I Became the Villainess, But My Beast Husbands Can Hear My Mind?!-Chapter 41: A Wife Who Chose Them All
Roxanna and her husbands finally brought the wild clay and river stones back to the settlement. Actually, she didn’t carry anything heavy at all. Her husbands were the ones dragging the stones back, while the only thing she carried was a small bag filled with colorful pebbles.
Zeir and Cyrus even had to go back and forth to the river several times because there were so many stones. As she watched them work, Roxanna thought that these stones would also be perfect for building their well.
"Where did these stones come from?" Commander Marlow asked in confusion. He was even more puzzled when he noticed how close Roxanna had become with her husbands.
None of them showed even the slightest hint of hatred. Even Zeir—the one who had once said he would kill her someday—was now following her around like an obedient dog.
"Mr. Crocodile and his friends helped bring these stones from the river," Roxanna said brightly. She then jogged over to Azul, who was cutting wood with a stone axe to build the bathroom and toilet behind the hut.
"Azul, your friends gave me these pretty stones!" she said cheerfully, showing him the contents of the animal-skin bag she was carrying. "You should’ve introduced me to them sooner!"
Azul paused and set the stone axe down before turning to her. "I thought you would be scared of them."
"I was at first," Roxanna admitted with a small laugh. "But Zeir and Cyrus helped me, so now I’m not afraid of the crocodiles anymore."
Roxanna then handed some of the pretty pebbles to her husbands. She ran around, giving each of them pebbles that reminded her of them.
She gave Azul the blue pebbles. Luan got the green ones. Calen’s pebbles were light brown. Cyrus received dark brown pebbles, and Zeir got the white ones.
[I know the crocodiles gave these pebbles to me, but since they’re mine now, I can give them to my husbands too!] Roxanna thought happily.
She did this because she remembered how penguins gave beautiful stones to their chosen mates. Since she had five husbands, she wanted to give pebbles to all of them.
[I hope that with these pebbles, my husbands know that they are precious to me,] Roxanna thought. [And someday, I’ll give them even more beautiful pebbles once my heart for them has truly settled.]
Her husbands looked down at the small pebbles resting in their hands. To them, those stones felt more valuable than any meat or anything in the world.
They had once thought that Roxanna would choose a favorite husband among them, because that was something beastwomen usually did. They often had many husbands, but typically only loved one of them, while the others were more for mating purposes.
But Roxanna was different.
Even though she was only intimate with Azul for now, she still treated the others with care. She spoke to them gently, worried about their feelings, and tried her best to make sure no one felt left out.
Her gentle behavior and kind heart made them feel even more sorrowful, because her past life hadn’t been a good one. She had likely spent her life giving warmth to others, while receiving very little in return.
After thinking about this, her husbands made a vow in their hearts that they would protect her no matter the cost and would never leave her alone in this dangerous world, even if she released their crystal seals.
It was because someone as precious as her deserved to be treated like a precious gem.
On the other hand, Commander Marlow, who had been watching her behavior, couldn’t help but become completely convinced that she wasn’t the evil Roxanna, perhaps just a doppelgänger trying to sneak into the settlement.
However, since this doppelgänger wasn’t doing anything bad or causing trouble for the people in the settlement, he decided to do nothing for now.
More than that, the doppelgänger had even helped them recover after the demon beast attack and was now trying to build things that she claimed would be useful for them in the future.
"Leader," Commander Marlow finally said when Roxanna stopped moving around, "your husbands told me you want to build a... well?"
"They explained what it is," he continued, "but why build one? We already have a river."
Roxanna nodded. "That’s true. But if we have a well, we won’t need to walk so far just to get water for drinking or bathing."
She paused, then added gently, "It would also help the elders. Some of them can’t walk long distances anymore."
Although beastkin were stronger than humans, they could still grow weaker as they aged. Their lifespan was longer, but that didn’t mean they stopped aging at thirty, and Roxanna wanted to make that time a little kinder.
Some of the elders in this settlement no longer had families because the demon beasts had eaten them while they were hunting or when they tried to protect the settlement from demon beast attacks.
Because of that, these elders had to rely on other people’s kindness to bring them food and water. However, that wasn’t a good situation, because some people might start to see them as a burden, even if they never said it out loud.
Roxanna didn’t want that.
It would be much better if the elders could get clean water on their own, without having to depend on anyone’s help.
"Maybe... we should build the well in the center of the settlement," Roxanna said after some thought. "Instead of behind my hut. Yes, that sounds better."
Since Roxanna’s explanation made sense, Commander Marlow decided to follow her plan.
"Then tell us what we should do first," Commander Marlow said.
"We need to dig the ground first," Roxanna replied with a smile. "But it will probably be tiring. That’s why I told my husbands to ask you and the warriors to help with the digging."
Commander Marlow shrugged. "Just the three of us are enough. We just need to dig until we find water, right?"
Roxanna blinked several times, taken aback by his words. "But... the water might only appear after you dig quite deep. It could be as deep as twice the height of my hut."
Commander Marlow turned his head toward the hut and laughed. "Yeah, the three of us are more than enough."
