After failing to express her feelings, Batuya felt extremely embarrassed and threw a tantrum at home.
Unexpectedly, her father, Elder Bagu, didn't comfort her. Instead, he lectured her with moral advice.
Angry, Batuya stormed out of the house.
Outside, she ran into a dirty stray beast that tried to attack her.
Batuya was a fourth-rank, and so was the beast. She was also outnumbered, so she stood no chance.
Seeing she couldn't win, Batuya ran while screaming for help.
Just when she thought she was doomed, she luckily met Miliano, who saved her from danger.
Although Miliano and Alessio had the same face, their personalities were very different. Batuya dared to confess her feelings to Alessio in front of the whole tribe, but she couldn't act boldly in front of Miliano.
Miliano stood tall and firm, his face showing a cold and distant expression.
He didn't ask why Batuya was attacked by the stray beast but warned her in a cold voice never to have any improper thoughts about his brother again.
He also ordered Batuya to apologize to Fannie for her previous foolish behavior and promised never to repeat it.
Batuya was truly afraid of Miliano deep down. But apologizing to her rival felt harder than climbing the sky. She hadn't done anything wrong, so why should she apologize?
"Why should I apologize?" Batuya thought.
"Because she is the lord's wife!"
"What's so special about being the lord's wife? Who knows if she tricked the lord into loving her?"
"Those stray beasts that chased you earlier haven't gone far."
Hearing this, Batuya's face turned pale. A bad feeling rose in her chest. She looked at Miliano with wide eyes and asked in a trembling voice, "What… what do you mean?"
She tried to stay calm, but inside she was panicking. "My father is Elder Bagu, my brother is the lord's strongest assistant. If you hand me over to those beasts, they… they won't let you off."
Her threat was like a punch to cotton—completely ineffective.
Miliano, an eight-rank beast, would not be intimidated by two fourth-rank beasts. This level of threat was a joke to him.
He looked at Batuya expressionlessly and said calmly, "Is that so?"
Then his eyes sharpened, giving off a dangerous aura. He spoke slowly, his voice cold and firm, leaving no room for negotiation. "If I tell you to apologize, you must apologize to her. Also, if I find out you ever make her unhappy, you will face the consequences."
For proud Batuya, apologizing to someone else felt like slapping herself.
But she knew very well that this male in front of her was not someone to argue with. If he said something, he would make it happen. If he said there would be consequences, he would take action.
"Fine, I'll apologize," Batuya said, unwilling but obedient.
When Batuya returned to the tribe, it was already dawn. From a distance, she saw Saning holding a wooden basin, standing quietly outside Alessio's cave.
Seeing this, Batuya immediately walked over, rolling her eyes and heading straight into the cave without hesitation.
"Miss Batuya, please stop! You can't go in."
Saning quickly stretched out her arm to block Batuya.
Already in a bad mood, Batuya became even angrier at Saning's interruption. She raised her eyebrows and glared, "You lowly stray beast, how dare you block my way? Are you tired of living?"
Saning stayed calm and replied softly, "Miss Batuya, please speak quietly so you don't disturb the lord and his wife."
Usually, at this hour, Alessio would already be out patrolling his territory. That was why Batuya dared to act so boldly and try to rush into the cave.
However, when Batuya heard that Alessio was also in the cave, she felt nervous. Feeling guilty, she shut her mouth, glared sharply at Saning, and lowered her voice to say, "Why didn't you say anything earlier? I can see you did it on purpose!"
Saning felt extremely wronged and explained, "Miss Batuya, you rushed in as soon as you arrived. What could I do?"
Although Batuya was in the wrong, she refused to admit it and glared at Saning fiercely. "I say you did it on purpose, so you did it on purpose!"
At that moment, Alessio walked out from inside, telling them to lower their voices so they wouldn't disturb Fannie's rest.
"Go prepare some roasted meat. When Fannie wakes up, give it to her."
"Yes," Saning replied.
After putting down the water, she went to the storage cave to get fresh meat.
Alessio then looked at Batuya and asked, "Why are you here?"
Batuya felt embarrassed about apologizing, so she wanted as few people as possible to know. She lied, "Nothing, I'm just walking around, just walking around."
Alessio warned, "Don't go in and disturb Fannie."
Batuya muttered vague responses like "Mm-hmm."
After Alessio left to patrol the territory, Batuya waited patiently at the cave entrance for a while.
But as time passed, she grew impatient. Seeing no other beastmen around, she straightened her back and confidently walked inside.
Batuya went directly to the bed and called out twice to the still-sleeping Fannie.
When Fannie didn't wake, Batuya picked up a fruit and threw it at her.
Fannie was hit on the arm and woke up in pain from the dream.
When Fannie opened her eyes and saw the red fruit beside her, she looked confused.
"Awake?"
"Ba… Batuya sister?"
"I'm here to apologize to you."
"Apologize?"
Fannie sat up on the bed, looking at Batuya in confusion.
Proud Batuya coming to apologize early in the morning—was she still dreaming, or had the sun risen in the west?
Batuya reluctantly said, "I shouldn't have confessed to the lord, and I shouldn't have challenged you beyond my level. I've thought it through. Forcing things never works. I won't like the lord anymore!"
"Really?"
"Really, really, it's all true! Now the lord finally belongs to you. Are you satisfied?"
"I'm a little confused."
To prove she wasn't dreaming, Fannie got out of bed and pinched Batuya.
Batuya, in pain, pushed Fannie away.
"Why did you pinch me?"
"Does it hurt?"
"Are you crazy? I'm not made of iron. Of course it hurts!"
"Looks like it's not a dream."
"You really are crazy!"
Batuya rolled her eyes in anger.
