CHAPTER 14: REDEEMING THE SIN OF THE EVIL FOX

The black hut was located at the very back of the settlement, or more precisely, near the edge of a tall cliff. If a landslide ever happened, that hut would be the first to disappear under the rubble.

Which, honestly... was probably the point. The whole place was built to make anyone locked inside feel nervous every single minute.

However, the warriors of the Vixeria Tribe didn’t seem bothered at all.

When Roxanna pushed the door open, she found them sitting casually on the ground, chewing on slightly rotten meat—meat they had probably hidden before the Evil Roxanna threw them in here—and laughing together like they were out on a scouting trip instead of being punished.

"That damn fox is here!"

The laughter stopped instantly. Every head turned toward the door. Their relaxed expressions hardened, twisting into looks of pure disgust. A few even spat on the ground the moment they saw her.

[I... I know they hated the evil Roxanna, but it really feels like they’re disgusted with me too.]

Roxanna shook her head, trying to push away that kind of thought. This wasn’t the time to think like that.

"What do you want, foxie?!" one of the warriors shouted. He didn’t even try to be polite.

"Want to move us to the cursed forest now? Fine! Do it! Let’s see how you’re going to protect this tribe without us!"

"What? Why are you staring at us like that?! Are you going to threaten us again? Are you going to say you’ll blow our heads off if we don’t listen to you? Go on then! Do it! We’d rather die than listen to your filthy mouth any longer!"

Roxanna was already used to receiving insults from her ex-husband and her ex-best friend back in the apocalypse, so she wasn’t really affected when the warriors yelled at her or cursed her with such rotten words.

But still... facing a bunch of furious beastmen who were all twice her size was definitely scary.

Zeir took a step forward, ready to snap at them, but Roxanna quickly grabbed his hand. She took a deep breath, then suddenly lowered herself to the ground.

Before anyone could react, she sat on the ground with her legs folded neatly behind her, showing a posture of respect they had never seen from her before.

The warriors froze in place because they never imagined there would come a day when they would see Roxanna lower herself like this.

"You don’t have to forgive me," she said firmly, though her eyes were soft as she looked at them. "And you don’t have to listen to anything I say."

Her hands stayed neatly on her thighs as she sat there. "But right now... there are demon beasts tearing through the tribe. People are screaming, children are crying, and the elders can’t run fast enough to escape."

Her voice trembled for a second, but she forced herself to continue. "So hate me after this. You can curse me, throw dirt at my face, or lock me inside this hut if you want." She bowed her head slightly. "But please... help them first. Save your family and friends."

There’s a saying: when people share the same trauma, they form a stronger bond, whether they want to or not.

In this case, every single person in the Vixeria Tribe had suffered because of the evil Roxanna. The elders, the warriors, the beastkin children, even the commanders... all of them carried the same wound, the same anger, the same fear.

They had all been hurt by the same person, and that kind of shared pain tied them together in a way nothing else could.

Therefore, when they saw Roxanna begging them to save the Vixeria Tribe, there was a strange feeling lingering in their chests.

They didn’t pity that pink fox, nor did they want to forgive her right away. However, the thought of letting their people die was something they could not bear.

Marlow, the commander, clicked his tongue and stood up first. "Get up," he muttered. "Our people are waiting for us."

One by one, the other warriors slowly got to their feet as well. They walked past Roxanna, who was still sitting on the ground with her head lowered, and her hands on her thighs.

Some of them wanted to spit on her, but stopped when they saw Zeir’s sharp eyes. He stood right behind Roxanna like a watchdog that didn’t want to leave its master.

His behavior honestly surprised them, because the last time they checked, Zeir was the one who hated Roxanna the most, and he was always talking bad about her to the other warriors.

Now they felt like they were missing an important piece of information, but they decided to think about it later because the demon beasts had already destroyed a half of their settlement.

[System... why don’t you just let me die?] Roxanna asked the system in her mind. She was still sitting on the ground, staring blankly at the now-empty black hut. [Did I do something wrong in the past, and now you want to punish me by making me carry someone else’s sins?]

The system chimed softly. [There is no exact answer to that question.]

[The system only grants a second chance to souls who have suffered deeply.]

Roxanna’s eyes widened a little, and she bit her inner lip. [That makes no sense. If you knew I was already suffering, shouldn’t you make it easier? Not harder?]

Not only did the system drag her soul into a world full of monsters, it also made Roxanna carry the terrible sins left behind by someone else.

It didn’t make any sense at all.

"Roxanna," Zeir said softly as he reached out and gently helped her stand. "Get up. You’ll hurt your knees."

Ah, but her husbands’ behavior was still completely beyond logic. They hadn’t shouted at her, snapped at her, or blamed her for anything since yesterday.

Her husbands were too kind. Sometimes she wondered if they were a compensation gift the system threw at her because her life had already been miserable enough.

"Zeir," Roxanna whispered, turning around to meet his golden eyes. "Can you stab me?"

Zeir’s brows pulled together in a deep frown. He had no idea what kind of "stab" she was talking about.