“Knights of Ulpaz, listen! From now on, we will begin our tiger hunt.”

And finally, at the shocking words that came out of Hugrey Ulpaz’s mouth, he gritted his teeth. That wolf bastard really intended to kill him!

Even as the duke and emperor conversed, the near-slaughter battle of the Elaion army continued, and now the Tigrium soldiers were close to annihilation.

Tuscan, looking around, dismounted from his horse. He didn’t even think about trying to endure as a human until the end. If they were determined to break all the rules between therianthropes like this, he had no choice but to go all the way too.

Anyway, if he died, what use would any agreement between therianthropes be? Promises, treaties, these only had meaning when he lived as a king. Tuscan surveyed the pale-faced royals standing behind him. Including himself, there were a total of 6 therianthropes who could transform into tigers right now.

“I’ll take on Hugrey Ulpaz.”

Even a tiger couldn’t face thousands of humans with spears and swords alone. But he could handle one targeted wolf pup. Even if it was the most outstanding wolf. Tuscan Staxton, he was the king of beasts, a tiger who would never lose to the likes of wolves.

He had to hope that while he killed that crazy wolf bastard, the other five tigers would face the rest and create a path for retreat. And he had another therianthrope ally, didn’t he? With that thought, Tuscan’s gaze turned to Reina Tilbeth.

But the next moment, Tuscan felt his rational thinking evaporate. Because Reina Tilbeth of House Tilbeth, who had been guarding the left wing of the Tigrium camp and surrendered, was kneeling before Hugrey Ulpaz. Kneeling meant not surrender to preserve one’s life, but absolute submission.

“Reina Tilbeth!”

He shouted like thunder. But the woman didn’t even turn around as if she couldn’t hear his shout, and was looking up at Hugrey as if gazing at a god. Her voice reached his ears that had awakened to sensation. The woman was babbling that she despised the old tiger Tuscan Staxton more than anyone, and that she had initially joined the Tigrium side to catch Tuscan off guard, bring victory to Elaion, and atone for past mistakes.

A blatant lie. Tuscan finally realized that all the alliances he had made were rotten ropes.

Even from a distance, Tuscan Staxton could see that there was no emotion in Hugrey’s eyes as he looked down at Reina Tilbeth. Does she think he would forgive her if she begged for forgiveness while facing such eyes? Watching her shameless behavior made him feel vicariously humiliated.

“Who will deal with that bat-like wolf woman?”

He turned to ask the royals standing behind. But something was strange. The royals’ gazes were directed elsewhere, not at him. Tuscan’s eyes widened as he followed their gaze.

“Charlotte Lionelden……”

The woman’s name flowed from his lips. The name of his much younger aunt.

Charlotte Lionelden was walking through, parting the soldiers on both sides. She was accompanied by a young woman who resembled her and the head of House Lionelden on either side.

“No way……”

A sigh escaped Tuscan’s lips.

He realized that the young woman beside Charlotte was Chloe, whom he had so desperately wanted to kill. He also learned that Lionelden’s belated offer to send reinforcements was all following the plans of that mother and daughter.

Hugrey was about to get goosebumps from disgust at Reina Tilbeth kneeling and begging for forgiveness. But the real chills came the very next moment.

‘Chloe?’

Chloe, who should have been in the tent, appeared before his eyes. He wanted to believe that now he was seeing visions of her even in the midst of the battlefield because he always had thoughts of Chloe in his mind.

He slowly blinked once. But even when he opened his eyes after closing them firmly, he could see her. More precisely, he saw the sight of Chloe’s mother Charlotte Lionelden, Chloe, and the head of House Lionelden, all three gathered together.

Why on earth were those three people together! And why did they appear here!

“Ah!”

A cry burst out in an instant. Because he finally realized why the Lionelden mercenaries had fled without even fighting. The mercenary group hadn’t betrayed Tuscan, but had been hired by those three people from the beginning with the purpose of betrayal. To stab Tuscan in the back and allow Hugrey an easy fight.

Unlike Reina Tilbeth, who was begging for forgiveness and making false excuses at his feet, it was Lionelden who had participated in the war to deceive Tuscan.

“You Lionelden eagle bastards who only care about money, you dare to take revenge for the past! Do you think you have the qualifications to do so when everything can be bought with your money!”

