The Villainess Winning Back Her Beast Husbands-Chapter 56: The Eye-Stinging Beast Crystal

Orion’s gaze fell to Thorne’s neck, and his brow furrowed. "You need to stay alive to find Evangeline," he said. "Don’t be reckless."

He wouldn’t have been worried about the old Thorne, but now...

Thorne sensed Orion’s gaze and quickly raised a hand to cover the Contract Mark on his neck.

His gaze was cold as he said calmly, "Evangeline isn’t what’s most important anymore. Staying alive is."

Orion pursed his lips, his gaze somber. "You’re still thinking about Flora?"

Thorne clenched his fist as bitterness spread through his chest, gnawing at him like insects—an agony so intense he wished for death.

He had just come of age when he encountered a female like Evangeline. She forced him into a Contract, ruining his life. Then, in his darkest moment of pain and despair, he met a female who was utterly devoted to him—one who even leaped from Thorncliff for his sake.

Orion sighed softly. "Flora really did just want you to live," he said in a low voice. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Just then, a powerful gust of wind swept by as a pitch-black Wyvern, which had been circling over the Monitor Tribe, dove down. Shifting into human form, he cried out, "Orion! Something’s wrong with the Monitor Tribe!"

At his words, both Thorne and Orion’s expressions grew taut.

Orion glanced toward the Monitor Tribe. "What’s going on?" he asked, his voice grave.

Thorne’s brows knitted together, his handsome face instantly darkening. "It’s quiet. Too quiet."

The pitch-black Wyvern lowered his voice, his eyes flashing with wariness. "That’s what’s so strange—"

"The Monitor Tribe clansmen just finished devouring the prey their Hunting Party brought back. They should be returning to their dens, but instead, they just dropped and fell asleep! Even the young ones and the females are passed out on heaps of bloody bones, snoring! Now, isn’t that strange?"

Orion’s expression was grim as he said to Thorne, "You wait here. I’m going in to take a look!"

Thorne immediately stopped him, his voice low and firm. "No! The Monitor Clan is notorious for feigning death to lure in their enemies!"

His nostrils flared as he scented the danger on the wind. "We wait," he said calmly.

Just then, the eerie sound of a bone whistle pierced the night sky, originating from within the Monitor Tribe’s camp.

Thorne’s body went taut. His dark green pupils narrowed to slits as he stared fixedly in that direction.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. Orion exclaimed, "Is that Elias Moretti and Gable? They escaped back then too?"

"Go!" Thorne was the first to leap from the woods, his bone knife flashing with a cold light.

’Since Elias Moretti and Gable dared to charge so blatantly into Monitor territory, the comatose Monitor Clansmen must have been trapped. Though he didn’t know how they’d done it, this was, without a doubt, a golden opportunity.’

"Let’s go!" With a wave of his hand, Orion and the Wyvern Clansmen followed close behind, charging into the Monitor Tribe’s camp.

Elias Moretti slithered forward, his scarlet scales shimmering with an eerie luster. He looked down on the Monitor Clansmen sprawled in a dead faint, his forked tongue darting between his fangs with a cold, sinister HISS.

A cold glint flashed in Gable’s eyes. "These Monitors have always been against us," he said in a low voice, "and this time they brought ruin to the Grymdale Tribe... They can’t fight back now. Are we really not going to do anything?"

Elias Moretti kept his gaze fixed forward and continued slithering deeper into the camp. "Gable," he said coolly, "don’t offend Flora."

"She’s just one female!" Gable growled.

As soon as the words were out, he seemed to realize something. Frowning, he looked at Elias Moretti. "Don’t tell me you’ve taken a fancy to her?"

Elias Moretti froze. ’Him? Fancy a vicious female capable of digging out her Beast Husband’s Beast Crystal and stripping off his Scale Armor? Heh. He’d have to be insane.’

And yet, upon hearing Gable’s words, he found he didn’t know how to respond.

’At first, he had genuinely wanted to form a Contract with Flora, largely because she was strong. Very strong. The Grymdale Tribe needed a powerful leader to guide them away from Norfell and across the Triangle Sea!’

"Gable, you’re overthinking things," Elias Moretti sneered, dismissing the notion.

