The Villainess Winning Back Her Beast Husbands-Chapter 64: Flora, the Contract Mark Binds Me
When Thorne returned, he brought back a lot of prey, mostly Herbivores.
He handed a clean, snow-white beast skin to Evangeline, his dark green eyes full of eagerness to please. "Flora..."
Evangeline pressed her lips together. She pulled Thorne’s hand, sat him down at the table, and pulled aside the beast skin he wore. Seeing the mangled, bloody flesh on his neck, her expression darkened. "Did I save you just so you could do this to yourself?"
Thorne’s face was pale. He asked cautiously, "Are you angry?"
Evangeline let go of his hand and stared at Thorne coldly.
Thorne’s fingertips trembled slightly as he gently placed his hand on Evangeline’s wrist, his grip loose and uncertain.
His crimson lips parted and closed a few times before he finally let out a hissing breath. "I..."
As his Adam’s apple bobbed, the mangled flesh on his neck trembled. Thorne’s voice suddenly dropped, and if one listened closely, it was laced with a sob. "Touching you with such a filthy Contract Mark... I feel... disgusted."
Evangeline was speechless.
She looked at the stubborn Thorne with a complicated expression, then took out medicinal powder and sprinkled it on his wound.
"Do you hate Evangeline that much?"
Thorne watched her profile as she lowered her head to apply the medicine, and the tension in his shoulders finally eased.
His dark green, slitted pupils dilated slightly, the rims of his eyes still tinged with red. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his voice was so low and raspy it was almost gentle. "Before... seeking revenge on Evangeline was the only thing that kept me alive."
Thorne paused, gently resting his forehead against the back of her hand, his breath trembling. "But now... I have something more important in my life."
"Flora, the Contract Mark restricts me."
"A female like Evangeline, even if she doesn’t die by my hand, will die by someone else’s."
"I’m starting to get scared. I’m afraid I’ll suffer the backlash from the Contract Mark and won’t be able to stay with you forever."
Thorne’s mumbling made Evangeline pause for a moment.
She lowered her gaze to Thorne and said softly, "You don’t want to kill her anymore?"
Thorne’s dark green eyes suddenly flashed scarlet, filled with a sinister viciousness that ultimately melted into tenderness. "If I kill her, I’ll die. I don’t want to die with her. I just want to be with you now."
Evangeline let out a soft sigh. She hooked Thorne’s chin with her finger, staring at him intently for a long moment before saying, "This Contract Mark is a part of you, and I like it just the same."
In the next moment, Evangeline moved close to Thorne’s ear, her lips brushing against the tip. "If I ever see you trying to gouge out the Contract Mark and hurting yourself again, I’ll kiss every inch of where the mark is. Understand?"
Thorne stared blankly at Evangeline, then suddenly chuckled, his dark green eyes curving like crescent moons. "Okay."
Evangeline patted Thorne’s head. "Good."
She turned her head to look at the pile of prey on the ground and said, "Let’s have hot pot today, shall we?"
"Hot pot?" Thorne looked completely baffled.
Evangeline went over and picked up some of the prey. "Just you wait. You don’t have to lift a finger."
Thorne snatched it from her, his handsome face etched with seriousness. "No! It is a male’s responsibility to provide for his female. Just tell me what you want to eat. I’ll make it and feed it to you."
And just like that, Evangeline was relegated to being a ’helpless freeloader,’ waited on hand and foot.
She just sat to one side and gave directions. As it turned out, Thorne had a real talent for cooking. Soon, a fiery red broth was bubbling in the pot. Smelling the familiar aroma, Evangeline was on the verge of tears. ’Thank goodness I brought a hot pot base with me!’
"ACHOO—ACHOO—" The steam from the spicy pot had turned Thorne’s pale skin crimson, but he didn’t move an inch from the stove. Staring at the churning, fiery red broth, he hesitated. "Is... is this really edible?"
"Of course!" Evangeline nodded emphatically. She had been waiting for this moment for far too long.
Seeing her eagerness, the tension in Thorne’s features relaxed. The curling steam rising from the pot seemed to soften his eyes and brows. "Then eat up. The cub in your belly needs it to grow up strong."
His fatherly tone almost made Evangeline choke.
Her eyes darted slightly as she asked, "Thorne, on the Beastman Continent, is there no way to remove a Contract Mark?"
