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

She had been sitting with a group of females during one of the breaks Tera had allowed. The shiftless one had been across the clearing, doing something with sticks and leaves that Kiri refused to care about.

”I am so tired,” Kiri had groaned, stretching her arms above her head. ”This is ridiculous. She has us working like pack mules from dawn to dusk. We are honourable beast folk, not slaves.”

She had expected agreement and sympathetic nods. Maybe a few grumbles about sore muscles.

Instead, Yara had looked up from something she was weaving called a basket—some nonsensical thing Tera had taught her two days ago.

”I do not mind it.”

Kiri had stared at her. ”You do not mind it?”

”No.” Yara’s deer ears flicked forward. ”Before this, what did we do? We sat and waited for the males to bring food. We slept, and then did nothing. The days were so boring.” She held up the half-finished basket. ”This is the first time I have made something with my own hands. It feels nice to be making use of my time.”

”Nice?!” Kiri could not believe what she was hearing.

Another female, a younger badger woman named Suri, nodded eagerly. ”I like the farm! Watching the green things come out of the ground is exciting. I check every morning!”

”You check dirt every morning,” Kiri said flatly.

”It is not just dirt! Things are growing! From the ground! Did you know food could come from the ground?”

”Everyone knows that!”

”I did not,” Suri said cheerfully. ”And now I do, because Tera showed us. She also showed me which leaves make your hands soft if you crush them and rub them together. Look!” She held out her palms, which did, annoyingly, look softer than before.

Kiri had turned to the two females who had been part of her inner circle. The ones who had huddled with her at night and whispered about the shiftless one. Her allies.

They weren’t meeting her eyes.

One of them was running her fingers along a length of the strange thread Tera had pulled from the bark trees, examining it with a fascination that made Kiri’s stomach curdle.

”This thread is so strong,” the female murmured. ”I wonder if I could make something for the cub with it.”

Kiri was immediately irritated. ”Are you all listening to yourselves? She is using you. She is making you do her work while she—”

”While she what?” Yara asked mildly. ”Works harder than all of us? Sleeps less than anyone? She has not taken a single day of rest since she arrived.”

”She does not even eat her full portions,” Suri added. ”I saw her giving food to the cubs when she thought no one was looking.”

Kiri had glared at the two former allies. They shrank back slightly, their ears flattening, but neither spoke up in her defence.

Traitors. Weak, easily swayed traitors who had abandoned their position the moment someone showed them a pretty leaf and a basket.

It grated her ears to hear them praising that female like this.

Which had led her to a brilliant idea.

She had managed to gather all the females together and suggested that they should all have cubs since they had finally found settled land. They wouldn’t have to move from one place to another anymore, so this was the perfect time to start populating the clan.

Kiri remembered how passionate the female had been while building the shelters. But with how frantic and rushed the shiftless one was, Kiri felt she must have a hidden selfish motive for doing what she was doing.

The females nearly made up half of the clan, and that was a sizeable number of their population.

The females getting pregnant would make the work slow down for the female, and aside from slowing down the work, which the shiftless one was rushing for some reason. She would also use this avenue to show how wicked the female was.

Why would someone work pregnant females to the bone?

The plan had worked, but not entirely as she would have liked. The shiftless one had actually reduced the workload of the female beasts, but Kiri had been momentarily satisfied by the panic the female had displayed.

She truly was up to something.

Then she had tried to use the opportunity to push Xavi to give her a cub so she wouldn’t be left behind by the other females, and that had failed woefully.

It was so unfair.

And that rubbish panther had been no better.

He had been her target during the past few days before his fever. After the feedback Feron the jackal had given her from spying on the panther and the female, she had felt she could use him against her, but that one had been useless.

He had every reason to want her gone after what she had done to him, but whenever Kiri had tried to talk about her, he had shut it down, wanting to hear nothing about that female.

The silly panther had left Kiri fuming.

He was so wrapped up in his own brooding that he couldn’t even be bothered to scheme against the female who had ruined his life. Pathetic.

That left her with two males who were still loyal to her and her own wits.

Kiri pushed through the shelter flap and settled onto her sleeping spot between the other females. The shelter was one of four that now stood between the massive trees, and Kiri loathed admitting that it was the most comfortable place she had ever slept.

The air inside was cool during the heat of the day and warm at night when bodies gathered together.

It was infuriating.

She could not let this continue. Every day that passed, Tera’s hold on the clan grew stronger. More beast-folk defended her. More of them talked about her with admiration instead of suspicion. Even Kiri’s own allies were slipping.

If Kiri didn’t act soon, there would be nothing left to fight for. Xavi would be permanently lost, and Kiri would be just another female in a clan that worshipped a hairless, shiftless outsider.

She needed to hit where it hurt.

The farm had watchers now because of what she had done. Even if she could do it again, it was not appealing with how the female had given her the most work in repairing the damage.

Kiri did not understand how the shiftless fox knew she had been the one.

She eyes the shelter surrounding her. These things were her pride and joy.

What would happen if what she had worked so hard for was destroyed?

The image of the female crying in pain filled Kiri’s mind. Watching one’s hard work reduced to nothing was terrible.

Kiri would love to see it.