The next moment, Verdant snapped back to her senses and frowned deeply. "What did you say? Take you back to the Midridge Tribe?"
She quickly shook her head, her voice cautious. "Absolutely not! The Oasis Tribe is gone, but the Grymdale Tribe is still looking for you. If they find out you've gone to the Midridge Tribe, it will only bring disaster to my tribe!"
She felt that wasn't enough, and added, "Not even if you saved my life!"
"Oh, really? You're that devoted to your tribe? Then did you know that it was the Witch who coveted the Mermaid Tail Skirt? That's why she had the Porcupine Beastman get The Prismatic Python to ambush you. After you were poisoned, she had no intention of curing you. Instead, she had you thrown off Thorncliff, to leave no corpse and no proof." Evangeline's airy voice held a hint of a smile.
Her voice was delicate and bewitching. When she spoke, she drew out the final syllables of her words, making her sound intimate and tender, utterly captivating.
"That's impossible!" Verdant stiffened, her expression turning grim in an instant.
"You don't believe me? Fine. Take me back, and I'll prove it to you," Evangeline said with a grin, patting Verdant on the shoulder.
"No, I can't! The Grymdale Tribe is hunting you. I'd be bringing disaster upon the tribe…" Verdant frowned, muttering to herself.
Evangeline gave Verdant a look of surprise. 'This female beastman has some integrity. Her character isn't bad.'
She curled her lips into a smile and popped a Disguise Pill into her mouth, then gave Verdant a little shake. "What about now?"
Verdant stared, then instinctively looked up at Evangeline. The sight made her jump, and she stumbled back two steps, her expression guarded. "Who—who are you?"
The words had barely left her lips when she glanced around again. Her heart dropped. 'Where did Evangeline go?'
Evangeline flipped her hand, producing a mirror. Looking at her reflection, she frowned. 'This is so ugly.'
The Disguise Pill was a low-grade alchemical item from the World of Immortals, its main purpose to alter one's appearance after being consumed.
However, the change was uncontrollable; it was impossible to know what one would look like after taking it. Just like now, the person in the mirror had a scrawny figure, barely recognizable as a "female."
The person in the mirror had dark skin and beady eyes. Her mouth was normal enough, but she was undeniably, truly ugly.
As a firm believer in the importance of good looks, Evangeline silently put the mirror back into her dimensional space. She turned to Verdant and said listlessly, "No one should recognize me like this. Can you take me to the Midridge Tribe now?"
Verdant heard the familiar voice and her eyes widened in disbelief. Such a beautiful voice coming from such an ugly face—the contrast was jarring.
"You… you're Evangeline?!" Verdant gasped. It was hard to imagine that the ugly female before her was actually Evangeline.
Immediately after, Verdant's expression shifted. She stepped forward to look Evangeline up and down. "Do you have the powers of a Witch?!"
'Evangeline could change her appearance and pull things out of thin air. Who else could do that but an emissary of the Beast God?'
"I don't go by Evangeline anymore. I'm Flora now," Evangeline said, touching her face and linking her arm with Verdant's.
She smiled sweetly at Verdant. "Let's go back to the Midridge Tribe. Now that you know I'm like a Witch, you'd better listen to me. If you go back alone, do you really think your tribe's Witch will spare you? Relax, I just want to get my Mermaid Tail Skirt back. I won't cause any trouble."
Verdant's heart stirred at Evangeline's words, but she was still full of reservations.
"If you don't start walking, I'll slit your throat," Evangeline whispered, her voice soft and lingering by Verdant's ear, but her words were like venom.
*
On the way back to the Midridge Tribe, Verdant kept looking over at Evangeline before finally speaking. "Eva—"
"Flora," Evangeline corrected her impatiently.
Verdant faltered, then nodded. "Flora, Mundo found the Mermaid Tail Skirt at Thorncliff. How can it be yours?"
"Have you never heard about my Beast Husband from the Mer Clan?" Evangeline replied without even lifting her head.
After her rhetorical question, she answered in a carefree tone, "On the day we made our Contract, I plucked out all of his tail scales and fashioned them into the Mermaid Tail Skirt. I only wore it for one rainy season, then I lost it. So, here I am, looking for it."
