The Villainess Redeems Herself, The Beast Husbands are in a Daily Love Battle-Chapter 116: The First Heart

If he wasn’t so attractive.

She wouldn’t have impulsively slept with him at their first meeting, merely from a glance.

The madness of that night is still etched in her memory.

But now?

It’s all in the past.

Her tone is airy, carrying a hint of sarcasm.

"So you’re saying this now because I’m carrying your child? If I wasn’t pregnant, would you still say this? Would you still stand here and speak these tender words to me?"

She paused, her gaze fixed on him, and continued, "Are you planning to keep ignoring me, using the silent treatment to wear me down? Waiting until I lose heart and leave on my own? Do you think that once I stop pursuing, everything can go back to the way it was?"

Caleb Shaw’s body stiffened slightly, and his fingers instinctively curled.

He lifted his head, meeting her eyes, and suddenly felt a bit of panic in his heart.

Her questions were too accurate.

Was he really thinking this way just because of the child?

Was it out of responsibility or the bond of blood?

No.

He suddenly realized that his heart had quietly changed even before he knew she was pregnant.

His aversion to her, the long-suppressed rejection, was gradually disappearing.

Even... he started to feel a connection.

Her every move, her joys and sorrows, unknowingly affected his emotions.

Perhaps he himself wanted a family, but all his previous ways were wrong.

He built walls with indifference, protected himself with aloofness, thinking that was strength.

In fact, it was just cowardice.

"No."

He knew he had hurt her deeply in the past, and he knew a single sentence couldn’t make everything right.

So he didn’t make excuses or shirk responsibility.

"I didn’t want to be with you because I..."

He paused, his Adam’s apple moving.

The reason wasn’t clear for a moment.

Or rather, too many emotions were tangled together, making it difficult for him to easily articulate.

He resisted marriage, disliked the feeling of being bound and defined.

He resented how in this world, females dominated everything with spiritual power.

And strong males instead relied on Female Masters to calm their spiritual power and maintain stability.

For someone as proud as him, such dependence was seen as weakness, as humiliation.

In his view, it wasn’t love, but a chain.

But now he was starting to doubt.

Perhaps it could also be another kind of bond.

The family pressured him to have children and continue the bloodline.

The kingdom his ancestors built couldn’t let its legacy end in his generation.

Continuing the bloodline meant the survival of the family, meant the hundreds-year glory of the Shaw Family wouldn’t be buried by the sands.

Also fearing that if he died in battle, there would be no one to inherit the family business.

On the battlefield, swords had no eyes, even the strongest War General may not return unscathed.

If Caleb Shaw fell outside and had no children, wouldn’t it be a mockery?

The position of Family Head, the power within the family, would fall into the hands of the branch family.

This was an absolutely intolerable situation for them.

By day, he was the revered General, brave and decisive, with outstanding achievements.

But in the quiet of night, he sat alone in the study, his fingers gripping the Commander’s Seal tightly.

That feeling of being tightly bound by family, responsibility, and fate wrapped around his heart.

Even his adjutant’s prejudices gradually influenced him.

They didn’t say it outright, but their eyes always had a subtle scrutiny.

"General Shaw, you are the last bloodline of the Shaw Family, how will you face the ancestors if you have no heirs?"

Over time, Caleb Shaw also started to doubt.

Was it really only by having descendants that he could prove his worth?

Was it only through bloodline inheritance that someone counted as a real man?

The marriage bestowed by the Empress he could have rejected; it was a grace from the higher-ups.

He knew he had the right to say no.

But the data showed a one hundred percent match.

Cold numbers were like fingers of fate, accurately pointing to the name Selene Kane.

Gene matching, spiritual power resonance, fortune cohesion...

Everything pointed to the words "a match made in heaven."

He couldn’t explain it, but had to believe.

Was there truly such a thing as a one hundred percent match in this world?

After much hesitation, they got married.

With candles brightly lit, donning a phoenix coronet and bridal gown, she stood on the altar.

And he stood beside her, all in a black ceremonial suit, looking stern.

The wedding was grand and solemn, guests filled the hall, congratulations rose and fell.

But he only felt a mist unable to dissipate clogging his chest.

Yet the repressed emotions had nowhere to vent.

He didn’t dare rage against the family, didn’t want to show weakness to colleagues.

Especially when Selene Kane acted particularly proactive, her face written with "I want to latch onto you."

She always eagerly cared for him, offering tea and medicine.

That urgency disgusted him, as if she approached him not for being Caleb Shaw.

But because he was the "General of the Shaw Family."

Thus she became an outlet for his emotions.

He started speaking coldly, avoided her touch, rejected her closeness.

He deliberately returned late, deliberately ignored her greetings.

He built high walls with indifference, keeping her outside.

He even treated his coldness towards her as a form of rebellion.

Rebelling against female dominance, believing males shouldn’t depend on females.

In his view, this world had been female-dominated for too long.

With the Empress in power, females leading politics and the military, males becoming marginalized in society.

He didn’t want to become a man relying on females, didn’t want to be said to "lift through his wife."

Even if the marriage was fate’s arrangement, he must not show any dependency.

Until now, he realized he was wrong.

It wasn’t her clinging to him, but him unknowingly starting to care about her every glance.

He thought he was indifferent to the end, but his heart was long full of holes.

It was males unable to leave females.

He needed her, not her needing him to survive.

He finally realized that true strength wasn’t rejecting dependence.

But daring to admit his own fragility.

Caleb Shaw lightly placed his forehead against her palm, the warmth slowly rising from her hand.

"Female Master, I’m saying this not because of the child."

"Please give me a chance to prove myself."

"I vow, in this lifetime, I will be loyal to only you. No matter life or death, no matter honor or disgrace, I, Caleb Shaw, this heart belongs to you alone."

Her heart skipped a beat suddenly.

At that moment, time seemed to freeze.

She never thought that the man always with a cold face and indifferent words to her, would say such words in such a devout tone.

Suddenly she felt that staying here didn’t seem so hard to endure.

Once she thought this marriage was fate’s joke.

But now she began to crave the peace of this moment.

Moreover... she lowered her head to touch her own belly.

Inside, a tiny life was being nurtured.

Even though she herself still felt like a child, bouncing around, loving sweets, she already shared a life with this man in front of her.

"Ding!"

A crisp system notification rang in her mind.

"Congratulations host, you have gained the Beast Husband’s true heart."

The mechanical voice was emotionless, yet brought warmth.