53 Felice’s troubles

Felice was almost done with her hunting with her group and they had just finished off a small group of smaller animals but when they encountered another, it was much bigger and troublesome to deal with.

With the experience gained from previous battles, Felice took the lead and allowed the group to corner it while they were weakening it with their attacks. "Good, keep going!"

All of a sudden a spear flew into the area where many were and pierced through the neck of the already weakened animal.

Several hyena Minks walked out from hiding and the leader kept approaching with a smirk on his face. "Heh heh heh. Thank you all for the hard work. You made this so easy for me."

Felice stepped in front of his path and frowned. "You may have landed the last blow but you interrupted our battle when we did not need any help. Please take your spear and leave."

The leader of the opposing group did not look affected by her words as he stated. "So what? This is my kill or do you want to go up against a count family? Can your family possibly be able to survive? Move or I will cut you down."

He spoke arrogantly as if the forest was his own property and continued to mock Felice.

A count or earl rank family was just below a marquess family so while it was not a big and powerful family like the duke or marquess families, they still ranked above a viscount or baron family.

Just like Micah's status granted him power to intimidate others of a lower rank, the hyena family were the same when it came to intimidating Felice who was a lower ranking than him.

Felice grit her teeth and then answered as she stepped aside. "Fine then but please be aware that this is the only time I will let this happen."

She gave him a cold look and then left with her companions. "Lets go."

After she had left, the leader of the group that remained looked towards the corpse of the animal. "Wow… she really is no fun. She can control herself well but how long can that possibly last? Heh heh heh."

He had deliberately come to bully and target Felice and hoped that she would respond the way he wanted, since she was still young then it would be easy to provoke her and start a fight where she threw the first hit.

It did not matter whether Felice won or lost the battle because the winner would be the hyena family which were known as the Glutt family.

They had the power to suppress and destroy the Meridian family or cause them damage in their own ways but they were still restricted in their movements due to their higher status.

They had to set a public example for others and avoid bad rumours spreading which could result in the general public and the other noble families turning on them.

If there was enough reason for their actions like an example of their children being attacked by those from other families then they could ask for the people involved or related to be punished while the families involved would have to pay compensation and apologise.

If Felice was seriously wounded after she started the fight then it would be her own fault since she started the fight and was wounded as a result of her rash actions.

Even if others were there to back her up about her being provoked, it did not matter since she was the one that resorted to violence first.

Her acting in such a way would damage her reputation and position within the Meridian family so such a situation was beneficial to those that would be competing with her like Milo.

Felice and her companions continued onward and went to hunt some more but just as they were about to land the killing blow, an arrow or spear dealt the killing blow and the leader of the group from the Glutt family showed up with a mocking grin on his face. "What? I landed the killing blow?"

Felice suppressed her anger and said coldly. "This time you almost hit one of my people just so you could steal the kill? What is wrong with you?"

The leader grinned widely and answered. "We made sure that we would avoid you all so do not worry about it. Even if we do hit you, it is just a minor scrape or cut right? It is not like we meant to hurt you."

Felice shook her head. "You are doing all of this on purpose. This is not fair and you are acting out of line. I would like you to stop this."

The leader of the group kept his smirk on his face as he said proudly. "Aw don't be like that! We meant no harm, really! Even if we did mean you harm, what could you do about it? Do you want to fight?"

Felice suppressed her urge to attack him and calmed herself down. "Let's go."

The leader saw her departing and put on a sorrowful tone. "Aww.. do not leave. Please stay~."

As Felice was leaving her cat ears had drooped down a little which showed her sadness and disappointment. 'What is wrong with him?'

Felice was the first born child of the Meridian family and she had always been looked up to because she was the first in line to inherit the position as family head, she was beautiful, she had a noble aura and she had an excellent tiger bloodline.

Nobody had ever treated her in such a way before and looked at her with such eyes which looked down on her in a mocking way.

She had no choice but to let it go and continue her hunt so she started to target smaller prey with her companions but similar situations kept happening.

Each was more dangerous than the one before as some were cut by the passing spears and arrows.

Felice kept suppressing herself and bowed to her companions. "I am sorry that this keeps happening. I do not know why he is targeting us in such a way. We need to get a quick kill from now on otherwise we will be unable to take our prey with us and complete the amount we need for everyone. Hopefully we can avoid being wounded."

"It is no trouble Felice, we know you are trying your best."

"Those from the Glutt family are too despicable."

"What is their problem anyways?"

Felice smiled gratefully. "Thank you. Let's all complete this together."

She displayed her own good qualities which were well suited for leadership, although she was a noble lady from a noble family, she was not afraid to apologise and admit her wrongs which made people see her in a favourable light and wish to stick by her side.

However as they continued, people in her group started to suffer injuries as the Glutt family had taken more desperate steps to get the killing blow so even if Felice's group did get the killing blow, someone in her group had a large cut on them or were hit with an arrow on their limbs or less life threatening areas.

Felice could faintly sense those nearby as her senses had attuned to and picked up on the presence of the Glutt family group members so when the time came, she could predict the place where they would fire from and what it was aimed at.

Her eyes came onto the Mink in the path of the arrow and dived onto the Mink to push them down and out of the path.

The arrow continued onward and pierced the animal as the Glutt family group walked out.

The leader of the group looked shocked. "Oh.. you predicted that attack? You really saved them just now, my hand slipped a bit this time. Heh heh heh."

Felice glared towards him and released her murderous intent but she then suppressed herself. "I will tell my grandfather everything that you have done. Do not think that you cannot escape punishment even if your family is a higher rank. You have continued to follow and target our group for a long time and we have many injured to prove it. Whatever your reason or excuse, you cannot possibly get away with this."

The leader of the group snorted. "That old man? Isn't he the only thing holding your pitiful family together? What can he possibly do to the Glutt family?"

There was some footsteps which were more like louder stomps which came closer to them and a taunting laugh came from the figure sitting on a large creature. "Glutt family? What is that? Did you just look down on my grandfather?"