His scarlet eyes were inscrutable as he continued to glide deeper into the camp.

’In truth, he had another, more secret reason he kept to himself.’

’When the tribe had banished Thorne, Evangeline had blocked the way without a moment’s hesitation. That scene constantly replayed in his mind. He thought, ’So, females were also capable of risking life and limb for their Beast Husbands?’’

"What took you so long?" Evangeline sat perched atop a large boulder, twirling a bright red wild fruit between her fingertips, her long legs swinging gently in the air.

She narrowed her eyes lazily, her gaze sweeping over Elias Moretti and Gable before she gestured casually toward the Monitor camp. "See? All knocked out. I keep my promises."

With that, a casual smile touched her red lips. "You all bring out the people from Grymdale, and also that Witch from the Monitor Tribe. Once we’re back at Grymdale, we can interrogate them at our leisure. The Viper Saliva shouldn’t be too hard to counteract."

As she spoke, she took a bite of the fruit, its juice staining the corners of her mouth red.

Elias Moretti’s voice was grim, tinged with a murderous air. "And the Heavy Armor! We must bring it back as well!"

Gable frowned, sweeping his gaze around. Listening to the deep snores of the Monitor Lizards, he asked, "The Grymdale Tribe has many females. How can we get them all back at once? Will these Monitors stay unconscious until sunset?"

Evangeline’s lashes fluttered. Just as she was about to reply, her gaze suddenly hardened.

She snapped her head around, looking back in the direction from which Elias Moretti and Gable had come.

When she clearly saw the newcomer, Evangeline’s eyes lit up, and a cheerful, sultry voice escaped her lips. "Thorne—"

She leaped nimbly from the boulder, the ends of her hair fanning out in an arc. Without a moment’s hesitation, she ran right past Elias Moretti, her long hair sweeping across his Beast Eyes and kicking up a faint breeze.

Elias Moretti turned to watch, his pupils constricting.

Her long hair swaying, Evangeline was like a swallow taking flight as she threw herself straight into Thorne’s embrace.

And Thorne, who had always detested females, froze in place as if struck by lightning.

Thorne was genuinely stunned. He watched in disbelief as the slender figure rushed toward him.

Her face was wreathed in a brilliant smile, her eyes holding only him. She looked so alive.

The tension in Thorne’s back unconsciously eased, and as if moved by some unseen force, his arms opened.

As she threw herself into his arms, wrapping herself around his waist, her warmth enveloped him. The dark, volatile mood that had long plagued him suddenly quieted, leaving only the sound of a furiously beating heart in his ears. He couldn’t tell if it was his or hers.

Elias Moretti watched the scene unfold, his scarlet eyes twitching. A nameless fire of jealousy began to smolder within him.

He didn’t understand the emotion, only that the scene before him was a grating eyesore.

Orion froze as well. He sucked in a sharp breath, staring at Evangeline in utter shock. "Flo-Flora..."

Hearing the name "Flora," Evangeline’s smile became even more genuine. ’Looks like Elias Moretti isn’t such a blabbermouth after all.’

Still hugging Thorne, she rose onto her tiptoes to look past his shoulder at Orion. Her eyes curved into crescents as she chuckled. "Orion, thank you for bringing Thorne away. I won’t forget this."

At her words, the tips of Orion’s ears twitched uncontrollably.

He glanced at Thorne. ’Her tone... it was as if Thorne was someone incredibly important to her.’

’Of course, he was. Otherwise, why else would she have jumped from Thorncliff to find a Beast Crystal for Thorne?’

"Flora, how are you..." Orion was still finding it hard to believe. After all, he and Thorne had watched her leap from Thorncliff with their own eyes. How could she possibly have come back alive?

Just then, Thorne moved.

Evangeline lowered her gaze to the bone knife in his hand, its cold glint making her eyelashes flutter.

The next moment, she tilted her head, and with a flick of her wrist, she presented her palm to him as if holding a precious treasure. With a grin, she said, "Ta-da!"

A Beast Crystal, crackling with fine sparks of lightning, lay in her palm. It was so bright—as if reflecting the cunning light in her own eyes—that it made one’s eyes ache to look at it.