*Two hours later*
This has been the longest day of my life Nina thought as she dumped the handful of thick, leather bound hardcover books on the table.
She paused, wiping sweat off her brow and staring at the work laid out in front of her. Piles and piles of books. Somehow she had to study all of them as fast as possible.
How did I never think of getting information from the library? She laughed at her own ignorance. And to think I was such a reader! Well, before I got my job that is.
[hostie~ won't you say something to your favorite System?]
Ever since the system told Nina it would take five years to gain 2.5 million points, Nina ignored it.
[hostie~say something. Are you mad at me?~]
She promptly sat down at the table, picked the closest and largest book, and began to read. As a wise business man once said, if you eat the largest elephant on your plate before you eat the ants, you'll feel confident. Or something like that. Nina didn't remember the exact words.
[hostie~]
Nina flipped the book open. It was written in a strange and unfamiliar text that she was somehow able to understand. Muscle memory? She found a blank notebook and a feathered quill, and she began to write.
She read book after book after book, till the night darkened and the sky outside the massive library windows turned pink, then yellow, then blue.
By the time Nina was done, she had dark eye circles, all her spores and orchid marks had wilted.
She reached out, her hand shaky and her skin dried out. "I can't…" she groaned. Her hand slammed on the table in front of her open book, and her head followed next, her hair splaying out like a wilted flower petal.
Above her head, hidden safely in the ceiling, was Noctis.
He had been there all night, watching her devour book after book yet the pile continued to grow. He even saw when she was mumbling to herself and laughing like a crazed woman, then educating the air on what new information she'd learned. She also did some weird gymnastic at a point, hopping and cheering into the air.
The Flower never did that.
She never stayed up all night pouring over books and talking to herself. Whenever she opened a book, it was because she needed to come up with a new torture technique. And she always did so with a test subject at her feet.
Noctis shivered. Scientists were the scariest kind of people. The Flower was a prime example of that.
He leapt down from the ceiling and landed gracefully. Upon closer inspection, she was even worse than he'd thought.
A bout of panic flared in his heart.
This silly Flower! Did she forget the number one thing about her on physiology?
Noctis left the library in a hurry and returned with a watering can of special medicated water.
This woman. She wants to die before atoning for her sins? Not on my watch.
He positioned the nuzzle over her head and tipped it down.
Nina blinked, feeling a cool and very refreshing spray all over her face and back. Rain? When did I go outside?
She moaned, blinking back heavy lids crusted with sleep. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a familiar body wearing dark clothes and silver jewelry.
"Good morning, your highness." A familiar voice greeted.
Nina screamed, rising in a start. Noctis. He held a watering can…was he watering her?!
"What are you doing?! I'm not a—"
Her words caught off. First, she noticed that she didn't feel so tired. And second, her skin was back to life, rosy and smooth, her orchid marks glowing ever so faintly. She touched her hair and it was silky smooth.
"Woah," she marveled, her eyes widening. So the original body wasn't just an orchid hybrid for vibes…she was also a functioning flower that needed to be watered!
This beast world was so hardcore!
"Thank you, you can stop now."
"Not yet." Noctis replied. He was dumbfounded that she truly forgot.
Nina sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I just need to—" she started to say before her eyes fell on the books in front of her. She jumped to her feet. "They're wet! Oh my goodness stop! Noctis stop!"
Noctis pulled back the can.
Nina began to sob. "My hard work! All my notes! They're gone nowwwww!"
Noctis watched her have a breakdown over soaked notes and he couldn't decide what to feel. If the Flower lost some notes, she simply rewrote them. She wasn't called the Once in a Thousand Year Genius for nothing.
Why was she crying so hard?
At first, Noctis thought she was joking. Then he saw the big fat tears rolling down her face. He set down the can and moved closer.
"I'll help you dry them out."
Nina looked at him, sniffing and wiping her tears mingled with water. "T-thank you," she whispered.
Her eyes went to his neck which was hidden under the high collar of his shirt. She wondered if there was a collar similar to the one Cael wore underneath. Her brows furrowed and she felt sick again.
Noctis already packed the wet notes, holding them carefully so they wouldn't tear. "I know a good spot that gets the sun." He said.
"Thank you," Nina said, truly meaning it.
Was the Orchid less evil to him? Is that why he's so nice to me now? She wondered.
Meanwhile, Noctis also tried to understand why she was acting so strange. Maybe she did hit her head.
"You should know about the sunny spot," he said as they walked out of the library.
"Oh right! I should! Hehe," Nina replied, her cheeks pink and ears twitching.
Noctis didn't glance at her when he said; "that's where you'd put me whenever I was disobedient. The last time, you left me there for three days."
The smile on Nina's face vanished and she halted.
"What?"
But Noctis was already moving ahead.
The original body locked him, a bat type beastman, in the sun for three days?!
Nina's stomach rolled and she felt like she'd throw up again. Who the hell does that?! Bats are extremely sensitive to the light! Who would Orchid do that?