Tuscan now seemed to have realized what Hugrey had understood, shouting at the top of his lungs. It was mockery towards those who had not protested to Tuscan for over 20 years after losing their eldest son, and had quietly reaped benefits instead.

“King Tuscan Staxton, we are not taking revenge. It’s just that, given the same amount of money, we’d rather receive it from my brother’s daughter than from Your Majesty who killed my brother.”

Chase Lionelden, the younger brother of Chloe’s dead father and current leader of House Lionelden, answered Tuscan Staxton while maintaining strict courtesy.

Only then did a short exclamation burst from Hugrey’s lips as he understood the entire situation.

He had wondered why someone with no greed for money would ask for such a wedding gift. Chloe had made a secret agreement to hand over the mining rights she received as a wedding gift from Hugrey to the Lioneldens, and demanded that they pretend to side with Tuscan.

‘Chloe Ulpaz, huh!’

Hugrey couldn’t help but laugh at Chloe’s scheme. To think that woman, who seemed only lovely and cute, would use such a clever strategy.

She hastened her marriage to Hugrey and even managed to get the emperor’s approval in order to negotiate with the Lioneldens using the mining rights. That was the only way she could legally secure the right to transfer the mining rights promised by the emperor to the Lioneldens. Of course, just because they were married didn’t mean the husband and wife’s property immediately became jointly owned. But it was clear that it would be more complicated to receive the mining rights from him when they were legally strangers.

And then that cunning woman sugar-coated it to Hugrey, saying she wanted to marry before the tiger therianthropes could oppose their marriage. He would have naturally done as she wished even if she had honestly told him about her plan. She probably wanted to handle all that underground work on her own.

He should be upset at Chloe for using even her marriage to him to get the mining rights without consulting him at all……

‘Ah… how cute.’

Apart from feeling let down, even her coming up with such a scheme was too admirable and lovable.

‘Cute, you say. Hugrey Ulpaz, you crazy fool.’

Seeing that he found even her deceiving him lovable, he was definitely seriously crazy. But he didn’t dislike himself for it anymore.

The Lioneldens, who joined hands with such a clever woman, participated in resolving the 20-year-old grudge while not abandoning their characteristic of prioritizing rights and interests. They must have known that their betrayal would be a decisive factor in the Tigrium king’s defeat, but it was still a gamble they took at their own risk. If Tigrium had won the war, they would have had to lose all their foundations in Tigrium lands and be driven out.

It could be considered the Lioneldens’ own revenge for the past 20 years when they had to bury their brother’s death in their hearts, could only support their sister-in-law, who had to raise the children with the family’s blood alone, with money from the shadows, and had to bow down to the enemy king.

Tuscan began to tremble all over with rage and malice. His attack pheromones were overflowing to the point of being uncontrollable, looking like he could transform into a tiger at any moment.

‘Is he finally going to transform into a tiger?’

Hugrey’s gaze shifted from Tuscan to Chloe. Since the war was already as good as over, there was no great danger in Chloe appearing here right now. But if Tuscan and those royals all transformed into tigers, he didn’t know what variables might arise. He needed to evacuate Chloe quickly.

“Charlotte Lionelden, Chloe Lionelden, and that Lionelden head bastard too, kill them all.”

As if reading Hugrey’s thoughts, Tuscan ordered the royals. It seemed he intended to take on Hugrey himself and have the rest of the royals deal with the therianthropes. Hugrey’s heart became urgent. Tuscan was already throwing off his cumbersome clothes. He would soon become a tiger. The five royals who had been on horseback until now were also dismounting with completely hardened faces. There was no time left to evacuate Chloe.

Having given up on evacuating Chloe in the urgent situation, he glared at Tuscan. If he couldn’t evacuate Chloe, he had no choice but to deal with that bastard as quickly as possible.

Six tigers. If they all pounced at once, perhaps one of them might be able to break through this wall created by Elaion and escape alive. Of course, that wouldn’t be Tuscan. Even if he let all five go, he would kill Tuscan alone.

Just as he was about to order to concentrate arrows on the old tiger king among the five, it happened.

“It’s been a long time, everyone.”

Charlotte Lionelden greeted the tiger therianthropes loudly as she approached them.

Hugrey lowered his arm that was about to give a hand signal and looked at her. The gazes of the tiger therianthrope royals naturally turned to her as well.