Chapter 3

The crack of the whip came down hard.

"This one is for showing disrespect to your beast husband."

My vision went dark at the edges. The pain and numbness hit at the same time, and I couldn't hold back the cry that tore out of me.

Cang Su didn't stop her. Instead, he moved to bind my wrists and ankles to the stone bed.

Then he stood over me, looking down at my tear-streaked face with something like detachment.

He said two words.

"Keep going."

I hadn't even recovered from the first blow when a sharp burst of pain exploded across my mouth.

Luo Yao had hit me across the lips. She was smiling as she looked at me.

"Just hold on a little longer, Ruan Tang."

"Cang Su is your beast husband. He asked me personally — I can't let him down."

"This one is for insulting your beast husband with your words."

The vine came down again.

It landed across my chest.

I screamed. The place where she struck me went completely numb.

"This one is for being so delicate you burden your beast husband into finding soft furs to keep you covered."

Then the second blow. Then the third.

Across my waist. Across the back of my thighs.

Each one came with its own justification.

My whole body was shaking. I turned toward Cang Su through the pain and the tears.

"It hurts. Cang Su — it hurts, please let me go—"

His expression was glacial. Unmoved.

My heart went cold and quiet. It felt like something heavy had settled into my chest and was pulling me down into the dark.

Luo Yao lifted her arm again.

The vine aimed for my bare thigh.

"This one is for—"

A low, flat voice cut through the room.

"Enough."

I was drenched in cold sweat. I forced my eyes open.

It was Cang Su who had spoken.

He stared down at me and released the restraints. His voice was hard.

"Ruan Tang. Do you understand what you did wrong?"

I said nothing. I pushed through the pain and got myself upright, then walked toward the door in silence.

As I passed him, his voice came again, tightly controlled.

"Still nothing to say? Want to go through this again?"

I stopped.

Then I turned and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

My voice was wrecked from all the crying and struggling.

"You clearly want to be with Luo Yao, Cang Su. Go ahead. Be her beast husband."

"I hate you."

The slap didn't seem to leave a mark on him.

But my palm immediately burned hot and red, like I'd hit stone.

Still, he went still for a moment. I'd never done anything like that before.

He was too surprised to stop me — he just let his expression go cold and came back with another threat.

"Don't push your luck."

Something iced over in my chest. I shoved him aside and stumbled out, making it back to my own room.

I hadn't set foot in this place since Cang Su brought Luo Yao here to train me.

But thankfully, my things were still here.

I dug through a corner of the room until I found a small wooden carving in the shape of a snake.

A snake-clan boy had given it to me not long after I first arrived in this world.

Back then, he'd followed me around for days. Wherever I went, he went. He didn't care about the cold looks Cang Su kept throwing his way.

But I was terrified of snakes. One look at those gold slit-pupils — the ones that marked him as a snake-clan male — and I was almost shaking too hard to function. I could never bring myself to go near him.

He must have seen the fear on my face, because it wasn't an act. Something in his expression dimmed a little. After that, he stopped following me.

But before he left, he put the wooden snake carving in my hands.

He told me that if I ever needed him, all I had to do was break it. He'd find me within three days.

I took it without fully understanding why. I hid it from Cang Su and kept it.

I never thought I'd actually use it.

But now, compared to how I used to feel about snakes, the thought of Cang Su scared me more.

I turned the carving over in my fingers, then snapped it in two without hesitating.

Looking at the two broken pieces, something in me unclenched. I felt lighter. I started gathering the few things I could take with me.

There wasn't much.

A few worn pieces of clothing, some small trinkets. That was it.

Ever since Luo Yao had come to the territory, Cang Su had stopped giving me anything. The hunted meat, the small red berries I loved most — all of it went to her now.

These days, he was more her beast husband than mine.

But it was fine. Three more days, and I'd be out of here.

Goodbye, Cang Su.

No. Not goodbye. More like: never again.

I was still turning that thought over when Luo Yao walked in, easy and unhurried.

She looked at the state I was in and let a smirk settle across her face.

Then she said something I hadn't seen coming at all.

"For a fellow transmigrator, you really are a disappointment."