The heavy rain poured down, and Lucien was lost again.
While chasing behind the wolf beastman, he noticed tufts of fur scattered on the ground from time to time—the wolf's fur. He could smell Celeste's scent on the fur, which confirmed his suspicion that Celeste had been taken away by the wolf.
[A/N: Celeste deliberately held onto Sylas' fur tightly in order to leave clues for Lucien without Sylas being cautious of her actions.]
"This is..." He suddenly smelled a bloody scent coming from ahead.
He quickly swam over and saw several beastmen corpses, one of which bore claw marks, coming from that wolf.
"Who's there?" Lucien's tail lashed out violently, striking a tree and snapping it in half.
"Don't... Please don't kill me..." A beastman appeared from the back of the tree.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Lucien asked in a sharp, stern voice.
"High one, please forgive my rudeness. I… I did not intend to eavesdrop; I was merely passing by."
"Just passing by? Then how do you explain the bloodstains on you?"
The beastman knew that he had been exposed, immediately transformed into his beast form and then fled, but how could a level 3 beastman possibly be faster than Lucien?
The beastman was struck by his tail and sent flying through the air.
"Tell me what you know, or else die."
"Don't kill me, I will tell you everything I know." The beastman immediately said.
From his words, Lucien learned that the level 6 wolf beastman was the leader of the 'rogue beastman', and that he possessed a secret of the Lord of Tiger City, which is why they were sent to kill him.
This beastman was only level 3, no match for Sylas at all, and he didn't want to die, so he hid far away until the battle was over before coming out to check the results and take their corpses back to report to the Lord of Tiger City, but was caught by Lucien.
"Which direction did they go? And did you see a beautiful female with them?" Lucien continued to ask.
"They… they went in the southeast direction. And a beautiful female… I remember that there was a female who was riding on Sylas' back, but I'm not sure if she's the one you are looking for."
"That is all I know. High one, can I go now?"
Lucien didn't answer. The next second, his tail grazed against his neck, leaving a bloody mark, and the beastman died with his eyes wide open.
Then he quickly swam through the forest towards the southeast direction.
"You should have known what happened after that. Sylas was fighting the demon beast, and I caught the chance to bring you back." After saying all that, Lucien rested his head on her shoulders.
Silence.
After a while, Celeste said, "Actually, Sylas wasn't that bad; he took good care of me along the way."
"Celeste, never trust anything that 'rogue beastmen' says. "The reason that 'rogue beastmen' dared to force themselves upon females so brazenly was because they aren't affected by the spiritual marks as much as normal beastmen do." Lucien looked at her seriously.
"What…?"
"My mother once believed the words of a 'rogue beastman.' That beastman sweet-talked her, and my mother completely believed him, then abandoned my father and me and left with him."
"Year after year, I never stopped searching for her, but I've never found any trace of her. The words of those 'rogue beastmen' are completely untrustworthy; my father died because of them," Lucien said calmly, but Celeste could hear the tremor in his voice.
Before Celeste could even comfort him, the snake's tail tightened its grip. Lucien seemed to have lost his mind; the long, slender snake's tongue flicked into her mouth, kissing her.
He grabbed Celeste's hands with one hand, pinning them above her head, and then began to strip off her clothes.
Celeste was dressed in a garment made from the shed snakeskin of Lucien, which he made himself. At first, she refused to wear it (the thought of snakes filled her with fear), but after she's more familiar with Lucien, she got used to it and accepted the gift.
[A/N: Lucien got so excited that he went hunting at midnight that time.]
Lucien transformed completely into his human form, his breath coming in short gasps, and his eyes were clouded with desire, concealing their inherent coldness.
"Hmm!" Celeste tried to push him away, but her hands were completely unable to move.
Her actions basically added fuel to the fire for Lucien; he moved his hands down her side to her lower body.
The room was dimly lit; Celeste could only see a pair of green, vertical pupils above her, and a blurry, shadowy silhouette, which frightened her.
"Hiss~"
"Celeste, mate with me." A hoarse voice sounded above her.
Just as Lucien was about to continue his actions, Celeste froze, feeling a liquid flow from her lower body, and her stomach began to ache.
A sudden sense of foreboding washed over her.
Lucien only smelled a sweet scent in the air, but before he could investigate further, he was startled by the expression on Celeste's face.
Her fair, tender face had gone bloodlessly pale, cold sweat beading across her forehead as she curled up, clutching her stomach.
"It hurts," he heard her say, her voice tinged with grievance.
"Where? Are you injured…?" He moved with lightning speed, about to search her body for the source of her injury.
She wanted to tell him that she was just having her period, but the pain in her stomach was so severe that she couldn't even speak. Her dress was already soaked with blood, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
[Limited-time Quest Unlock: Survive in the Beast World During Your Period]
[Time-Limit: Until Your Period Ends]
[Reward: +15 Survival Points]
[Tip: Just a reminder, females during their period are as attractive to beastmen as catnip is to cats! (๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑)]
[Try your best to survive! I will support you mentally just as always!◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜]