and his heart melted.

"Hush," Zarek murmured.

He moved with the slow, deliberate grace of a predator trying not to spook a fawn. He lowered his massive frame, kneeling beside the bed so he wasn’t looming over her.

"I do not hate you, Roxy," he said, his voice a low, rumbling baritone that vibrated through the floorboards. "I am not angry."

Awwww, that’s my man, it’s fine, I overreacted.

"But I hit you!" Roxy sobbed, hiding her face in her hands. "I’m turning into a monster! I cry over fallen meat, scream at everyone, and now I’m violent! I don’t know what’s happening to me."

-_-

A simple, "I overreacted," would have sufficed.

"He put a Basilisk inside you," Zarek corrected gently. "Which is close enough to a demon, but that is beside the point."

He reached out. This time, he didn’t grab her arm. He turned his hand palm up, offering it to her. He waited.

Roxy looked at his hand. It was large, scarred from battles, and capable of crushing stone. Yet it sat there, open and patient. She hesitated, sniffing, then slowly placed her small, trembling hand in his.

"I know you are not yourself," Zarek whispered. "You are fighting a war inside your own body to build this child. If you need to strike me to vent the pressure, then strike me. My scales can take it."

"I don’t want to hit you," Roxy whispered. "I just want... I don’t know what I want."

"Then let me decide for a moment," Zarek said.

He leaned forward slowly, giving her ample time to pull away. When she didn’t, he closed the distance. He didn’t kiss her mouth immediately. He pressed his lips to her forehead.

The kiss was warm, firm, and steady.

Roxy squeezed her eyes shut. The contact didn’t burn this time. Because she was expecting it, because he was being so careful, her nerves didn’t scream. Instead, she felt the strength of him.

"I am here," Zarek murmured against her skin. "We are all here. You are not alone."

Roxy was internally giggling while biting her lower lip.

Maybe behaving like this was not a bad idea.

He tilted her chin up and kissed her lips. It was a chaste kiss, no tongue, no hunger, no demand for sex. It was just a sign of him trying to comfort her, the best way he could.

Roxy slumped forward, her forehead resting against his chest. She breathed in his scent and it calmed the storm in her brain.

Zarek held her there, stroking her hair with a feather-light touch. Inside, he was baffled. He didn’t understand the crying over fallen meat. He didn’t understand why his touch hurt her one minute and soothed her the next. The biology of the Basilisk infant was alien to him.

But looking at the top of her head, seeing her vulnerable and safe, his dragon heart swelled.

It doesn’t matter if I understand, Zarek thought fiercely. She is my mate. If she is fire, I will be stone. If she is ice, I will be the hearth. I will endure the storm until she returns to me.

***

The next day, the time moved fast, but the door to the master bedroom remained closed.

Breakfast came and went. Kaelen had prepared a tray of fresh fruits, Roxy’s usual favorite. He knocked gently, left it by the door, and retreated.

When Torian checked two hours later, the tray was untouched.

Lunch arrived. This time, Syris tried. He brought a nutrient-rich broth that he claimed would bypass her nausea. He knocked. He called her name.

"Roxy? You must eat."

No answer. Just the faint sound of rustling blankets.

By late afternoon, the four beasts were panicking.

Torian paced the living room, as usual when he was nervous. "She is starving herself," he muttered for the tenth time. "The child will consume her reserves. She will wither away. We need to break the door down and feed her."

"We are not force-feeding the Luna," Kaelen snapped from the sofa, though he looked just as worried. "If we push her, she might retreat further. Remember the slap?"

"She slapped the Dragon, not me," Torian argued. "I am charming. Maybe she will eat for me."

"She refused my broth," Syris said from the window, where he was staring out at the snow. His voice was devoid of its usual arrogance.

Zarek stood by the fireplace, his arms crossed. He hadn’t spoken much since the night before.

"Dinner," Zarek announced suddenly.

The other three looked at him.

"We go in together," Zarek commanded. "We fill the room with the scent of food. She loved food, and I am positive she would try to eat."

That’s what they thought.

***

The sun had set when the door to the master bedroom creaked open.

Roxy was sitting in her nest of towels. She looked small. Her hair was messy, and she was wearing one of Torian’s silk shirts that was five sizes too big for her. She was staring at the wall, her expression hollow.

She wasn’t trying to be difficult. She just... couldn’t. Every time she thought about food, about meat, about stew, or anything, her stomach churned. The smells were too strong. The textures were too gross.

Then, her mates entered. They came in like waiters delivering food to a table.

Kaelen carried a platter of roasted boar, the meat glistening with fat and herbs. Zarek carried a tureen of creamy vegetable soup that smelled of earth and richness. Syris held a plate of sliced fruits, rare, sweet berries he had scavenged from the greenhouse. Torian brought juice and the goblets.

They set the food down on the bedside tables, surrounding her with a banquet.

"Roxy," Kaelen said softly, kneeling by the bed. "Please. Just a bite. For the baby."

"If you do not eat, the snake inside you will eat your muscles," Syris added helpfully.

"Syris!" Torian hissed.

"I am just telling her the truth!"

Roxy looked at the food.

The smell of the roasted boar hit her nose. Usually, it would make her mouth water. Today, it smelled like sewage, and she didn’t like that smell.

At least we can agree on something for once.

She gagged.

"Take it away," she whispered, pressing her hand over her mouth.

"It is fresh boar!" Kaelen pleaded. "I caught it an hour ago!"

"It smells disgusting!" Roxy cried, turning her head away.

"Then the fruit," Torian offered, holding up a berry. "Sweet. Cold. Simple."

Roxy looked at the berry. "It’s too mushy. I can feel the texture just looking at it."

Zarek stepped forward with the soup. "Liquid. You don’t have to chew."

"No!" Roxy curled into a ball. "I don’t want to! I feel like I’m burning up from the inside! Why would I want warm soup?!"

The four men stood there, defeated. They were the Kings of the Forest. They could slay monsters. They could build empires. But they could not make one pregnant woman eat food.

"What do you want?" Zarek asked, desperation creeping into his voice. "Name it. Anything. If it exists in this world, we will find it. If it is a star from the sky, Torian will buy a ladder."

Roxy squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to think. What did she want?

She took a breath through her nose. Suddenly, a scent she didn’t even know where it came from hit her.

It wasn’t in the room. It was a memory, triggered by a frantic synapse in her brain.

She smelled... vanilla, sugar. She smelled dairy that had been churned until it was smooth and dense.

Her eyes snapped open. Her pupils dilated.

She sat up straight, sniffing the air like a hound.

"I smell it," Roxy whispered.

"Smell what?" Torian asked, looking around. "The boar?"

"No," She looked at them intensely, like she had found her life purpose after coming into the world. "I want ice cream."

The room went silent.

The four men looked at each other. Torian blinked slowly. His ears twitched.

"What?" Torian muttered.