QT: Against My Will-Chapter 663 - 13.28 - A Will To Change

[Side quest: Maintain a balance of power among the male leads. Ensure equal strength and influence until the main mission is completed. SUCCESS. Reward: +5000 points.]

[Side quest: Tyrion’s existence poses a growing threat to the male and female leads. Ensure their survival until the primary mission is completed. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

SUCCESS. Reward: +7500 p.]

[Side quest: Help the female lead to become the Beast City’s Queen. SUCCESS. Reward: +2000p.]

Bing Shi has been observing Hikari to make sure she wouldn’t be a competition to the female lead.

It seemed like that as long as nobody provoked Hikari, she wasn’t going to cause any trouble. She truly looked like she just wanted to live in peace with her harem, nothing more, and nothing less.

Bing Shi was not going to complain about it. Hikari even helped Bing Shi with protecting the male leads from Tyrion, albeit unconsciously.

[Secondary mission: Your actions might have caused a butterfly effect. Some extraterrestrials could now locate this world and might survey it to deplete it of its resources, an act that could trigger a catastrophic collapse and reset. Safeguard the evolutionary progress of this world for the next hundred years +5000p. Penalty -100,000 in case of failure.]

This was the only mission that didn’t disappear from the log.

It was supposed to be a prank mission, that’s if Bing Shi didn’t care about the wellbeing of this world, but she did.

The aliens outside could destroy it in a blink of an eye if she didn’t do something about it.

Lost in thoughts about her next steps, she was floating on the lake when she saw Tyrion wanting to off himself.

A monogamous beastman, with no chance of ever finding a monogamous female, was an equivalent of a death sentence in this world.

──────────────────────────

Bing Shi slashed her snake tail against Tyrion’s body toward Hikari’s castle, "Go say farewell to your female. I don’t want to have her hunt me to the depth of hell to save her missing male."

Tyrion blinked in confusion as he crashed before the gates. Bing Shi’s tail swayed back and forth, her arms crossed over her chest. She nodded her head in the direction of the castle, a clear sign for him to do it. And so he did.

Tyrion returned with a black eye, but that was not Bing Shi’s concern.

"Follow me," she said, jumping back into the water. Her body glided smoothly under the surface, creating a shimmering trail of light as her tail whipped back and forth, propelling her forward.

Tyrion flapped his wings and took flight, following her.

She was a beautiful sight to behold, her long green hair flowing behind her as she swam with ease. She looked at peace, as if this was her natural habitat, where she belonged.

Bing Shi thoroughly enjoyed the new body she had, like a new dress that was meant to make her look prettier.

It was an extravagant show of power, and an obvious sign of her wealth.

She would like to collect her old bodies from the previous worlds, and asked her husband for them, so she could put them in her collection besides Shina Night and Azura.

He needed a few samples to be able to clone them, so they were getting ready to depart and pay a visit to some of their old acquaintances.

She went to pick up Dai An and Ru Quan along the way, which caused Tyrion to go almost crazy. He hated Dai An to the core for killing Laura and Aria (he would rather die than admit that he came to miss their undivided attention, albeit it was too late to cry over the spilled milk).

Dai An had solidified her role as a Beast God to power up Bing Shi’s godhood, as getting stronger was a habit she couldn’t shake off.

She had started an interesting experiment where she began switching the bodies of cruel females who mistreated males, turning them into males as a form of divine punishment.

This created a new societal legend that discouraged the abuse of male beastmen, and would make the beastmen worship her for many centuries to come.

──────────────────────────

Tyrion noticed that they were traveling to his homeland across the ocean, the very same one he used to live in with his mate in his previous life.

Bing Shi had noticed that he remembered his past life like the second male lead from the ancient world did, Zhao Rong.

It happened whenever they moved on from their soulmates, just for their past lives to remind them that it was not over, like it was trying to keep them away from new romances.

Look at Mr. Jelly, for example. Just because his mind and heart desired Bing Shi, his soul was still bound to another person. He had to suffer through a lot of pain just to get to this point.

But he was finally free and could finally create a bond of his own, through their shared experiences, love, and memories, and not some forced fate.

Their soulmate bond was now their own, and no one had control of it anymore, but themselves.

There weren’t only negatives to having a soulmate bond, let’s admit it.

A soulmate bound could help us to find our destined partner, and to make sure we don’t miss out on them, but it shouldn’t be a leash around our necks, a chain that bound us to each other.

Not all people were lucky enough to be bound to good, loving, and caring soulmates.

Some people were bound to cheating partners, narcissistic, and manipulative individuals against their will.

Some people were bound to more than one soulmate, and had to watch their soulmates fall in love with someone else, while they had to remain in the shadows, unreciprocated.

Should we be forced to suffer and bear a broken heart? Or should we use it as a learning opportunity to better ourselves for our future relationships, even though they might not be our soulmates?

The answer to this was different for every individual, and Bing Shi was a simple person, she knew her answer.

She didn’t need an epic, exciting love story. She didn’t need a passionate romance filled with heart skips, drama and intrigue.

She didn’t need her love to be the most popular, the most powerful, or the most successful. She didn’t need to feel like she had won some sort of prize.

All she needed was someone she could feel comfortable and safe with, someone she could love and be loved in return.

Nobody was perfect. Her husband’s flaws, and his quirks were part of the charm. His broken soul had found its comfort in hers, and even if there might be a better option out there, they were no longer interested.

Commitment was a choice and not a feeling.

He couldn’t give her anything on his death bed, yet she chose to stay loyal to a coma patient, a man whose soul was not in his body.

She couldn’t give him anything during her absence either.

Some might call it foolish or stupid, but that’s the kind of love they chose to have for each other over the time.

They wouldn’t leave each other even when there was nothing to gain now. It became a love that didn’t need anything in return.

It didn’t happen because of a soulmate bond. It wasn’t an instant decision. It was a choice they made every single day, a choice to love each other, to care for each other, and to be there for each other.

It needed two people who were willing to fight for it, not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

It was not about finding the right person, but about being the right person.

It was not about being happy all the time, but about being there for each other when nobody else would.

It was not about changing each other, but about changing themselves for the better.

Bing Shi realized you couldn’t change a person against their will, but if the other party was willing, it was a whole different story.

Tyrion seemed to have a will to change now, and it wasn’t thanks to the hand of one person.

Bing Shi wouldn’t have been able to do it alone if it wasn’t for her team, working tirelessly in the background to influence the world around them, the laws, culture, traditions, and the people themselves.

’So much effort for a single guy. Is he really worth it?’

Maybe for the HQ, but for Bing Shi?

Absolutely not.