Exiled Villainess: They Threw Me Out, Now Every Beastman Wants Me
Chapter 37: Don’t Cry

Chapter 37: Don’t Cry

The forest was dense, but Tera’s eyes were working on two levels as she moved through it.

On one level, she was following the vague direction Ermin had taken, scanning for any sign of pink hair or a disgruntled panther-shaped shadow among the trees.

On the other level, her brain was cataloguing everything she passed.

The trees here were enormous, some with trunks wide enough that three beast men standing shoulder to shoulder couldn’t circle them. Their root systems rose out of the earth in thick, gnarled arches, creating natural hollows and elevated platforms that were practically begging to be used as foundations.

If she wedged horizontal beams between two of those trunks and layered branches across them, she could create an elevated floor. Add walls of woven branches and packed mud, a hide roof to shed rain, and she’d have a shelter that was off the ground, sheltered by the canopy, and integrated into the forest without cutting down a single tree.

There were also clusters of bushes and strange looking tress that grew close together, their canopies overlapping to create a beautiful flat ceiling.

As much as she would like to wait to see what the weather was like in this region, she would have no choice but to build first and think later, considering the time limit of her task. And if what she had built was destroyed—which she hoped would NOT happen at least until after the task had been completed—they could simply rebuild.

After a while, Tera was still calculating how many shelters she could construct from this section of forest alone when she finally saw Ermin.

He was standing near a tree, looking off into the distance.

Tera paused, suddenly aware that she still had no idea what she was going to say.

Before she could decide, Ermin turned sharply and stiffened when he saw Tera.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed. "Leave me alone."

Tera didn’t leave. She didn’t step forward either.

"I should not have apologised to you the way I did," she mumbled, her courage gone as she toyed with her hands. "In front of everyone. That was not fair to you, and I’m sorry for it, and for what I have done."

His eyes narrowed as he stared at Tera, heavy with suspicion.

"What do you want?"

Tera shook her head quickly. "Nothing! I—"

"You act like everything is different now, like you have changed overnight and are suddenly this new person," he snapped, his fist clenched at his side as his tail lashed sharply behind him.

"You destroyed my life." His voice shook, and Tera’s heart fell when she could see how much he was shaking. "You drugged me, and you took everything I had with Naiya, and now you are here telling me sorry as if the things you did can just be left behind?"

Each word landed like a blow, and Tera took them all without flinching.

She didn’t defend herself or interrupt him, even if she found it silly how Naiya had exiled Ermin when he was innocent in all this. But she could still understand him diverting his anger to her. The original Tera had caused it after all.

"How am I supposed to believe? You are cruel and selfish, and you enjoy hurting people. Don’t pretend otherwise, and now I am supposed to accept that you just woke up one day and decided to be someone else?"

She wanted to tell him that she literally was someone else. That the person who had hurt him was gone, and a completely different woman was standing in this body now.

But she doubted he would even believe something like that. It would even sound like the type of elaborate lie Tera would cook up to avoid responsibility.

As Ermin continued his tirade, pouring his heart out, Tera thought back to all the things this body had done. She really wished the original Tera could come back so she could strangle her properly.

She felt sad, and it was to the extent that she wanted to cry because of how bad she felt for Ermin, but she held the tears back.

If she cried, he was going to think she was acting. Then he would assume it was another tactic to make him look cruel while she played the victim.

Why was she even given this body if she was going to be thrown into this world? The stupid Tera had left a lot of problems for her now.

But a tear slipped down her cheek before she could stop it.

Tera blinked, startled by the wetness on her own face. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand, frustrated with herself.

Another one followed.

’Damn it. Now he was going to hate me. I shouldn’t have even come.’

She swiped at it too, turning her face slightly so he wouldn’t see.

When did she become such a crybaby?

Ermin stiffened, and Tera immediately stood at alert, stretching out her hand and yelling, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

Tera had shouted so loud that he had flinched, confused.

She took in a deep breath and properly wiped her face, steeling herself as she stared at him fully.

"Please. I do not want you to think I am pretending. I am sorry. I am not asking for forgiveness, and you have every right to be angry at me. I know my sorry does not fix anything, and doesn’t undo what I have done, but I want you to know that you did not deserve any of this." Tera lowered her head. "Again, I am sorry for what I put you through."

Tera straightened, and the steady look in her eyes rooted Ermin to the spot.

His anger faltered as he saw the determined look in her eyes.

He never really knew Tera that well, but he was sure she had never looked like this.

"I hope you can find a home here. I am going to change this place and build it up properly to make it somewhere worth living. And I intend to make it up to you. Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes?"