And here I was thinking she was less evil to him! If someone locked me out in the sun for three days knowing I was weak to it, I'd plan their murder!
It was beginning to dawn on Nina. The truth that sometimes, people didn't need a reason for evil.
People like Princess Orchid.
[remember your new goal, hostie~ if you continue in this manner, it will take 30 years to achieve it~]
"You mean I have to do things like that?"
[…]
Nina sighed. This is hopeless.
Nina pushed the unpleasant thoughts aside and followed Noctis out. The spot he led her to was lovely, an open roof gazebo surrounded by flowers and…
Nina's face paled as she spotted the long pole right in the center. It didn't take a genius to guess what that was for.
She cleared her throat and forced on a smile. Noctis didn't return it. Silently, they placed the soaked books in the sun.
"I'm sorry for locking you up here," Nina said, hoping to strike up a conversation with the silent man. He found a small shade and sat there. He looked out of place in his blacks and silver, surrounded by soft flowers. But it was a pretty sight.
He's really pretty. Like a K-pop idol. And his ears look soft…
"It's fine." Noctis said.
Nina waited for the system to ding and warn her about being nice. But it was silent.
Of course she knew it wouldn't be enough to erase all she had done. But it was a start. Perhaps if she started laying the foundation for her new goal then—
[one thing at a time, hostie~] the system finally dinged.
Nina stared at the books, her mind traveling far and wide.
From her time in the library, she had understood a little bit more about this world.
5000 years ago, there was a catastrophe. Technology advanced at a rapid pace and humans thought it was a good idea to merge AI code and human DNA.
Instead of the utopia they imagined, it was hell.
The AI code corrupted human DNA, leading to the emergence of the first AI beasts.
Humans came together to fix it, as they were rapidly being killed and hunted by these beasts. Women were hunted more, and the population declined fast.
Finally, they created the beastmen, a splice of human and specific animal DNA, producing stronger, faster, and larger humans.
The war raged on. But this time humans started to win.
Nina looked at her hands, tracing her orchid marks and watching her spores flare softly. This world is truly hardcore but impressive. She thought.
Not only did humans create beastmen, they took it even further and created the beastblooms, beastwomen with plant DNA. Beastblooms were a rare success, and their creation gave mankind the push far away from the cliff of extinction.
Beastblooms boosted fertility, they had immunity to Nanites, and their spores could calm Corruption in other beastmen.
The orchid beastbloom was the rarest of all beastblooms. The last orchid lived 3500 years ago. The current Princess Orchid was a miracle the Eastern Empire wasn't prepared for.
Nina sighed, propping her chin on her palms and resting forward on her elbow. I guess being a miracle beastbloom gave her freedom to be a total bitch.
Now it's 5000 years later. Pure humans have long gone extinct, only beastmen remain. The female population is still low, and that has given rise to polyandry. It was especially encouraged among Beastblooms, as they could soothe multiple beastmen at once.
Nina's eyes moved to Noctis. He held a plucked rose in his hand, stroking the petals with long, nimble fingers.
"Noctis?"
He looked up and met her eyes.
"Where are you from?"
"The West."
Nina nodded. West. Now the world was divided into four major empires, East, West, North and South. Princess Orchid was from the East, and it was where the story took place.
Nina hadn't read much in the library about the empires. She made a mental note to revisit it this evening.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps cut through the peaceful air.
"Your highness!" A servant rushed up to Nina and went down on a full bow, forehead to the floor. "It's about your husband, Mako! He has broken free again!"
Nina frowned. Mako? Another husband? Broken free?
"What does that—"
"Cutie~" a cloying voice called.
The servant screamed and jumped behind a bush. Noctis rose to his feet, bowed and vanished. Nina looked around, wondering what the hell had just happened when a pair of strong, wet arms wrapped around her middle and a head of slick blue hair rested against her chest.
"Hey Cutie~ I missed you soooooo much~"
Nina's cheeks turned red. "H-hey!" She looked down.
Woah. Is he one of my husbands? He's so handsome!
Mako had long blue hair which was wet, as if he had been swimming. His face was delicate, caught between masculine sharpness and feminine softness. He had long blue eyelashes, and his eyes were a soft greenish blue. He smiled, and his mouth was full of sharp jagged teeth.
Nina gasped.
A shark!
She had a shark beast husband! One that looked like a mermaid prince.
His arms tightened around her waist and he pushed his jaw between her breasts. His liquid eyes blinked up at her slowly.
"Did you miss me? I brought something for you!" He pulled back and showed her his open palm. In the center of his palm were white sharp objects.
On closer look, Nina realized they were teeth.
His teeth.
Her blood ran cold.
Mako laughed. He sounded like a kid at Christmas. "You like it! I timed how long it took each individual tooth to grow back and it was exactly 25.7 seconds on average!"
Nina gasped, her breath stuck in her throat. Her heart raced and she felt cold all over.
He pulled out his teeth for me.
He pulled out his teeth for Princess Orchid!