GASP— "You… how could you be so vicious?!" Verdant stopped dead in her tracks, her face ashen as she stared at Evangeline.
'The Midridge Tribe was also coastal, and she often went to the shore to collect shellfish. She had, of course, seen the Merfolk, a race born beautiful, with captivating singing voices.'
'But the Mer Clan disliked the land and never spoke to Terrestrial Beastman like her.'
'Evangeline had many Beast Husbands, but she had never heard about one from the Mer Clan. They must have only recently formed their Contract. To think she could be so cruel to a member of such a beautiful race.'
"She really is the number one Virago in all of Norfell," Verdant muttered, her brows knitted tightly together.
"That's right, that's me," Evangeline replied, the corners of her eyes lifting as her face broke into a look of pure innocence.
"You!" Verdant said, indignant. In the end, however, she said nothing more, only stating, "I'll help you get back the Mermaid Tail Skirt. Once you have it, you need to leave the Northlands immediately. This place is crawling with beastmen who want you dead."
'And they're all your Beast Husbands,' Verdant added silently in her mind, not daring to speak the thought aloud.
"Deal!" Evangeline agreed without a moment's hesitation.
Verdant, however, didn't believe her. 'Now that Evangeline has the powers of a Witch and has become an emissary of the Beast God, she can change her appearance. Even if she stays in Norfell, her Beast Husbands might not even recognize her.'
As they neared the Midridge Tribe, Evangeline didn't forget to change into her filthy Beast Skin Skirt.
'When in Rome. It was an essential skill for completing any mission.'
'Her goal right now was to get back the Mermaid Tail Skirt without making a scene. Until she had a proper grasp of the power levels on the Beastman Continent, laying low was the only smart move. Her retirement had only just begun; there was no need to go stirring up trouble everywhere.'
'Of course, laying low didn't mean she'd be a pushover. When necessary, she would still make a move.'
When Verdant glanced back, she saw that Evangeline had already changed out of the very unique Beast Skin Skirt she had been wearing.
She breathed a sigh of relief. 'In the tribe, the biggest taboo is being different from everyone else. Just like that Mermaid Tail Skirt that Mundo brought back…'
The Midridge Tribe was not so different from the Oasis Tribe she remembered.
Evangeline stood at the tribe's entrance, watching Verdant get swarmed by her kin. Several male beastmen were even hugging her, sobbing their hearts out.
Evangeline tilted her head, her beady, disguised eyes narrowing slightly.
'On the Beastman Continent, males were very good to females. After a Contract, their love was one hundred percent loyal. It was a shame she'd been dealt such a terrible hand. Every single one of her Beast Husbands wanted her dead. Love? She didn't have that.'
"Verdant! Where have you been? We looked all over the gathering grounds for you. You scared me to death!"
"I even went to the Hunting Grounds to look! Verdant, don't you ever run off like that again!"
"Verdant, are you hurt? Do you want us to get the Witch to take a look at you?"
"…"
As the crowd chattered on, someone suddenly pointed at Evangeline and asked, "Verdant, who is she?"
Verdant finally snapped out of her daze from her kinsfolk's passionate inquiries and turned to look at Evangeline.
She paused, then pulled Evangeline over. "This is The little maiden I found outside. She has no Beast-father or Beast-mother, and no family. I saw it was getting dark and was worried she'd run into danger, so I brought her back to our tribe for now. We can ask the leader and the Witch if she can stay, okay?"
Verdant was sincere when she spoke that last sentence.
'Evangeline's Beast-father, Beast-mother, and tribe were all dead, and she herself was being hunted. If she could maintain this appearance, it wouldn't be impossible for her to stay in the Midridge Tribe. She was a female, after all. She could live a good life, and that would be that.'
"A female?" The members of the Midridge Tribe looked Evangeline over, their eyes bright with interest.
She was a little ugly, sure, but she was a female nonetheless. As long as she could bear children, she was a good female. And just like that, Evangeline received a warm welcome from all the members of the Midridge Tribe.