The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 126: The truth is, the person I hate the most is...

Chapter 126: The truth is, the person I hate the most is...

My heart was pounding.

I faced my father’s stare with a dead stare while he searched for answers on the ground.

He clenched his grip on the door, contemplating deeply on something, and that made me wonder... Should I just speed past him and get inside the hut?

I mean, there’s a chance he might catch me but... What if I have them hold him down?

My father might be the chief, the most powerful beast in our tribe, but as he was at his age right now, I doubt he’d be able to put up a strong defense against those two who were in their prime.

Of course, he could break free right away but it’s not like I need them to hold him down for a minute.

I just needed five seconds.

Five seconds were enough to let me go into that hut and see my mother.

"Do you still not want to let me in?" I asked, and the reluctance in his face said it all.

I didn’t want to talk much anymore. The air was already heavy as it was, trying to force heavy breaths would only make me uncomfortable. So...

"Fenric, Damar," I called and they gave me their listening ear. "Hold him down for me."

With that simple command, they both acted without question.

My father, who did not expect me to go that far, was startled but it was already too late by the time he tried to hold his thoughts together.

They both grabbed his arms, pushing him down and he grunted at the impact of his face to the floor. I quickly jumped past him and got into the hut.

"Stop! Arinya!" He yelled and shook free with all his might, as if stopping me from going in was more important than the energy he had saved for years in case of any emergency.

He shook the two off right away and wanted to grab me but it was too late.

I stood at the entrance, with no expression on my face as I stared at the inside of the hut.

My father grabbed my arm, but he did not grip hard or try to throw me out.

He simply stood there, his mighty figure hovering over mine in a dark shade, and his head lowered as his shoulders dropped.

"I told you not to look, Arinya." He said, his voice slightly shaky. "I told you to leave it and just go. I—"

"Father," I interrupted him, and then dropped my hand on his that held my hand.

But it was not out of comfort. Rather, something disturbing was stirring inside me. Something that pricked at the contact of this man who had birthed me along with the female who was now six feet under.

I turned my head, looking at him with that dead look in my eyes. A mix of pain, hatred, and bitterness... 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"In this tribe, do you know the person I hate the most?" I asked, but he could not answer, as he did not know what to say or why I had asked such a question.

The answer should be obvious.

Anyone would say it was Veyra, since we were always in that situation where she was pitied and I was hated.

I even expressed my disdain towards her just recently.

So, it was understandable to say that. But the truth is... The truth is, the person I hate the most was...

"It’s you, father," I said and forcefully pushed his hand down, freeing myself from his grip.

The answer took him aback.

The reason he did not let me want to see her wasn’t that she wasn’t in the best condition, but rather that he kept trying to stop me because he didn’t want me to know the truth.

He...

"I hate you the most and that’s because you let it all happen."

Rakan let the bullying happen. He let me be the criminal. He never looked at me with the gaze he was meant to show his daughter after I had gone past a certain age in my childhood.

He loved Veyra more than me, because he saw my mother in her more than he could ever see in me.

He saw his incompetent self in more, more than the woman he loved.

I respect him for the love and devotion he has for his wife, to the point he went against the tribe and even risked catching the stone-skin disease in order to make sure she survived.

But that is it.

I do not respect him for anything more.

The memories of him playing with me as a child, broke a long time ago, distorted by the eyes of cruelty he looked down on me with.

Everything could’ve changed if he just done something.

I, Arinya, who was hated and persecuted—I, who hated the tribe and thought of myself as a failure—I, who thought my mother had abandoned me just like the rest of the tribe... Wish I had never been born as the chief’s daughter and that I never had a father like him.

My heart broke, seeing the rock that was in this hut, surrounded by dried flowers, and a few fresh flowers from Rakan’s recent visits.

The thought that my mother had died and I hadn’t gotten to see her face wasn’t the only thing that shook me up. It was the fact that she had only died recently.

If I judge the time of her death based on how dry the flowers were, I’d say it was about a week and a half.

It was before I came into this world.

For my father to express that my mother wanted to see me, despite the fact that she was already dead, only meant that during that time, Arinya had been persecuted and treated as if she were a criminal; her mother, who was on her deathbed, longed to see her.

But my stubborn and biased father did not do anything about it. He let mother die without seeing me.

Was it so hard to just let me come see her before she died?

Was it so hard to let Arinya know that there was still one person who cared about her?

Why... Was he so cruel to me?

Only me.

If it had been Veyra my mother had asked for, would he have let it be and let my mother die without seeing Veyra?

Tears rolled down my cheeks.

Tears of pain, bitterness, and the sheer hatred that was seething in my heart as I glared at Rakan.

"From this day forward, you are no longer my father," I pronounced and his eyes widened. "I do not have a father, and you do not have a daughter named Arinya, is that clear?"

"Arinya, what...?"

"I said is that clear?!" I yelled, sending a shockwave directly into his heart.

I rejected him and didn’t wait for his answer before storming out, the tears rolling down heavily.

Fenric and Damar looked inside the hut and saw the rock that served as a tombstone, but my mother was nowhere in sight. This immediately made them understand the situation.

They looked at my father with the same hatred I had, as if sharing my feelings with me through our bond.

They could feel how much hate and bitterness wrapped my heart when I thought of my father, and that made them hate him as well.

After all, he had hurt their beloved mate.