Exiled Villainess: They Threw Me Out, Now Every Beastman Wants Me novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Kiri’s Tears

Tera was losing the clan members.

Yara stepped forward, her expression conflicted. The deer female looked between Tera and Kiri, visibly torn.

"Tera," Yara said carefully, "I am not sure Kiri would have really done this. Why would you think she destroyed the shelters?"

"I—" Tera’s voice faltered. She looked at the wreckage. She looked at Kiri’s tearful face. She looked at the clan members who were watching her with eyes that said ’how dare you.’

This was ridiculous, but Tera did not want to keep quiet. She had kept quiet after what had happened with the farm, and look at how it had escalated!

Ermin cut in, "I do not know who did this."

Every head turned to the panther.

He looked just as frustrated as everyone else, and Tera felt her heart drop, thinking Ermin was about to defend Kiri and that his favourability for Tera would drop.

But his next words were unexpected. "But I understand why Tera suspects Kiri."

Kiri’s crying stuttered. Her wet eyes snapped to Ermin, and something flickered behind the tears that was gone before anyone else could catch it.

"Since I arrived at this clan," Ermin continued, his gaze steady on the fox female, "You have approached me multiple times. Every conversation you started eventually turned to Tera. I understand her behaviour being suspicious at the start, but your interest in her has been so much."

Kiri pulled away from the female consoling her and faced Ermin directly. The tears were still streaming, but her voice had an edge now, sharp enough to cut through the grief she was performing.

"Of course, I asked about her! Everyone asked about her! She was exiled for drugging you and forcing an imprint. Was I not supposed to be curious when someone like this had been brought into our clan? Was I not supposed to be concerned for everyone’s safety?!"

She turned to the group, her wet eyes sweeping across them with practised desperation.

"And now he is defending her?" Kiri’s voice rose, cracking with apparent disbelief. "After what she did to him? Does this make any sense?" She jabbed a finger toward Ermin, her whole arm trembling. "After all that she has done to you, how could you stand by her side and defend her?!"

Kiri’s voice broke again, and she pressed her hand to her mouth, shaking her head as tears flowed freely.

Tera hissed, unable to take the theatrics anymore. "Stop this madness—"

"This is so unfair," she sobbed. "I have done nothing. I admit I was cold to her, and I am sorry for that, I truly am. But to accuse me of destruction? Of harming the clan? When I have been loyal to this group since I arrived."

She looked up, and her eyes were red and swollen.

"I loved those shelters," she whispered. "Sleeping inside them was the first time I felt safe since the Collapse destroyed my tribe. Why would I destroy the one thing that made me feel safe?"

The female who had been consoling her pulled her back in, stroking her hair. Two others moved closer, forming a small protective circle around the crying fox.

One of the males, a badger who had been quiet until now, shook his head slowly. "This does not feel right. Kiri has been part of this clan longer than the shiftless one. We cannot just accuse our own because of suspicion."

’Excuse me?!’

Bessier looked between Tera and Kiri with wide, confused eyes. "Maybe it was an animal? A—"

"An animal does not use a stick to avoid leaving claw marks," Tera snapped.

Kiri slightly flinched at those words and Tera’s eyes sharpened as she caught that slight movement.

’This bitch!’

[This system recommends calming down before taking any drastic actions!]

[This is a very dangerous female]

"But... I don’t think Tera has ill intentions."

’Oh, come on!’

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