I Abandoned My Beast Cubs for the Protagonist... Oops?-Chapter 61: One Smile

"Forget the stupid fox," Cāng Yáo rasped as tears streamed down her flawless cheeks. She tightened her grip on Bai Yue’s tunic. "Give me another bowl. Now."

Bai Yue blinked, frozen. She looked at the panting, sweating, hiccuping Dragon Princess, and then down at the empty wooden bowl.

"You....you want more?" Bai Yue asked cautiously, fully convinced this was a trap. "You do realize your face is the color of a ripe tomato, right? And you just burped black smoke."

"Do not question me, mud-rat!" Cāng Yáo wheezed, wiping a tear from her eye with the back of her heavily jeweled hand.

She let go of Bai Yue and dramatically pressed a hand to her own chest. "This......this is pure agony. My tongue feels as though it is being stabbed by a thousand tiny, furious fire-demons. It is completely undignified! It is torture!"

She paused, her golden pupils dilating as she stared at the bubbling red cauldron.

"But it is so... incredibly flavorful," the Dragon Princess whispered, her voice filled with a desperate, masochistic hunger.

"The celestial ambrosia of the High Peaks tastes like unseasoned rainwater compared to this glorious pain! More! I command you to give me more!"

Bai Yue let out a long, slow exhale.

"So, about that wager..." Bai Yue trailed off, raising her left wrist to show the glowing golden rune.

Cāng Yáo didn’t even hesitate. She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "Keep him! Keep the fox! He is entirely useless to me anyway! He cannot make my mouth feel like it is beautifully combusting! I no longer want the Fox Lord. You will cook for me! This is delicious!"

With a sharp, chiming CRACK that echoed through the clearing, the golden runic band on Bai Yue’s wrist flashed a brilliant emerald green and shattered into a million harmless, sparkling pieces of light.

The contract was broken. She had won.

A little underwhelming....but....

"Ha!" Bai Yue threw her hands in the air, doing a tiny, victorious hip-wiggle. "Take that, you oversized lizard! I told you not to mess with a woman’s hot pot!"

Zhāo Yàn immediately stepped forward, glaring down at the sweating Dragon Princess.

"My mate is not your personal chef, Princess," Zhāo Yàn purred, though he couldn’t hide the smug smirk playing on his lips. "She belongs to me. If you want more of her cooking, you will have to politely ask the ’little mud-rat’ for permission."

Cāng Yáo was completely deaf to his insults. She was already using her magical jade chopsticks to fish another slice of fiery boar meat out of the cauldron, violently fanning her mouth with her free hand as she ate it, crying tears of pure joy and pain.

Watching a First Generation Dragon weep over a bowl of broth was apparently too much for the Thousand Fang Tribe’s curiosity.

A large, burly wolf warrior slowly stepped forward from the crowd. He sniffed the air, his nose twitching. "If... if the celestial being can eat it... and she says it is delicious... Alpha, I request permission to try the fire-water."

Mo Xiao pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do not come crying to me when your insides melt."

That was all the permission they needed.

Suddenly, a dozen brave beastmen crowded around the cauldron. Bai Yue, riding the high of her victory, happily passed out wooden bowls and ladles.

"Careful, guys! It’s Sichuan style, it numbs the tongue!" Bai Yue warned cheerfully.

She felt like she was managing a house full of chaotic, overgrown siblings, easily taking charge of the absolute disaster unfolding in front of her.

A brave snake beastman took a massive gulp of the red broth.

He froze. He turned completely rigid, staring blindly into the night sky.

"Brother?" the wolf warrior asked nervously. "How is it?"

"I..." The snake beastman gasped, falling to his knees. "I am seeing my ancestors! The Great Spirit is calling me! It hurts so good!"

Instantly, the clearing erupted into absolute, pandemonium. Beastmen were coughing violently, tears streaming down their faces.

Several panthers were desperately chugging water from wooden buckets, while a few younger wolves were literally rolling in the dirt to cool off. Yet, despite the obvious agony, they kept going back for more, addicted to the spicy adrenaline rush.

"Water! Bring the river!" a crane beastman squawked, flapping his wings frantically.

Amidst the coughing, sweating, and chaotic slurping, Bai Yue felt a tiny tug on the hem of her woven skirt.

She looked down.

Standing there were Yòu Lín and Ruì Xuě. The snow leopard cub stood slightly behind the fox kit, his purple eyes fixed intensely on the bubbling cauldron.

"Mama," Yòu Lín said, looking up with massive round, glittering eyes. "Let me and brother have some! It smells so yummy!"

"Oh, absolutely not," Bai Yue immediately crossed her arms. "This is adult food. This is weaponized spice. Your little cub tummies would explode."

"Please, mama," Yòu Lín whimpered, his fox ears flattening against his head in the ultimate, devastating display of puppy-dog guilt.

Ruì Xuě didn’t say anything, but he took a tiny step forward, his fluffy white tail swishing hopefully. He wanted to join in.

