Chapter 1

Amid the hazy blur, Lunara Vesperin heard the crack of a whip and slowly came to.

The first thing that slammed into her vision was a head of shoulder-length, dark gray hair.

Its owner was kneeling on the ground, his bronze back drawn tight like an arched bow. Every inch of muscle was coiled with strength, but it was marred by a shocking display of crisscrossing lash marks.

The fresh wounds were still bleeding. The blood trailed down the taut lines of his body, gathering into thin rivulets at his waist before dripping off the edge of his skirt made out of animal hide.

When he lifted his dark red eyes, Lunara felt as if the fangs of a venomous snake had sunk into her heart. They were eyes steeped in ice, churning with undisguised hatred.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling on the whip in her hand, and the corner of his lips curled into a faint, cold smile.

His voice was low and hoarse, each word sharp. "You're stopping already? Have you used up all your strength for today?"

Lunara's mind buzzed. Her forehead throbbed as fragments of memories belonging to the original owner of this body came flooding in.

She'd been an overworked office drone who died from pulling too many overtime shifts. Somehow, she'd transmigrated into the novel set in a beast world that she'd just finished reading. She'd now become the villainous cannon fodder who shared the same name as her.

The original Lunara's father, Caius Vesperin, was a wandering beastkin who doted excessively on his only daughter. The moment she came of age, he had forcibly captured five males and bound them to her as her beastmates.

But she hadn't liked any of the beastmates he brought back. Instead, she came up with new ways to torment them every day.

The handsome man in front of her now was Emory Nagar. His beast form was a highly venomous snake. Ruthless by nature, he would eventually break her fingers one by one.

Lunara abruptly unfurled her fingers, and the whip fell onto the ground with a loud thud. Droplets of blood flicked onto her ankle, the icy sensation making her shudder.

Emory's brows twitched almost imperceptibly. At times like this, the vicious Lunara would usually swing the whip even harder or use a charred wooden stick to burn him. But now, she had thrown the whip away?

"What new method of torture have you thought up this—"

"Stop talking." Lunara cut him off. She needed time to process this horrifying reality.

In this beast world, the male beastkin were given color-named tiers based on their strength. In order of weakest to strongest, the tiers were red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple.

Caius was a purple-tier scorpion beastkin, sitting at the very top of the hierarchy. That was how he could forcibly capture five exceptionally gifted males and make them her beastmates.

But according to the novel's plot, Caius had gone off to find her another beastmate, and this time, he would never return. After his death, the five males, who'd been pushed to their limits by the endless torment, would rise up in rebellion together.

They braved the risk of backlash to carve out the bond mark that put them under Lunara's control. Though they should have died from the act, sheer ferocity kept them alive. In the end, they would torture her in ways a hundred times crueler than anything she had done to them before devouring her.

Just the thought of the pain of having her fingers broken one by one made Lunara's fingers turn cold. She couldn't die—especially not like that.

Forcing herself to meet Emory's dark red eyes, she steadied her voice as much as possible. "Get up."

Emory didn't move. He merely raised a brow, the mockery in his eyes deepening. "What now? Have you thought of a new way to torture me?"

When he lifted his head, the scorpion-shaped mark on his chest became even more visible. That was the bond mark—and also the shackle that prevented her beastmates from resisting her command.

"Or are you thinking about pouring salt water on my wounds?" he continued.

Lunara's breath hitched. The original Lunara had done that before.

After taking a deep breath, she turned and walked toward the basket in the corner of the stone cave. Inside it were some dried herbs, which Caius had traded for with a clan.

The original Lunara had never used them on these men. Instead, she liked to pass off poisonous vines as medicine and watch them writhe in agony.

While rummaging through the basket for herbs that could stop the bleeding, Lunara said, "Your wounds need to be treated. I won't—"

"Save it." Emory cut her off and slowly got back on his feet.

He towered over her by more than half a head. When his shadow fell over her, it carried an overwhelming sense of pressure.

"Drop the act. Are you planning to scald me with a burning stick later, or have you come up with some other heinous way to torture me?"

Lunara froze, the herbs in her hand suspended in the air. She'd forgotten how the memory of the original Lunara's cruelty was already carved deep into them. Any unusual behavior from her would only seem like a new form of torture.

Just then, the sound of footsteps came from outside. Three figures appeared at the entrance of the cave, all injured and staring at her with the same cold gaze.

At the front was Cyril Swift, who had long silvery hair. As a yellow-tier crane beastkin and a cleric, he should have given off an ethereal presence. But instead, he looked haggard, his body covered in burn marks—the result of the original Lunara burning his skin with red-hot sticks.

His eyes were lowered, hiding his emotions. Only his tightly clenched fists betrayed the restraint he was forcing himself to show.

Behind him was Kieran Crimsworth, a red fox beastkin. His face, which should've been graced with charm and allure, was now marred by a jagged scar that stretched from the corner of his eye to his jaw. It made him look frightening.

When he saw Lunara, he curved his lips into a seductive smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "What's going on? Not showing Emory your 'love' anymore?"

Last came a tall, broad male with short black hair plastered messily against his forehead. His upper body was covered in knife scars and whip marks. He was Levi Janvier, a lion beastkin.

Lunara's gaze moved across them, her heart sinking. Four breathtakingly handsome men stood before her, each attractive in their own way, but she had no mind to appreciate the sight.

Out of the five beastmates, four had gathered.

"Where's Galen?" she blurted out.

The mention of Galen Tideborn made the atmosphere in the cave shift.

Kieran's smile widened. "Have you forgotten already? Yesterday, you said you wanted to see what it'd look like if you plucked a merman's scales and buried them in the sand. You had us bury him up on the mountain."

Lunara's hands went cold again.

Galen was the only sea-dwelling beastkin of the five beastmates. In the novel, after carving out his bond mark, he would slowly slice apart her skin, inch by inch. It was revenge for the way she'd made him endure the horrifying pain of having his scales ripped off…

Lunara looked at the four wounded males before her before thinking of Galen with his scales torn away. She shuddered violently.

Emory could see that she was distracted. His eyes flickered with scorn. "What now? Are you trying to come up with some new method of torture?"

He took a step forward, the scent of blood growing stronger. "Why not just use every trick you've got at once?"

Lunara abruptly lifted her head and met his gaze. She knew words alone wouldn't be enough, but she had to do something.

"Emory, bring Galen back here. I have something to say."

Emory gave a low chuckle, as if he'd just heard a joke. "What are you playing at this time, Lunara? You're no longer satisfied with torturing each of us one at a time, so you want to torment all five of us at the same time?"

Lunara took a deep breath, placed the yarrow back into the basket, and said, "Let's make a deal. If you agree to it, I'll dissolve our bond."

The moment those words fell, the cave went so quiet that even the sound of their breathing could be heard.

Cyril's lowered lashes trembled slightly. Kieran's smile froze. Levi's clenched fists made faint cracking sounds.

Even Emory's chuckling stopped. He stared intently at Lunara, as if trying to decide whether her words could be trusted.