Violette was already picturing the day she would be crowned queen, basking in endless wealth and glory, as she gazed affectionately at the unconscious bird in her arms.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of you," she said.

She'd better take very good care of Clarence, alright. She mustn't regret it when she was offered up as a blood sacrifice, either.

Violette hurriedly carried Clarence back to the thatched hut. She gathered medicinal herbs to treat his wounds and took care of him with the same attentiveness I had shown in my previous life.

Meanwhile, I was still crouched in front of the rabbit. He looked so adorable in his petite rabbit form that I couldn't be bothered to dwell on the unpleasant memories from my previous life.

I gently poked his cheek again and said softly, "Are you out looking for food? I've got plenty of food at my place. Do you want some?"

His eyes lit up, but when he caught the undisguised mischief in mine, he lowered his head again. "I don't want any of your food!"

"Really? Not only do I have plenty of bread, but I also have sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage, pumpkin, apples…"

He swallowed hard. His legs were already moving on their own as he grabbed my hand. "I'll go with you."

Smiling, I picked him up.

Back at the hut, I took out all the food and set it in front of the rabbit. He quickly started feasting on everything.

When he reached for more, I blocked his hand. "You're eating too much. If you want to keep eating, you have to agree to be my husband first."

He jerked his head up, shifting into a handsome young man on the spot, though his rabbit ears remained. Flushed with embarrassment, he growled, "You tricked me!"

I smiled cheerfully at him. "It's up to you."

I'd learned these tricks from Clarence.

"I… I…" He glanced at the food before eyeing me awkwardly. His cheeks turned red. "You just want a husband, right? Fine. I'll do it. You might even be the one begging me for mercy later on…"

His bark looked a lot worse than his bite. I had to swallow down my laughter as I pushed the food toward him again.

At last, I got him to tell me his name—Soren Whitefoot.

He pulled me down to sit with him and started feeding me. "Since you're my wife now, I can't eat alone. You should eat too."

His care and generosity dazed me a little.

At the beginning, Clarence hadn't liked me at all. He was even annoyed that I was constantly beside him. He'd throw away the food I carefully prepared for him and refuse to take the soup I made from the medicinal herbs I risked my life harvesting for him.

Like a lowly servant, I was forced to continually try to appease him.

Night had already fallen by the time Soren and I had our fill. Hesitantly, I took out a set of bedding and spread it on the floor.

Soren fidgeted shyly before saying, "Since we're husband and wife, doesn't that mean we should sleep together?"

Startled at first, I replied, "That's right."

I thought I was moving fast enough as it was. Who would've thought that a shy rabbit like Soren would voluntarily suggest that we should sleep together?

Soren slipped under the blanket, warming up the cold bedding before covering most of his face. He peeked at me through the cracks in his fingers and said, "It's warm now. Y-You can come to bed."

I slowly got under the blanket. I thought I wouldn't be able to fall asleep, but before long, I did fall asleep.

At some point, I vaguely saw Soren tucking the blanket around me before wrapping his arms around me to keep me warm.

I heard him mumbling to himself in a joyful voice, "Since you're my wife now, you need to let me dote on you. You mustn't get cold. What if you're too fragile to handle the mating later on…"

The crudely built hut did little to keep out the cold. It was freezing at night, especially with the strong winds blowing.

Violette and I had always been in poor health. Since we had to endure the cold all year round, our bodies had suffered and had grown pretty fragile.

In my previous life, after learning that Clarence was a phoenix, I'd repeatedly tried to slip into his bed for warmth, only to be rejected in disgust. Even after he accepted me, he only allowed me into his bed when it was time for us to mate.

However, now, I felt so warm and cozy that even my cold, dead heart, which had been utterly broken because of my previous life, warmed up again.

…

The next day, when I went out to prepare some food for Soren and me, Clarence woke up.

"You're finally awake! I'm the one who saved you. Don't worry. I'll take good care of you from now on."

Violette, who had stayed up all night with him, was overjoyed. She gently tried to help him up, even taking a mouthful of water to feed him mouth-to-mouth.

Clarence frowned in disgust and slapped her away.

"Get lost!"

Violette fell to the ground, coughing as she choked on the water in her mouth.

Violette swiftly got back on her feet. Mimicking what I'd done in my previous life to get close to Clarence, she teased him, "How can you scorn me like that? I fed you mouth-to-mouth the whole time you were unconscious, you know? I didn't see you rejecting me then."

Clarence immediately started retching. He grabbed Violette by the throat and glared at her darkly. "Who said you could touch me?"

Violette didn't panic. She continued to gently stroke his face. "I know you think I'm not good enough, but I truly want to take care of you."

Clarence, the King of the Phoenix clan, had never been taken advantage of like that before. He was so outraged that he smacked her away and made her fly out of the hut.

When Violette saw me, she scoffed coldly. "You don't need to look so pleased with yourself. He's just being shy. It won't be long before he accepts me."

She was so certain only because, in my previous life, Clarence had treated me the same way at first—only to come around later and fall hopelessly in love with me.

Soren shifted back into his rabbit form and hopped toward me. "Marigold! Why didn't you wake me when you woke up?"

Violette cast a disdainful glance at him. "I didn't expect you to pick a beastfolk who acts like a kid. How is he supposed to fall in love with you?"

"That's none of your concern."

I bent down to pick up Soren before heading back out of the hut. Nestled in my arms, he asked, "Was she insulting me just now, Marigold?"

I rubbed his ears. "There's nothing but air where her brain should be. Just ignore her from now on."

Soren hugged my neck comfortably and said in a soft voice, "Don't worry. I like you a lot now."

Over the next few days, Violette would constantly kiss Clarence whenever he wasn't paying attention, even climbing onto his bed to help him relieve his physical urges. Once he woke up, he would lash out in embarrassment and anger, hitting her and rebuking her.

However, he was still injured and couldn't really do anything to her.

The two of them kept going back and forth like that, causing chaos every single day. The stormy-faced Clarence would deliberately spill the medicinal soup Violette made for him, but she would simply take her basket and go up the mountain to gather more herbs. Even though she felt hurt, she willingly did it anyway.

If Clarence threw away the food she made, she would patiently make another portion, again and again, until he was willing to eat.

He called her shameless, but she simply took it further by volunteering to help him with his primal urges.

She was using the same suffering I'd endured in my previous life as a stepping stone for herself.

At last, when Clarence was almost fully recovered, he accepted her. He began spending all of his time with her and even did intimate things with her. He tired her out until she had to spend three days in bed after that.

When he learned that Violette wanted to see me, he even gently supported her as he brought her to my small courtyard.

The stench was still clinging to her, so I knew she'd been intimate with Clarence already. With her cheeks still rosy, she said to me, "Clarence has already accepted me, Marigold. It won't be long before he falls head over heels in love with me.

"Meanwhile, you're spending all of your time with that dumb rabbit. Let's hope you don't end up turning into a dumb-dumb like him, too. And if you fail the mission, well, don't blame me for not telling you that you should've chosen the fox instead."

I simply continued to stroke Soren's ears without saying anything.

So Clarence had accepted Violette, huh? That meant he probably found out that she was a suitable candidate for the blood sacrifice.

It wouldn't be long before she died, then.