Chapter 66: Hu Baiyu, you really do not have to worry so much about me
So naturally, the second he sensed her nearby, he turned.
And the first thing he saw was Lin Huahua standing there beside Mu Qingyi.
The sight made his heart jump.
But before he could stand up and go to her, Ya Yun suddenly moved.
She had noticed Lin Huahua too.
And unlike Hu Baiyu, who only felt confusion and instinctive attention toward his female, Ya Yun’s thoughts twisted sharply the moment she saw that face.
Because she saw it too. Everyone with eyes would see it.
The princess looked different.
Not only different in mood and manner, but different in a way that made even another female feel sour inside. Lin Huahua had always been pretty, yes, because even the old vicious princess had possessed a beautiful face. But now her beauty looked bright in a strange way, almost unfairly bright, as if her pale skin had been washed in moonlight and her features softened with all the comfort of another world. Her lips looked softer, her eyes looked wider and more alive, and even the little white rat ears on her head made her seem tender and fresh rather than spoiled and sharp. She looked like someone who had been held gently and raised in silk, someone who had never once struggled against life itself.
Ya Yun felt jealous at once.
Not only because Lin Huahua was prettier.
But because even after everything, even after treating her males badly for so long, those males still circled around her like she was the only female under the sky.
That made Ya Yun’s chest tighten.
She wanted that too.
No, she wanted more than that.
If possible, she wanted all of them.
Why should such handsome, powerful males belong to a female who never cherished them? Hu Baiyu was three-striped. Mu Qingyi was three-striped. Feng Yiren, although only two-striped, was the heir of the fox clan and still very desirable. They were strong, muscular, good-looking, loyal, protective, and the kind of males every female secretly wanted around her. Yet Lin Huahua had always acted as if they were useless dirt under her shoes.
Ya Yun had never understood it.
And now, looking at the princess standing there with that unbearably soft pretty face, she felt a fresh wave of bitterness.
So before Hu Baiyu could stand, Ya Yun let out a small startled sound and leaned her body to one side as if she had lost balance.
Then she fell. Not heavily. Not enough to truly hurt. But enough to make it look real.
"Ouch," she said softly, and her hair slipped over part of her face as she lowered herself in a pitiful way that would have fooled someone less annoyed than Lin Huahua.
Hu Baiyu reacted immediately.
Of course he did.
Because females were protected in the beast world, and because he was genuinely a nice person beneath everything else, his first thought was not that she was pretending. His first thought was that perhaps he had stood too quickly and startled her, or that something had happened to her foot.
So he turned back toward her at once, his blue eyes full of concern, and reached down to help her up.
That was exactly what Ya Yun wanted.
The moment his hand reached hers, she took it and held on a little too tightly, then looked up at him with her lashes lowered and said in a sweet soft voice, "Hu Baiyu, you really do not have to worry so much about me."
From the side, the whole scene looked intimate.
Too intimate.
Lin Huahua had been feeling strange the moment she saw them together, though at first she had tried to suppress it. She had even told herself not to act ridiculous, because was she not the one always thinking about finding good females for them? If Hu Baiyu liked another female, then that should be helpful, should it not? It should make things easier later. It should remove one problem from her list.
Then why did she feel so irritated?
Why did the sight of that woman holding his hand make her little white rat tail stiffen?
Why did her chest feel sour?
At first, Lin Huahua had even thought the duck woman looked alright. Not overly beautiful, but presentable. The type of woman one might describe as fine. But the longer she watched, the more something about the woman’s face and tone began to itch in her mind.
Too sweet.
Too soft.
Too... fake.
Lin Huahua narrowed her eyes.
Then narrowed them more.
Something was wrong.
And the more she watched Ya Yun leaning toward Hu Baiyu and using that pitiful little voice, the more Lin Huahua began to feel that this woman was doing everything on purpose.
What was this?
Was this one of those green tea women she had read about in novels?
The thought made Lin Huahua’s whole mood become terrible.
Beside her, Mu Qingyi had also noticed the shift immediately, because Mu Qingyi was the kind of male who watched his female’s face very carefully. He noticed when she was sad. He noticed when she was angry. He noticed when she was pretending to be fine while not actually being fine. That was why, the moment Lin Huahua’s expression cooled and her ears stiffened a little, Mu Qingyi knew something inside her had changed.
And then he realized why.
She was staring at Hu Baiyu and another female.
Mu Qingyi’s heart felt sour too.
Not because he liked Ya Yun. No.
But because his female was clearly feeling some kind of jealousy over another male, and even if all of them were meant to be her mates one day, the sight still made his chest tighten with a quiet possessive feeling he could not stop. He was still gentle. Still calm. Still the steady one. But none of that erased the fact that he was also a male beastman, and male beastmen did not like seeing their female’s attention and feelings thrown around carelessly.
Still, Mu Qingyi said nothing.
He only watched.