Chapter 7 - 007: New disaster...
Anaria woke sore enough to consider death a practical lifestyle choice.
For one blissful second, she hoped the previous night had been a fever dream.
Then her thighs protested. Her back ached. Memory hit her like a brick.
Poison. A cave. A wolf beastman. Berserk heat. The most humiliating antidote imaginable.
Anaria opened her eyes and stared at the cave ceiling.
"No," she whispered. "I reject this reality."
Morning light filtered through the cave entrance. The poison was gone, but that only meant she was now fully capable of remembering everything.
Wincing, she pushed herself upright and straightened her dress.
"Wonderful," she muttered. "I survived transmigration, exile, poisoning, and the wilderness just to wake up feeling trampled by livestock."
She turned toward the other side of the cave.
The wolf beastman was still there.
Still unconscious.
Still breathing.
Still unfairly attractive for a man who had completely ruined her peace of mind.
Bandages wrapped around his ribs and shoulder, dark hair falling over his forehead, he looked less like a feral threat and more like a very expensive problem fate had dumped on her.
Anaria sighed.
"You’re lucky I’m charitable. A lesser woman would’ve robbed you and left."
Silence.
Perfect.
That meant she could leave before he woke up. No explanations. No awkward conversation about last night.
She’d rather die.
Again.
She took a step toward the cave entrance, then stopped.
Her hair was a mess. Her skin felt grimy. Sweat, dirt, and dried blood clung to her clothes.
She looked down in horror.
"I am not leaving this cave looking like I lost a fight with civilization."
She crossed her arms.
"System."
A pale panel appeared.
[Host online.]
"There you are, you useless parasite. Do you have soap, a comb, a towel... anything?"
[Beauty Support Store unlocked.]
"Oh, now it’s a beauty store," Anaria muttered. "At least one of us has priorities."
A panel appeared.
Beginner Beauty Utility Kit — 5 Spirit Fang Coins
Herb soap, Comb, Clean towel, Skin salve, Body mist, Hair ribbon
"I’m being charged for soap?"
[Complete Beginner Task to receive the kit for free.]
Task: Restore Basic Presentability
Reward: Beauty Utility Kit + 3 Spirit Fang Coins.
"For once, you’re making sense," she sighed.
She carried the kit to a small pool deeper in the cave.
It wasn’t a miracle makeover, just proper hygiene.
She scrubbed away sweat, dirt, and dried blood. The salve eased her aches, the body mist masked the lingering scent of cave and wolf, and after wrestling her tangled hair into submission, she tied it back with the ribbon.
Her reflection looked cleaner. Less exhausted. Less like someone who had survived poisoning and made catastrophically questionable medical decisions.
"Good enough," Anaria said. "I still look oppressed, but at least I look oppressed with standards."
She turned
And nearly walked straight into a wall of muscle.
Anaria recoiled so fast she almost slipped.
The wolf was awake.
He stood between her and the cave entrance, broad shoulders blocking the morning light. Though pale from his injuries, his sharp, suspicious gaze never left her.
"Who are you?"
"No hello? No thank you?" Anaria sighed. "Men truly are a plague."
"Speak!"
"Stress..."
As she tried to walk past, he caught her wrist.
She looked at his hand, then back at him. "If you’re alive enough to grab me, you’re alive enough to lower your tone."
A flicker of surprise crossed his face.
"What happened last night?" he asked.
"You want the short version or the traumatic one?"
His jaw tightened. He could smell her on him, and judging by his expression, he’d noticed it too.
"You were injured, feverish, and one bad decision away from dying," Anaria said. "I treated you. You’re welcome."
His eyes dropped to the fresh bandages before returning to her.
After a long silence, he asked, "Name."
"Anaria."
He gave a single nod.
"Rylan."
The name suited him far too well.
Before she could respond, the system chimed.
[First husband route established. Initial bond with Husband Candidate #1 confirmed.]
Anaria nearly choked.
First husband?
First husband?!
She went so still Rylan’s eyes narrowed again.
"What?"
"Nothing," she said through clenched teeth while mentally screaming.
[Host has successfully connected to Husband Candidate #1: Rylan.]
I did not connect to anyone, Anaria raged silently. I survived poisoning. There is a difference.
[Main Quest updated.]
She wanted to throw the system into a river.
A new panel appeared.
[Main Quest: Rescue Husband Candidate #2
Target: Dragon beastman.
Condition: Critical.
Location: Eastern sector of current forest zone.
Urgency: High.]
Anaria stared.
"Second?" she blurted.
Rylan frowned. "Second what?"
"Second headache. You’re the first."
Of course there was already another one. Apparently, her survival had become a husband rescue relay race.
She headed for the cave entrance.
Rylan caught her wrist.
"Where are you going?"
She pulled free. "Somewhere deeply inconvenient."
"You’re not leaving alone."
Anaria turned. "I beg your pardon?"
"You’re weak," he said bluntly. "You’re injured. You barely smell like a proper fox female, you move like you’ve never hunted a day in your life, and if you walk into the forest alone, you’ll die before noon."
The audacity.
Anaria stared at him in open offense. "I was surviving before you woke up to start insulting me."
"You call that surviving?"
"I call it doing remarkably well for someone who was poisoned, exiled, and forced into emergency cave medicine with a stranger."
"I don’t trust you," he said.
"Wonderful. The feeling is mutual."
"You show up in my cave. My wounds are treated. I can smell you everywhere. Something happened."
Anaria pointed at him. "First, I am not running. I am strategically removing myself from a humiliating environment. Second, if I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have spent half the night bandaging your dramatic torso."
He looked at her for a long moment.
"I’m coming with you."
"No."
"Yes."
"You’ll collapse before you get there."
Anaria glared.
To her horror, he was probably right.
The poison was gone, but Anaria was still sore and drained. The forest ahead was dense, unfamiliar, and probably full of things eager to eat an exhausted fox woman.
She closed her eyes.
"I hate this world."
She pointed at Rylan. "Fine. You can come. But if you order me around, I’ll make your recovery everyone’s problem."
He grunted.
The forest was far too green and far too committed to making her life difficult.
Twenty minutes later, Anaria decided Rylan’s stride had been designed by a personal enemy.
"Why are your legs so long?" she complained. "Do you have to walk like you’re chasing prey?"
"Try keeping up."
"I am. I’m just objecting on principle."
"You’ve been objecting since sunrise."
They continued deeper into the forest, bickering the entire way.
The third time Rylan told her to stay behind him, she missed a step.
Pain shot up her leg, and before she could fall, a hand caught her waist.
"Watch your footing," Rylan said, letting go immediately.
"I was perfectly stable."
"You were falling."
"I was considering the ground from a closer angle."
He gave her a look.
She ignored it and kept walking.
The system chimed.
[Target nearby.]
[Author’s Note:]
Heyy, just a little note about my Beast World.
In my Beast World, intimacy comes with a little bonus feature: mate bonding.
So yes, once a female and a beastman bond through intimacy, they can become mates, but only when their compatibility is high enough. The better the compatibility, the stronger the possibility of forming a mate bond.
No refunds, no exchanges.
Hope you enjoy this journey with me :)