Fannie blinked and asked, "You really thought it through?"
Batuya spoke slowly, word by word, "I thought it through!"
In the whole tribe, only Batuya dared to confess her feelings to Alessio in public. Fannie truly wanted to bring them together, but his energy was too overwhelming—she couldn't handle it alone!
Fannie held Batuya's hand and spoke earnestly, "Batuya sister, even if a forced melon isn't sweet, it still quenches thirst!"
"Don't be fooled by how Alessio treats me well now, saying he loves me. As long as it's just me, it's really just for novelty!"
"When the novelty wears off, he won't care about me anymore!"
"Batuya sister, you must, must not give up. You are the most beautiful female in the tribe. As long as you don't give up, I believe Alessio will be moved by you!"
Batuya looked at Fannie as if she had seen a ghost.
She felt Fannie was acting strange, but she couldn't figure out exactly why.
They were rivals!
In her life, she had never seen any female be so attentive to a rival. Was there something seriously wrong with her brain?
"I've never seen a female willing to share a partner! Isn't it better to have the lord's love all to yourself? Why are you telling me not to give up?"
"Because Alessio is the tribe lord!"
Fannie said seriously, "As a tribe lord, having only one partner is embarrassing. Other tribes will laugh at him!"
"As Alessio's partner, I naturally can't let him lose face. Batuya sister, you like Alessio so much. If you live with us, our days will definitely be lively and full of fun!"
"Batuya sister, what do you think?"
Batuya's heart started to stir again!
But when she thought of Miliano's warning, a chill ran down her spine, and her heart trembled.
Batuya liked Alessio and dreamed of becoming his partner, but she was even more afraid of getting into trouble with Miliano.
The beast world had no shortage of male beastmen, and she was beautiful. Risking her life for a male who didn't love her was not worth it at all!
"No!"
Batuya had never been so clear-headed. She stared at Fannie, her gaze firm and determined, speaking word by word, "I don't want to live with you!"
Fannie felt a little disappointed.
It had only been one night, yet Batuya seemed like a completely different person.
She liked Alessio so much—how could she give up so easily?
"Batuya sister, are you really not reconsidering?"
"No need to reconsider!"
"Really not reconsidering?"
"You're strange, you know that?"
Batuya wasn't unwilling to consider it.
She was afraid to consider it!
Batuya frowned. "The lord already said he belongs only to you! Why would you try to give him to another female? Doing that would hurt the lord's heart!"
Fannie felt helpless!
Who wants to deal with a good person and a leopard 'humping' every day?
But she couldn't say anything!
Fannie had planned to use this chance to get close to Batuya, but now Batuya's love-brain had sobered up. She didn't want Alessio anymore. This was going to be difficult!
For such a tough mission, the system should at least reward her a thousand points, right?
Fannie blinked and said sincerely, "I really like Batuya sister and want to be good friends with her. Batuya sister, would you like to be my friend?"
Batuya was exasperated!
They were rivals. It was already amazing they hadn't fought to the death. Being friends? Impossible!
Remembering Miliano's warning not to make Fannie unhappy, Batuya forced a smile and held Fannie's hand back. "Actually, I really, really like you too. In my heart, I've already treated you as my good friend, really!"
If they were already good friends, why hadn't Fannie's plan worked?
It turned out she wasn't the only one pretending.
Batuya was acting too?
Fannie also forced a smile and looked at Batuya. "Really? Then do you dare swear? If you don't treat me as a good friend, I'll punish you by making you as skinny as me!"
Batuya obviously wouldn't swear lightly. What if it actually happened?
The smile on Batuya's face slowly faded. She let go of Fannie's hand and retorted, "Good friends don't doubt each other. If you don't trust me, does that mean you never really treated me as a friend?"
She had seen through it!
Looks like Batuya wasn't stupid.
To continue her plan, Fannie had no choice but to act harder. She said in a wronged voice, "If I didn't treat Batuya sister as a friend, why would I try to match you with Alessio? Don't wrongly accuse me, Batuya sister."
Batuya thought about it. It did make some sense.
But they were rivals!
She no longer disliked Fannie, but being friends with a rival—she had never thought about it!
At that moment, a female beastman hurried in from outside and said that Saning had been bullied again. Fannie quickly went to check.
Hearing that Saning had been bullied—again—Fannie abandoned her plan to win over Batuya and quickly followed the female beastman.
Batuya followed too.
On the way, Fannie asked a few simple questions.
The female beastman said that when Saning went to collect fresh meat, the male beastman guarding the storage intentionally caused trouble.
He not only refused to give Saning the meat but also tried to take advantage of her.
"It must be Ochi!"
"Who's Ochi?"
"The only son of Elder Ote. All the tribe's food is under his control!"
Batuya spoke with disdain, clearly disliking Ochi. "Elder Ote manages the tribe's supplies, so guarding the storage naturally falls to his son. Every time a female comes to collect food, Ochi finds a way to take advantage of her!"
Hearing this, Fannie quickened her pace.
Meanwhile, outside the storage cave, a burly male beastman with a leopard-like nose was groping Saning.
This beastman was Ochi!
As Elder Ote's only son, Ochi had a special obsession with the tribe's most beautiful female, Batuya!
In Ochi's eyes, this match was perfect, but he felt frustrated. Despite pursuing Batuya for so long, she had never agreed to be his partner and didn't even give him a proper look!
Ochi was currently in mating season and needed a female to help him through this difficult time.
If he touched a single female in the tribe, he would have to take responsibility for her. Ochi didn't want to make anyone his partner, so the innocent Saning became his target!
Ochi cornered Saning against the stone wall, playing with her tail and tempting her with food. "If you come with me, I promise you'll get fresh food every day and will never go hungry again."