Picked Up a Beast, Turns Out He's an Emperor (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“……Black Panther……?”
Arabella whispered softly, gazing into the ruby-colored eyes.
She tried to avert her gaze from the man, but his crimson eyes had already trapped her own. Into the trembling pools of confusion, he thrust himself.
It was a persistent gaze, commanding her to look only at him. His large hand gently stroked the soft, scratch-marked cheek of Arabella, tender as a tree branch. Her small shoulders shuddered slightly at the scorching warmth.
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed heavily once, his gaze locked onto Arabella. He moistened his rough lips with a vivid red tongue, as if parched, and spoke.
“How strange. You chew food for beasts and stroke their ears and bellies as if they were kittens.”
The tip of his firm finger traced over Arabella’s lips, still faintly tinted violet.
“Yet you seem to fear me—a human.”
“That’s….”
Arabella instinctively swallowed back the words before they could escape. She lacked the courage to say, “Because the Black Panther never looked at me as if I were prey, but your eyes now seem starving enough to devour me at once.”
The man holding her still felt far more dangerous than any sharp-fanged beast.
Perhaps it was because he resembled a celestial being descended from the heavens, as depicted in paintings. She feared that if she didn’t steady her mind, she’d never escape him. Shaking her head slightly at this absurd premonition, Arabella tried to gather herself.
“Remember this. My name is…”
The man began speaking slowly,
“Arabella! Arabella, where are you?”
“Miss Arabella! Please answer us!”
Familiar voices calling her name echoed from just outside the cave.
Arabella pushed against the man’s chest with all her strength using her small hands. Seizing the brief slack in his arms, her slight frame slipped free from his embrace. Quickly standing, she grabbed the man’s arm and tugged.
“Get up. We must leave here now.”
Urgent as she was, the man didn’t budge—not even a twitch. He merely smiled serenely.
“We must flee quickly. They’ll kill you if they find you here.”
“Why? What crime have I committed?”
“In the Empire, the Black Panther is classified as a demon beast—anyone who sees it must kill it on sight. There’s no time. Get up quickly.”
“What does that have to do with me? Do I have a tail sprouting behind me?”
Slightly shifting his reclining posture, the man dislodged the few remaining leaves from his body. Beneath the flickering firelight, his smooth, bare form—easily surpassing six feet in height—was revealed.
Every sinew of his body, as if carved meticulously by a sculptor’s blade, cast dramatic shadows across his frame.
It wasn’t the man lying there in the innocence of newborn nakedness who felt shame—but Arabella. Though she’d turned twenty and was considered an adult, she’d never seen a grown man’s bare upper body before.
She squeezed her eyes shut and turned away. From behind her back, his voice came.
“Even the most wicked human would not slaughter another of their own kind without reason.”
There was bitterness in his words at “one of their own.” Arabella’s heart clenched faintly, inexplicably.
But only for a moment—then her face brightened. He was right. Regardless of everything else, the man lying before her now wore a human form.
There was not a trace of the Black Panther to be found. (Though, admittedly, she hadn’t examined every inch of him closely.) Her cheeks flushed slightly, but her eyes sparkled with hope.
“There won’t be any problem at all if you’re discovered—since you appear human.”
Overjoyed, Arabella turned her head to look down at him—only to immediately turn away again, her neck burning red. Hearing his amused chuckle behind her, she bit her lower lip.
“Even if they enter the cave, don’t worry. I shall safeguard your honor.”
At his words, Arabella turned back to face him, straining her eyes to focus solely on his face. Whether he grasped her inner turmoil or not, the man propped himself up on one elbow, leaning slightly toward her.
Arabella’s eyes widened in bewildered surprise at his declaration about protecting her honor. Her lower lip trembled. Cold beads of sweat began to gather on her brow.
The first thing her father and the villagers would witness upon entering the cave… would be her—dress torn to tatters, hair wildly tangled with twigs sticking out everywhere.
Her face grew steadily paler as the imagined scene filled her mind.
She’d be found alone with a young, entirely unclothed man. Swallowing dryly, Arabella glanced around the cave. The dying campfire and scattered leaves plainly testified that a man and woman had spent the night together.
To prove her innocence, she’d have to expose his secret—and that would mean his certain, brutal death right here.
Though she said nothing aloud, her innocent eyes had already poured out countless unspoken words.
The man’s crimson eyes twinkled softly, as if amused.
What a strange girl. Even injured as he was, he was still a monstrous, dangerous beast. Yet she’d climbed the steep mountain again and again, exhausting herself with every conceivable effort to heal him.
She’d wept buckets of tears over his near-dead form, then, worried he might feel cold, had held him close and fallen asleep. If it became known that she’d spent the night in a cave with a young man of unknown origin, she’d never live a proper life as a woman.
