Chapter 2

2

After selecting our mates, the only thing left was to seal the contract.

Only when I clearly saw the fox-mark imprinted on my palm did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

In this life, I had finally escaped the tragedy of my previous one.

Looking at Zoe's unmasked excitement, for some reason, I suddenly thought of my past life.

The primitive world revered females, but it valued strength even more.

So, even though Zoe was a rare female, she still had to obey Silas's every arrangement, and she had to guard against the constant stream of flirts who threw themselves at him after they were wed.

This was all because Silas was a natural hunter. While other beastmen struggled to fill their bellies, his kills were enough to feed half the tribe.

Silas naturally attracted many females. As they walked down the road, there were always females giving him bedroom eyes.

The bold ones would even openly state that they were willing to follow Silas, even without a contract.

When Zoe first got with Silas, she had enjoyed a period of triumph.

Relying on being more beautiful than the other females, she often acted like a tyrant, keeping Silas on a very short leash.

She was a transmigrator, possessing bold speech and spicy behavior, which actually kept Silas interested for a while.

But as time went on, her flaws were exposed.

She was unreasonable, pampered, and willful.

Even the best temper would eventually wear thin, let alone Silas, who had been coddled as a golden child since he was young.

So, after a series of explosive arguments, Silas couldn't take it anymore and kicked Zoe out of their cave.

It was the dead of winter. A female without a beastman protector could easily starve, so after Zoe knelt outside the cave for several days and nights, Silas's heart softened, and he took her back in.

However, her face had suffered from long-term exposure to the cold, leading to nerve damage. Seeing that the only thing that had attracted him was ruined, Silas lost interest in continuing with her.

He only tossed her some leftover scraps every few days, and Zoe lived that way, one day hungry, the next not.

It wasn't that she hadn't considered finding another beastman, but Silas's possessiveness was extreme. Even if he didn't like her anymore, he wouldn't allow Zoe to see anyone else.

Time just dragged on like that, until the news came that Julian had become the Chieftain of the tribe.

On that day, all beastmen were required to attend the celebration. Seeing her chance, Zoe hid quietly behind a rock near the cliff's edge.

Before I could even react, she shoved me hard off the cliff.

"Why do you get to have a better life than me? You should be inferior to me in every way, you bitch!"

Zoe was my distant cousin from the countryside, while I was the only daughter of the wealthiest man in Shanghai.

But disaster struck, and I was kidnapped. Her parents had fought the traffickers with their lives to save me.

They had passed away from their wounds shortly after.

So, my family took Zoe in, treating her like a second daughter.

My parents, fearing that Zoe would feel insecure, treated her even better than they treated me.

Over time, this only fueled her arrogance.

Every time we moved to a new environment, she would wipe away tears and tell everyone how much she had sacrificed for me.

"Nina is so pretty. Mom and Dad would be happy if they could see her now."

"After all, they gave their lives to save Nina. Otherwise, they would be here with me instead."

I knew this was her retaliation for me being the focus of attention, so I slowly became withdrawn, turning into a transparent person in the crowd.

She loved taking things away from me, from my parents' affection when we were kids, to the senior I'd had a crush on in college.

"Nina, don't be mad. I was just asking for his contact info to help you out. Who knew he would end up confessing to me instead?"

"But this just shows he never liked you anyway. Look, I'm being so good to you, sacrificing myself to test a scumbag, shouldn't you thank me?"

"I saw that bag your aunt and uncle bought you―it looks nice. Why don't you give it to me as a token of thanks?"

That was the latest season's item from a luxury house, worth a cool two million.

Looking at Zoe's shameless, greedy face, I felt nothing but disgust.

But no matter how disgusted I was, the fact remained that her parents had died for me.

So in my past life, I could only live in a daze, waiting for the day of my release.

The moment she pushed me off that cliff, I finally felt the long-lost sensation of freedom.

The debt of gratitude had been paid. From now on, Ji Jiuning would only live for herself!