After coaxing Lucas for some time, they both finally left for the banquet. Lyra was very excited to see the beast world and kept on darting her blue eyes everywhere.
There were many beast-men from various kinds of species like lions, tigers, and wolves. They were roaming around the banquet with vitality. she even saw many types of birds flying, so she guessed that they might be bird-type beastmen. After taking in the view, they went to sit near a bonfire. Nobody noticed them because Lyra was draped in thin animal skin and only her eyes were visible.
After sitting, Lucas started the conversation "Beast kings gather near that plaza. One of the beast kings is my father" he said smugly
Then Lyra saw someone who resembled Lucas walking towards the plaza and exclaimed "You are a prince!?"
He smiled "Yes I am"
"Then why are you sitting here and your father there?" shouldn't royal families receive some privilege. 'Why was he sitting here on the ground?'
"Dummy, why should I sit there? That position only belongs to my father. In the future when I become stronger, I can duel my father and become the king. But if another wolf is even stronger than me, then he will become the king even if he is not from the royal family"
"Oh" she still needed to understand the customs here. She was still thinking based on her world, well she can slowly learn.
Then as she observed the plaza, she saw three more beastmen sitting in the other king's seat. she was not able to distinguish between their kinds because of their human form, so she turned toward Lucas.
As he understood her gaze, he started explaining, "The one on the right side of my father is the lion king and left to my father is the eagle king and the last one is the most intelligent beastman in the whole beast world the fox king. But I don't like him"
"Why?"
"Because he is scheming and very cunning, my father also keeps his distance from him" Lucas still could never forgive the fox king for sending Elena to him. And when he rejected her, he even bought Elena's tribe the black wolves to stir a fight between their tribes.
"Oh then should I also keep my distance from him?"
"You should keep your distance from every male except me"
she rolled her eyes, 'what a smooth talker'
"Come, I'll introduce you to my mother and father," he said and dragged her towards the plaza.
There Lyra saw a woman who was probably in her thirties surrounded by many men who were serving her food. She was average-looking by modern standards with a slight golden tanned skin, small eyes, and brown hair, but somehow she looked hot.
"Mom I'm back" Lucas screamed at top of his lungs startling Lyra.
The woman he called, slowly turned towards him and screamed back at him "My baby! Where were you gone? I asked your uncles to search for you all over our tribe but they didn't find you"
"Relax mom, I was here in the beast city after I left the house" Lucas consoled her
"Don't do this ever again. Do you know how scared I was after your sudden departure? I was just a little angry because you neglected Elena. You also know that it is not easy to find a mate for males with so much competition, I just wanted to help you in getting together with someone"
"I know mom, and I have good news for both you and me," he said and looked at Lyra "I found a mate for me!" telling that, he beamed and pulled Lyra towards him and held her small waist.
Lucas's mother was surprised and assessed Lyra but was not able to see anything other than her eyes, "How can you expect me to see her if you cover her up like this" his mother was annoyed saying this.
Lucas immediately removed the scarf around her face and neck. That action brought out numerous gasps from the crowd. Everyone gawked at Lyra with wide eyes.
Meanwhile, Lyra was getting a little uncomfortable with all the staring and lowered her head. She was even more shocked when Lucas's mother held her face with both her hands and exclaimed. "How beautiful! How can someone be this beautiful?"
Lyra was a great beauty even in her world with golden hair, blue eyes, and rosy skin. She was not petite either but was considered sexy with perfect assets, earning many admirers in her school.
"Lucas where did you find such a goddess? The more I see the more I like her"
Lucas was smugly smiling at his mother's reaction "Mom this is someone I like, and you asked me to become mates with Elena" he said sarcastically
His mother rolled her eyes at him. Then turned towards Lyra "Dear what is your name?"
Lyra was still processing everything that was happening and was overwhelmed by their praises and started thinking that she was really that pretty. After recovering from her thoughts, she answered, "Hello Mam, I'm Lyra. Nice to meet you"
"Oh my God, even her voice is beautiful!" Lucas's mother exclaimed.
Lyra instantly liked her enthusiasm and started conversing with her forgetting about Lucas.
He watched as they were talking without even involving him and started fidgeting and butted into their conversation and pulled Lyra towards him. Seeing this, his mother started laughing.
"Don't think about monopolizing her. Seeing how beautiful she is, there will be many males interested in her in the future"
Hearing that, Lucas pulled Lyra behind his back and faced his mother "No! she will have only me as her mate. I will not share her with anyone"
His mother sighed "Baby you can't do that. It is very bad for procreating if that happens.
Coming from a royal family, you should know about this better than anyone"
Lucas huffed and left pulling Lyra towards the bonfire "Ly tell me, You will only have me as your mate right?" he stopped and asked her making a pitiful face.
"What are you talking about? What mates? I will not have anyone like that, not even you" she said narrowing her eyes
"Why? You don't like me?" he said in a slightly raised tone.
She cowered back because of his growl and replied "I don't even know you that well. We just met yesterday"
"Then we will get to know each other slowly. So don't even think about leaving me" he pleaded.
Seeing him like this, she didn't know what to tell him. She was just eighteen this year and still wanted to enjoy her youth but here she was!
Lucas suddenly got up and said "I will greet my father and return. You stay here and don't run around"
"Okay," she replied and stared back at the bonfire.
After he left, Lyra started eating roasted meat which was a hundred times better than Lucas's cooking. Then she heard someone calling her and turned to her side and saw a young woman smiling at her. The woman had tanned skin and was a little chubby but was somewhat attractive.
The woman called Lyra to join them "You must be new here. Don't sit alone there, come and sit with us"
Lyra thought about it and went to sit with her. The woman told that her name was Ruby and was very polite to Lyra.
After Lyra sat near the bonfire, the females started talking to her
One woman said "Wow you are so pretty"
Other women also started praising Lyra. Praises were good to some extent but she started to feel uncomfortable after some time and didn't know whether to cry or laugh. From the moment she came here, the only thing people talked about was how pretty she was. In the beginning, she liked it but now she was tired of it. Then again as she looked at females here she understood why people were exaggerating her looks. Females here were a little rough on the outside, maybe because they were also beast women hence less attractive compared to women from her world but they were also beautiful in their own way. she even liked their big eyes and healthy bodies. She also felt quite happy because females here didn't care about drastic diets or skin treatments but were natural and males adored them.
Then suddenly a female commented "What is there in being pretty? I bet she is not that good at giving birth. She is skinny, she will die during childbirth"
Ruby turned toward the woman who insulted Lyra and said "Don't say that Flora, she is new here. We should get along with each other"
"Hmmph" Flora huffed and glared at Lyra.
Lyra who was silently listening to the conversation was dumbstruck. she was not skinny but was quite well developed for her age. She wanted to refute that female's words but held herself back because this was not her world.