Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 313: Episode 311: Caspian Confesses

Roxy let out a frustrated huff, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at the incredibly convenient timing of her newborn daughter’s wails.

She knew Caspian was using the interruption as a shield, dodging whatever thing he was hiding. But the sheer, furious volume of the tiny tiger cub’s cries echoing down the grand staircase commanded her immediate attention.

"Don’t think you are off the hook, fish," Roxy warned, pointing a stern finger at his chest before she turned and hurried out of the parlor, her silk robe billowing behind her.

She quickly ascended the stairs, her bare feet silent on the polished wood. The cries grew louder, filled with that demanding energy that Tyara seemed to have an endless supply of. Roxy pushed open the arched door of the nursery, fully expecting to find Dena frantically trying to soothe the newborn.

Instead, the scene before her made her pause in the doorway, the lingering frustration instantly evaporating into a puddle of absolute, heart-melting warmth.

Dena was standing near the wall, looking completely helpless and a little terrified to intervene.

Inside the heavy iron-wood crib, Tyara was red-faced and squalling, her tiny fists punching the air in furious indignation. And sitting right beside her, having somehow managed to silently scale the wooden bars and drop into the mattress, was Zale.

The tiny prince looked entirely overwhelmed. He had clearly just wanted to replicate their peaceful nap from earlier and cuddle his new sister.

But instead of soothing her, his clumsy toddler entry had startled the fierce little cub right out of her milk-drunk slumber.

Zale was sitting back on his heels, his little webbed hands resting on his knees. When he heard the door open, his eyes snapped up to meet Roxy’s.

The abyssal toddler didn’t cry, but his expression was utterly devastating. His wide eyes were filled with profound guilt, his lower lip quivering slightly as he looked at her, communicating a perfect, silent apology for waking the baby.

He looked as if he expected to be banished back to the dark for his transgression.

Roxy couldn’t help it. A bright, genuine chuckle bubbled up from her chest, completely erasing the tension in her shoulders.

She walked over to the crib, her heart swelling with an impossible amount of love for the two drastically different children. She reached down, expertly scooping the furious, thrashing Tyara into her left arm, immediately tucking the cub securely against her chest to muffle the wails.

With her free hand, Roxy reached out and gently cupped Zale’s pale, incredibly soft cheek. She leaned down over the wooden railing, pressing a warm, lingering kiss right to his forehead.

"Oh, my sweet boy," Roxy murmured affectionately, her thumb brushing away the phantom worry lines on his tiny brow. "Mama is not angry with you, darling. You just startled her, that’s all. Sisters can be very loud."

Zale blinked, the heavy guilt immediately melting from his eyes. He let out a soft, relieved little babble, his tiny hand reaching up to grasp her index finger.

Tyara, sensing her mother’s warmth and the familiar scent of lavender, immediately stopped her frantic screaming. The newborn let out a grumpy, exhausted huff, her fluffy white ears flattening against her head as she nestled her face into the crook of Roxy’s neck, instantly drifting back to sleep.

Roxy smiled, gently patting the cub’s back. But as she looked down at her abyssal son, the fierce, unyielding determination of the Iron-Wood Matriarch returned in full force. Caspian thought a crying baby would buy him time. He was sorely mistaken.

"Dena!" Roxy called out softly toward the hallway.

The young wolf-shifter girl immediately jogged into the nursery. "Yes, Queen Roxy?"

"Can you help me with Zale?" Roxy asked, adjusting her grip on the sleeping tiger cub. "I am going back downstairs, and I want both of my children with me."

Dena nodded eagerly, reaching into the crib to carefully lift the silent little boy. Zale went willingly, resting his head against Dena’s shoulder as they followed Roxy out of the nursery.

Downstairs in the grand parlor, the atmosphere was incredibly tense.

Caspian had sunk back into the oversized leather armchair, his head in his hands. He was mentally preparing a dozen different lies, half-truths, and deflections to soften the blow of his confession for when Roxy eventually returned.

He figured he had at least an hour. Newborns were notoriously difficult to settle, and the tiger cub’s lungs were terrifyingly strong.

He took a deep, rattling breath of the dry surface air, rubbing his face with his calloused, mortal hands.

"Alright, I am back!"

Caspian violently flinched, his head snapping up in sheer shock.

Roxy strode into the parlor, looking like a terrifyingly beautiful, unstoppable force of nature. Tyara was fast asleep against her chest, and Dena trailed right behind her, holding a wide-eyed Zale. It hadn’t even been five minutes.

