Plot Twists Short Stories & Beastman Regret Novels

Violette Snow, my older sister, and I have been chosen to complete missions for the Conquest System. Violette chose to make the gentle-looking fox her conquest target, while I chose the cold yet devoted bird. However, the fox turned out to be a huge flirt who didn't care about Violette at all. He spent all his time fooling around with others and even shared her with his buddies. She failed her mission and was at risk of having her soul wiped from existence. Meanwhile, the bird I chose ended up being the King of the Phoenix clan. After I managed to win him over, he doted on me. And once I gave birth to a few phoenix eggs, he made me his queen. Violette went mad with jealousy. Before the system erased her, she stabbed me to death first. My eyes open again. I've gone back in time to the day we chose our conquest targets. This time, Violette beats me to it and chooses the bird. I simply chuckle. Since she's so eager to be offered up as a blood sacrifice, as her younger sister, it's only right for me to let her have her way.

After the war between humans and beastmen ended, both sides agreed that half-beast nobles would govern the world together. Under the marriage pact, every hundred years, each couple must bring their children before the altar. The High Priest cuts each child's palm and lets their blood drip into a chalice. The child with the purest blood becomes the next King. I married Todd, heir to the fox clan, and gave birth to a half-beast fox with the purest blood of them all. My sister, drawn to the wealth and status of the hawk nobility, chose their proud and distant heir. But he had no interest in women, and their marriage drove her mad. Consumed by jealousy, she demanded another test of my son's blood. She used a potion from the hawk clan to corrupt his blood, and my son and I were flayed alive after being accused of falsifying his claim to the throne. I woke again on the day we were supposed to choose our husbands. This time, my sister had already chosen Todd. Then I knew. She had been reborn too. What she didn't know was that the foxes lived for pleasure. Todd was always surrounded by women and made a terrible husband. I didn't want the hawks or the bears. I chose Leon of the white dog clan instead—the only man who had tried to save me in my previous life. But the white dog I chose was no dog at all. He was the last of the ancient celestial lions.

My sister Debra Evans and I came of age in the same year, and we were both chosen to represent humanity in the beast-clan mating ceremony. According to the ancient pact between humans and beasts, the first half-beast child born from this generation's unions would become the next ruler of the Human-Beast Alliance. Debra chose Jacob Griffin, the eldest son of the wolf clan—the strongest of them all. But every child she conceived ended up stillborn. Jacob flew into a rage and dissolved their bond. No other beastman would take her in either—not when she couldn't give them heirs. Meanwhile, I had chosen Patrick Bryant of the serpent clan. And I gave birth to the first half-beast child of the generation. They hailed me as a divine maiden. Patrick rose to power because of me. Debra burned with jealousy. She poisoned my child and shoved me off a cliff—I shattered on the rocks below. When I opened my eyes again, it was the very day we were to choose our mates. Without hesitation, Debra picked Patrick. I knew then: she had been reborn too. But she had no idea what I'd actually gone through in my past life.

The Kumiho my father chose for me hated me. He hated that he was my pet. When I turned eighteen, I decided to give him his freedom. However, it turned out that he was in love with one of our servants’ daughters, Rachel Lenford. I was crushed, but I could only accept it. I woke up from a good dream to find a silver-ringed giant python coiled around my body. It hissed at me while flicking its forked tongue. "Why do you like him so much? How about trying me out? I'm better than he is." Trying this snake out? How would that work?

As human fertility rates kept falling, the government created a matching system between humans and beasts. That was how I became engaged to the Blackwood brothers—two wolf beasts who never wanted me. For a year, I made coffee for both of them every morning.The older brother, Adrian, kept his distance, but he always took the mug and thanked me quietly. The younger one, Kieran, was all temper and sharp teeth. He snapped at me, broke the mug, and acted like I was a nuisance. I told myself this was fair. If I treated them the same, maybe one day this arranged bond would feel like home. Then my best friend saw it and asked, “Have you ever thought that treating them equally might be unfair to the one who’s actually kind to you?” I thought about that all day. Then one morning, I walked out of the kitchen carrying only one cup.

Seven years married to Adrian Locke. For me, he tore the unbreakable scale from his own body and left the deep sea for dry land. For him, I left everything and moved to the beastkin world. To everyone else we were the most loving couple. Even I believed it. Then he started coming home carrying a fox scent that wouldn't wash off, and every illusion I had about him shattered. The late nights came more often. The nights he didn't come home at all came more often. I knew it was time for us to end. And then that woman sent me the results of her pregnancy test. I filed to dissolve our marriage with the Beastkin Authority and bought a one-way ticket back to the human world. Adrian, if you can't promise me your love is mine alone, then I won't take any of it. From now on, we never see each other again.