The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 91: It’s true I was hurting Arinya

After Solin’s abrupt words, everyone got confused.

"Ganging up on Arinya?"

"Why doesn’t that make sense?"

"Maybe to an outsider, she doesn’t understand well."

"It probably looked like that to her because she doesn’t know the kind of person Arinya is."

Ah, look at them yapping.

Could they be any more stupid than they already were? How can they show how clueless and idiotic they are in the presence of another tribe?

This tribe is seriously done for.

I wonder how they’ve been able to survive this whole time.

"You probably think I don’t know what I’m saying but it’s just as I said," Solin said. "We walked together and arrived at a scene where the first son of the chief was hurt and the snake beastman was protecting Arinya. Instead of asking what had happened, they immediately pointed Arinya out to be the villain and wouldn’t let her speak."

They began murmuring again but Solin did not stop talking. It was literally the first time I had heard so many words from her in one take.

"Even when the first son had explained what he did, why the snake beastman attacked him and my brother confirmed the identity of the snake beastman, they did not stop throwing accusations at her and were bent on spreading word that she brought in a snake beastman to eat your cubs and take revenge. They were vicious with their words, but Arinya stayed silent."

"If that’s the case then why did she attack her siblings?"

"Yeah, for all we know, you might be making things up just to cover for her since she’s your brother’s spouse."

They were ranting on and on about not believing what Solin said, just because the person she was defending was me.

But just then, Kaelor stood forward, and spoke up,

"It’s true." He said. "Everything Solin said is true."

The folks gasped and Veyra began to tremble.

Ashren and Zevak felt uneasy and wanted to intervene.

"You shouldn’t try to cover for—"

"Shut up!" Kaelor glared at him, forcing his mouth shut. "I was silent before, not because what you were doing was right, but because I couldn’t come to terms with my guilt. I can’t stand back and watch you all bully Arinya any longer." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

I watched him turn to the chiefs and bow his head.

"It is true that I was hurting Arinya and that’s why the snake beastman intervened."

"What?" My father was confused. "But you’re the closest to Arinya. Why would you hurt her?"

Kaelor darted his eyes away.

He couldn’t say.

"I can’t go into details." He said. "But know that the snake beastman did not attack me just because it wanted to. It was protecting Arinya. And I couldn’t come to terms with his relationship with Arinya, too, convinced that he had threatened her, but from what I’ve seen, he... He is not a danger to Arinya."

This made them go into a frenzy.

"Not dangerous towards Arinya? Then what about us?"

"What are we going to do if she suddenly orders him to attack our tribe?"

"She’s very bitter so she will try something with—"

Kaelor gnashed his teeth and then roared,

"Enough!"

Everywhere fell silent.

"Kaelor," Rakan called. "What is the relationship between Arinya and the snake beastman?"

It looked like he already had his suspicion but he could not be sure.

But Kaelor did not answer him. Instead, he continued,

"Time and time and time and again, you all say whatever you like and do whatever you like when it involves Arinya. She’s innocent. Do I have to yell it out again? SHE. IS. INNOCENT. And anyone who says otherwise will have to save my wrath because I am tired of having to see you point fingers whenever you find it convenient. Stop accusing Arinya however you like."

At those words, it was as if feathers fluttered around my heart.

I can’t explain it clearly, but my heart felt light. It felt so warm and at peace.

Seeing him speak up for me so loudly and threatening everyone over me... Maybe this was what I wanted to see him do all this time.

Not just show me misleading kindness that I ended with just words and a few head pats, prove that you care, prove that you get hurt when I get hurt... Prove that you don’t see me as an object to satisfy your ego.

They murmured, of course they murmured, but the words were muffled, as if scared he would hear them.

"Brother Kaelor, it’s not fair!" Veyra suddenly yelled with teary eyes. "Don’t you see what she did to me? She..."

"She gave you what you deserved!" Kaelor glared at her and she shrank back.

"What?"

"I know what you’ve been playing at, Veyra. I know you’ve been purposely getting Arinya in trouble."

"W-what are you talking about?"

"I know you send people to trouble Arinya. I know you smile when you see Arinya being accused. I know everything."

"Kaelor, you can’t say such things about your sister," Rakan said but Kaelor glared at him.

"And you, father, I’m so disappointed in you. How could you be so biased and let Arinya suffer?" He asked, forcing Rakan to stay quiet. "I blame myself for not being an adequate big brother and protecting her but you..." He said and gazed at the rest of them. "All of you! You’re all more vicious than the snake standing by her side. You eat at her vulnerability, you stomp on her, and you blame her for every little thing. Is she not our kin? Is she not one of us? She’s no outsider, and yet you still choose to hit, harass, and abuse her. What’s a few beatings she gave to Veyra? I bet it’s nothing compared to the number of beatings you guys gave her over the years."

"So we’ve heard it," Kasa said, spreading his arms as he had just watched an interesting show unfold. "It’s tragic that Arinya grew up in such an environment. So much so that I wish to take her away. So, what do you say?" He turned his gaze to me. "Won’t you abdicate from the Stormhole tribe and become one of us at Chrysthorn? I promise, however you are treated there will be ten times better than how you are treated here."

Of course, anywhere is better than this hellhole.

"You can’t..." My father wanted to speak up but Kaelor raised his hand, stopping him.

Even he knew he had no right to stop me if I planned to leave.

After all, what good had this tribe done for me?