Before Caspian could even formulate a single word of protest, Roxy marched directly across the room. She didn’t sit on the empty sofa. She didn’t pull up a chair.

Roxy turned and unceremoniously dropped her weight directly onto Caspian’s lap, straddling his thighs.

Caspian let out a breathless, startled grunt. His arms instinctively flew up, wrapping securely around her waist to steady her and the sleeping infant trapped between them.

Roxy settled herself comfortably, trapping him completely. She looked perfectly at home sitting on the former Abyssal King.

Caspian’s silver-blue eyes went wide with panic. He looked desperately over Roxy’s shoulder, locking eyes with the Fox King sitting across the room, silently pleading for an intervention.

Ren simply leaned back in his chair, casually crossing one long leg over the other. A wicked, immensely amused smirk curled the Fox’s lips.

"There is no need for you to run now, fish," Ren chuckled softly, his vibrant green eyes dancing with delight at Caspian’s predicament. "You are officially cornered. Best to just surrender to the Queen."

Roxy shifted her weight slightly, making Caspian groan as his mortal muscles strained. She leveled a look of absolute, uncompromising authority at him.

"No more dodging. No more running," Roxy demanded, her voice low and steady. "Dena, take Zale to the rugs near the fireplace so he stays warm. Caspian... talk."

Caspian swallowed hard. The physical proximity of her, the soft weight of their daughter resting between them, and the sight of their son playing safely by the fire entirely broke his resolve.

There was nowhere left to hide. He couldn’t lie to her when she was looking at him with such fierce, demanding love.

He let out a long, heavy exhale, his broad shoulders slumping under the weight of his truth.

"I sacrificed my fins," Caspian began, his voice dropping into a hoarse, ragged whisper that lacked any of its former abyssal magic. "I went to Mother. I told her I would not stay in the dark, and that I would tear the Spires apart if she didn’t help me reach you."

Roxy’s breath hitched, her hands resting flat against his chest, feeling the frantic, mortal thumping of his heart.

"She used an ancient blood-magic," Caspian continued, his eyes locked onto hers, refusing to look away from the consequences of his actions. "The Beastworld requires absolute balance, Roxy. To turn my body into a mortal vessel... to forge these lungs that can breathe the air, and these legs that can walk on the dirt... I had to give the ocean my soul."

He tightened his arms around her waist, a shudder wracking his frame at the memory of the agonizing transmutation.

"I have been permanently banished from the Spires," Caspian confessed, the devastating reality of his words hanging heavily in the quiet parlor. "The pressure of the trench would instantly crush my bones into dust. I can never, ever return to the sea. My kingdom is gone."

Roxy stared at him, her violet eyes wide, absorbing the sheer, catastrophic magnitude of what he had done. But Caspian wasn’t finished. The hardest part, the most terrifying sacrifice, still had to be spoken.

"And because I traded my abyssal biology," Caspian whispered, "I lost my immortality, Roxy. I have a mortal lifespan now. I will age. I will grow weak, and in a few short decades, I will die."

He forced the words out, laying his entire, fractured soul bare at her feet. He had given up eternity, his crown, and his entire world, just for the chance to spend a single, fleeting human lifetime by her side.

Caspian finished speaking. He braced himself, his hands trembling against her waist, waiting for the inevitable reaction. He waited for her to scream at him for being so foolish.

He waited for the crushing weight of guilt to shadow her beautiful face. He waited for her to tell him that the sacrifice was too much, that he had ruined himself for nothing.

But Roxy didn’t scream.

She didn’t cry, and she didn’t pull away.

Roxy stayed completely, absolutely quiet.

Her eyes were locked onto his face, unreadable and entirely still. The silence in the parlor stretched out, growing thicker and heavier with every passing second.

Even Ren had stopped smirking, sensing the profound, earth-shattering shift in the room’s atmosphere. The only sound was the soft crackle of the hearth and the gentle, rhythmic breathing of the sleeping tiger cub between them.

The silence dragged on. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds.

Caspian’s anxiety, fueled by his new, fragile mortal nervous system, began to spiral violently out of control. The lack of validation, the lack of a reprimand, it was terrifying.

His breathing turned shallow, his silver-blue eyes searching her face frantically for any sign of what she was thinking.

Did she hate him for it? Did she pity him? Was she disgusted by his weakness?

The fear became entirely suffocating. He couldn’t bear the quiet a second longer.

His hands gripped her silk robe desperately, his voice cracking with fear. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Roxy?"