The trio knew they were wrong.
Yan stepped forward first and pulled Ziqian into a hug. "I'm sorry, Ziqian. We didn't feel comfortable either, but we thought it was the right thing to do."
"I'm sorry too. Don't cry… it makes me want to cry as well," Qiu said as she joined the embrace, hugging both Ziqian and Yan. Even before she spoke, tears were already spilling down her cheeks.
Tei smiled and gently caressed Ziqian's long black hair. "We're sorry, Ziqian. It won't happen again. We were just confused and didn't know what to do. No matter what, you're still our friend. Can you forgive us?"
Ziqian nodded.
The four of them hugged and talked for a long while, just like they used to. Xue listened from the side as he prepared their food. Even though he had wanted to step in and comfort Ziqian the moment he saw him cry, he held back. He understood that Ziqian needed this—he needed to let it out.
Xue had seen how withdrawn Ziqian had become after the tribe's attitude toward him suddenly changed. The sadness in his eyes had been impossible to miss.
It is not putting Ziqian on a pedestal but instead pushing him away.
That's why, with the help of the trio, along with Lia, Xue spoke up for him, informing the entire tribe of how uncomfortable Ziqian had become after being treated like an outsider and that he only hoped to be treated the same as before.
It made many people sigh at how benevolent Ziqian was. Some members of the tribe gradually relaxed and began treating him as they had previously, while a few remained anxious, and others continued to avoid him out of fear. It was likely these individuals who had spread the malicious gossip about him.
After that, Ziqian returned to his usual routine. He greeted everyone as he always had—chatting with the females and sub-beasts, playing with the children, and occasionally asking passing beasts about their prey for the day.
His life in the tribe returned to normal. At the very least, no one looked at him as though they were about to kneel and pray.
~
Today marked the fourth day.
They had just returned from the forest, and Ziqian was lying beside Huo, resting quietly at his side while Xue brought their harvest back to their tent.
Huo was still unconscious, and despite Lia and the guardians' repeated assurances that he was recovering well, Ziqian was starting to get worried.
Ever since they returned, Xue had been staying with him. Ziqian didn't mind, since the tent had originally been Xue's, and the man was comfortable to sleep beside.
Ziqian wasn't naive. He knew exactly what Xue was trying to do by staying in the same tent with him.
Still, they only slept. They didn't cross any real boundary yet. They had only kissed and touched a little here and there before eventually falling asleep in each other's embrace. Xue was restrained, almost careful, as if testing something fragile and afraid of rushing to claim it.
This experience was new to Ziqian since he had never slept in bed with a man without having sex before. This kind of simple intimacy with Xue makes him feel sweet.
Everything that was happening only made his feelings more complicated.
When Huo woke up, his own feelings would no longer be something he could avoid. He didn't know who he would choose.
No—he couldn't choose at all.
The twins were both important to him.
When did you become so greedy, Ziqian?
He was still tangled in those thoughts when Gae's voice broke through his trance. "Ah-Zi, Huo is waking up."
Ziqian immediately sat up and leaned closer, his gaze locking onto the man struggling to open his eyes. It takes a while before those familiar bright golden orbs finally focus on him.
Ziqian had expected it would be like before, that Huo would only wake for a fleeting moment before slipping back into sleep again. But this time, the beast's lips parted, trembling, as he tried to speak.
"…Ziqian." The voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper.
Ziqian bit down on his lip, holding back the tears brimming in his eyes. "Huo… I'm here," he whispered, gently caressing the man's cheek.
"I'm here," he repeated softly, afraid that Huo hadn't heard him the first time. Fear and relief twisted together in his chest.
~
"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" Ziqian asked again. He had lost count of how many times he had asked that question to Huo.
Huo only shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his mouth as his eyes stayed fixed on Ziqian as if looking anywhere else might make the sub-beast in front of him disappear.
"Then I'll go inform Bei and Lia that you are now awake," Ziqian said softly. "They've been worried about you too."
He tried to stand, but a weak hand caught his wrist.
"…Stay." Huo had already drunk water, yet his voice remained rough, each word scraping painfully on his throat.
Ziqian froze.
How could he possibly say no? Huo looked so fragile like this—pale and utterly exhausted, his fingers clinging to Ziqian's hand as if letting go would drag him back into the jaws of that monster.
Ziqian gave in and told himself that Lia or Xue would come soon anyway.
He lay back down beside him, carefully nestling against Huo's chest, listening to the steady rhythm of the man's heartbeat as he wrapped an arm around Huo's waist.
"You made me worried," Ziqian murmured.
Huo tried to move and face the sub-beast, but his limbs refused to obey, heavy and weak as if they belonged to someone else.
He didn't know what had happened after his last desperate attack on the monster. Everything after that was a blur of darkness and drifting consciousness.
But now, he felt fortunate that the first person he saw when he truly woke up was the same person he had been thinking of when he believed he was dying.
"…Ziqian," Huo called.
"Hm?" Ziqian answered with his eyes closed, listening to the subtle changes in Huo's heartbeat. The rhythm beneath his ear was soothing. His restless thoughts in the past few days quieted, replaced by the simple comfort of knowing Huo was here, alive and breathing.
"I… like… you…" Huo confessed again, each word slow and careful.
Ziqian was about to respond when the tent flap was suddenly pulled open and someone barged inside without a word.
"You're awake." The man's voice was flat and cold, devoid of any joy that his brother was now conscious. "We will call Mother to check on you."
"No need… Ziqian—"
"Ziqian has already had a hard time taking care of you while handling everything else," Xue cut in coldly. "He needs proper rest."
Huo frowned, his brow knitting together.
Ziqian sat up and looked at the expressionless, handsome man. In the dim interior of the tent, Xue's presence felt strangely colder.
Ziqian's heart sank. Something felt wrong about the man's expression.
"Huo, we'll call the high priest to check on you first," Ziqian said softly, his voice gentle, almost coaxing. "Then I'll make you some soup, okay?"
"Soup?"
"You'll know it later." Ziqian smiled as he squeezed Huo's hand lightly. "I'll be back soon."
Huo looked at him for a while, then gave a small, reluctant nod.
Ziqian leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Huo's forehead before leaving with Xue.
Xue barely spoke on their way back. His silence was heavier than before, and Ziqian felt it keenly. Ziqian knew something was wrong, yet he was too afraid to bring it up.
How could he ask Xue for clarity when his own feelings were a tangled knot?
Not long after, Lia and Bei hurried in to check on Huo.
Piece by piece, Huo learned what had happened while he lay unconscious. How the hunting group had been rescued. How Lin's actions had led to the five-horned beast's attack. How Ziqian had received an oracle and risked his own life to save them. Even Ziqian's identity as the Beast God's Messenger was explained to him by Lia.
There was only one truth Lia did not dare to confess.
The reason he had chosen Huo to lead the hunting group back then was to give Ziqian and Xue time alone together.
Huo was only briefly surprised when he learned about Ziqian. In truth, it felt inevitable. If Ziqian was not the God's Messenger, then who else could be?
What truly caught Huo off guard was his mother's concern.
Since they were young, he had always believed that Lia cared only for Xue. But now, seeing him standing there, eyes red and voice trembling with relief at his survival, that long-held belief quietly cracked. Lia cried as he apologized to him again and again, his hands shaking as he clutched Huo's. If his father had not been there, steadying his mother, Huo did not know how he would have calmed him.
This scene made something loosened inside his chest.
The weight he had carried for so many years, heavy and unmoving, finally lifted, as though a stone that had long pressed against his heart had been gently taken away.
If there was anything he could be grateful for in what had happened, it was that he finally knew how important he was to the two special sub-beasts in his life.