Chapter 398: "Well, I’m not happy about it,"

We finally arrived at the ’Healing House’, a long limestone building I’d insisted be built with extra-wide windows to let in the sun.

Soon, I’ll change the name from the ’Healing House’ to a ’Hospital’.

As I stepped through the doorway, the scent of dried herbs and cool water hit me.

Inside the room we entered, the two bear beastmen were resting on thick mats made of stuffed sheep wool.

They looked absolutely massive lying there—even injured, they had muscles on top of muscles. One had a leg wrapped tightly in clean linen, and the other had a thick bandage around his chest and shoulder.

When they saw me walk in, accompanied by my husbands, they both tried to scramble upright.

"Queen!" the one with the crushed leg grunted, his face tightening in pain as he struggled to sit.

"No, no! Stay down!" I practically lunged forward to stop them, my hand waving frantically.

I didn’t care about looking regal right now; I just didn’t want them popping a stitch or making their bones shift.

"You’re injured, for heaven’s sake. If you move, I’m going to be even more upset with myself than I already am."

They both froze, looking at me with wide, confused eyes. Beastmen usually didn’t see their leaders—especially kings and queens—getting flustered over a worker’s broken leg.

I knelt down on the stone floor between their mats, ignoring the way my waist gave a sharp protest at the movement. I looked at the one with the leg injury—a bear named Bruin, if I remembered correctly.

"I’m so sorry," I said, and my voice actually cracked a little. I wasn’t just being a Queen; I was being Arinya, the girl who felt responsible for every stone laid in this valley. "I pushed the timeline too hard. I wanted the ore so badly I didn’t think about the ledges shifting. This shouldn’t have happened to you." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Bruin blinked, his dark, heavy-lidded eyes softening. "It is... just a rock fall, Queen. It happens in the mines. We were happy to find the ’heavy slate’ for you."

"Well, I’m not happy about it," I muttered. I looked over my shoulder and snapped my fingers. "Bring the food."

Damar and Thalor stepped forward like the world’s most overqualified delivery service. Damar handed over the bundles of prime smoked meat, while Thalor placed the baskets of sweet berries and cool water nearby.

In case anyone was wondering, the things the folks handed to me were also included. I feel these beastmen would need it more.

"This is your compensation," I told them, making sure they looked me in the eye. "While you heal, you will be fed the best food from the palace stores. And once you’re back on your feet, if you don’t want to go back into the tunnels, I’ll find a place for you in the palace guard or the marketplace. You won’t be left behind just because you got hurt for my sake."

The two bears looked at each other, then back at me. I could see the shock—and the deep, unwavering loyalty—blooming in their expressions.

"Thank you, Queen," the other bear, Koda, whispered.

I patted Bruin’s arm gently before pushing myself back up.

"Eat up. And Fenric?" I turned to him, who was standing guard near the door. "I want Oryn to meet me tomorrow morning. We’re going to start with the designs for the support beams, so we have no more accidents like this. Safety first."

Ah, this somewhat reminds me of a manhwa I read back in my world. But let’s leave that aside for now.

"If we’re digging, we should do it with wood and stone bracing every ten feet, so no one slips from the ledges giving way, got it?"

Fenric nodded, a small, approving glint in his red eyes. "I got it, Arinya."

After assuring the bears a bit more, I finally decided to leave.

As we walked back out into the sunlight, my heart felt a little lighter, like I was hitting my limit. I looked at the long road back to the palace and then at my three husbands.

"Okay," I sighed, my ’Queen’ mask slipping just a tiny bit. "The village is safe, the beavers are fed, and my feet are tired. Fenric? The offer to be a ’darling’ is still open."

Fenric didn’t even hesitate. Before Damar or Thalor could breathe a word of protest, he stepped forward and scooped me up into his arms.

I let out a soft "oof" and immediately buried my face in his chest, hiding my embarrassed grin as I soaked in that mass of muscle.

"Finally," I mumbled against his chest. But you’ll never know if I said finally because I was finally off my feet, or if it was because I could finally bury my face in his chest, hehe.

"You did well today, Arinya," Fenric murmured, his voice low and private just for me.

"Yeah, and I plan to do even better," I murmured.

We headed back toward the palace, a small parade of a tired Queen and her three powerful mates.

I got tired along the walk, and a part of Fenric’s steady rocking had a hand in it, so I began to drift in and out of a light doze.

But even as I drifted in and out, I couldn’t help but think about what comes next. I had the ore, the shoes were in progress, so the cobbler shops will be open soon, the clothing shops as well, and the marketplace was taking shape.

There was still so much to be done to make this place a lot more comfortable to live in. And I believe in a matter of weeks, if not months, we’ll be getting more immigrants.

They will be lawless, beasts who think they can get what they want whenever they want. I don’t want to drive away predators just because I fear they will harm the herbivores.

In that case, laws need to be made with strict laws and strict penalties as punishment for any offender.

If one is prepared to take a life, then they should also be prepared to lose their own.

I’ll work around the basics of it when I can. For now, the development comes first.

This week, I’ll focus on the development of different infrastructures. And then after the week, I was going to have Fenric’s marking ritual.

If he was right about his rut being ’taxing’, I really needed to make sure those support beams weren’t the only things getting reinforced.

Rip my waist, sob.