Seven Cubs, Seven Fathers, Zero Days Off

Chapter 204: Chapter 202: Bloody Rose

Shen Yue’s gaze shifted back to Hu Tu on the floor.

Hu Tu’s face was ashen, and he was even pounding his chest repeatedly.

He looked to be filled with remorse, his heart wrung with pain.

But something felt off to Shen Yue.

She frowned slightly, looking at the two children on the bed. Children in the Beast World developed very slowly.

It was not easy for them to have grown so big.

Especially in the Beast World, where females were scarce and males plentiful, the birth rate was terrifyingly low.

Furthermore, male children of the common Beast Clan were born with insufficient spiritual power, causing their Spiritual Cores to develop slowly. For them to take human form and then grow to this size required years of development and accumulation.

These two children looked to be about eight or nine years old, but who knew how much effort and care had been poured into raising them to this age.

But if they could take human form, it meant their Spiritual Cores had, at the very least, fully developed.

’So, with spiritual power to protect them, how could they have been killed by a single dart strike?’

She dared say that even her own seven little cubs, though only a few months old, wouldn’t have died instantly if struck by such a Hidden Arrow, now that they had spiritual power to protect them.

Back then, Dabao had just hatched when Xiong Jiaojiao’s Beast Husband kicked him and broke his ribs, yet his life was never in danger.

And that night on Wilderness Mountain, Si Bao had been clutched in the Barbaric City Lord’s hand, nearly suffocated and unconscious, his internal organs almost crushed out of place, but he still endured it.

This wasn’t just because her children were born with different, stronger genes. It was also because children in the Beast World possessed spiritual power, allowing them to resist external harm. Their life force and willpower were tenacious, enabling them to endure serious injuries.

It gave people time to treat them.

But Hu Tu’s two children had been struck once by a non-fatal wound, yet it hadn’t left even a moment’s time for treatment.

As Shen Yue’s thoughts turned, she walked to the edge of the bed. Hu Tu’s Female Master, who had been lying on the bed sobbing her heart out, seemed to sense someone approaching and reacted with a kind of instinctual alarm.

Her body trembled violently as she shot upright.

Shen Yue was taken aback, not expecting such a strong reaction from her.

”It’s me. Don’t be afraid.”

The Female Master’s face went pale for a moment. Seeing it was Shen Yue, she quickly composed herself and said nervously, her eyes red-rimmed,

”Miss A Yue, I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”

Shen Yue shook her head.

”No. I know a bit of medicine. Let me take a look.”

Hearing this, the Female Master looked at Shen Yue with her reddened eyes, which seemed to hold an indescribable sorrow.

After just a single glance, she lowered her head.

”The children can’t be saved. We shouldn’t trouble you. It would be our fault for bringing you bad luck.”

Hearing this, Hu Tu, who was leaning against the wall on the floor, came to his senses and spoke up at the right moment.

”That’s right, Miss A Yue. You are our honored guests, and for something like this to happen today... it is my fault. I have failed my children.”

”I failed to protect them. I’ve failed the people of Li City, and I’ve failed the friends and family who died in vain...”

The casualties today were indeed heavy. Almost no one who had attended the banquet was left.

As Hu Tu spoke, he wept bitterly.

He sat dejectedly on the floor and looked at Shen Yue in anguish.

”Miss A Yue, how could I dare trouble you with this now? Why don’t we... just let my children go in peace.”

”Don’t disturb them any further!”

Shen Yue listened, her expression unreadable, and decided not to press the issue.

She nodded.

”In that case, City Lord, Lady Houtu, please accept my condolences.”

”I won’t disturb you any longer. Farewell.”

’Lividity has already set in. I couldn’t save them anyway.’

With that, Shen Yue tactfully stepped down from the bed platform.

But her foot slipped, and she nearly tumbled over.

Hu Tu’s Female Master, who had just stood up, reacted with quick reflexes.

”Miss A Yue, be careful!”

She caught Shen Yue to steady her.

Shen Yue, startled but unharmed, steadied herself by grabbing Lady Houtu’s wrist, then let out a breath and smiled faintly.

”Thank you, my lady.”

Seeing this, Hu Tu’s Female Master withdrew her hand.

”You’re welcome. I’m glad you didn’t fall. Miss A Yue, you must watch your step!”

”You are right, my lady,” Shen Yue said. ”I won’t disturb you two any longer!”

With that, Shen Yue descended the steps and walked straight toward the door.

After walking past the Hu Tu couple and their attendants, the faint smile on her face vanished instantly.

Her star-like eyes were now covered with an icy chill.

There was no mistake.

Lady Houtu... was pregnant.

A mix of complicated emotions churned within her.

She made her way back to the small courtyard where she and Huang Ziyue were staying. Just as she rounded a corner, she saw a tall, slender figure standing before a long, covered corridor.

The bright moon cast its light upon him, stretching a long shadow behind him.

It also infinitely amplified the cold aura he exuded.

He was like a lonely god of the dark night, standing alone beneath the moon, his gaze fixed forward as he quietly awaited the appearance of his beloved.

The moment Shen Yue appeared, the tall figure hidden beneath the cloak fixed his eyes upon her.

It made the already mysterious man appear even more so in the dead of night, his partially obscured silhouette exuding a profound beauty and deep affection.

Shen Yue’s breath hitched.

It was Huang Ziyue.

He was waiting for her.

They looked at each other from across half the corridor. A gentle breeze stirred, carrying a faint, hidden fragrance from beneath the nearby stone bridge, just enough to lift Shen Yue’s red dress and veil.

The shimmering red, under the night sky, was like a blood-red rose blooming with abandon...

In that moment, the two figures under the moon seemed to freeze, creating a picture so beautiful it was breathtaking.

Shen Yue didn’t pause. She walked toward Huang Ziyue step by step. The man stood watching her, and just as she drew near...

his slender body finally moved, stepping forward to meet her.

With a sweep of his long arm, he enveloped her in his wide cloak, pulling her into his embrace.

The man’s unique, cool fragrance, mixed with the coldness of his aura, instantly dispelled the tangled gloom in Shen Yue’s mind.

She leaned into his chest, held tightly in his possessive yet comforting embrace.

His large hand gently stroked her hair, his tone deliberately soft and slow.

”Did you find anything?”

Shen Yue froze for a second, surprised that Huang Ziyue knew the purpose of her trip.

She remembered that she hadn’t told him when she left the courtyard.

At the time, he had been inside, breaking through a bottleneck in his spiritual power, and could not be disturbed.

She had been sitting in the courtyard, mulling over the day’s events. After sorting through her thoughts, and being a mother herself, she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

So she had gone to the Hu Tu couple’s residence to investigate.

Leaning against his chest, she nodded.

”Yes.”

”You were right. Lady Houtu is indeed pregnant.”

After they returned to the small courtyard from the main hall that afternoon, Huang Ziyue had told Shen Yue that Hu Tu’s Female Master was with child.

Although being pregnant wasn’t suspicious in itself,

Huang Ziyue said that the scent on Lady Houtu had been deliberately concealed.

When females in the Beast World were pregnant, they would emit a special scent that announced their condition.

This also allowed them to receive protection from their Beast Husbands.

But Lady Houtu was clearly pregnant, yet her scent was extremely faint.

If Huang Ziyue hadn’t been sitting next to Shen Yue today, and if Lady Houtu hadn’t walked so close to them, he never would have caught the subtle fragrance, which he only noticed due to his high spiritual power.

Otherwise, even he wouldn’t have detected it.

Shen Yue had felt something was off as soon as she heard that. Pregnancy was a joyous occasion for males in the Beast World. Why would they deliberately conceal the scent?