Of course, she might have just gone to the break room for a moment, so it might be nothing. But somehow I had a strange feeling.

The Tigrium woman, the names of Stockston and Chloe from her mouth, Chloe disappearing in an instant.

It was ominous. He left the dance hall and began running around the vast banquet hall like a madman.

Gone! Chloe was gone! A wave-like fear that even devoured his mind engulfed his body. The golden banquet hall turned into a pitch-black darkness.

As he ran around the banquet hall looking for something, people’s gazes began to gather on him one by one. However, Hugrey’s eyes could not feel anyone’s gaze. Among all those countless eyes, he could only tell that the one pair of blue eyes that should be in this banquet hall, Chloe’s eyes, were not there.

Where had she disappeared to?

He closed his eyes. It had been about 5 minutes since she had left his sight. If she hadn’t disappeared to a place beyond his senses in that time, he should be able to awaken all his senses, whether hearing or smell, to find traces of her.

Calcus’s eyes, which had been talking with his mother, were habitually wandering around the banquet hall looking for Chloe. She had been dancing until just now, but perhaps because they were changing formations, Chloe’s figure was not immediately visible.

“Duke Ulpaz?”

As he turned his gaze here and there, Calcus’s eyes caught sight of Hugrey Ulpaz standing like a tree in the middle of the banquet hall.

‘Why is he like that…?’

The duke was standing there, emitting a terrifying killing intent with flashing eyes. As quickly as his eyes scanned the banquet hall, the whispers of people towards the duke grew louder. At some point, the duke closed his eyes as if he couldn’t hear all that commotion and noise.

‘What the hell is that bastard doing…?’

Calcus, who had been frowning at the duke’s strange behavior, suddenly stood up from his seat.

The duke was awakening the wolf’s senses! Why! Why was he suddenly doing something that was taboo!

In front of ordinary people, shapeshifters did not openly use their abilities. Openly awakening all the senses possessed by a shapeshifter like that and not hiding it was clearly an act of breaking taboo.

Why, why is he doing that, why?

Hugrey Ulpaz, who only behaved sensibly on the outside no matter what was inside, acting like a madman like that must surely have a reason…!

“Chloe.”

Chloe’s name flowed from Calcus’s mouth like a sigh. Chloe, she was not visible!

“That wolf bastard…”

Calcus’s sharp golden eyes blazed towards Duke Ulpaz standing in the middle of the banquet hall. He ran straight to Duke Ulpaz. Because even the emperor himself ran like a madman to the duke, the music stopped, and he could feel everyone’s gaze flying and piercing him and the duke, but he didn’t care about such things.

“Where is she!”

As soon as Calcus grabbed Duke Ulpaz’s collar and spoke, Duke Ulpaz struck Calcus’s chest, and Calcus was pushed back helplessly several steps. People rushed over and surrounded them, and in an instant the banquet hall became a scene of chaos with women’s screams and the murmuring of the crowd mixed together.

“Be quiet.”

Duke Ulpaz growled lowly as if forgetting his opponent was the emperor. At that moment, the murmuring of the people grew louder, but Calcus’s eyes rather became calm. The duke was awakening his senses. It meant he was looking for traces of Chloe right now. So the fight with this pathetic wolf bastard had to be postponed until after finding Chloe.

“How long has she been missing?”

Calcus, who had instantly changed his attitude, asked the duke.

“Between 3 and 7 minutes.”

“Seal off the imperial palace! Block all exits so that not even a mouse can get out!”

As soon as Duke Ulpaz’s answer ended, Calcus ordered in a loud voice that resonated throughout the entire banquet hall. Regardless of Calcus’s shout, Ulpaz’s eyes were now directed towards the balcony on the right side of the banquet hall.

“Over there, where does the area below the balcony lead to?”

At Ulpaz’s question, Calcus’s eyes also turned that way.

That side…, he couldn’t recall immediately. It was because he hadn’t yet accurately grasped the geography of the imperial palace.

“It’s the Moon Garden, Your Majesty.”

The head servant, who had rushed over at some point, quickly answered from behind Calcus. As soon as the head servant finished speaking, Duke Ulpaz began running towards the balcony.

It seemed he had finally caught Chloe’s scent. Come to think of it, the wind was blowing from that direction. Was Chloe’s scent carried on the wind?

