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.