The moment she spoke, she worried the sensitive Snake Beastman would read too much into it and quickly added, "Don’t get me wrong, I’m just curious. Evangeline harmed so many males, right? Do they all have to risk their own lives to kill her for revenge? Isn’t that a terrible deal? Can’t they dissolve the contract before making a move?"
The tension in Thorne’s jaw eased slightly, and a softness entered his dark green eyes.
He shook his head, his deep voice tinged with a hint of mockery. "On the Beastman Continent, only a female can dissolve a partnership contract. But no female would ever do that, because if she initiates it, she’s the one who suffers the backlash."
"The Contract Mark restricts females too?" Evangeline was surprised; that was something she truly didn’t know.
Thorne nodded slightly. "When a female initiates the dissolution, it signifies abandonment. It’s like trampling on a male’s dignity and life. The male whose contract is dissolved is branded as abandoned and can never be accepted by another female."
He raised a hand to touch the scarred Contract Mark on his neck, his voice turning icy. "Females are already favored by The Beast God. If there were no restrictions, they would toy with and abandon males as they pleased."
After hearing this, Evangeline understood. She nodded and said, "So, if the contract is dissolved, at least the male is no longer bound by the Mark. Even if the female dies, the male won’t be affected!"
At her words, Thorne’s lips curled into a cold sneer. "A female like Evangeline is utterly selfish. She would never dissolve the contract."
"Alright, don’t think about it anymore. Evangeline was taken away by Danton. She’s probably hiding on some remote island. Her Beast Husbands can no longer transform into their beast forms and are on the brink of death. Perhaps she’ll just stay hidden forever, and no one will ever find her."
"Eat something. You must be hungry."
As he spoke, Thorne looked up at Evangeline, his eyes filled with gentleness.
Evangeline nodded, picked up a piece of beast meat with her chopsticks, dipped it in sesame sauce, and took a bite. Delicious!
The meat of the Wild Beasts on the Beastman Continent was quite sinewy and chewy, but very filling.
However, Evangeline’s appetite had been enormous since she became pregnant. Before long, the meat of an entire Herbivore was gone. Even then, Thorne chided her for a good while, complaining that she had eaten too little.
"You try some," Evangeline said, feeding a piece of meat to Thorne with her chopsticks.
"Hiss—" The searing spiciness shot through his tongue. A blush instantly bloomed across Thorne’s pale face, and his dark green pupils swam with a glistening layer of moisture, even the corners of his eyes turning a vivid red.
Evangeline burst out laughing, then suddenly leaned in and planted a kiss on his spicy lips.
She teased, "That’s my Thorne for you. Even eating a bite of hot pot makes you look good enough to eat!"
When Elias Moretti reached the entrance of the cave, he caught the spicy fragrance in the air. He frowned and walked inside, only to hear Evangeline’s cheerful laughter and Thorne’s ambiguous soft "hiss."
His expression darkened, his scarlet pupils contracted, and his eyes filled with sinister displeasure.
Thorne whipped his head toward the cave entrance and said coldly, "Since when did you take up eavesdropping?"
Elias Moretti sauntered into the cave with languid steps, a taunting smile on his wickedly handsome face.
He sized up Thorne unhurriedly, the corner of his lip twitching into a meaningful arc. "Little brother, congratulations. I see you’ve finally had a day of recovering your strength."
Thorne didn’t even lift his gaze, his voice as cold as tempered ice. "Are you finished?"
Elias Moretti shrugged, bending down slightly. His narrow eyes swept over the spicy hot pot. "I came to pass on a message. Someone’s outside the tribe, specifically looking for you."
"For me?" Thorne’s brows furrowed slightly. He half-closed his dark green eyes, a flicker of alarm crossing their depths.
’Ever since my Beast Crystal was gouged out and I returned to the Grymdale Tribe, everyone has avoided me like the plague. Who would be looking for me?’
Elias Moretti’s scarlet eyes glinted. He glanced at the relaxed and comfortable Evangeline, then back at Thorne, a mocking curve to his lips. "Now that your strength is back, have you already forgotten your ’brothers’ in misery?"
He deliberately dragged out his words, his fingertips casually tracing the cave wall. "You couldn’t have forgotten, could you? After all... you are all Evangeline’s ’Beast Husbands.’"
He bit out the two words "Beast Husbands" with heavy emphasis, a blatant provocation in his tone.
