CHAPTER 123
The terror in the darkness stripped people of their sanity.
At first, they thought it was just a scene from the puppet show.
The monster's roar and the actor's desperate scream that struck their ears in the pitch black seemed staged.
It was so unreal that their minds froze.
But soon, the sound of the stage collapsing and the thick scent of blood vibrating through the air made them realize it was all real.
Roar!
Even in the safety of the Emperor's arms, Arabelle could hear the beast's cry.
No longer did the sound come from the stage; it was so vivid, it felt like it was coming from right on the dining table.
In an instant, the Emperor, who was holding Arabelle, reached out an arm to the table.
He grabbed something quickly and swung it diagonally.
Bang.
Thud.
With the dull sound of a heavy blow,
Yelp!
The sharp cry of a beast was heard.
It seemed to have been struck in a vital spot, as the sound of its four legs scrambling away grew distant.
"Fire the flares!"
The Emperor’s command was barely out of his mouth before,
Sizzle,
Pop pop pop.
With the acrid smell of smoke, fireworks burst into the night sky.
The fireworks exploded continuously, illuminating the garden.
"Your Majesty!"
In the blink of an eye, the 4th division of the Imperial Guard surrounded the Emperor and Empress.
The usual commanders, Jacob and Peter, were nowhere to be seen.
This was an event where the Emperor's elite guard, led by the two knights, was absent.
They were focused entirely on securing the safety of the grand hall where the wedding would take place in two days.
They were conducting meticulous inspections of the grand hall where the ceremony would be held and the square of the capital, where the procession would pass.
Not only that, but they were also conducting emergency drills day and night to respond to dozens of unforeseen incidents that could occur on the wedding day.
Another reason why the Emperor's elite unit wasn't assigned to today's event…
The garden was completely isolated from the outside.
There was only one entrance to the garden, and it was architecturally impossible to infiltrate by scaling the walls.
As long as the entrance was secured, no outsiders could enter.
The garden, designed with the Emperor's flawless calculations, was safer than the palace itself.
There was no reason to call upon Sir Jacob and Sir Peter, who were busy with the wedding preparations.
But now wasn't the time to think about how the security barrier had been breached.
Under the flickering light of the fireworks, the semi-circular stage was horribly wrecked, beyond words.
The 4th division of the guards, now with clearer visibility, began lighting emergency torches.
In the newly illuminated garden, the Emperor stood holding a long glass candlestick in one hand and Arabelle in his other arm.
Crimson blood dripped from the long glass candlestick that had struck the belly of the beast attacking in the darkness.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
The captain of the 4th division, who had rushed to protect the Emperor, shouted, pale as a sheet.
“It’s not my blood.”
The Emperor replied curtly.
Sir Benji, the officer in charge, trembled as he looked at the Emperor.
He was too stunned even to think about commanding his soldiers, his face showing he was about to faint.
He had graduated second in his class from the knight academy last year, but he was woefully inexperienced in actual combat.
He had felt relieved to be assigned the easiest event during the Emperor’s wedding period…
But now he was facing the greatest crisis of his life.
The sight of the bloody corpses on the stage sent Sir Benji’s mind into chaos.
He had forgotten all twenty of the strategies for protecting the Emperor he had aced on the knight academy exam.
He needed to give orders to his soldiers, but no words came out of his gaping mouth.
Though less than a minute had passed, it felt like an eternity to him.
“There’s not just one. There are two! The first line, protect the Empress and me. The second and third lines, gather the people and form a defensive barrier!”
The Emperor’s firm voice commanded the garden.
Sir Benji and the soldiers in the first line surrounded the Emperor and the Empress in his arms.
The soldiers in the second and third lines, along with the attendants, gathered the people into one place to form a barrier.
“The fourth line, block the entrance. Don’t let a single rat escape!”
No matter how the beasts had gotten in, they could not be allowed to get out.
If the beasts escaped the garden and reached the main palace or beyond, the damage would be catastrophic.
Moreover, once the beasts were lost, it would be nearly impossible to catch them again.
They had to be captured or killed within this garden.
At the Emperor’s command, the soldiers quickly sealed off the garden’s entrance, layer by layer.
Grrr…
Rumble…
Just as the Emperor had said, there were not one but two beasts.
Two dark gray wolves, their yellow eyes gleaming, bared their sharp fangs.
The wolf that had attacked the actors jumped down from the stage.
As the stage turned into a scene of chaos, the wolf that had attacked the Emperor emerged from behind the vines.
Its right hind leg, struck precisely by the Emperor’s candlestick, dripped dark red blood.
The two wolves moved together, slowly approaching the dining table.
They looked 1.5 times larger than ordinary wolves.
Just seeing them sent chills down one’s spine.
“Set up a perimeter and corner them!”
At the Emperor’s command, the remaining soldiers in the last line, armed with swords and spears, began to encircle the wolves.
A suffocating standoff ensued.
Even the sound of people crying in the garden was no longer audible.
In the midst of the tension, the soldiers awaited the Emperor’s orders, holding their breath…
Crunch.
Suddenly, the sound of a leaf crumpling under the paw of one of the wolves broke the silence.
One of the terrified soldiers couldn’t hold back and,
“Aaaaah!”
Threw his spear at the wolf.
Roar!
Howl!
The two wolves leaped in the opposite direction, attacking the soldiers.
The garden seen through the gaps in the soldiers' protective barrier became a vision of hell.
Some of the envoys' representatives fainted and collapsed.
The two wolves were not ordinary wolves but beasts.
They were faster and stronger than any wolf.
With a single swipe of their front paws, three or four men were knocked down at once.
The body of a towering soldier bitten by their sharp teeth flailed like a ragdoll.
