Exiled Villainess: They Threw Me Out, Now Every Beastman Wants Me
Chapter 26: Morning Notifications

Chapter 26: Morning Notifications

Tera’s body felt heavy and limp when she woke up.

It was the kind of deep relaxation that came after hours of tension, finally releasing. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so deeply—certainly not since arriving in this world, and maybe not for months before that either.

A large furry bed was rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm that had probably been rocking her gently all night.

Tera immediately remembered what had happened and where she was.

She opened her eyes.

At some point during the night, he had curled tighter around her, and she was now essentially cocooned inside a living blanket of muscle and fur. One of his massive paws rested near her hip, and his head was tucked beside hers, his breath warm against her ear.

’Oh,’ she thought. ’This is nice.’

Tera didn’t move. She was too comfortable. And also, if she was being honest, a little embarrassed.

She had cried in front of him like a child who lost her favourite toy, except the toy was her entire life, and the child was a grown woman who had been pretending she was fine for days.

A flush of heat crept up her neck that had nothing to do with Xavi’s body temperature.

She wanted to shrink into nothing.

The storm had stopped. She couldn’t hear rain anymore, just the occasional drip of water somewhere in the distance and the soft whisper of wind through the gaps in the shelter. It was still cloudy.

The light filtering through the entrance was grey and muted, which meant the flooding had already passed.

Did that mean it had worked?

[Hello, Host!]

Tera flinched so hard she nearly headbutted Xavi’s chin.

’Don’t wake him up!’ Tera chastised herself.

[This system is pleased to see Host is awake!]

[Host’s vital signs have stabilized. Body temperature is now within acceptable range]

[This system was... concerned]

[(ᵕ—ᴗ—)]

’You? Concerned? I thought I was just a task completion machine to you.’

[Host is more than a task completion machine]

[Host is... an acceptable companion]

[(◡‿◡✿)]

The system’s tone was uncharacteristically gentle, and that almost made it worse. Tera narrowed her eyes at it in suspicion. When even the floating rectangle that frequently insulted her was being careful with her, she must have really looked pitiful last night.

[How is Host this morning?]

’I am fine.’

[GOOD!]

Before Tera could say or do anything else, the screen flickered and suddenly a cascade of notifications began flooding her vision, one after another.

Tera stared at the updates with her mouth slightly open.

’Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Go back. Ermin’s favorability jumped twice? While I was asleep?’

[Correct]

’Because he felt my emotions through the mate bond?’

She had nearly forgotten this was a thing.

[Correct]

[The imprint connection allows for emotional resonance when feelings are particularly intense]

[Host’s grief was... considerable]

Tera didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, this much of a jump in favourability when she barely did anything was good news. On the other hand, the idea that Ermin had been unwillingly subjected to her emotional breakdown through their forced magical bond felt like an invasion of privacy for both of them.

She felt oddly exposed. And instead of all that making him more disgusted with her, it had apparently softened something in him.

’He probably just felt sorry for me. Pity isn’t the same as—’

She stopped the thought before it could spiral. The favourability had gone up, not down. Whatever Ermin was feeling, it wasn’t contempt. She could figure out what it meant later.

She turned her attention back to the other notifications.

’Forty-five nipples? How did it jump that high?! I had only remembered—’

[This system provided bonus nipples]

[A discretionary measure]

[Purely professional]

[(˙ᵕ˙ )]

’This is odd...’

[This system did NOT bribe Host]

[Only provided an incentive for emotional regulation]

[The distinction is important!]

Tera could not believe what she was seeing.

’Wait, did you actually try to bribe me with that? So it wasn’t even a bonus.’

[Host was not responding to verbal comfort]

[This system utilized available resources]

Tera pressed her lips together to keep from laughing out loud. The image of the system frantically throwing nipple coins at her like someone tossing treats at a crying toddler was so absurd that it circled back around to being genuinely touching.

’Thank you.’

The system was looking oddly adorable, and Tera was about to tease the system further when the massive body beneath her stirred.

Xavi woke up, and Tera found herself staring directly into two warm golden eyes.

She looked away, her face burning.

She was a grown woman who had ridden this man within hours of meeting him, and now she couldn’t look him in the eye because he had held her while she cried?

This was absurd. She was absurd. Everything was absurd.

"I need to get off," Tera mumbled, already trying to extract herself from the cocoon of fur and warmth.

Xavi made a low, reluctant grunt. His paw, which had been resting near her hip, shifted, and after a long moment, he released her.

Tera immediately scrambled out of the warm cocoon of fur, and the cold air hit her.

’Oh, God. That’s awful.’

Her body, which had been luxuriating in bear-powered central heating for hours, was now very loudly demanding to know why she had left the warm thing. Every inch of exposed skin prickled with goosebumps.

She very nearly dove right back into Xavi’s fur. The urge was so strong she actually took half a step backwards before she caught herself.

Tera forced herself to walk toward the entrance instead, wrapping her arms around herself to trap whatever residual warmth she could.

She was impressed with herself. A lot of the sticks at the entrance had collapsed, but the shelter had held.

Through the gaps, she could see the world outside. Everywhere was a mess. The ground was severely muddy with a small layer of water surrounding every surface.

She wondered, absently, how the Jackdaw tribe had fared in this weather. Their settlement had been on higher ground, and while the structures had been good, she wasn’t sure about their structural integrity, but she hoped they were fine.

A wall of warmth suddenly pressed against her back.