Chapter 166: Competing for Sora

Serena’s eyes widened.

Her entire body trembled.

"No..."

She immediately covered her face with both hands.

"Don’t look at me!"

The humiliation was unbearable.

All this time, she had relied on her appearance.

She had carefully maintained the image of a gentle, beautiful female.

But now that image had shattered.

The beastmen could see the truth.

And worse—

Sora had exposed her at the exact moment when she had no way to escape.

Martin closed his eyes briefly.

He seemed unable to accept that the daughter he had raised could poison the entire tribe.

Finally, he sighed.

"Take her away."

Two beastmen stepped forward.

"Father!"

Serena struggled.

"Please listen to me! I didn’t mean to hurt anyone!"

Martin’s face remained stern.

"You admitted it yourself."

Serena’s body went limp.

There was nothing left to say.

Martin pointed toward the two beastmen.

"Take her to the small dark room. Lock her there for tonight. We’ll decide what to do tomorrow."

The two beastmen helped Serena to her feet and led her away.

The crowd gradually dispersed.

The night had grown deep.

Martin looked around.

"Everyone go back to your homes. Whatever needs to be discussed can wait until tomorrow."

The beastmen obeyed.

Soon, the wilderness became quiet again.

Sora watched Serena disappear into the distance.

A satisfied smile appeared on her lips.

Her plan had worked perfectly.

She hadn’t needed to accuse Serena publicly.

She hadn’t needed to force a confession.

All she had done was give Serena enough fear to make her reveal herself.

People who believed they were about to be punished often became their own worst enemies.

Sora turned and began walking back toward the tribe.

Her hips swayed naturally with every step.

Lucas watched her from behind, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.

His gaze lingered on her for a moment before he followed.

Damien’s tongue briefly passed over his lips as he disappeared after her.

Xavier and Ace exchanged a knowing glance.

Ryan, meanwhile, couldn’t help smiling.

Their clever little female had once again outsmarted everyone.

And this time, she had done it without even needing to raise her voice.

The poison-salt crisis had been resolved.

But none of them realized that the events of tonight had only opened the door to an even greater problem.

* * * * *

Having finally resolved the trouble with Serena, Sora was in an exceptionally good mood.

As she walked back toward her wooden house beneath the silver glow of the moon, she hummed a cheerful little tune, her steps noticeably lighter than usual.

She had expected Serena to cause trouble eventually.

What she had not expected was for her to actually tamper with the tribe’s salt despite all the precautions Sora had taken.

To prevent mistakes, Sora had divided the tribe members into several groups during the salt-refining process and assigned people to supervise every stage. She had even arranged for others to keep watch so that no one could secretly interfere.

Yet Serena had still managed to find an opening.

To be fair, Sora had to admit that Serena was rather capable.

Unfortunately for her, her mental fortitude was nowhere near as strong.

A little psychological pressure, a carefully arranged test, and a few carefully chosen words had been enough to make Serena expose herself.

If she had been slightly more patient and less frightened by the possibility of divine punishment, perhaps she could have escaped today’s disaster.

But Sora wasn’t complaining.

The troublesome woman had finally revealed herself, and that was what mattered.

Still, several questions remained unanswered.

For example, how exactly had Serena managed to contaminate the refined salt?

Sora had personally supervised the process.

The discarded brine was supposed to be separated and filtered properly. No one should have had access to the finished salt without being noticed.

Yet somehow, someone had succeeded.

That mystery would have to be investigated later.

There was another thing that bothered her even more.

The strange bumps covering Serena’s face.

Sora had clearly seen them after splashing water onto her.

Before that, Serena’s face had appeared normal.

What exactly had caused those bumps?

Sora was still thinking about it when she entered her room.

She barely had time to sit down on the soft animal hide before—

A pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around her waist from behind.

Sora’s thoughts instantly scattered.

Her entire body stiffened.

Someone was behind her.

One hand remained firmly around her waist while the other slowly moved along her back. A strange warmth spread across her skin, accompanied by a faint cool sensation.

Sora took a careful breath.

That familiar presence...

She knew who it was.

"Xavier, let go of me."

A quiet chuckle sounded beside her ear.

Xavier finally loosened his embrace, though he did not immediately move away.

"Not bad," he murmured. "You can still recognize me."

Sora turned her head and gave him an unimpressed look.

"What did you think? That I wouldn’t know you?"

"I thought you might be too fascinated by Nick Wilde today to notice anyone else."

Sora stared at him.

There it was again.

Jealousy.

She had been dealing with it all day, and apparently the problem was nowhere near over.

"I’m tired," she said flatly. "I don’t have the energy to deal with this."

She tried to get up.

Xavier immediately tightened his hold.

Sora elbowed him lightly.

"Let go."

Instead, Xavier lowered his head, clearly intending to kiss her.

Before he could—

Rustle!

A strange sound came from the window.

Sora and Xavier both looked toward it.

The next second, a figure dropped down from above.

He landed neatly on the floor in front of them, straightened himself, and smiled brightly.

