Chapter 2: The Ashbournes Arrive
Shani left filled with hope. She had never expected much from an adoptive family, but surely her own blood relatives would genuinely care for her... wouldn’t they?
Sadly, those hopes were nothing more than wishful thinking.
Shani’s arrival wasn’t met with warm smiles. There was no welcoming family dinner. No introductions to the rest of the household. No one was waiting to welcome her home.
The first thing they did was immediately conduct a Beast Gene test on Shani. The results would determine whether she had inherited her father’s Night Panther bloodline or her mother’s Crimson Eagle bloodline.
The test confirmed that Shani was a Crimson Eagle beastman.
At that moment, while everything still felt unfamiliar to her, Shani was ordered to sign an agreement stating that she would never seek out her mother’s family and would instead remain with the House of Ashbourne.
They told her that her biological mother’s family was currently embroiled in a conflict with another noble house in the Kingdom of Zephyria. If Shani revealed her identity, her life would be in danger.
Young and innocent, Shani believed them.
Judging by how determined they were to keep her in the Ashbourne family, she thought they would treat her well.
Instead, all she received after signing that agreement was neglect.
She was confined to the mansion’s attic, forbidden from meeting anyone else, barred from attending the academy, and they made no effort to save her rapidly dwindling lifespan.
Her Cashback System still refused to activate. There were times when Shani cursed the system, convinced it existed for no other purpose than to mock her with false hope.
When she turned twenty, just one month before her expected death, the Ashbournes brought in a life prisoner to perform a Beast Resonance with her.
Every beastman was born with Beast Energy. However, after the Great Change that transformed the world, beastmen could no longer wield the raw power of their Beast Energy. They couldn’t even shift or display beastman traits such as ears or tails.
They were little different from the long-extinct species known as humans.
After years of research, scientists discovered the phenomenon known as Beast Resonance.
When two beastmen infused their Beast Energy into an artificial egg, a baby beast would begin growing inside it.
Once the egg hatched and the baby beast was properly raised, it would return Beast Essence to the two "parents" who had created it. That Beast Essence merged with the Beast Energy inside the beastman’s body.
It was this fusion of energies that became the beastman’s strength.
The higher a beastman’s rank, the higher the rank of the baby beast they could produce. In turn, a higher-ranked baby beast generated more Beast Essence, allowing its parents to become even stronger.
That was why Beast Rank was so important.
To the Ashbournes, Shani’s F Rank was a lost cause. There was no point trying to save her, so they never bothered finding her a partner.
They only arranged one for her when her death was just around the corner. And the reason was utterly revolting.
By nature, baby beasts were extremely fragile creatures. They couldn’t be taken into battle and served little purpose beyond being household companions.
However, they did possess one trait that many people found useful. Baby beasts were fiercely loyal.
If one of their parents died and the other abandoned them, the baby beast would remain beside the deceased parent’s grave, tending and guarding it for the rest of its life.
It would only die after both of its parents had passed away.
The Ashbournes didn’t want the trouble of maintaining Shani’s grave after she died. So they allowed her to have a baby beast for that purpose alone.
The more Shani thought about it, the stench covering her body wasn’t nearly as disgusting as the Ashbournes themselves.
Mina glanced back at Shani several times. She couldn’t see the grim expression hidden beneath the cow dung covering Shani’s face.
But she did notice something strange. Shani’s eyes were no longer the bright crimson they should have been. Instead, they had darkened into a deep brown.
Mina wanted to ask about it, but the overwhelming stench coming from Shani stole her attention.
Back at the barn, she’d assumed the smell came from the piles of cow dung nearby. Only now did she realize... The smell was coming from Shani herself.
In the end, Mina decided to keep quiet.
The two of them arrived in front of the orphanage. Just then, a hovercar pulled to a stop before the children, who were already lined up outside.
A butler and a chauffeur stepped out of the vehicle.
The chauffeur opened the rear door, and a woman dressed in luxurious clothing, looking completely out of place in such humble surroundings, gracefully stepped out.
Shani stopped walking.
Even from where she stood near the back of the crowd, she could clearly see the fine wrinkles at the corners of the woman’s eyes, carefully concealed beneath expensive makeup.
A sneer spread across Shani’s face beneath the layer of cow dung.
The woman looked disgusted. She already seemed to regret coming here. Only the butler explained the purpose of their visit.
Just like in Shani’s previous life. Butler Stone and Emilia Falkner had come to find her.
"Young Master Samuel and Young Madam Tala died on the battlefield while fighting the wild creatures of the Wilderness."
"After their defeat, their camp was looted by bandits. By the time reinforcements arrived, nothing remained. Their daughter, who wasn’t even a year old, had disappeared as well."
Shani clenched her fists as Butler Stone spoke.
How laughable. They had waited more than seventeen years before deciding to look for the missing baby.
Emilia, who had been covering her nose the entire time, gestured impatiently for Butler Stone to hurry.
"Director Rowan, is there an eighteen-year-old girl living here?" Butler Stone asked Cedric politely.
"An eighteen-year-old girl? Yes, there is one." Cedric’s gaze swept across the children before settling on the tall, slender girl standing near the back.
"Shani? Did you fall into something?" Concern filled Cedric’s face as he hurried over to her.
The moment he spoke, everyone’s attention shifted toward Shani. The other children looked at her with surprise and concern.
...