ttznovel Chapter 436: I’ve been resting for three days, Noah
Chapter 436: I’ve been resting for three days, Noah
The days flew by after that night in the nursery pool. Thalor had practically transformed into a brand new male, completely shedding that heavy, cautious aura he used to carry around like a cloak.
He still had his poetic, refined manners, but there was a confident, bright sparkle in his violet eyes now that made my own heart do little flips whenever he looked at me.
And as the snow piled up outside the stone battlements, the inside of the palace became a tropical paradise. Damar’s promise held true—he didn’t hibernate. Instead, he kept the indoor heating system roaring, though he did spend a significant amount of time smugly supervising the kitchen staff as they brought up my endless platters of cold, raw silver stream fish.
Eating raw seafood while resting my feet on a literal block of ice in the beginning of winter was a new low for my 21st-century human sensibilities, but my selective tiger-serpent pregnancy didn’t care about my dignity.
By the time my belly had rounded into a very noticeable, heavy dome, I couldn’t sit still anymore. The arctic cravings had mellowed out, replaced by a restless urge to pace the kingdom and ensure everything was running smoothly before my next delivery locked me down again.
"Little Tiger, you are pushing your luck," Noah murmured one crisp afternoon, wrapping a thick fur cloak securely over my shoulders as I headed toward the newly finished residential sectors near Oakhaven. "The snow is thick today. You should be resting your feet."
"I’ve been resting for three days, Noah. If I stay in that bed any longer, I’m going to start chewing on the headboard," I grumbled, though I lean into his warm chest as we walk.
Fenric was a few paces ahead, effortlessly carrying both Raiden and Phina on his broad shoulders, while Lyra marched right beside him like a mini-commander.
We walked past the newly built stone houses where the Stormhole tigers and the Leopard pride were busy setting up their winter quarters. It was a bustling, lively scene. Smoke billowed peacefully from the chimneys, and the sound of laughter echoed off the walls. But as we neared the agricultural sector where the rabbit and sheep tribes worked, something caught my eye.
I stopped dead in my tracks, my jaw dropping slightly.
"Uh... Noah? Fenric?" I pointed a trembling finger toward a small wooden porch near the granaries. "Am I hallucinating? Is the serpent pregnancy finally affecting my vision?"
Sitting on the porch was a female rabbit beastman from Garam’s tribe, gently rocking a small basket. But it wasn’t the female that made me freeze. It was the toddler playing at her feet.
The child had long, floppy, snow-white rabbit ears that twitched at every sound. Standard rabbit tribe features, right? Except those ears were paired with a thick, bushy wolf tail that was wagging back and forth with frantic excitement, and the kid’s hands had sharp, distinct little claws as he patted a pile of snow.
"Oh," Noah said, his ears perking up as he looked in the same direction, a soft, amused chuckle bubbling in his throat. "That’s Lilia’s son. His father is one of my guards, Peter."
"A bunny and a wolf?" I gasped, my brain desperately trying to calculate the sheer anatomical and biological impossibility of that combination.
Back in my world, that was a literal predator-and-prey nightmare. How does a fierce, meat-eating wolf even court a gentle, easily startled grass-eater without giving her a heart attack?
"Just... how? How did a rabbit and a wolf manage to do that?"
Fenric let out a booming laugh, lowering Raiden and Phina to the ground so they could run over and investigate the weird new kid. "The same way a wolf, a tiger, a serpent, and a merman managed to give you five hyperactive children, Arinya. When the attraction is there, the beast gods don’t care about the species."
"That’s different!" I hissed, my face burning red. "I’m a tiger! I have a select body! But a rabbit and a wolf? Didn’t he scare her? Didn’t his hunting instinct kick in?"
"Actually," Noah explained, guiding me closer to a bench so I could sit down and relieve my back, "it was Lilia who chased Peter down."
"How do you even know that?" I asked. I doubt he was keeping tabs on every single affair in the kingdom.
"It became a huge deal because she was so active in her devotion to him." Noah said. "When there’s a rabbit always visiting the guards quarters, it’s easy for word to spread."
Oh?
"The rabbit females can be incredibly stubborn when they find a male they like." Noah continued. "Peter didn’t stand a chance. He spent three weeks trying to hide in the forest because he was terrified his claws would accidentally scratch her, but she just kept bringing him sweet grass cakes until he gave in."
I looked back at the little hybrid child, who had just spotted Raiden and Phina. He let out a tiny, high-pitched rabbit squeak, but then thumped his foot on the ground and let out a miniature, surprisingly fierce wolf growl.
Raiden’s ruby eyes went wide with excitement, and within seconds, the three of them were tumbling in the snow like a ball of mismatched fur.
A soft, genuine laugh escaped my lips.
"A bunny-wolf," I whispered, resting my hands over the heavy, warm curve of my stomach where my little serpent-hybrid was currently resting. "I swear, this world is completely out of its mind."
"It’s a beautiful mind, Arinya," Thalor’s voice sounded behind me.
He had just walked up from the lower aqueduct gates, his long purple hair dusted with white snow, looking like a literal winter god.
He sat down on the other side of the bench, his cool hand immediately sliding into mine, his thumb tracing the glowing coral anchor on my wrist.
"It shows that what you built here is working. The old boundaries are completely gone."
I looked around the snowy courtyard—at the tiger-eyed sea twins Kaito and Marina being carried over by the sheep nurses, at my rowdy triplets playing with a rabbit-wolf hybrid, and at my completely devoted, powerful husbands surrounding me.
It was a chaotic, beautiful, and utterly ridiculous new world blooming right before my eyes.
"Yeah," I smirked, leaning my head onto Noah’s shoulder while keeping my hand locked in Thalor’s grip. "It’s a total circus. But it’s my circus."