"Kaelira, I’m here."

The smile lasted for approximately one second.

Then the newcomer noticed Xavier’s arms around Sora.

His expression immediately changed.

The cheerful smile disappeared.

His eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing here?"

Xavier glanced at him lazily.

"I could ask you the same question."

"Why can’t I come here?"

"Why should you?"

The tension between the two men instantly thickened.

Sora rubbed her forehead.

She was beginning to feel a headache coming on.

The newcomer was Lucas.

And judging by the expression on his face, he had clearly arrived with his own plans.

Lucas stared at Xavier as though the snake had personally ruined his entire evening.

"I had an agreement with Kaelira."

Xavier’s eyebrows rose.

"An agreement?"

He slowly turned his meaningful gaze toward Sora.

Sora blinked.

She looked from Xavier to Lucas.

"What agreement?"

Lucas froze.

For the first time, confidence disappeared from his face.

Sora genuinely looked confused.

Xavier’s lips curled upward.

"If you really had an agreement with her, why did you need to climb through her window?"

The sarcasm was impossible to miss.

Lucas immediately became defensive.

"What do you know? This is called romance."

Xavier almost laughed.

"Romance?"

"Of course."

Lucas crossed his arms.

"What’s the point of entering through the front door and announcing yourself to everyone? I want some privacy."

Sora stared at him.

Privacy?

She hadn’t agreed to anything.

Lucas had apparently created an entire romantic arrangement inside his own head.

He had remembered the previous incident when Sora had spent time with Ace and the others had discovered them. Because of that, he had apparently decided that sneaking through a window was the perfect way to have a secret evening with her.

Unfortunately for him, Xavier was already there.

And now his entire plan had collapsed.

Lucas stepped closer.

"Kaelira, let’s go somewhere else."

"Where?"

"My Phoenix tree."

Sora’s expression became even more confused.

"Your Phoenix tree?"

"Yes. It’s a little high, but that’s what makes it special."

Xavier folded his arms.

"I thought you had some confidence. It seems Kaelira doesn’t even know about your plans."

Lucas glared at him.

"What do you mean she doesn’t know?"

He immediately turned toward Sora, his expression becoming gentle.

"Kaelira, don’t listen to him. We discussed this during the day."

Sora frowned.

"When?"

Lucas looked stunned.

"You don’t remember?"

"No."

"You agreed to come with me."

"When did I agree?"

"During the day!"

Lucas was becoming increasingly anxious.

"You looked at me several times."

Sora stared at him in silence.

She searched through her memories.

She really couldn’t remember sending Lucas any signal whatsoever.

"What did I supposedly do?"

"You looked at me."

Sora blinked.

"That’s it?"

Lucas nodded earnestly.

"You looked at me for a long time."

Sora almost laughed from disbelief.

"I was looking at the pig."

Lucas froze.

"The pig?"

"Yes. The pig you brought was very clean."

Lucas’s expression changed.

Sora continued honestly, "I thought perhaps you liked cleanliness, so I looked at you for a little longer."

Silence.

Xavier’s shoulders began shaking.

Then he burst out laughing.

"This is the best thing I’ve heard all day."

Lucas’s face turned red.

"Shut up!"

Xavier laughed harder.

"I never realized you were this funny."

Lucas glared at him.

Even though he was embarrassed, he still refused to give up.

"Even if she misunderstood me, that doesn’t change anything. Kaelira should still be with me tonight."

Xavier’s laughter abruptly stopped.

He crossed his arms.

"And who decided that?"

Lucas stared at him.

"We’ve all been taking turns."

"So?"

"So tonight should be my turn."

Xavier’s eyes narrowed.

"No."

Lucas frowned.

"What do you mean, no?"

"She should be with me tonight."

Sora stood between the two men and looked from one to the other.

One wanted to take her to a Phoenix tree.

The other apparently believed that tonight belonged to him.

And somehow, neither of them had bothered to ask her what she wanted.

Sora sighed.

"Have either of you considered asking me?"

Both men went silent.

That single question seemed to hit them at the same time.

Sora placed her hands on her hips.

"This is my room."

Lucas coughed awkwardly.

Xavier looked away.

For a brief moment, peace returned.

Then Lucas glanced at Xavier.

Xavier glanced back.

The rivalry immediately reignited.

Neither man seemed willing to surrender.

Outside the wooden house, several figures had already begun gathering.

Ace had sensed the commotion.

Lukan had also arrived.

Ryan was nearby.

Even the others were curious about why the voices inside the house had suddenly become louder.

Sora closed her eyes.

She had spent the entire day solving a poisoning incident, exposing Serena, treating the tribe members, and investigating contaminated salt.

She had barely sat down before her beast husbands began competing over who would spend the night with her.

Was this what her life had become?

She opened her eyes and looked at Xavier and Lucas.

"Both of you, calm down."

Lucas immediately said, "I’m calm."

Xavier replied at the same time, "So am I."

Sora stared at them.

Neither looked calm.