Chapter 1

"Undress yourself now!"

Elyse Moore had a look of absolute terror as she stared at the snarling, boar-headed, humanoid beast in front of her. He had just yanked her into the cave and tossed her down, making her feel like her bones had all broken.

She felt something soft beneath her, and a foul stench immediately hit her nose. Even without checking any further, she knew she was being pressed against a pile of boar feces!

There was no time for her to dwell on that, however. All she could think of now was to escape the situation. She'd have to go insane first before she'd agree to stay in this pigsty and mate with this grotesque, unattractive male boar-kin.

"I'm a w—female! You can't treat me like this!" Elyse shrieked.

She recalled the tropes in the novels set in similar beast realms that she'd previously read. Usually, the beast realm had a harsh environment, and the survival rate of females was always woefully low. Naturally, females became the rarer sex, which made them extremely precious.

Since Elyse had transmigrated into a beast realm and was a female, she had to be valuable as well.

Korr Tusker, the boar-kin, simply scoffed. He'd already stripped naked and was standing at her feet as he eyed her haughtily.

"This isn't the clan you came from, little female! I saved you, so that makes you mine. You have no choice in the matter!"

He bent down and grabbed Elyse's white blouse, tugging at it forcefully. The cloth tore with a loud rip. Horrified by his roughness, she fumbled around wildly. Once she grabbed hold of something, she attacked him in the face with it.

"You monster!"

As Korr howled in pain, Elyse felt something warm splashing onto her face. Only then did she realize she'd picked up a tree branch just now and somehow ended up stabbing him in the eye with it.

Too afraid to waste any more time, she scrambled out of the cave as quickly as possible. It was completely dark outside. The only source of light was the full moon hanging high up in the sky.

Without a second thought, Elyse ran straight toward the trees. If she could disappear into the shadows, she might be able to escape his clutches. She absolutely refused to mate with a wild boar-kin!

Meanwhile, the wounded Korr yanked the branch out of his eye socket, and with it came his eyeball. His agonized howls echoed throughout the entire clan, and the surrounding beastfolk rushed over at once. Even before they entered his cave, they caught the smell of blood.

Upon dashing into Korr's cave, they were greeted by a ghastly sight. Some of the more timid females were so frightened that they quickly hid behind their mates.

"How horrifying!" they squealed.

Korr gnashed his teeth in fury. He was in so much pain that he couldn't even stand. All he could do was clutch his bleeding eye socket.

"Capture that damned female for me! She blinded me!"

Immediately, everyone flared up in anger as well.

"The nerve of that outsider! How dare she attack one of us from the Duskfall clan?"

"We must catch her!"

A group of beastfolk shifted into their beast forms and shot into the forest. They began sweeping the forest floor to catch Elyse's trail. She hadn't gone very far when their terrifying roars erupted behind her.

Although the path ahead was fraught with ferocious wild beasts, behind her was a group of beastfolk who were far more terrifying. All she could do was run for her life. She didn't want to return to that cave, which was much dirtier than a pigsty, and mate with that ugly boar-kin!

A beastfolk caught a whiff of Korr's scent and immediately knew it was left behind by that fleeing Elyse. He swiftly roared, "She's up ahead!"

Hearing that roar, the frightened Elyse sped up at once. Alas, it was hard to find one's way in the forest at night. She ended up tripping over the grass. Ignoring the pain, she climbed back onto her feet to continue running, but a fearsome tiger appeared in front of her, blocking her path.

It grabbed her with its mouth and began heading back toward the clan.

"Let go of me!"

Fighting for her life, Elyse smeared the boar feces that were still on her hand onto the tiger's eyes. "Release me, you awful beasts!"

Bastian Longfang, the tiger, felt his eyes stinging in pain when the feces slapped against them. While he could put up with the pain at first, his eyes soon welled up with tears. He had no choice but to carry her to the nearby river and clean his eyes first.

After setting her down on the riverbank, he leaped into the river.

When Elyse saw Bastian diving into the water, she immediately turned to flee. Alas, she hadn't even reached the edge of the forest before he caught up to her and stopped her once more.

"You took out one of Korr's eyes, so you have to come with me!"

"No way!" Elyse refused at once.

Who knew what might happen to her? One thing was for certain—Korr would surely get even with her!

"He's the one who tried to hurt me first. I only injured his eye by accident when I was fighting him off!" Elyse declared, her heart instantly filling up with indignation.

She'd gone to the bar after a breakup. After having had a bit too much to drink, she stood on the bridge to get some fresh air. Never did it occur to her that she'd end up falling off the bridge. She didn't know how to swim, either. As a result, she ended up here.

It was one thing to have transmigrated here. To make matters worse, she immediately came across such a horrifying and ugly beastfolk. The thought of everything that had happened over the last few hours made her feel like crying. Sure enough, her tears began streaming down her face.

Looking up at Bastian, who was a lot taller than she was, she said, "You're a good man—I mean, a good beastfolk. Please let me go. I don't want to die. I'll remember your kindness forever."

For a moment, Bastian didn't know what to do. It was his first time dealing with such a stubborn yet delicate female. The females back at the clan were all tough and fierce. None of them cried so pitifully the way she did. But at the same time, her actions were truly shocking.

"Even if you don't return to the clan, you'll be attacked and eaten by the wild beasts in the forest."

"I'd rather get chewed to death than be with that boar!" Elyse shrieked.

She wanted nothing more than to escape. Just the thought of Korr filled her with terror and disgust.

Bastian hadn't expected her to be that averse to Korr, but the clan's rules were clear. Whoever captured a female in the wild could claim her as their own. No one could change that.

And even though Korr was ugly, that didn't seem like enough reason for her to be so put off by him. After all, Korr did have some status in the clan.

Seeing that Bastian had fallen silent, Elyse assumed he was letting her go, so she turned around and fled into the forest. However, she'd only taken two steps when he clamped his jaw around her and started heading back to the clan.

Due to the shocking incident, all of the beastfolk of the Duskfall clan had gathered in the square, waiting for the search party to bring Elyse back.

Korr continued clutching his eye, which had stopped bleeding and had been bandaged in animal hide. He fumed as he sat on the ground.

"Chief, once that female is brought back, I'm going to make sure she pays for this!"

"That's right. How dare she hurt one of us and even wound Korr's eye?" another beastfolk chimed in.

"Look! She's back!"

A sharp-eyed beastfolk turned around and caught sight of Bastian, who was carrying Elyse in his mouth.

After gently setting Elyse on the ground, Bastian walked to the side. Since something this serious had happened, the situation had to be dealt with properly to appease everyone.