While exploring the wilderness, my younger sister—Charlotte Forrester—and I accidentally stumble onto the territory of supernatural beings.
She grabs the hand of the noble, elegant male elf, her posture coy and intimate.
Before I can react, a wolfman with a scar on his face wraps his arm around my waist and leads me away.
Charlotte, who judges others by appearance, is unaware that the male elf—Elwin Duskwood—belongs to a tribe of half-elves. Half-elves are beautiful but possess no real capabilities. They are considered a marginalized group among elves and struggle to make ends meet every day.
On the other hand, the wolfman—Morgan Nightshade—is a mid-tier wolf tribe's Highlord. After giving birth to an extremely rare silver wolf for him, I have become the Highlady of the tribe. I'm respected by everyone in the tribe and feast on delicacies every day.
Meanwhile, Charlotte becomes emaciated after suffering from starvation for several months. When she sees how plump I am, she goes insane from jealousy. While the wolf tribe is entertaining guests at a banquet, she uses poison to kill me.
The next time I open my eyes, Charlotte and I are back at the moment we first entered the supernatural beings' territory by mistake.
Charlotte immediately hugs Morgan by the waist and kisses him. She showers him with flattery about his strength, calling him the man of her dreams.
I can't help but laugh out loud.
Silly Charlotte. As a wolfman, Morgan is ill-tempered, and he easily loses control of his emotions. He also becomes even more bloodthirsty after transforming. It's not all sunshine and rainbows being his mate.
"Your muscles look so cool. I accidentally walked into this place and got lost… This place looks dangerous. Can you please protect me?" asked my younger sister, Charlotte Forrester.
When I saw her hugging the amber-eyed wolfman and going as far as to act coy, I knew that she'd been reborn alongside me.
Said wolfman, Morgan Nightshade, stood at around six feet and six inches tall. His upper body was bare, leaving his muscles and the bloodstains on them in full view. In our past life, Charlotte had been so frightened by the sight of him that she'd hurriedly backed away.
Instead, when she'd seen the tall, well-proportioned, pointy-eared elf with a gentle temperament—Elwin Duskwood—she'd grabbed his hand and refused to let go no matter what.
Charlotte was obsessed with handsome men. She'd been attracted by Elwin at first glance and chose to follow him without hesitation.
In our previous life, in order to prevent me from challenging her for Elwin, she'd said to me with all seriousness, "You're taller than me, Minnie. That wolfman looks like a better match for you in terms of stature. He'll take good care of you."
After our reincarnation, she switched up her lines. "I've never seen such a handsome man, Minnie. This pointy-eared man must be one of the elves of legend.
"To thank you for your care, I'll let you have this handsome man. As for me, I suppose I'll have to go for that beefy man instead."
The smile I plastered on my face didn't reach my eyes. If not for the fact I'd also been reborn, I would have believed her.
I asked, "Haven't you always liked good-looking people, Lottie? I can always stay with you, too, so you don't have to force yourself."
Charlotte immediately replied in a firm and righteous manner, "We still have to find our way home, though. Wouldn't it be faster to split up? Stop agonizing over it already. I'm willing to make some sacrifices for your sake, Minnie."
Elwin remained quiet, but the powerful Morgan had something to say about the situation. "You're as thin as a reed and don't look like you're capable of much. She seems to be a more suitable match for me."
His appreciative gaze landed on me.
Charlotte immediately became anxious upon hearing this. She straightened her scrawny frame and argued, "I don't eat much. As long as there's meat available, I'll be fine. If, by any chance, the tribe runs out of food over the winter, I can even skip meals.
"Furthermore, I know how to make fires, climb trees, and pitch tents…"
I couldn't help but laugh listening to her list out a bunch of survival skills that were of no use to wolfmen.
Noticing that Morgan was about to interject, I said outright, "I can't give birth to children."
Charlotte glanced doubtfully at me before quickly chiming in with shining eyes, "Pick me. I can conceive."
She added with great confidence, "I'll be able to give birth to a rare silver wolf within half a year!"
