Reborn in a beast world novel

The Banquet (2)

When she entered the Banquet hall, Rosa was very nervous. All the eyes were fixed on her and it made her a little nauseated, but she maintained a calm facade; she couldn't afford to show herself trembling like a white rabbit in a wolf's den, she was the tiger princess and had to behave like one.

She scanned the entire place only to finally find the familiar faces of Bart and Shuu, who were already heading towards her, but were preceded by one of the two people she certainly didn't want to meet tonight: the ugly monkey.

Baruch, the ape king, was intent on exploiting the banquet to make connections and extend his influence in beast City and beyond, when the entire room was plunged into silence by the arrival of the Tiger king and his family.

He grimaced.

Baruch in these years tried more than once to completely manipulate his pawn (the tiger king), without ever succeeding.

He knew there was something or someone standing in his way, and his instincts told him it was the tiger princess.

Ah, the tiger princess, so irritating with her act as an innocent and harmless female and yet so captivating and dangerous.

His heart belonged to Qin (the mermaid female), for him the most beautiful female in the world, but he couldn't deny the stunning beauty that the tiger cub was transforming into and which always managed to catch his eye and part of his thoughts.

But he shouldn't let that fool him, because she's really dangerous and scheming.

Baruch knows that she is preparing for the arrival of something, what it is unknown, but his instinct tells him that it will be something big that will bring great changes.

As long as they don't get in each other's way, Baruch won't intervene, but if she should hinder his (the ape king) growth of power, he will have to do nothing but destroy her.

Baruch turned towards the new arrivals to greet them with a calm and benevolent smile, but when his gaze fell on Winston near the tiger princess, he grimaced again, but immediately recomposed his calm facade.

'She'll be more annoying than I thought' he thought.

After the uncomfortable greetings with the Lame king, I could finally stay with my adorable future husbands (Bart and Shuu) and this made me relax a little.
I tried to make a little conversation with Winston to keep him from feeling left out, but unfortunately my attempts didn't yield much. What can I say? The big bad tiger is super shy.

As the banquet went on, I started to get a bit bored, the males didn't approach me, probably because I was protected by three beastmen, two princes and a tetra marked one that gave off the 'Stay away' vibes, and the females were busy in the show off their appearance and men hunting. Well, there were a lot of males, so there was more than enough choice for them.

In the hall, not counting the 'wives' of the chiefs/kings, besides me there were only three other females: a stunning fair skinned beauty with mesmerizing fuchsia eyes and fiery red hair , a fox female, daughter of the chief of the red sunset tribe (now I know why fox females are rumored to be the most beautiful ones, after the mermaids);  an average looking sheep female with icy blond hair that gave her an ethereal aura, and an owl female with big baby blue eyes.

Looking closely I noticed that their show off was done to attract the attention of one male in particular, a tri-striped panther beastman, son of the black claw tribe's chief.

Intrigued by the scene, I began to observe the male in question and my eyes wiedened immediately: with phoneix aquamarine eyes that looking at them seemed to see the Caribbean sea, sharp features, onyx hair styled back with some messy locks here and there that gave off a sexy vibe and an ebony skinned built body, he was the hottest man I had ever seen in my two lifetimes; maybe he was the hottest man in this World, I was not surprised that they were 'contending' him.

There was a bored look on his face which was replaced by a flirtatious smirk when he noticed my staring. I quickly looked away embarrassed by having been caught in the act.

He's a no, A BIG NO NO!!  Even if they paid me, the answer would be no, and this for two reasons:

1) ALL the females here (and I'm convinced that all those outside would do the same too) are 'clashing' for this male's attentions and I honestly have no intention to attend. I have to stay out of trouble, keep a fairly low profile and not make too many enemies because that will be one of the things that will save me and my family.

2) Despite how handsome and sexy he may be, I don't need this type of male, I need someone loyal and that will take care of me sincerely, not this.

Suddenly a scream interrupted my thoughts and the atmosphere of the event. Others followed that, and it scared me a lot. My three 'guards' quickly positioned themselves around me to protect me from any dangers. The other males did the same for their mates, while some guards went to check the source of these screams. The cries belonged to a young owl female, the daughter of the blue moon tribe's chief.

She was screaming for help and crying, on the ground with her clothes in tatters; the perpetrator of all this, shouted that he hadn't done anything and that he had been framed while being immobilized by the guards.
Abusing or injuring a female is a very serious crime, punishable by exile to the city of flames or, worse, death; but the offender, in this case, being a member of the royal family will have a lesser sentence. The male accused is Parker.

I honestly don't know if he's really guilty or if that female really accused him unjustly, I just know that the fundamental event for the beginning of the story that was supposed to happen today, parker's exile in Camel Valley, happened even without the my intervention and this scares me.

It's like the story is finding a way to make things happen without me anyway. That could be good, because it would mean I'd be safe if some other character took Rosa's place as cannon fodder, but that could be awful because it would mean that all the deaths and injustices I'm trying to avoid, would still happen.

As soon as I realized this I broke into a cold sweat, my breathing started to quicken, my heart was pounding and my vision started to get more and more blurred. I was having a panic attack and probably would have passed out soon.

Bart, shuu and Winston immediately noticed the changes in Rosa and thought that the scene she saw scared her a lot. Shu supported her from behind to avoid dropping her in case she passed out, while Bart took her face in his hands and looking straight into her eyes said:

"Shh, it's okay. It's all over. We're here with you, here for you, to protect you and always will be. You're safe. You're safe Rosa, we're here."

Bart repeated these phrases until Rosa finally calmed down.

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