Ophelia's blunt words slapped Loki right in the face.
"It's just a piece of cowhide. Why are you being so stingy?" he glared at her.
"Miche is weak and often gets sick during the rainy season. This cowhide could help her stay healthy. Can you stop being so selfish?
"Besides, Amy visits Miche all the time. If she catches a sickness from her, wouldn't your heart ache?" Loki lowered his voice in a thinly veiled threat.
"Loki, please don't fight with Ophelia over me anymore," Miche urged. "I'd rather fall ill than see you two at odds. Once the rainy season comes, just keep Amy away from me. I'll endure it."
Ophelia crossed her arms over her chest and quietly watched her put on this little act.
Seeing that her mother wouldn't even spare her a glance, Amy's eyes welled with tears. She bit her lip. "I don't want Miche to get sick! Ophelia, if you don't give the cowhide to her, I won't acknowledge you as my mother anymore!"
Those words, which had always worked like a charm in the past, were met only with silence.
Furious, Amy swung her little fists and charged at Ophelia.
Dark currents surged in Tyler's brown eyes. "Even if you are the Princess's daughter, I will not allow you to hurt her," he warned, stepping in.
"You stinky male!" Amy pounded her small fists against Tyler's legs and, still unsatisfied, sank her teeth into his wrist.
"Amy, let go! Did I ever teach you to bully others like this?" Ophelia snapped sharply upon seeing Tyler's skin broken and bleeding.
Having never been scolded by her mother in such a harsh tone, Amy shrank back in fright. She turned and threw herself into Loki's arms.
"WAAAH! Father, I don't want her as my mother! Drive her away! Break your mate bond with her and make her get out of the Snow Wolf Clan!" Crystal tears rolled down Amy's tiny face.
A faint smile tugged at the corners of Miche's lips. She affectionately patted Amy's head. "Amy, Ophelia is just angry that you hurt Tyler. She still loves you."
"I don't want her love! I don't want her to be my mother! I want you to be my mother, Miche!"
Seeing his daughter crying so heartbrokenly, Loki softly coaxed her. "Be a good girl, Amy. Mother is being bad. Father will teach her a lesson for you later, okay?"
Amy stopped crying and sniffled. "Then you have to make her apologize to Miche, and make her give the cowhide to her too."
"Okay, okay, I will."
Ophelia raised an eyebrow. What a wonderful daughter she had, advocating for Miche's benefits even while sobbing.
"Did you hear that?" Loki demanded. "Once we get back to the tribe, hurry up and deliver the cowhide to Miche. You wouldn't want Amy to keep crying, would you?"
"Yes, Ophelia. The cowhide isn't that important, but it breaks my heart to see Amy's beautiful eyes swollen like this," Miche said, shooting Ophelia a smug look.
Ophelia scoffed coldly. "Amy, haven't I taught you? You cannot take things that don't belong to you, or your hands will rot off."
Amy was still very young. Hearing this, she subconsciously hid her hands behind her back. Clearly, she knew her demands were wrong.
"Don't ever let me catch you doing something like this again," Ophelia warned.
Amy squirmed and buried her face in her father's chest, avoiding her mother's gaze.
"Amy, what are you supposed to do right now!" Ophelia raised her voice commandingly.
The little female cub hesitated. Once, when she had snatched a fruit from another female cub in the tribe, her mother found out and not only smacked her palms as punishment but also forced her to apologize. She had lost so much face that day.
But seeing her mother's stern expression, she reluctantly turned her head. Blushing with shame, she whispered, "I'm sorry, Tyler."
After apologizing, she aggrievedly buried herself back into Loki's embrace and began to sob quietly.
"It's just child's play. Do you have to be so strict?" Miche interjected, never missing a chance to sow discord. "Or is Tyler, a mere Guardian, more important to you than your own daughter?
"Humiliating your own child like this... you aren't fit to be Amy's mother at all."
Loki gritted his teeth and glared at her. "Ophelia, don't even think about seeing Amy ever again!"
"Whoever wants to see her can see her," Ophelia retorted. She took Tyler's hand and walked toward the bison carcass. "Let's go."
Miche stared venomously at their retreating figures. "Damn it, that little bitch got the fine cowhide," she thought.
Upon returning to the stone house, Ophelia had Tyler skin the bison and deer and hand the hides over to her.
Looking at the large, branch-like deer antlers on the ground, she thought for a moment before storing them away in her spatial domain as well. Deer antlers had medicinal value, and since these were completely wild, she wondered if they could be exchanged for points.
Taking advantage of Tyler going to the lake to process the meat, Ophelia locked the door and entered her spatial domain.
Twenty hours had passed since she planted her first batch of crops, and twelve hours since the second. The tiny seeds had already sprouted into knee-high plants, growing lush and delightfully green.
The deer and cow hides sold for 200 points in total. Ophelia bought ten bags of wheat seeds, which was only enough to cover one hundred square meters of land.
She then checked the system for the deer antlers. Sure enough, the farm space accepted them and priced them by weight. However, the purchase price wasn't as high as the modern market—only 50 points per pound.
The heavy antlers weighed ten pounds, earning her a solid 500 points. Looking at the 500 points in her balance and her remaining one hundred square meters of land, Ophelia decided to go big. She was going to plant fruit!
Fruit saplings were ten points more expensive than crop seeds, and they took eighty-eight hours to mature—roughly three to four days. Each sapling required ten square meters of space, and a single packet yielded one hundred fruits. Ten saplings cost 300 points and would perfectly fill the remaining land.
Fruits were incredibly rare in the Beast World. A single bag weighing one pound could be traded for three large animal pelts.
Thus, she chose to plant a wide variety: apple, peach, tangerine, dragon fruit, Shine Muscat grapes, watermelon, and banana. Because she especially loved lychees, she planted three whole lychee trees.
She didn't let her remaining 200 points sit idle, either. She immediately spent them on five bags each of rice and wheat seeds. This way, once the second batch of rice matured, the spatial domain would be able to replant automatically.
"With grain in storage, the heart is at peace," she thought. That night, Ophelia slept wonderfully.
The next day, Tyler didn't go out hunting since they had caught two large prey animals the day before.
After they finished lunch at noon, the farm alarm chimed, notifying her that the second batch of rice was fully mature and had been harvested. Two hundred pounds of rice were now safely stored in the warehouse, and the fields had automatically been replanted with rice and wheat.
She now had a total of three hundred pounds of rice in the warehouse. She had previously promised at the trading market that she would bring one hundred pounds of rice next time. This was her first step to opening up the market, and since she had made a promise, she had to keep it.
She brought Tyler out of the Snow Wolf Clan's settlement, asking him to wait under a tree while she carried two woven vine baskets behind a small hill.
About five minutes later, she called out, "Tyler, come over here!"
Confused, Tyler walked around to the back of the hill. His shock was palpable when he saw the baskets overflowing with pristine white rice once again.
"Shh. It's a secret." Before he could even ask, Ophelia blinked and smiled playfully.