Baby System: My Mates Can Read my Mind?

Chapter 92: Episode 092: A Vacation To Prepare For

Around Rue, the Northern Palace completely erupted into chaos.

Axel gave a sharp wave of his large hand. The royal guards immediately lowered their iron spears. Their heavy boots scraped loudly against the stone as they backed away. They gave the feral wolf a very wide path, keeping their hands resting carefully on their weapon hilts.

Skoll did not look at the guards. He kept his wild, dark eyes completely glued to the floor. He shivered violently in the warm air of the corridor. His massive, scarred chest heaved with every single shaky breath he took.

Iris gently wrapped her arm around his waist. She completely ignored the thick mud and dried blood covering his skin. She just held him up. She supported his heavy weight as he took painful, limping steps toward the palace healing wing.

Before they walked down the long corridor, Iris stopped.

She turned around and walked right back to Rue. The Wolf Princess was smiling. It was the brightest, most genuine smile Rue had seen since she arrived in the frozen North.

Iris leaned in close. She did not hug Rue. She knew Rue did not like sudden movements.

Instead, Iris leaned her face down to the thick white blanket. She pressed a soft, lingering kiss right onto Theron’s chubby, pink cheek.

"Thank you," Iris whispered. Her voice shook with absolute relief. She looked at the baby boy, who was busy trying to grab her dark hair with his tiny fists. "Thank you, little guy. You saved him. You calmed him down when nobody else could."

Theron just babbled happily in response. He kicked his tiny feet against Rue’s stomach.

Rue kept her face completely flat.

Internally, she was entirely exhausted. Her heart was still beating far too fast. Her legs felt exactly like heavy lead weights. But her long rabbit ears slowly swiveled forward, picking up the soft, relieved tone in Iris’s voice. The terrible danger was finally over. The monster was just a broken boy again.

Iris turned back to Skoll. She carefully guided the giant man down the stone hallway until they completely disappeared around the corner.

The heavy tension in the corridor vanished.

Gianna let out a loud, tired sigh. The Basilisk princess uncrossed her arms and rubbed her green eyes.

"Well, that was terrifying," Gianna muttered quietly. "I am going back to sleep. Wake me up if another monster breaks through a window."

Gianna turned around and walked straight back into her bedroom. Her heavy wooden door clicked shut.

Rue was left standing entirely alone in the hallway.

She shifted Theron’s weight in her arms. She wanted to go to sleep too. She wanted to crawl right under her thick furs and forget about feral wolves and freezing snow. She was just a human girl in a fragile body. She did not have the energy for endless beastworld drama.

She took a slow step toward her own room.

The blue screen followed her perfectly. It flashed twice in the air, demanding her full attention.

[Target Skoll secured. Phase 1 Complete.]

[Congratulations, Host. You successfully stood entirely still and did absolutely nothing. A true masterclass in crisis management.]

Rue blinked at the glowing text.

Her nose twitched rapidly in mild annoyance.

"I held the baby," Rue whispered back to the screen.

The system did not care about her defence. It just flashed again.

[Preparing reward.]

[Reward unlocked: One-week vacation to the Sunken Springs.]

Rue stopped walking.

She stared at the words. The Sunken Springs. She heard Gianna talk about that place a few days ago. It was a beautiful, tropical resort located far south of the Northern borders. It was incredibly warm. It had hot water, green trees, and absolutely zero snow.

A very rare, genuine feeling of excitement bloomed right in her chest.

A vacation. A real vacation. No angry bears hiding in the woods. No intense Convergence politics to worry about. No terrifying warlords trying to figure her out. Just a whole week of sitting in the warm sun with her baby.

She really wanted to go. She wanted to pack her bags right this second.

The cold North was slowly draining her energy. The constant freezing temperatures made her joints ache. She missed the warm dampness of the Swamps. She missed the heavy, quiet safety of Caius’s stone cave. She missed the giant black panther who always tried to feed her sweet strawberries.

She just wanted to get this trip over with quickly so she could finally go back home. She missed Knox. She missed Caius. She missed her actual mates. She wanted to see Caius’s tail slap the floor when he saw her. She wanted to feel normal again.

"Accept," Rue whispered to the screen. "Accept the reward right now."

The system paused.

The blue screen turned a slightly darker shade of blue.

Rue narrowed her pink eyes. The system only changed colors when it was about to do something highly annoying.

A new box of text appeared directly in front of her face.

[Mandatory Condition: A rejected beastworld infant at the Springs requires immediate stabilization. Accept quest to travel.]

Rue stared blankly at the words.

Of course. There was always a catch.

Her long white ears flattened entirely against her skull. She did not approve of this at all.

Her body betrayed her annoyance before she could even say a single word. She flicked her right foot dismissively against the stone floor. It was a pure rabbit protest.

I am not doing this, she thought to herself.

I am a mother to one child. I am not Roxy. I cannot save every single abandoned baby in this crazy world. I just want to sit in a hot spring and sleep.

She looked down at Theron. He was falling asleep against her chest. His tiny breaths puffed softly against her collarbone.

If she rejected the quest, she lost the vacation entirely. She would be stuck here in the freezing cold palace. She would have to keep avoiding Axel’s intense stares. She would have to shiver every single time she walked outside into the snow.

If she accepted the quest, she had to save a sick baby. But she would get sunlight. She would get warmth. She could take off her heavy fur coat for an entire week.

Rue sighed heavily. She shifted Theron to her other shoulder to support his sleepy head.

She mentally complained to the system. She told it exactly how unfair this was. She listed all the reasons why she was terribly unqualified for a medical rescue mission. She told the glowing screen that it was ruining her peaceful life.

While she was arguing silently with the blue text, a dark shadow fell over her.

She did not hear him walk up. His heavy boots made absolutely no sound on the cold stone floor.

Axel stood right behind her.

He was incredibly close. His tall, broad frame blocked out the light from the nearest wall torch. He looked down at her small, silver head. His icy eyes caught the faint blue glow of the system screen reflecting on her pale skin, though he could not see the words floating in the air. He only saw Rue staring at nothing, looking highly annoyed.

Axel tilted his head slightly. His unusual black and white hair fell perfectly around his sharp, handsome face. He noticed her flattened ears. He noticed the dismissive way she kicked her foot against the floor.

He found every single thing she did entirely fascinating.

He leaned down just a fraction. His deep, smooth voice rumbled right next to her ear.

"You act like you are going somewhere. Do you want me to join you?"