Chapter 2

After Charlotte and Morgan left, I picked up the supply tribes that Charlotte and I had brought with us.

Although Elwin was the half-elf tribe's leader, half-elves were placed lowest in the elven hierarchy and lived in border forests.

In our previous life, I'd only found out about this after half a year of living here.

The tribe's treehouses were sparse, and some of them seemed to be leaking. Elwin led me to a treehouse situated closest to a mountain spring, which also happened to be the largest one in the tribe.

He stood hesitantly in the doorway. "Our tribe is really poor. I'll give you my share of dinner tonight. Would you perhaps be willing to try it?"

Half-elves ate meat just like humans did. They were beautiful but had little strength, so nine out of ten times, their quarry would either escape, or being released out of kindness.

It was bad enough that they couldn't properly fill their stomachs, but occasionally, they would even be tricked out of their prey by other tribes.

I gazed at Elwin's red-rimmed eyes and said gently, "It's alright. You don't have to worry about me."

The dry rations in my backpack could last me a while.

Later that night, Elwin handed me two wood chips. It was a message from Charlotte, written in the modern alphabet.

"Guess where I'm living now. The wolf tribe has a two-storey villa decorated with flowers. They fed me roasted meat from the tenderest part of a sheep—a dish that would have cost a thousand dollars in a restaurant!

"I heard that you're living a very simple, frugal life with the half-elves. I'm giving you the sheep bones, so don't say that I'm not looking out for you. You'll still be able to bring out some flavor if you add them to a stew."

Early the next morning, Charlotte sent someone to pick me up to attend her marriage ceremony.

In our past life, Morgan only acknowledged me after I gave birth to a silver wolf. I wondered what Charlotte did last night to get Morgan to agree to a marriage ceremony so quickly.

I followed Elwin to the wolf tribe with doubt in my heart.

The marriage ceremony was a rushed affair and wasn't held on a very large scale. Still, everyone who should be in attendance was present.

Charlotte was wearing a smooth formal gown made of animal hide. She looked incredibly smug.

She purposely approached me, holding onto Morgan's arm. "Did you have a good sleep at the half-elf tribe last night, Minnie? I heard that it was raining heavily. You weren't soaked through, were you?

"You should find a wolfman to marry as soon as possible. They're famous for their strength, after all. It's just a pity that you're not destined to become the wolf tribe's Highlady in this life. You'd at least be able to experience a passionate life with a wolfman, though."

She had arrogance etched into every line of her features at finally being able to step all over me.

In our past life, Elwin had remained unmoved by her advances. So, the fact that she was saying all this now obviously meant that she'd succeeded in getting herself into Morgan's bed last night.

Morgan, who was next to her, arched an eyebrow.

Meanwhile, Elwin strode forward to stand in front of me, shielding me from the unfriendly looks. He then turned around with a blush on his face. "Please don't believe them. I'm no worse than a wolfman."

Observing my silence, Charlotte assumed that I was regretting my situation and opened her mouth to speak again.

Suddenly, a very young and skinny half-elf stumbled over to us and grabbed tightly onto the hem of Elwin's clothes.

"I don't know what my younger brother ate, but he keeps throwing up, Mr. Duskwood! Please save him!" the young half-elf cried.

We rushed into a treehouse where another very young half-elf was lying on a wooden bed. His face was red and warm to the touch. He was also vomiting bits of plant residue.

His parents were frightened out of their minds. They explained the situation to us while wiping away their tears.

They'd run out of wild vegetables to harvest over the past few days, and their children had been unable to bear the hunger. As such, they'd risked going past the borders to look for food and found a strangely shaped root sprouting green shoots growing out of the ground.

They didn't dare eat the root, but the shoots were very tender, so they'd picked a bit for their children to try.

As a result, something had gone wrong.

After they were finished with their explanation, they handed over the remaining shoots.

Somehow, they looked incredibly familiar to me. Just as I was about to speak, Elwin suddenly grabbed my hand.

"Your younger sister also wrote me a letter last night," he revealed. "She told me that there was poison hidden in that bag you brought back with you. She also claimed that you followed me in order to bring harm to us half-elves."

It turned out that Charlotte had long been plotting against me.

She must have experienced a similar poisoning incident in our past life. However, in this life, she'd gone ahead and set up a trap for me in advance, intending to drive me out of the half-elf tribe.