Even silver wolfwomen weren't guaranteed to conceive a silver wolf. I smiled at the determination in Charlotte's eyes. She assumed that because I gave birth to a silver wolf in my previous life, she would be able to as well.
Upon hearing this, Morgan immediately agreed to take her away.
Before leaving, Charlotte made sure to sweep her gaze over me arrogantly. "Remember to send me a message if you find that you can no longer stand life over there, Minnie. For all we know, I might even be able to bring you into the wolf tribe as a low-level maid."
I smiled faintly at her. "It remains to be seen who'll be asking for help from whom."
Foolish Charlotte. There was a huge price to pay for giving birth to a silver wolf. I hoped she would be able to bear it.
I wondered how long she would be able to stand the savage wolfmen.
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.
I gazed straight at Elwin and said, "I'm not behind any of this, but I can save him."
I quickly turned the young half-elf over, placed my knee against his stomach, and reached out to induce him to vomit.
After he vomited for a long time, thus completely emptying his stomach, I gave him a bit of water and laid him down.
"He's alright now. He'll recover after some sleep," I announced.
I took the last ibuprofen pill I had out of my bag and fed it to the young half-elf with slight reluctance.
Then, I instructed the half-elf's parents, "Take me to the place you harvested those shoots from."
That place was located right behind the tribe's camping grounds. I walked over and dug up the soil. Sure enough, my digging turned up two golden-brown potatoes.
Contrary to my elation, the half-elf couple turned pale with fright and shouted, "Don't touch it! It's poisonous!"
I couldn't help smiling at their nervous expressions. "The shoots that sprout from them are poisonous, but the main body can be eaten."
I spent a long time teaching them how to eat and grow potatoes.
After we'd dug up the remaining potatoes, everyone was so happy that they hosted a celebration banquet that very night.
The atmosphere was lively, and everyone started dancing. I looked back to call out to Elwin, but found him missing.
Just as I was wondering where he went, a half-elf ran in with a panicked expression on his face. "Bad news, Ms. Forrester! Mr. Duskwood has fallen into a ratfolk trap!"
My heart skipped a beat, and I questioned him for the full story.
It turned out that Elwin had seen me working hard for the half-elf lately and wanted to repay me. So, when he heard me muttering in my sleep that I wanted to eat meat, he'd gone off alone to hunt in the mountains behind our backs.
The ratfolk had set up a trap in the mountains, specifically waiting for unfortunate souls to fall into it.
Just like that, Elwin had fallen into a deep pit and couldn't climb his way back out.
A group of half-elves and I gathered around the edges of the pit, calling out anxiously to him.
After quite a while, we finally heard his weak cry ringing out from the bottom of the pit. "I'm still alive! But the walls of the pit are too steep for me to get out!"
I leaned over to look into the pit. The pit was dug vertically and had smooth mud walls, so the only way to get Elwin out was to lift him up by rope.
However, we were on the borders of the territory of supernatural beings. Where were we going to get rope?
Just as I was at my wits' end, a group of ratfolk slowly and casually showed up. Their leader was a white-haired fellow who was decently good-looking, but he had a servile look on his face that made me uneasy.
"I've done everything as you asked, Highlady of the Silvermoon tribe."
I followed his gaze to see Charlotte.
She stood on high ground with a contemptuous look in her eyes. "You surprisingly haven't been driven out of the tribe yet despite poisoning a half-elf child, Minnie. It must have been because Elwin protected you.
"But once Elwin dies, you won't be able to prance around for much longer."
She was personally admitting to ordering the ratfolk to set a trap for Elwin.
I didn't understand why she'd done it.
Charlotte gritted her teeth. "There's no reason behind it. Hybrid races like half-elves just shouldn't be allowed to live."
She glanced at the few half-elf ladies behind me with jealousy-filled eyes. "They all deserve to die."
I understood her motives now. She hadn't been satisfied with her life in the half-elf tribe in her previous life. Her sense of superiority had suffered a huge blow because she didn't look as beautiful as they did, so she now wanted to exact revenge on the entire tribe.
She was unaware that there was a wolfman-related crisis waiting for her just around the corner and that she was the one who wouldn't be living a good life for long.