Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 21: The Love Battlefield

I slumped against the counter, watching the chaos unfold.

Rurik was wiping carrot guts off his dagger. Cassian was aggressively re-counting the till. Lucien was... lurking. And Rajah was still trying to explain his Strategic Flour Camouflage to a starstruck Princess Leonora.

"So," Rajah was saying, flexing a flour-covered bicep, "the apron is tactical! It lures the biscuits into a false sense of security!"

"Fascinating," Leonora breathed, her hazel eyes wide. "Truly innovative military strategy, General."

I sighed, rubbing my temples. My "Hard Mode" survival plan had mutated into a multi-species sitcom.

Do I really need to choose one of them? I wondered, watching them bicker.

Rurik snarled at Cassian. Cassian sneered back. Rajah laughed too loudly. Lucien sharpened a knife in the corner.

They were a handful. They were exhausted single dads (and uncles/brothers) trying their best. And honestly? They were kind of... a family. A very dysfunctional, heavily armed family.

Maybe I didn’t need to pick a husband. Maybe I just needed to survive the week.

But then I saw it.

Princess Leonora took a step closer to the General. "Perhaps," she started, her voice hopeful, "you could teach me this... tactical baking?"

Rajah blinked, completely missing the signal. "Not today, Your Highness! I must ensure Lady Primrose has sufficient protein for tomorrow’s menu! Primrose! Do we need more elk?"

He turned his back on the Princess, beaming at me like a giant, excited puppy.

Leonora’s shoulders slumped. Her lion ears drooped. She looked... lonely.

She was the Easy Mode Heroine. The Golden Girl. She was supposed to have everyone falling at her feet. But here she was, being ignored by her crush because he was too busy trying to impress his son’s nanny with dead animals.

I felt a pang of guilt. I had accidentally stolen her entire plotline.

I caught her eye. Leonora looked at me, then at Rajah, then at the chaotic pile of cubs playing in the corner.

Then, she straightened her spine. The "Main Character" energy flared back to life.

"General!" Leonora announced, her voice ringing out with royal authority.

The room went silent. Even Vali stopped chewing on the rug.

"This... ’Daycare’ concept," Leonora said, gesturing around the shop. "It requires... field testing! Sunshine! Fresh air!"

She turned to me, a desperate, brilliant plan forming in her eyes.

"Lady Primrose! As the Princess Imperial, I command... I mean, I invite... the entire Little Whiskers Daycare to a Royal Outing! Tomorrow! At the Imperial hunting grounds!"

"A field trip?" Arjun cheered. "Tactical maneuvers in the woods!"

"A picnic," Leonora corrected, looking pointedly at Rajah. "With games. And food. And... ample opportunities for strategy."

Rajah’s ears perked up. "Strategy? In the woods? Sounds like training!"

"Exactly!" Leonora beamed.

The cubs looked at each other.

Vali whispered to Jasper, "A field trip? That means Prim goes outside."

Jasper nodded slowly. "If Prim goes outside, the Dads will try to impress her."

Arjun grinned. "Operation Matchmaker is a go!"

Silas silently gave a thumbs up from the shadows.

They didn’t care about the Princess’s crush. They had one mission: Make sure Primrose fell in love with their dad (or brother/uncle).

"Excellent idea, Your Highness!" Cassian said smoothly, already calculating the networking opportunities. "The Argentis carriage will be ready."

"I’ll bring the meat," Rurik grunted.

"I’ll bring the security!" Rajah roared.

"I’ll bring... the silence," Lucien whispered.

I looked at Leonora. She gave me a tiny, pleading look. Help me get close to him.

I sighed. "Alright. Field trip it is. But if anyone tries to hunt the children, I am cancelling lunch."

The next day was going to be a disaster. I could feel it in my bones.

But at least it would be an entertaining disaster.

---

Princess Leonora had decreed the Royal Outing would be in one week.

She claimed it was to allow for "proper security protocols" and "menu curation." I knew the truth: she needed seven days to find an outfit that said, "I am a Princess, but I can also throw a javelin if you’re into that, General."

For me, that week wasn’t a break. It was a siege.

The Little Whiskers Daycare ceased to be a place of learning. It became a War Room.

Monday came... and it was a menu war.

"The menu must be tactical!" General Rajah bellowed, slamming a blueprint onto my counter. It was a map of the picnic grounds with "SNACK ZONES" circled in red. "High-protein skewers here! Hydration stations here! And a roasted boar in the center for morale!"

"It is a picnic, not a siege," Archduke Cassian sneered, actively erasing Rajah’s map with magic. "We require finger sandwiches. Cucumber. Watercress. And iced tea served in crystal."

"If you feed my son watercress, I will feed you to the wolves," Lord Rurik growled from the corner, sharpening his dagger. "We need meat. On the bone. To sharpen their teeth."

Duke Lucien said nothing. He just silently replaced my wooden spoons with silver ones when I wasn’t looking.

I rubbed my temples. "Gentlemen. We are having sandwiches. And fruit. And if anyone complains, they get the ’timeout’ rock."

---

Two days after...

Princess Leonora visited every day at lunch. Ostensibly to "check on the preparations." In reality, to stare at Rajah.

"Lady Primrose," she whispered, hiding behind a menu. "The General... he is lifting the flour sacks again. Is he... looking at me?"

I looked. Rajah was indeed lifting sacks, but he was shouting, "LADY PRIMROSE! LOOK AT THIS FORM! PERFECT FOR CARRYING GROCERIES!"

"He is... focused on his task," I lied kindly.

"I must increase my strength," Leonora nodded solemnly. "Do you think he likes women who can bench press a carriage?"

"I think he likes women who feed him," I sighed.

Another two days passed...

While the adults were busy measuring egos, the real planning was happening on the rug.

The Junior Search Party had gathered. The stakes were high. This wasn’t just a field trip. It was the Mom Election.

"Okay, listen up," Arjun whispered-shouted. "The Field Trip is the final battleground. We need to make sure Prim picks the right partner for the ’Three-Legged Race’."

"Why?" Clover asked, munching a carrot.

"Because the Three-Legged Race binds their souls together!" Arjun declared (making that up completely). "If Prim is tied to my Dad, she will see his muscles and fall in love! Operation: Tiger-Trap is a go!"

"Objection," Jasper said, adjusting his glasses. "Primrose dislikes sweat. A three-legged race is highly unsanitary. My brother has reserved the ’Royal Shade Pavilion’. If I can lure Primrose there... she will see Cassian’s wealth and superior air conditioning. Operation: Golden Cage."

"Boring," Vali scoffed. "My dad is going to catch a deer. With his bare hands. Then he will give it to Prim. Girls love dead deer."

"No, they don’t!" Clover squeaked, horrified.

Vali ignored her. "Operation: Hunt and Gather."

They looked at Silas.

The Panther cub was drawing a picture. It showed Primrose sitting under a tree, reading a book, while a black cat slept on her lap.

"Operation: Nap," Jasper translated. "Statistically, the most likely to succeed."

The cubs looked at each other. The lines were drawn.

The adults thought they were going on a picnic. The cubs knew the truth.

They were walking into the Love Battlefield. And only one Dad could win.