Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband novel Chapter 235

Chapter 235: A Sovereign’s Celebration (Pt 2)

The duckling mosh pit had successfully exhausted itself after fifteen minutes of aggressive peeping. As the fluffy fledglings collapsed into a pile of downy, sleepy feathers near the dessert table, Vali realized his duties as Master of Ceremonies were temporarily fulfilled.

It was time for his primary objective.

The silver wolf-cub jumped down from his barrel, slicking back the wild tufts of fur on his head. He took a deep breath, puffed out his chest to maximum capacity, and let his bright pink eyes scan the chaotic Warlord gardens.

He locked onto his target instantly.

Sitting safely away from the Warlord guards who were currently trying (and failing) to out-drink Rurik, Clover was perched on a padded velvet stool. The little bunny-cub looked completely adorable in a pale pink dress that matched the ribbons tied around her long, floppy ears. But while the other children were playing, Clover was entirely focused on her leather ledger, her nose twitching rapidly as she calculated the evening’s expenses.

Vali knew he couldn’t just approach her empty-handed. He was a wolf of the North. He needed to show dominance, provider-instincts, and exceptional wealth.

He immediately pivoted toward the high table, executing a flawless tactical slide under the tablecloth, and emerged near the Warlord treasury chests that had been brought out for the wedding gifts. He didn’t steal—Vali was an honorable Warlord-in-training—but he did strategically acquire a single, incredibly shiny, fist-sized amethyst that Caspian had left sitting near the wine goblets.

He also grabbed a plate stacked precariously high with Primrose’s famous honey-cake.

Armed with sugar and precious gems, Vali marched over to the bunny-cub.

"Clover," Vali announced, his voice dropping an octave as he tried to sound like his father. He slammed the plate of cake and the massive purple gemstone onto the table next to her ledger. "I have secured the perimeter. And I have brought you tribute."

Clover blinked, pulling her charcoal pencil away from the paper. She looked at the towering plate of cake, and then her eyes locked onto the glowing amethyst.

A standard child would have been mesmerized by the pretty color. Clover, however, was a merchant’s daughter down to her very bones. Her sweet, delicate face immediately shifted into a mask of intense professional calculation.

She picked up the amethyst with both hands, holding it up to the light of the fairy-lanterns.

"The clarity is exceptional," Clover murmured, her voice hushed with reverence. "No visible inclusions. It’s an oceanic deep-mine cut. Vali... where did you get this?"

Vali crossed his arms, leaning casually against the table and trying to look like a hardened mercenary. "I acquired it through tactical Warlord maneuvering." (He had asked King Caspian politely, and Caspian had tossed it to him to get him to go away). "I want you to have it. Wolves always provide the best treasures for their... um... preferred business associates."

Clover set the gem down, picking up her pencil again with alarming speed.

"Do you have any idea what the market value of a deep-mine oceanic amethyst is in the Capital right now?" Clover asked, her bunny ears standing straight up with excitement. "With this single stone, we could monopolize the entire silver-feather export business. We could buy three transport carriages. Vali, this is the seed capital we need to launch our empire!"

Vali’s pink eyes went wide. He didn’t care about transport carriages. He just wanted her to think he was cool.

"We can launch an empire?" Vali asked, his tail starting to wag uncontrollably, completely betraying his tough-guy act. "Like... together?"

"Obviously together," Clover smiled, finally looking away from the gemstone and giving him a sweet, incredibly warm look that made Vali’s heart do a violent backflip. "You are my Head of Security. I can’t run a mercantile conglomerate without my Alpha protecting the assets."

Vali felt like he could fight a dragon bare-handed. She called him her Alpha. She wanted to build an empire with him. This was the greatest Warlord courtship in the history of the continent.

Clover carefully tucked the massive gemstone into her small, beaded purse, patting it securely. Then, she picked up a silver fork, scooped up a large piece of the honey-cake Vali had brought her, and held it out to him.

"Here," Clover said softly, her nose twitching in that cute, distracting way it always did. "You need to keep your strength up if you’re going to be fighting off rival merchants for me."

Vali happily ate the cake right off the fork, his silver tail thumping rhythmically against the wooden floorboards.

"I will bite anyone who tries to underbid you, Clover," Vali promised fiercely, his mouth entirely full of frosting.

"No biting the clients, Vali," Clover reminded him with a gentle sigh, though she was laughing as she wiped a smear of frosting off his cheek with her napkin.

"Right. No biting. Only growling," Vali corrected himself instantly.

As the Warlord wedding raged on around them—with Cassian currently threatening to cast a localized quarantine spell on the dance floor and Rurik challenging a tree to an arm-wrestling match—the two cubs sat quietly at their table. Vali proudly stood guard over the ledger, and Clover plotted their financial domination of the beast-kin economy, sharing a plate of honey-cake under the fairy lights.

Across the dance floor, standing at perfect military parade rest near the edge of the buffet tables, Arjun was shaking his head. The nine-year-old tiger-cub was observing Vali’s attempts at mercantile romance with deep, tactical disapproval.

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