And judging by the look of things… his gaze drifted briefly to her tattered, worn dress.
Damaged from trudging through rain and rough terrain, the dress itself had clearly been cheap and old to begin with—not the attire of high nobility, or even a provincial low noble or upper-middle-class commoner.
Her family likely held no influence to shield her from scandal. Yet even as her honor teetered on ruin, she showed no intention whatsoever of revealing his secret. Her pale, anxious face now looked genuinely pitiful.
“Didn’t I tell you not to worry? I’ll protect you. I swear it on my name.”
The tale of humans transforming into demon beasts was not unfamiliar to Arabella. Especially in remote estates encircled by mountains, such stories served as frightening bedtime fables told to children on long summer nights.
More monstrous than even the demon beast Black Panther was the creature that shifted between human and beast. Villages where it appeared were said to vanish without a trace, so utterly cruel and merciless was it.
The Black Panther hunt launched a century ago had aimed precisely to eradicate such creatures once and for all.
According to the priests, the final beast a human could transform into was the Black Panther. Now, these monsters existed only in children’s dreams.
Yet the Black Panther—believed extinct throughout the Empire and the entire continent—had reappeared twenty-five years ago. It was said to be the strongest demon beast ever recorded.
The creature had infiltrated the imperial palace itself, killing the crown prince by tearing into him, then abducting the crown princess. Neither the demon beast nor the princess had been found since—their whereabouts still unknown.
“They said demon beasts no longer exist in our age.”
Perhaps this man before her was the Empire’s last remaining demon beast. Avoiding his confident gaze, Arabella flared her nostrils slightly.
He must have sustained grave injuries while fleeing. Judging by his current state, he could barely care for himself—yet he spoke grandly of “taking responsibility.”
“Does your wound still hurt anywhere?”
Too timid to look near his injured navel, Arabella cast her eyes downward. The man glanced at his own body. Only a faint trace of dried blood remained—no visible injury. A satisfied smile spread across his crimson lips.
“It’s healed completely—almost miraculously.”
“I’m glad. Then….”
Arabella began stepping backward,
“I’ll go ahead first. If Father finds me here, I won’t just miss following Master—I’ll be sent straight to the convent.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than she dashed swiftly toward the cave entrance.
As she ran outside, she briefly turned her head and called back,
“Please, don’t get caught. Hide deep in the mountains and stay there. If you come near the village, it’ll be disastrous. I’ll be leaving the village soon, so I won’t be able to help you anymore.”
Watching Arabella vanish instantly through the cave entrance, the man furrowed his brows.
“To disappear without even telling me your name.”
That wasn’t particularly important. If he wished, he could find out how many spoons her household owned before the day ended.
What truly unsettled him was her remark: “I’ll be leaving the village soon.”
He recalled her lips, chattering without pause through the night, warming his cold, stiff body with her small frame. She’d endlessly boasted about a man she called “the handsomest and most perfect master in the world.”
“Unfortunately, your plans won’t come to pass. Now that I’ve found you, I’ll never let you go.”
At last, he’d found the thread to the curse he’d so long sought. His beautiful ruby eyes deepened instantly to a vivid, bloody red.
At that moment—
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty Maxwell!”
Two men clad in long cloaks sliced through the mossy vines with a single stroke and leapt into the cave.
The legs of the two imperial knights bent with perfect discipline as they bowed in formal salute.
“We’re relieved to find you unharmed.”
“Punish us severely for failing to protect you!”
Both knights looked as if they’d wandered the mountains all night.
As the man rose slowly, his long shadow fell over the knights’ heads. From his nine-head-tall frame emanated both a chilling aura that froze the air and a searing heat that threatened to burn everything.
A cloak settled over the body of a war god incarnate.
“Before that—by the end of today…”
The two bowing knights held their breath, awaiting their sovereign’s command.
With a long-fingered hand, he swept his black hair back from his forehead, revealing a face brimming with nobility.
An ominous, bone-chilling aura radiated from him—capable of crushing everything around with a mere glance. His crimson eyes, sharp and haughty—showing none of the gentleness he’d offered the clear-eyed girl—narrowed imperiously.
Maxwell de Fonte Auguste, the 27th Emperor of the Helterd Empire, currently enjoying its greatest era of prosperity since its founding, commanded:
“There is someone I must find without fail. Someone who will return with me to the imperial palace.”
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
I’m not yet convinced this is a curse. There are a lot of questionable events. Why would a black panther kidnap a princess?
I’ve been wondering just how he intends to keep her alive and unharmed enough to even attempt lifting the curse. I don’t believe these classes will be enough if she only had four days.
Is she not concerned because the emperor told her she wasn’t going to become the empress regardless? He explicitly stated she only needed to break his curse & that she wouldn’t become the empress as she wasn’t qualified (I don’t recall his precise wording).