After Giving Birth, All My Beast Ex-Husbands Suddenly Want Me Back

Chapter 425: How could it be him?

"Why?" someone called out from the crowd of beastmen.

"Because the city’s water supply was poisoned," Xirin declared.

The Serpent City beastmen erupted into complete chaos.

"The city’s water was actually poisoned?"

"So what the Barbarian City Lord said was true all along!"

"Heavens, who could be so vicious as to poison our water?"

"If I find out who did this, I’ll tear them to pieces!"

The crowd grew furious. Since Xirin was already a highly respected figure in the city and claimed to have the cure, the people were inclined to believe him. Combined with the baseline trust they had already developed for Nina, the explanation that the water had been poisoned was instantly accepted.

Xirin and Milt had a personal vendetta, which was why he had gone into hiding, but since he hadn’t harmed the city itself, the average beastman didn’t care about their feud. In the beast world, bloody power struggles were completely commonplace; ordinary citizens didn’t particularly care who wore the title of City Lord, so long as whoever was in charge could lead them to a better life.

Xirin smiled with immense satisfaction as he watched the crowd’s outrage boil over. This was exactly the effect he wanted.

He continued, "Do any of you know who put the poison in the water?"

"Who?" the beastmen demanded.

Xirin pointed a sharp finger directly at Milt. "Him! Your City Lord, Milt. He ordered his subordinates to poison all of you."

The beastmen were utterly stunned by this revelation.

"No way..."

"How could it be City Lord Milt? He has always been so good to the people in the city!"

"Yeah, that seems impossible. He has no reason to poison us, does he?"

For a moment, the crowd wavered, unsure of what to believe. If Xirin had accused anyone else, they would have accepted it easily. But accusing their own City Lord was simply too hard to fathom.

Nina was also slightly surprised. She hadn’t expected Xirin to pin the blame squarely on Milt.

Milt, however, didn’t panic in the slightest. "Do you have any proof? On what grounds do you accuse me?"

The crowd turned their eyes back to Xirin, demanding an answer.

Xirin clapped his hands. Within moments, several more beastmen flew out from the crowd, dragging a few bound captives with them.

Xirin addressed the gathering. "Here is your proof. These are the very beastmen who poisoned the water." He then turned to face Milt. "You recognize these faces, don’t you? They are your trusted confidants, and they happen to be the exact guards stationed at the water source."

Milt swept his gaze over the captured guards. "What of it?"

Xirin turned to the prisoners. "Speak. Did you or did you not poison the water?"

The guards hung their heads, murmuring, "Yes."

"And who ordered you to do it?" Xirin pressed.

"It was..." The guards stole a terrified glance at Milt. "It was the City Lord who ordered us to do it."

Xirin immediately turned back to the crowd. "You all heard it! They are the guards of the water source, and they are Milt’s trusted men. If it wasn’t them, who else could have poisoned our water supply so seamlessly without anyone noticing?"

The crowd fell into an uproar.

"The City Lord really ordered the poisoning? H-how could this happen?"

"But why?!"

They turned to look at Milt, their eyes filled with sharp interrogation.

Milt frowned. "Do not listen to Xirin’s nonsense. They are indeed my subordinates, but I never ordered them to poison anything." He then turned a furious gaze onto the guards. "I have treated you all well. Why are you framing me?"

The guards kept their heads bowed, not daring to answer.

Xirin let out a mocking laugh. "Whether it’s a frame-up or not, you know the truth in your heart."

Milt’s expression turned icy cold. "Then tell me, why would I go through all this trouble just to poison my own city?"

One of the elders immediately stepped forward to defend Milt. "Exactly! What possible motive could the City Lord have for poisoning everyone?"

Xirin glanced at the elders standing beside Milt. "Naturally, it was to weed out the beastmen who didn’t fully support him. As for the innocent citizens in the city, they were merely collateral damage to him." He shifted his gaze to the rest of the crowd. "Haven’t you noticed that not a single one of the elders close to Milt has fallen ill?"

A few of the other elders began to whisper among themselves. "Now that he mentions it, that does seem true. The females and cubs in the households of the elders who support Milt are completely fine."

Everyone turned to stare at the elders whose families were entirely unaffected. A few of those elders shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

By this point, the anger among the ordinary beastmen was reaching a boiling point; they already believed most of the accusation. After all, how could those specific families be completely untouched by pure coincidence?

Nina watched Milt, her eyes narrowing as she analyzed the situation.

"Xirin, stop slandering the City Lord!" an elder stepped forward to shout. "Our families didn’t get sick simply because we had good luck and received the protection of the Beast God!"

"Exactly! Our City Lord has always cherished his people. How could he possibly poison them?" another elder chimed in.

"Heh. How convenient that you all happen to be so exceptionally lucky, while the rest of the beastmen deserve to suffer?" Xirin scoffed. "Why would the Beast God protect only you and abandon everyone else?"

Hearing this, the rage in the crowd intensified. Yeah, why were they the ones doomed to suffer? There was definitely something wrong with those elders.

Yet another elder stepped up to point an accusing finger at Xirin. "I think you’re the one who poisoned us! Otherwise, how could you possibly have the antidote? If you knew the water was poisoned all along, why didn’t you speak up sooner?"

"Because I needed to expose Milt’s true colors in front of everyone, and it took time to formulate the antidote," Xirin countered smoothly. More than anything, he wanted the people of the city to lose all faith in Milt and strip him of his support.

Nina looked from Xirin to Milt, and then over toward the sacred artifact and the array, mapping out the connections between everything in her mind.

She whispered quietly to her system, Little Bun, scan the surrounding area. Check if there’s anything unusual about the environment.

[Understood, Host. Executing now,] Little Bun responded instantly.

Nina then leaned over and whispered a few instructions into Odian’s ear. He nodded understandingly and began scanning the perimeter with a sharp, observant eye.

The defending elder wanted to argue further, but Milt raised a hand to silence him. He looked directly at Xirin. "Since you claim to have a cure, why don’t you test your medicine on one of the sick beastmen right now?"

"No problem," Xirin replied mockingly. "But once I cure the citizens, I want to see if you still deny your guilt."

The crowd was already leaning heavily in his favor. The moment he successfully healed the females and cubs, their absolute allegiance would be his.

Xirin pulled out the antidote. At Milt’s request, he handed a portion over to the city’s shamans for inspection before bringing forward an ailing female.

The shamans analyzed the mixture for a moment before shaking their heads. "Most of it consists of common medicinal herbs, but there are a few components we cannot identify."

Xirin sneered, "A bunch of quacks. You’re nowhere near Maron’s level." He then turned and politely addressed the sick female. "Are you willing to try my antidote? It was formulated by the great Shaman Maron. It will cure you."

The female hesitated for a moment, but ultimately nodded. She had heard of Shaman Maron; he was a highly skilled healer in the city, so his medicine should be reliable.

Xirin handed over the medicine with absolute confidence, watching Milt like a hawk, waiting to witness his utter downfall. Nina stood by, quietly watching the scene unfold.

Everyone held their breath, waiting to see the effects of the medicine. The ordinary beastmen watched with bated breath and fervent prayers—it had to work!

After a few tense moments, the female’s complexion visibly improved. She slowly pushed herself up and, remarkably, stood completely upright on her own two feet.

The beastmen erupted into cheers. It actually worked!

A triumphant smirk spread across Xirin’s face. But just as he opened his mouth to condemn Milt, a sudden, horrific mutation occurred.