They swung their swords and threw their spears, but it was useless.
The two beasts moved like lightning as if they were flying rather than running.
The beasts broke through the encirclement and moved toward the gathering of envoys.
From the start, the soldiers were no match for the beasts. The wolves approached slowly, almost as if savoring the moment.
It was only a matter of time before the barrier created by the soldiers would be breached.
With their red eyes, the beasts keenly assessed the situation.
One of the beasts crouched on its hind legs, stretching its body long, ready to leap.
The Emperor snatched Sir Benji's longsword and commanded,
"Protect the Empress!"
As the Emperor’s lips brushed against the crown of Arabelle's head, he disappeared.
The moment the Emperor, sword in hand, leaped off the table and into the air,
Six of the maids who had been attending to the garden instantly surrounded Arabelle.
Another protective barrier was formed between the soldiers guarding the Emperor and Empress and Arabelle.
The movements of the women armed with daggers and short spears were incredibly swift.
They weren't mere maids but soldiers who had undergone rigorous training.
They were the Empress's female bodyguards, secretly trained by the Emperor.
Vera, Dina, and Millie, separated from the Empress, stared in shock at one of the female bodyguards...
Rosà was standing there with a sharp short spear she had pulled from beneath her skirt.
Her eyes were filled with a resolute determination to protect the Empress at all costs, assuming a defensive stance.
There was no time to ask when Rosà had become a bodyguard.
Roar!
The chilling roar of the beast reverberated in their ears.
As the Emperor leaped off the table and over the soldiers, one of the beasts also sprang forward.
It looked as though the Emperor and the beast would collide mid-air, but the Emperor quickly twisted his body.
A direct confrontation with the beast, whose sharp teeth and powerful front legs were its weapons, would be disadvantageous.
A flanking attack was necessary.
The Emperor had quickly assessed the beasts' characteristics.
Dodging the lightning-fast swipe of the beast's front leg in an instant, the Emperor struck the beast's left neck.
Swoosh,
Thud.
The Emperor and the Beast landed on the grass at the same time.
The beast, its neck deeply wounded, quickly retreated.
The distance between the two beasts increased.
"Corner them. The beasts can't see well to the side. Attack from the flanks!"
Seizing the opportunity, the Emperor charged at the remaining beast while issuing commands.
It was the beast whose hind leg had been pierced by the Emperor's candlestick earlier.
Though its speed had slightly decreased due to the injury, its strength had not diminished.
The beast had the audacity and skill to bite down on the Emperor's sword with its iron-like teeth.
The beast, having snapped the sword in half, lunged at the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, retreat!"
At Sir Benji’s cry, the soldiers protecting the Empress and the dignitaries began moving toward the Emperor.
The safety of the Empress or the representatives from other nations was no longer the issue.
At this rate, the Emperor could suffer a grievous injury or worse.
Sir Benji was about to have all the soldiers rush to protect the Emperor when,
"Anyone who abandons their post will be executed!"
The Emperor, engaged in a hand-to-hand battle with the beast, shouted.
Sir Benji, paralyzed by the Emperor’s chilling command, froze in his tracks.
The soldiers heading toward the Emperor stopped dead in their tracks.
On the grass, the Emperor and the Beast began a life-and-death struggle.
The beast’s claws, sharper than any sword, slashed across the Emperor's shoulder.
The beast’s fangs, aimed mercilessly at the Emperor's neck, instead tore into the grass.
Through the gaps between the soldiers, Arabelle could see the Emperor trapped beneath the beast.
The beast pressed its paw against the Emperor’s throat, pinning him down, and raised its other front leg high.
Arabelle struggled to break free from the bodyguards to reach the Emperor, but it was no use.
The beast’s front leg came crashing down diagonally, aimed at the Emperor’s face.
"Your Majesty…!"
With Arabelle’s desperate cry,
The beast, confident of its victory, reared its massive body.
As its front leg cut through the air, about to strike the Emperor’s face,
The Emperor crouched, pulled a dagger from his ankle, and plunged it deep into the beast’s belly.
Roar!
The beast’s agonized scream echoed through the garden.
Thud.
The massive body fell limp to the ground.
Everyone around, seemingly forgetting to breathe, watched the beast.
As the beast slumped to the side, the Emperor slowly stood up from beneath it.
In his hand, he held a blood-stained dagger, his breath heavy and labored.
Roar.
The remaining beast, now having lost its brother, bared its sharp teeth and howled.
But it was already wounded by the Emperor.
It couldn’t withstand the relentless attacks from the soldiers, who followed the Emperor’s orders to attack from the flanks with spears and swords.
Thud.
Finally, the last beast collapsed onto the grass, its neck pierced by dozens of spears.
Its long tail went limp, unable to even cry out.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
One of the soldiers, alternating his gaze between the two dead beasts, shouted in a daze.
The other soldiers raised their arms in victory, cheering.
The Emperor ran his hand through his sweat-soaked hair, brushing it back from his forehead.
"Your Majesty!"
A small figure dashed into his broad chest.
Two slender arms wrapped tightly around his muscular torso with all their strength.
The Emperor dropped the dagger to the ground and embraced Arabelle with both arms.
He could feel her small body trembling uncontrollably, and it pained him.
As if to take away her fear, the Emperor pulled Arabelle closer, leaving no space between them.
At that moment, all eyes shifted from the Emperor to the ground beneath him.
People’s pupils shook in disbelief.
Some strained their eyes or rubbed them with the backs of their hands, doubting their vision.
The beast felled by the Emperor’s dagger was gone.
Instead, lying on the grass…
"Isn’t that the young man who was holding the column of the puppet show stage?"
A shocked voice burst out from behind a soldier’s shoulder.
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