My Beastly Fertility System Chapter 87: The Problem with Modesty

"Y-you... why do you have four legs...?"

And the two in the middle didn't seem quite right.

Claire's brain stalled. Then it crashed completely.

"Tw-two?"

Her eyes rolled back. She fainted.

Davy had no idea what kind of disaster he'd just caused. He shook her anxiously.

"Little female, wake up. Is the Ember Fruit taking effect? Does your chest feel like it's burning? Don't die. I only kill rogue beastfolk. Don't die."

He had grown that Ember Fruit himself. If she died from eating it, then he'd never be able to clear his conscience.

His deep voice carried a rare urgency as he called out to her.

A few minutes later, Claire came to with a dazed smile still hanging on her face as she rubbed her temples.

"I must really be hungry. No way someone has two. Impossible. I'm seeing things. The hot spring got me dizzy."

She tried to convince herself. Then she turned her head. Davy was crouched right beside her, looking worried.

"Little female, are you okay?"

Claire glanced down. And froze. It was real.

She immediately shut her eyes and started chanting silently.

Don't look. Don't think. Don't acknowledge.

"C-can you please put something on?" She urged.

Davy answered honestly. "I don't have fur clothing. I'm a snake. I have scales, not fur."

That... actually made sense.

Claire opened her mouth, then closed it again. She couldn't argue with that.

"Then... haven't you ever hunted animals? It's freezing out here. Don't you get sick?"

He shook his head seriously. "I'm not cold at all."

"Do you always... show up like this when you shift into human form?"

Davy glanced down at himself, then at the soaked fur tunic clinging to Claire, as if something suddenly clicked.

"Oh. I've always been like this. Isn't that normal?"

Claire nodded immediately. "No. Not normal. Not even close. You're going to give people eye damage walking around like that.

"Really? No wonder whenever I go out like this, the female snake beastfolk keep bumping into me. So I caused their eyesight problems?"

He lowered his head, genuinely troubled. Then, without hesitation, he turned and jumped straight back into the hot spring.

Claire suddenly felt like she might've gone a little too far. She reached out, about to call him back, but all she caught was a glimpse of his long, powerfully muscled legs as he dove into the hot spring.

By her estimate, Davy had to be at least six feet tall. The tallest beastfolk she had ever seen.

Then again, with a beast form that large, it made sense.

Claire wrung out her soaked fur clothing. It clung to her body, heavy and uncomfortable.

She had dry clothes in her storage space, but didn't dare change. If Davy came back suddenly, she wouldn't be able to explain. So she endured it, waiting.

Thankfully, the Ember Fruit tree behind her radiated gentle warmth, keeping the cold away.

After a short while, Davy surfaced again. The moment he rose from the water, Claire shut her eyes on instinct.

Water splashed, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps.

Davy opened his hands slightly and asked, "How about now? Is this okay? Are your eyes alright now?"

Claire peeked through her fingers. He had wrapped something around his waist, covering himself.

"Much better," she said, finally able to look at him properly.

Curious, she reached out and touched it. It didn't feel like fur. Under the moonlight, it shimmered with a faint iridescent glow.

"What is this? It's light... and kind of nice."

"My shed skin."

A snake sheds its skin once it reaches a certain size, leaving the old layer behind as it continues to grow.

That shimmering, iridescent skirt, glowing with rainbow colored light and breathtakingly beautiful, was actually made from his shed skin. Claire couldn't help admiring it.

Fur had its advantages, but shed skin had its own. Light, flexible, perfect for warmer seasons. If she had something like this...

Claire kept touching it a little too long, long enough that even someone as slow to catch on as Davy began to notice something was off.

"If you like it, I have a lot more. You can have them."

"Sure, sure!" Claire answered without thinking. Then froze.

What did she just agree to?

She quickly waved her hands. "No, no. You should keep them. Give them to your future mate."

Shed skin wasn't like animal hides. It came from the beastfolk themselves. It was something personal, usually given to a mate.

She couldn't take it. Reluctantly, she pulled her hand away.

If it were Zane, he would've found a dozen reasons to give it to her anyway. But Davy wasn't Zane.

He was slow to catch on, so he just nodded and answered in a simple, almost absentminded way, "Okay," and didn't bring it up again.

Claire didn't show any disappointment. She had already eaten one of his Ember Fruits. She owed him enough as it was.