Saving The Monster Race Starts With Breeding The Elf Village

Chapter 358: I Have A Alibi!

Luca, who had been actively radiating lethal sympathy for the victim, froze.

His brain completely stalled out.

He blinked once. Twice. Then—

"I’m sorry...what?"

"I said." Sigrid repeated, her voice unwavering. "The intruder was you. You watched my lady bathe, Hero. And...you violated her afterward."

The atmosphere, which had been relatively calm, suddenly became oppressive.

Every centaur in the vicinity fixed their gaze on Luca, their eyes hard and accusing.

Poppy herself had gone completely red. She was hiding her face in Sigrid’s ponytail, her fingers clutching the commander’s mane.

Only one eye peeked out, watching Luca with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

Luca felt his own temper flare.

"That’s absolutely ridiculous!"

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "You can’t just throw accusations like that around! Just because I’m human! Just because of the dreams—"

He caught himself before he could say too much. Poppy didn’t know about the dreams. He couldn’t blurt it out now.

"Just because of whatever you’re thinking—" He amended. "—doesn’t mean I go around peeping on people bathing! I have standards!"

"You did! I saw you!" Poppy’s voice rang out from behind Sigrid’s hair, muffled but fierce.

"You looked at my naked body and—and—"

She shuddered.

"It was the most degrading moment of my existence! I even remember your face! And that arrogant smile you had the whole time!"

Luca scoffed openly, his anger rising.

"Listen, Your Majesty." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "If you’re going to fabricate a lie, at least make it believable. I’ve never seen you before in my life—certainly not naked!"

Poppy’s head shot up, her eyes blazing with indignation. "You—how dare you—"

"And even if my impulses were to override my morality." Luca continued callously. "My tastes would push me toward a woman with a far more prominent, voluptuous figure like..."

"...Sigrid over there!"

"Big, busty, actually worth the risk!"

Sigrid’s face went scarlet. "Excuse me?! Please don’t drag me into your dirty conversation!"

Thea let out a snort of laughter, quickly suppressed.

"And you—" Luca pointed at Poppy. "—you’re cute, sure. But cuteness isn’t going to make me risk my reputation for something I don’t even want to do!"

"It takes someone like Sigrid who has those fat milkers on her to get me worked up enough to throw caution to the wind!"

"I said stop involving me!" Sigrid’s voice was almost a squeak.

Poppy, however, took the critique of her figure as a declaration of war. She stood tall on top Sigrid back, stamping her foot furiously.

"I’ll have you know that I will definitely inherit a magnificent, full figure exactly like my mother’s in the future! I am simply in a developmental phase right now!"

She pointed a finger right between Luca’s eyes.

"And don’t try to shift the blame, human! I know what you did! I know it was you, and I will never, ever forget your face!"

A devious, vengeful smirk suddenly crept onto her lips.

"Furthermore...I actually counted down the exact number of days that have passed since the moment, specifically so I could track you down and exact my bloody revenge!"

She lifted her hand, staring at her fingers as she began counting them one by one.

"One...two...three...four..."

The surrounding centaurs lowered their heads, a wave of profound secondhand embarrassment washing over them.

The dramatic momentum of the royal accusation had completely died as their Queen struggled with basic arithmetic in front of the prime suspect.

Finally, Poppy snapped her fingers, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"It’s been exactly thirty-eight days! Around lunchtime on the thirty-eight day mark, you violated me!"

Luca let out a loud, shameless laugh.

"Thirty-eight days ago? Around lunchtime?"

He repeated, grinning widely. "Well, that provides me with an absolute alibi!"

He spread his arms, addressing the baffled centaurs.

"On that exact day and hour, I was having hot, passionate moment with the Nyx inside her torture shed!

The centaurs stared at him in absolute bafflement.

Nyx’s terrifying reputation didn’t just exist within the confines of the elven forest; stories of her unhinged, sadistic nature had circulated across the entire continent.

The knights had also heard horror stories from traveling races about the infamous "torture shed."

To hear this human naturally describe a passionate time inside a literal chamber of horrors was deeply disturbing.

Luca wasn’t done.

"And immediately after that, I had Luna give me a spectacular blowjob! Followed by me spending the rest of the afternoon pounding out Lulu’s ass!"

"WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAYING?!"

Sigrid screamed in a total panic, her face burning as she violently lunged forward to cup both of her hands over Poppy’s ears.

The other centaurs were equally flustered.

Even the older, more experienced warriors looked taken aback by how casually Luca was listing his intimate encounters.

Thea, for her part, seemed caught between amusement and secondhand embarrassment.

"What?" Luca spread his arms innocently. "You’re the ones accusing me of being a peeping Tom. I’m just establishing my alibi."

"On the day in question, I was very occupied. I had no time to go around violating random queens."

Poppy, whose ears had been unblocked, was about to argue further

But before she could speak, Luca paused. His hand moved to his chin as a sudden memory surfaced.

"Wait..." He said slowly. "I did visit a lake on that specific day. But I never encountered a girl."

He looked up, his eyes narrowing in thought.

"Instead." He continued. "I came across a majestic, pristine unicorn with a singular horn growing from its brow. It was standing by the lake, drinking water. I thought it was beautiful—truly magnificent."

Poppy’s entire face lit up. She practically bounced on Sigrid’s back.

"That’s me, human! That’s me! You’re talking about me!"

Luca’s jaw dropped. "What? You’re that unicorn?"