Calcus also took a step towards where the duke had run. But at that moment, someone grabbed his arm.

“Mother.”

“Calcus, you can’t. The people here…”

Calcus immediately understood what his mother was trying to say. The banquet hall was on the second floor. So if he ran to the balcony now and jumped down right away, people would surely think it strange. Although many shapeshifters had gathered, it was still a banquet where most were humans.

“Don’t forget why I became emperor, Mother.”

But Calcus shook off his mother’s hand.

“Make sure no one can enter the Moon Garden.”

Calcus ordered the head servant and immediately followed the duke who had already run to the balcony. Anyway, he didn’t intend to transform into a lion here. It would be the same even for the crazed duke. Even a mad shapeshifter would never change form in front of humans.

Of course, the behavior of the duke who had already run to the balcony and himself following him would be disagreeable to the shapeshifters gathered here and leave questions for the humans. But there was no choice. He had become emperor solely because of Chloe.

To have the power to protect her himself if that wolf bastard couldn’t. It wasn’t that he willingly wanted to let her go just because Chloe loved that wolf bastard, he didn’t want to let her go at all.

But if that guy couldn’t protect her, she would have to come back no matter how much Chloe loved that duke bastard. Of course, saving the living Chloe would come first.

“It’s already blocked.”

“Then, deal with her here.”

“If we kill her right now, they’ll come running following the smell of blood.”

Chloe woke up hearing men’s voices on the border between consciousness and unconsciousness.

Her body hurt so much as if something had been broken somewhere. Her back? Neck? Legs?

It hurt so much, but she was being carried like a sack and shaken mercilessly. More precisely, it seemed she was being moved while being shaken.

“We have no choice. We’ll have to kill her first, then dump the body and run away. Even if we go back without killing her, we’ll die anyway.”

“If there’s a smell of blood, we won’t be able to buy time. We’ll be done in by the wolf duke before we’re killed by the king.”

The smell of blood? King? Wolf duke?

Her hazy mind snapped back at the words ‘wolf duke’ and Chloe opened her eyes. Wolf duke must mean Hugrey.

She could see the legs of three men in the darkness. They were walking through dark trees. These men were too busy discussing with each other while moving to notice that she had regained consciousness and was observing them. Well, since she was being moved like a sack with her head down, there was no way her face would be visible to their eyes.

“Still, we have no choice. We can’t let her come back to life again like Princess Charlotte last time, so we should just cut off her head completely.”

‘Princess Charlotte, cut off her head?’

Her body seemed to freeze at their words. Chloe’s eyes slowly moved from the legs of the man who had mentioned her mother’s name to the knife he was holding.

The blade glinting in the moonlight.

Ah! That knife! The knife that stabbed her mother and killed her brother. It was these guys!

She finally realized the situation. King Stockston had found out about her existence. And he had sent those thugs who killed her brother to her. This time to kill her.

Murderers!

Anger, not fear, seemed to make all the blood in her body run backwards. It wasn’t because her head was hanging down while being carried. It was because these guys were the murderers who killed her brother.

These monsters had now come to kill her too.

Yes, kill me! You beasts. Kill me!

“Mmmphmm.”

But her angry cry came out as a strange sound instead of words. These guys had meticulously gagged her mouth as well.

She twisted her body that already felt like it had been chopped to pieces. With anger, not fear, she could no longer feel pain. It seemed the anger towards those who killed her brother had taken away both fear and normal emotions.

“Oh? She’s regained consciousness?”

“See? We should kill her here. First we kill her, then…”

“Put her down, put her down first.”

Immediately, Chloe’s body was thrown to the ground. For a moment, pain surged through her entire body again. Nevertheless, as soon as she fell to the ground, Chloe raised her head and looked at the monsters.

The ones who killed her brother. I’ll never forgive you even in death!

“Ha! They said she was a tiger cub, but this time it seems to be true. Look at those eyes. Completely different from that terrified idiot back then.”

“Stop talking nonsense and move aside. First stab her, then her neck…”

Murderers. Tears flowed from Chloe’s eyes. A terrified idiot, you say? You’re not humans.

The horrific image of her brother came back to her. How dare you after butchering a person so cruelly?

“What tiger? She’s not even changing into a tiger. Just like back then. Hey, farewell, your brother will welcome you in hell.”

One of the murderers drew his knife.