Bai Yue groaned, her absolute weakness for fluffy things warring with her common sense.

She glanced up and caught Zhāo Yàn leaning against a nearby tree. The Fox Lord had his arms crossed, watching his son deploy the legendary fox-charm.

He caught Bai Yue’s eye and winked.

Look at my boy, already mastering the art of manipulation, his expression clearly said.

"Don’t you smirk at me, you enabler!" Bai Yue hissed at Zhāo Yàn. She looked back down at the cubs and sighed a long, heavy sigh.

"Fine," Bai Yue relented, holding up a single finger. "But only a tiny, microscopic taste. I am not having you two breathing fire all night."

She took a clean wooden chopstick, dipped the very tip into the mildest part of the broth, and let it cool. She offered it to Yòu Lín, who bravely licked it. The fox kit blinked, his nose twitching, before he let out a happy little yip. He actually liked it!

Encouraged, she dipped the chopstick again and offered it to Ruì Xuě. The snow leopard cub gave it a tiny, cautious lick.

His purple eyes went wide, and he immediately stuck his little pink tongue out to cool it off, but he didn’t run away.

"Me too! Me too!"

Before Bai Yue could stop her, Miao Miao bounded out from behind Mo Xiao’s legs. The energetic panther cub didn’t wait for a carefully cooled chopstick. She launched herself forward and swiped her tiny paw directly onto the rim of a recently used, chili-covered bowl, sticking her paw right into her mouth.

There was a moment of absolute, terrifying silence.

Miao Miao’s amber eyes slowly crossed. Her little nose scrunched up into a tight knot.

"Achoo!"

The panther cub let out a massive sneeze, nearly blowing herself backward.

And then, the panic set in.

"PAPA!!!!!" Miao Miao shrieked at the top of her lungs, sprinting in frantic, jagged circles around the fire. "PAPA! MY TONGUE IS BURNING! THE CURSED FEMALE SET MY MOUTH ON FIRE! I AM DYING!"

"Miao Miao!" Mo Xiao roared in panic, dropping his spear and trying to catch his zooming, spicy daughter. "Drink water! Stop running!"

"Ah! Don’t panic!" Bai Yue yelled, her Feral Mother instincts overriding the chaos. "It’s just the spice! It’s a trick of the mind!"

But Miao Miao was inconsolable, wailing as Mo Xiao finally caught her and tried to pour a cup of water into her mouth. Ruì Xuě had backed away, looking alarmed by the sudden screaming.

Bai Yue needed to diffuse the tension. She needed to show the cubs that the "fire" wasn’t actually hurting anyone.

Throwing all of her remaining dignity out the window, Bai Yue grabbed a large wooden serving spoon, held it up like a microphone, and struck a dramatic, ridiculous pose.

"Oh no!" Bai Yue gasped loudly, widening her eyes to comical proportions. "The Spicy Monster got me too! Ahhh!"

She began to perform the most exaggerated, theatrical "spicy dance" ever witnessed in the Beast Realm.

She fanned her mouth violently with her hands, hopping from one foot to the other like she was walking on hot coals.

"It’s too hot! I’m a melting mud-rat! My tongue is doing a tap dance!" Bai Yue wailed dramatically, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out as far as it would go.

She spun in a clumsy circle, wiggling her hips and making ridiculous, high-pitched panting noises. "Send help! Send milk! The fiery tubers have defeated me!"

With a final, theatrical groan, she completely flopped onto the grass, limbs splayed out like a starfish, pretending to be entirely neutralized by the invisible Spicy Monster.

The entire clearing went quiet, staring at the female who had just defeated a dragon, now rolling in the grass like a complete lunatic.

Zhāo Yàn buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Mo Xiao just stared, utterly bewildered.

But Bai Yue wasn’t looking at them. From her spot on the grass, she peeked through her messy bangs, looking directly at the little snow leopard cub.

Ruì Xuě was staring at her.

For a second, nothing happened.

And then, his tiny nose twitched. The corners of his mouth, the ones that had been pulled tight with anxiety and trauma for weeks, began to tremble.

Ruì Xuě opened his little mouth.

A sound came out. It wasn’t a whimper. It wasn’t a growl.

It was a bright, musical, bubbling sound.

Hehehe.

Ruì Xuě brought his little paws up to his mouth, his shoulders shaking as the giggle grew into a full, bell-like laugh.

The cub’s eyes crinkled into happy little crescents, completely transforming his face from a wounded creature into a bright, innocent child.

"Mama....." Ruì Xuě giggled, his voice soft but incredibly clear, "Mama is very funny."

Bai Yue lay completely paralyzed in the dirt. Her heart stopped. The entire chaotic world, the sweating dragon, the panting wolves, the smug fox, entirely faded away.

Eh? Bai Yue thought, her eyes welling up with sudden, overwhelming tears.

Did... did he just laugh?