"Yes! Yes! It’s me!" Poppy was nodding so frantically her horn nearly poked Sigrid in the back of the head.

"I’m the queen of the centaurs! And centaur queens are always unicorns! I’m the current one! The unicorn of this generation! That was definitely me!"

Luca stared at her, then at her small, fragile frame, then back at her.

"But...how?" He asked slowly. "You look like a human. You don’t have any horse features. How can you be a unicorn?"

Poppy huffed indignantly.

"I can change between my unicorn form and my human-like form whenever I want!"

"This is proof!" She pointed at her horn. "Look at my horn! As long as you see this, you know I’m not lying!"

Luca fell into a contemplative silence.

In truth, the moment he had seen the horn on her head, the memory of that striking lake encounter had crossed his mind.

But he had dismissed it entirely.

The unicorn he had witnessed was an ethereal, awe-inspiring beast of divine majesty, boasting a perfect equine structure that bore absolutely no resemblance to the small, fragile girl standing before him.

Furthermore, that creature had a traditional horse head and body.

Poppy, on the other hand, was a fragile girl.

He had simply assumed a wild community of unicorns existed near the elven woods.

But looking around the courtyard now, he noticed that not a single knight was disputing her claim.

In fact, they all looked at her with reverence.

’It really was her.’ Luca realized, dumbfounded. ’The tiny, bratty Queen could actually transform into a legendary beast.’

’Now that I think about it, she even glared at me that day and it’s the same way she glares at me now.’

But just as he was about to agree, he saw how flustered she was—her cheeks puffed out, her horn swinging around like she wanted to poke him.

Honestly, her reaction was so adorable that he wanted to continue teasing her.

So instead of agreeing, he just put forward his hands and acted ignorant.

"Look, just because you happen to have a horn glued to your head doesn’t mean you’re the unicorn from the lake."

He grinned tauntingly. "For all I know, there are dozens of unicorns running around out there. It was probably someone else."

"I am the only unicorn in existence!" Poppy protested fiercely.

But then her triumphant posture suddenly faltered as a wave of deep, quiet melancholy washed over her face as she slowly said,

"The magic only manifests in one true unicorn per generation. Ever since my mother passed away...I am the last one left."

"So, no matter how hard you search this world, you will never find another creature like me."

She tried to thrust her chest out to maintain her pride, but the inherent sadness of being the last of her kind bled through her eyes.

Luca felt a small twinge of pity, but he quickly masked it with a challenging sneer.

"Well, if you’re the absolute, one-of-a-kind mythical beast you claim to be, why don’t you prove it? Show me the transformation right now."

Poppy blinked, caught off guard.

"Yeah." Luca pushed, leaning back with a smug grin. "If you’re really that majestic creature, let me see it. Transform right before my eyes."

He was genuinely curious to see how the logistics of the magic worked.

"Fine, human!" Poppy snapped, taking the bait instantly. "I’ll prove my innocence and superiority!"

She jumped off Sigrid’s back and landed on the ground with a surprisingly graceful thud.

Striking a dramatic pose, she closed her eyes and announced.

"Watch with your measly eyes, human! This queen’s mighty transformation!"

Luca watched with bated breath, his anticipation spiking.

He wondered if the process would be a brutal, visceral biological shifting. Muscles tearing, bones breaking and expanding into an equine structure, which would be repulsive but fascinating.

Or perhaps it would be a flash of blinding, cinematic magical-girl light.

Five seconds passed.

Then ten.

But...absolutely nothing happened.

Poppy remained standing in her absurd pose, the wind gently rustling her dress. Her left eye twitched slightly.

Around the courtyard, the knights shifted uncomfortably, completely confused by the lack of results.

Finally, after a solid twenty seconds of nothing, Sigrid ventured.

"My lady? Is something wrong?"

Poppy opened one eye. Then the other. She straightened her dress, looking embarrassed.

"I apologize. It seems..." Poppy said, her voice strained. "I’m experiencing some...performance anxiety"

"I- It’s strange to do it with everyone watching."

"Pfht—! Hahaha—!" Luca couldn’t help but laugh. "So Sigrid was right. You really are shy. You even have stage fright!"

"I AM NOT SHY!" Poppy stomped her foot. "But what I said is true! I really am a unicorn! The proof is right on top of my head!"

She swung her horn around, pointing at it.

"Look at my majestic horn! It’s proof of my identity! No one can deny it!"

Luca scoffed. "Who knows if that’s real or not? You could have just found a fancy stick and taped it to your head."

Poppy’s eye twitched. "You...You dare say my horn is fake?"

"I’m just saying, it’s possible."

"THAT’S THE SECOND BIGGEST INSULT I’VE FELT SINCE YOU VIOLATED ME!"

"Which I didn’t do!"

"YOU DID!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID!"

"OKAY, FINE!" Poppy marched up to him, her face set in determination. "I’ll prove it to you!"

Before anyone could stop her, Poppy marched forward towards Luca and stood right before him.

She tilted her head forward, showing off her horn with a look of desperate defiance.

"Go ahead! Check my horn out! Feel it up and see if it’s really fake or not!"

The courtyard erupted into absolute horror.

"Lady Poppy, no!" Sigrid shouted in a panic, lunging forward.

Even Thea had a sharp look of alarm on her face.

But Luca had already taken the opportunity. He reached out, his fingers gently closing around the horn.