Exiled Villainess: They Threw Me Out, Now Every Beastman Wants Me novel Chapter 143

Chapter 143: The Panther’s Quiet

He had been allowed to see his uncle before leaving.

The old man had put on a sad face and even pleaded with Naiya, but she refused.

He did not understand why everyone had just turned cold, especially her.

Everyone had just accepted his exile without complaining.

He had thought he understood why. He was tainted and had been touched by the shiftless female. His presence was a reminder of what had been done to Naiya.

But Ermin had also been a victim. And no one had said a word in his defence.

They had all believed he betrayed Naiya, even though he was the one who had been drugged.

Althea dropped her meat chunk and reached for Ermin’s tail instead, wrapping both tiny hands around it and tugging experimentally.

He stared at his daughter as she tugged and tugged until she grew tired of it, dropping his tail to press her face against his chest. Her small body was warm and heavy with food and approaching sleep.

Ermin wrapped his arm around her, and his gaze drifted across the clearing to where Tera had disappeared.

She was so different now. Her body had changed considerably, but there was a steady warmth in her eyes that had never been there before. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Not once had he imagined he would build a family with this female or even picture her having his cubs. The thought of it would have made him sick a year ago.

Now it was the thing he held tightest to.

Tera had kissed his cheek just now without any ceremony.

Naiya had never done that.

Everything with Naiya had to be earned. Every touch, every glance, every moment of closeness had come at the end of a performance that Ermin had rehearsed and refined until it was flawless. He had been so proud of his ability to win her attention that he had never questioned why it needed to be won in the first place.

Tera just gave it.

The thought crept in sideways, and Ermin wasn’t ready for how much it hurt.

He had told Naiya once to banish Tera from the tribe. He had been irritated by the shiftless female constantly hovering around her cousin, disturbing her with pranks and noise and the particular brand of chaos that only the old Tera could produce.

Naiya had shrugged it off. "She is my blood. She is harmless."

Tera was harmless until she wasn’t.

Ermin wondered sometimes what his life would have looked like if Naiya had listened. If Tera had been banished before the drugging. He would still be in the Jackdaw tribe, still grooming himself each morning, still performing for a female who required him to earn what Tera gave freely.

He would never have met his daughter.

Althea shifted against his chest, making a small, sleepy sound that was sweet to his ears.

The guilt of the thought washed through him. He couldn’t wish away the path that had led him here without wishing her away too.

And he loved the new Tera very much.

While he didn’t mind her staring into space as a side effect of hitting her head hard, he felt a bit odd at times whenever he tried to reconcile her with the Tera from Jackdaw.

They were so different now.

Around him, the feast was winding down. The last of the soup had been served, and a few of the females were already carrying sleeping cubs towards their shelters while the males tidied up the place.

The fires were dying into beds of glowing coals, and the conversations had shrunk to murmured exchanges between exhausted beasts.

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