The Smut-Novel Heroine in the Beast World - Chapter 7

The day of the date.

I stood before a full-length mirror in a red dress.

Xu Bai had “happened to come across” the mirror and brought it home. I thought it made me look slimmer, so I had moved it into the bedroom.

Xu Bai stood behind me, curling my hair.

His tentacles poked out one after another and hovered on either side of me, not daring to approach without permission.

After they lost control and slipped under my clothes last time, Xu Bai had caught them and given them a severe lecture.

Now they didn’t dare come too close. They could only circle me meekly, over and over, trying to get my attention.

Feeling playful, I gathered the little translucent pink tentacles into my arms.

Then I balanced them on my head. “Look. Medusa.”

Xu Bai stared. “…”

The tentacles froze as one.

Then they went wild, writhing and clamoring as they burrowed under my clothes.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop—their little suckers left red marks all over me, sending a tingling numbness through my skin.

I let go. “Did I say something wrong? Are they angry?”

“No. They’re kissing you.”

Far from stopping them, Xu Bai joined in.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

“You’re so cute they can’t take it.”

I stared. “…And what are you doing?”

“I can’t quite take it either.”

Curious, I asked, “Can they see?”

“No. They can only see what I see and hear what I hear.”

“But they do have their own senses of smell, taste, and touch.”

I went rigid. “So they can taste me?”

“Mm.”

Xu Bai lost control and kissed me behind the ear, his voice hoarse. “You’re delicious.”

In the mirror, I saw my flushed face. Pink tentacles coiled around my neck, pinned my limbs, and even tried to slip into my mouth.

One strap of my red dress slid off my shoulder, baring my neck.

Unfortunately, Xu Bai still had some reason left.

He stopped them before they could crawl under my dress.

But my neck, calves, wrists—even my inner thighs—were already covered in kiss-like red marks from their suckers.

“I’m sorry.”

Xu Bai carried me to the sofa, knelt on one knee before me, and applied ointment.

I stared. “…”

That had been so thrilling.

Why did he stop?

Damn it.

“Most land beastfolk dislike tentacles, so I rarely let them out,” Xu Bai said, confiding in me for once.

“When I was still in school, they actually loved coming out to play.”

“None of my classmates liked them, but they would still sidle up shamelessly, curious to sniff their scents.”

“My classmates would deliberately shut them in doors, burn them with fire, stab them with needles, or step on them as they passed.”

“Things like that happened all the time. The tentacles got hurt and felt wronged, but the next time, they would still sneak out. They were like children. They wanted playmates too.”

“Then several classmates made a plan. While I was napping, they cut off all my little tentacles.”

“My head was filled with their screams of pain and their aggrieved sobbing.”

“That was the first time I got angry and the first time I revealed my true form. It wasn’t my whole form, only a tiny part of it, but it was enough to destroy half the school.”

“If you search online, you can probably still find the video. You can see one corner of my true form.”

“The incident had serious consequences, but my identity is unusual, so I barely managed to settle things with money.”

“They only placed me under an injunction forbidding me from revealing my true form again.”

“That incident made every beastman afraid of it. They no longer dared bully me, but they no longer dared come near me either.”

“They’re right. I’m not really an octopus prince. I’m a giant monster meant to live alone in the deep sea.”

“Nor am I kind. The true form I showed you last time—I deliberately shrank it down to look cute…”

“I told you to beware of carnivores, but none of them is even one ten-thousandth as frightening as I am.”

Still kneeling, Xu Bai spread ointment over the red marks on my calf again and again.

I took a moment to digest all that, then asked the question on my mind. “So your tentacles all have minds of their own?”

“In a sense.”

He asked permission with his eyes, then began applying ointment to my thigh.

“They’re more like my subconscious—reflections of my deepest thoughts. We are one being, after all.”

“It’s just that reason can’t always suppress the most primitive emotions and desires buried in the subconscious. So sometimes, they lose control.”

I stroked his black hair tenderly.

“So you’re the one who was curious. You’re the one who wanted friends. You’re the one who longed for playmates.”

Xu Bai’s hand paused. He forced himself to stay calm. “No. That part belongs to the tentacles. It has nothing to do with me.”

“To them, everyone has a different scent and taste.”

“The first time we met, they were the ones who smelled you.”

“They said there was a human who smelled so sweet and so familiar, but that she was about to be eaten by porcine beastfolk. They chattered endlessly in my head, so I had no choice but to find you.”

“They like your scent. You don’t despise them, and just now was the first time anyone had ever played with them willingly. They like you so much that they lost control.”

“There.” He stood, his gaze settling on my neck.

“But these red marks won’t fade in time. Would it be awkward if Fu Yan sees them?”

“Why don’t I pick out a turtleneck and long sleeves for you?”

…