Exiled Villainess: They Threw Me Out, Now Every Beastman Wants Me
Chapter 33: Gossip Under The Treetops

Chapter 33: Gossip Under The Treetops

While a certain shiftless female was being thoroughly attended to at the lake, the rest of the clan was having a very different night.

The cubs were fast asleep. Some of the beasts had dozed off, and the remaining adults were doing what adults always did when they were bored, anxious, and had no entertainment.

They were gossiping.

But Kiri was especially in a foul mood.

Her tail flicked back and forth with the restless energy of someone who had a lot to say and no appropriate outlet.

"It doesn’t make sense," she muttered for the fourth time.

She had been trying to butt into the gossip, and this time she had succeeded.

"What doesn’t make sense?" one of the beast men asked.

"The shiftless one. Her." Kiri jerked her chin in the general direction of the lake, where Tera had last been seen. "Why is the clan leader listening to that one? She appears out of nowhere, causes trouble, and suddenly she’s giving orders like she owns the place?"

She had especially disliked it how that shiftless female had been commanding them in the rain.

"She did help us," Yara said quietly. The deer-eared woman who had tasted Tera’s seasoned meat days ago was braiding a strip of hide in her lap. "The shelter she built held through the flood. And she warned us about the storm before anyone else knew it was coming."

"Anyone could have warned about the storm. The sky was grey."

"You didn’t warn about the storm," Yara pointed out mildly.

Kiri’s tail flicked harder. "You idiot. That is not the point. She is scheming. Think about it. She was exiled from the Jackdaw tribe for causing trouble. You remember what that poor panther said. Next thing, she shows up here, and within days, the clan leader is defending her and letting her boss everyone around. Someone that weak should not have any say over the clan, especially our leader. She is clearly manipulating him."

"Manipulating him how?" Yara asked.

"I don’t know. With... female things."

"Female things?"

"You know what I mean!"

"I really don’t."

"Now that you mention it," someone else added. "She must have told leader to make us apologise to her."

Kiri enthusiastically nodded, happy that someone was finally understanding her.

"No. The leader made us apologise because we lied," another beast countered.

"But she is the reason he even questioned us! Before she came, we never had these problems."

"Before she came, we were living in holes and eating raw meat."

"...I liked the raw meat."

"You like everything. You ate a bug yesterday."

"It was crunchy!"

The nonsensical debate circled for a few minutes, and Kiri grew irritated as it showed no signs of reaching any productive conclusion.

It annoyed her how a number of the clan members had started to grudgingly accept that Tera might not be entirely terrible. She had warned them about the storm, reinforced their shelter, and built the flood defences that had just saved them from danger.

But a few were still suspicious, which Kiri was grateful for. They couldn’t just easily forget everything they had heard about her. Rumours were one thing, but someone else from that tribe relaying that information was something.

"She knew the storm was coming before anyone else, and where to find shelter."

"She also knew how to build that barrier. Since when does a shiftless female from the Jackdaw tribe know anything about construction?"

"That is true."

Kiri nodded in silent gloating. Finally, these morons were waking up.

"The leader should not even be giving this female so much attention," Kiri cut in. "She has been here for two days. Two days! And suddenly we are moving on her command? With the leader choosing her word over ours? This is not how a clan works!"

"Watch your tongue, Kiri. Do not disrespect the clan leader."

"I am not disrespecting him," Kiri shot back. "I am saying that female none of us know, who was exiled for drugging a male and forcing an imprint, should not be whispering in our leader’s ear after less than two sunrises. It does not make any sense."

"You people should stop talking like this. She has helped us—"

"She helped herself! She needed shelter, too! That does not make her one of us!"

"Kiri, enough."

Yara stepped forward, her deer ears flat with discomfort. "The leader made his decision. If you have concerns, take them to him. Not to us."

"And she has been helping us. If she wanted to save herself, she would have gone to look for shelter herself."

Kiri scoffed. "You think that one has the strength to build her own shelter? She needed us to do it!"

"She helped too."

"She also seems to have changed—"

"Nobody changes that quickly!" Kiri groaned, her ears perking up in irritation.

Her eyes flicked around the group, searching for allies, and when she found most of them looking away or shaking their heads, she felt so bitter.

Kiri turned away and walked off without another word. She was fuming.

She had had her eyes on the leader for some weeks now, after she had joined the clan as a wandering fox. But he was very detached at times, and it had gotten worse after the death of two females during his heat.

She had even tried to have cubs from him, but it was annoying that he had not considered the option of mating when he wasn’t on heat. She could still carry his cub both outside and within her cycle.

She had even rejected one of the beast men’s advances, looking for another approach to bring herself closer to the leader, when this naked lump of tiny flesh had come out of nowhere and sunk her grubby hands on him.

The clan leader wouldn’t ever involve himself with a shiftless female, especially the notorious one they had heard about. So, she must be using a similar drug she had used on that panther.

What was his name again?

Four beast folk who had detached from the group minutes ago quickly caught up with Kiri.