Chapter 361: The Violent Husband
Getting into heat was a normal part of life for beastkins, but whether it made them violent or not was a completely different matter.
Some beastkins simply became hornier and more affectionate, while others turned so violent that they looked ready to tear someone apart.
Unfortunately, Luan belonged to the second group.
Because of that, Roxanna’s other husbands immediately tied him up tightly before carrying him back to the Vixeria Settlement.
As soon as they arrived, they locked him inside a separate room.
"Let me out of here!" Luan roared, his voice echoing through the hut. His hands and legs were bound with thick vines, and thanks to the tight knots Zeir had tied, there was almost no chance he could break free.
Roxanna stood outside the room with the others, her heart aching as she listened to his desperate shouts.
"Is... is all of this really necessary?" she asked in a low voice.
Calen let out a low hiss. "Didn’t you see how dangerous he became earlier? He could have bitten you until you were bleeding... or forced himself on you."
Cyrus nodded. "And once he comes back to his senses, he’ll never forgive himself for what he almost did."
Roxanna bit her thumb as she began pacing back and forth outside the hut. "Was he like this last year too? I mean... when the evil Roxanna was still here?"
Zeir shook his head. "No. He’s the only one who didn’t go into heat last year."
Roxanna fell silent. [That means... all of them go into heat at least once every year?]
[Correct, Host!] the system replied cheerfully. [A beastkin’s heat cycle varies from one person to another. Some experience it once every five months, while others only once a year. But all of your husbands go into heat once a year.]
Roxanna frowned before asking another question. [But... why didn’t I ever see them going into heat in the evil Roxanna’s memories? What happened?]
Before the system could answer, Zeir spoke first. "Because we can suppress it by force."
Roxanna blinked. "Suppress it... how?"
No one answered right away and the silence itself made her uneasy.
Finally, Zeir spoke again. "We’d rather stab ourselves..." He looked at his own hand for a moment before continuing, "...or burn our own skin with fire than go through our heat with her."
Roxanna’s eyes widened. "What?"
Calen folded his arms, his ears flattening against his head. "She never cared whether we wanted it or not," he said coldly. "If we lost control during our heat, she would only make things worse."
"So we learned to stop it ourselves," Cyrus added with a bitter smile. "Pain helped us stay conscious. If we focused on the pain, we could fight our instincts for a little longer."
Zeir added, "Besides... we’re getting used to it."
Except for Calen, who had once been used as a stud while he was still a slave, the others usually went through their heat alone.
"But then... why didn’t Luan go into heat last year?" Roxanna asked.
Calen shrugged. "We have no idea. Besides, why is a cat so violent during heat? I’ve never seen Lilo act like that."
Cyrus let out a heavy sigh and looked at Calen with a deadpan expression. "Maybe because Lilo is a normal cat, and Luan is a beastman?"
"Of course I know that!" Calen clicked his tongue. "But it still doesn’t make any sense. Look at me. I’m descended from wolves, and I’m not that violent!"
Zeir suddenly spoke up. "Sometimes, something like this can happen when someone’s heat hasn’t appeared for many years. There are many reasons why some beastkins don’t go into heat, but most of the time, it’s because they’ve been stuck in survival mode for too long."
All of them had spent most of their lives living on survival instinct, but perhaps Luan had lived that way even more than the others.
After all, he was still the most mysterious among them.
Roxanna knew about his family and the tribe he had been born into. She also knew that Luan had wandered alone through the desert.
But she had no idea what he had gone through after escaping his tribe and before he was forcibly taken to the Vixeria Tribe.
Maybe he had spent all that time running from danger or maybe... he had gone through something far worse.
"There has to be something we can do to calm him down," Roxanna said as she scrolled through the Medicine Recipes in the system. "My hugs can calm him too, but it’ll be difficult to get close to him now."
She briefly considered using the Calming Mind Medicine, but it seemed she needed something much stronger than that.
Turning away, she slowly walked a short distance from her husbands so she could focus better.
Then she spoke to the system. "Can you find anything useful in my mother’s book? She probably learned about heat cycles from the Golden Tribe."
[Searching through inherited records...]
The system’s voice echoed inside her mind as lines of ancient text rapidly flipped past her eyes.
A few seconds later, it chimed again. [I found several records related to beastkin heat in your mother’s journal.]
Roxanna immediately stopped walking. "What does it say?"
[According to your mother’s notes, beastkins whose heat has been suppressed for many years often experience a much stronger first heat when it finally returns. Their instincts become unstable, making them far more aggressive than usual.]
Roxanna frowned. "So it’s just like what Zeir said."
[Correct, Host.]
The system continued. [Your mother also wrote that forcefully suppressing heat over and over again damages both the body and the mind. In severe cases, the beastkin may lose control completely during the next heat cycle.]
[And if this continues, he could enter the Feral Phase. Once that happens, it will be too late to cure him.]
Roxanna held her breath. That was exactly what had happened to Marlow back then, and she certainly didn’t want the same thing to happen to Luan.
She slowly turned to look at the tightly shut door. A loud crash came from inside. Luan had slammed himself against the wall again.
"Luan!" she called instinctively.
Another growl answered her, then she couldn’t hear anything and the silence somehow hurt even more.
"Is there a cure?" Roxanna asked quickly.
The system searched again. [There are three known methods.]
[The first is to let the heat run its natural course, but for Luan’s current condition, it will be impossible.]
Roxanna’s expression stiffened. "And the second?"
[A high-grade calming medicine created by the Golden Tribe. Unfortunately, the recipe is incomplete. Several herbs no longer exist, and one main ingredient has never been identified.]
"So that’s impossible..." she murmured.
The system paused before continuing. [The third method is for the beastkin’s mate to calm them by mating before their instincts completely take over. According to your mother’s notes, the mating is the only way to prevent the heat to become more violent.]
Roxanna’s lips parted, but before she could respond, a familiar chime echoed inside her mind.
[Side Mission Triggered!]
[Emergency Mission: Calm the Black Panther’s Heat]
[Goal: Prevent Luan from completely losing his sanity before his heat reaches its peak.]
[Mission Details:
- Earn Luan’s trust and help him regain control of his instincts.
- Ensure no one in the settlement is seriously injured during the heat.]
Reward:
- 50,000 Spirit Points
- Skill Unlocked: Predator’s Reflex (Epic) — Effect: +30% reaction speed for 10 minutes when protecting an ally.]
[Failure Penalty:
- Luan’s sanity permanently decreases.
- Luan’s affection points will decrease by -20%.]
Roxanna couldn’t help twitching at the corner of her eye. Seriously? Of all times, the system had to give her a mission now?
Still, as she looked over the mission details again, a few things immediately caught her attention.
First, why was it called "Calm the Black Panther’s Heat"?
And second, how could Luan’s affection points actually decrease if she failed?
The system ignored her first question, but it answered the second without hesitation. [Heat is an extremely important period for beastkins, Host.]
[It is not only a physical cycle but also a time when trust between mates is tested. If Luan regains his senses and believes he was abandoned during his greatest moment of need, it may leave a lasting wound on his heart.]
But at the same time, Luan would definitely blame himself if he ended up hurting her during his heat.
[Damn it! This is so complicated!]
"What if we hold him down so you can hug him?" Zeir suddenly suggested. "Your hug might not be enough to fully bring him back to his senses, but I think it could help him regain at least a little of his awareness."
After all, Roxanna still had a passive skill that could calm someone’s mind for a day. It certainly wouldn’t cure his heat, but, it might still help.
"I can also stuff a piece of cloth into his mouth so he won’t bite you," Calen added. "At least that way, you’ll be a little safer."