I Became the Villainess, But My Beast Husbands Can Hear My Mind?!-Chapter 174: The Foe or Allies? (3)

Her hands grabbed his shoulders, his arms, his face, checking him as if she was afraid he might disappear. "I-I thought you were going to be crushed by the walls!"

Calen pressed his lips into a thin line and answered softly, "I... thought so too."

Roxanna frowned when she heard that. She gently pushed him back so she could look straight at his face. "Then why did you throw me out like that?!"

Her voice shook, not only from anger, but from fear that hadn’t fully left her chest.

Even if everything had happened quickly, he still needed a few seconds to steady himself, pick up his weapon, and run again.

Those few seconds could have cost him his life.

To be honest, he might have escaped faster if he had just dropped her and saved himself. But of course, he didn’t do that. He never would.

[I came all the way here to bring him back... so why was he ready to die like that?!] Roxanna grumbled in her heart, her eyes slightly red as she glared at him.

[Maybe... seeing him die peacefully in his sleep would be better than watching him get crushed between those walls!]

The thought came out of nowhere and shocked her. [No, no, no! Why am I even thinking like that?! I don’t want him to die at all!]

Just imagining it made her chest hurt. Her eyes turned red, and before she realized it, tears began to fall. She quickly wiped them away, but more of the tears followed.

"But... if you were in the same position, wouldn’t you have done the same?" Calen said softly. "You always put others before yourself. But when someone does that for you... you suddenly don’t like it?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Roxanna was completely speechless after hearing his words.

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her heart was still beating fast, her emotions a mess. She wanted to scold him again, but his words hit too close to home.

[D-Did he just try to manipulate me?] she thought, staring at him in disbelief.

Calen noticed the way she stared at him, her lips slightly parted but silent. For a moment, neither of them spoke. The air between them felt heavy.

He took a deep breath, and said, "I’m not trying to win an argument," he said softly. "I just... didn’t want you to get hurt."

"And... I feel the same way you’re feeling right now every time you make a one-sided decision to sacrifice yourself for others." Calen glanced to the side, avoiding her eyes. "It... doesn’t feel good, right?"

Roxanna froze. The anger in her chest slowly faded, replaced by something heavier.

All this time, she had always been the one who sacrificed for others, she was the one who stepped forward. The one who chose the harder path and the one who put everyone else above herself.

And no one had ever stopped her. No one had ever said, "Don’t do that."

If anything, people seemed relieved when Roxanna was the one who took the burden instead of them. It made things easier for everyone else, and because of that, she never realized how much her husbands hated seeing her do it.

Maybe... the reason she kept hurting herself for others was because she had never known what it felt like to watch someone risk their life for her.

She had never known that kind of fear.

In fact, she had never even expected anyone to save her when she was in danger. Deep down, she always believed she wasn’t worth saving.

But in this world, her husbands always chose her first.

All this time, they had always been the ones trying to protect her. They were always the ones stepping in front of danger and this was the first time she had truly seen one of her husbands almost die just to save her.

It was terrifying.

Her chest felt tight, as if something heavy was pressing down on it. Her breathing became shallow and even thinking about it again made her hands tremble.

She didn’t like this feeling at all.

The fear, the helplessness, and the thought of losing him.

But at the same time... there was something else mixed into it. It was a strange sense of understanding.

Now she finally knew what it felt like to watch someone you love risk their life for you. To feel your heart drop. To feel angry and scared at the same time and for the first time, she realized... this must be how they felt every time she tried to sacrifice herself.

"I’m sorry..." Roxanna’s voice trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. "I won’t do anything that makes you scared anymore."

Calen let out a soft sigh. Seeing her like this made guilt rise in his chest because he hadn’t meant to hurt her.

"No... I’m sorry," he said gently. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, as if he was afraid she might slip away again.

"I didn’t mean to make you feel this bad," he whispered against her hair. "I’m really sorry."

Roxanna was about to speak again when she suddenly heard a muffled sound. "Mhmm! Mhmm!"

She blinked and turned her head and only then did Roxanna finally remember that Azul was still pinned to the wall.

Calen, who had just realized his presence, stared at him for a second, then burst out laughing. "Azul, what are you doing over there?!"

Azul’s eyes burned with anger as he struggled against the shadow holding him in place.

"I thought you got eaten by a monster," Calen continued, barely holding back his laughter. "But it turns out you’re just stuck on the wall?"

He laughed even louder. He even stuck out his tongue in a childish way. "Oh... poor you."

Azul made another muffled sound, clearly furious and just to make things worse, Calen suddenly pulled Roxanna closer and kissed her right on the lips.

When he pulled away, he glanced at Azul with a smug smile. "You can only watch."

Azul grew even more furious. He struggled harder, his body twisting as he tried to break free from the shadow holding him in place. If looks could kill, Calen would already be dead.

But it seemed he didn’t need to worry about Calen teasing him any longer because a low, heavy sound suddenly filled the air. "Grr..."

It wasn’t loud, but it was deep enough to make the ground feel colder. Calen and Roxanna both froze. Slowly, they lifted their heads at the same time.

Roxanna forced an awkward smile onto her face. Her voice came out small and slightly shaky. "O-Oh, Mr. Fenrir... you’re still here."