“……Black panther……?”

Arabel whispered softly while gazing into the ruby-colored eyes.

She tried to avoid the man’s gaze, but the red eyes had already captured her own. The man pushed himself into her wavering, confused gaze.

It was an insistent look commanding her to look only at him. The large back of his hand caressed Arabel’s soft cheek, scratched by tree branches. Her small shoulders trembled at the heat that felt like it would burn.

The man’s Adam’s apple, which had captivated Arabel’s gaze, bobbed once largely. As if feeling thirsty, he stuck out his bright red tongue to wet his dry lips before speaking.

“How strange. You feed beasts pre-chewed food and stroke their ears and belly like petting a cat.”

The tip of his firm finger traced over Arabel’s lips, still tinged purple.

“Yet you seem to fear me, a human.”

“That’s……”

Arabel swallowed back the response that had almost slipped out. She didn’t have the courage to say, ‘The black panther didn’t look at me like prey, but your eyes now look starved, as if you’ll devour me at any moment.’

The man still holding her felt more dangerous than a beast with sharp fangs bared.

Was it because he looked like he had descended from the heavenly realm in the painting? She felt that if she didn’t keep her wits about her, she wouldn’t be able to break free from him. Arabel shook her head slightly at the inexplicable premonition.

“Remember. My name is……”

As the man began to speak slowly,

“Arabel! Arabel, where are you?”

“Lady Arabel! Please answer!”

Familiar voices calling for Arabel could be heard very close outside the cave.

Arabel pushed against the man’s chest with all her strength using her small hands. Taking advantage of the momentary loosening of his long arms, her tiny body slipped out of the man’s embrace. Arabel quickly stood up and pulled on the arm of the man lying down.

“Get up. We need to leave here now.”

Though she urged the man out of urgency, he didn’t budge at all. He even smiled leisurely.

“We need to run away quickly. They’ll kill you when people arrive.”

“Why? What wrong have I done?”

“Well, in the empire, black panthers are designated as dangerous beasts that must be killed on sight. There’s no time. Get up quickly.”

“What does that have to do with me? Do I have a tail behind me?”

The man turned his body that had been lying askew slightly. What few leaves remained on his body fell down. A tall, slender nude body easily over 6 feet tall revealed itself under the bonfire.

Finely chiseled muscles covered his entire body, creating shadows as if carved meticulously with a sculpting knife.

The embarrassment was Arabel’s, not the man’s who lay there as if newly born. Arabel, who at twenty years old and having come of age, had never even seen the bare torso of an adult man.

She tightly shut her eyes and turned her body away, and a voice came from behind her back.

“Even if they are evil humans, they wouldn’t kill another human without reason.”

There was a hint of bitterness in the man’s words about ‘same species’. Arabel’s heart ached for some unknown reason.

But only briefly, as Arabel’s face brightened. The man’s words were right. The man lying below, whatever he may be, was now in human form.

There wasn’t a trace of the black panther to be found. Of course, she hadn’t been able to look closely at every nook and cranny of his body. Arabel’s cheeks flushed slightly, but her eyes sparkled with hope.

“Since you’re in human form, there won’t be any problem even if you’re discovered.”

Arabel turned her head to look down at the man, happy. Though she had to turn her head back again immediately, her neck flushing bright red. When an amused laugh was heard from behind her, Arabel bit her lower lip.

“Don’t worry even if people come into the cave. I’ll take responsibility for your honor.”

At the man’s words, Arabel turned her head to look at him again. With her eyes straining to focus only on the man’s face. Whether the man knew Arabel’s feelings or not, he propped up his upper body on one elbow.

Arabel’s eyes widened at the man’s words that he would take responsibility for her honor. Her lower lip trembled. Cold sweat began to bead on her forehead.

The first scene her father and the villagers would witness upon entering the cave would be… her hair disheveled with twigs stuck in it, not to mention her dress torn to shreds…

Arabel’s face grew increasingly pale at the scene forming in her mind.

She was with a young man without a stitch of clothing. Arabel swallowed dryly as she looked around the cave. The dying bonfire and scattered leaves clearly proved that the man and woman had spent the night together.

To prove her innocence, she would have to reveal the man’s secret. Then the man would be brutally killed on the spot.

Even without speaking, her innocent eyes were already pouring out countless words.

The man’s red eyes sparkled softly, as if amused.

She was a strange girl. Although injured, he had been a hideous and dangerous beast. She had made every effort to treat the beast, climbing up and down the steep mountain several times.

She had cried her eyes out for the dying beast, then fallen asleep embracing it for fear it would be cold. If it became known that she had spent the night in a cave with a young man whose identity was unknown, she would not be able to live a proper life as a woman.

And judging by… the man’s gaze lingered briefly on Arabel’s tattered old dress.

It must have been ruined climbing the rough mountain in the rain, but the dress was made of cheap, old fabric to begin with. She seemed to be from a family of low nobility in the provinces or upper middle-class commoners, far from the upper aristocracy.

It must be a family with no influence to prevent her scandal. Yet she showed no intention of revealing his secret, despite facing a situation where her honor as a woman would plummet. Her restless appearance, with the blood drained from her face, was now pitiable.

“Didn’t I tell you not to worry? I will protect you. I promise on my name.”

The stories of monsters that could transform from human to beast were not unfamiliar to Arabel. Especially in rural territories surrounded by layers of mountains, they were like scary fairy tales told to children on long summer nights.

Monsters that could alternate between human and beast, more hideous than the black panther beast. It was said that villages where monsters appeared would vanish without a trace, so vicious and cruel were they.

The black panther hunt that began 100 years ago was also to root out the existence of these monsters.

According to the priests, the black panther was the last beast that humans could transform into. Now monsters had become beings that only appeared in children’s dreams.

But 25 years ago, the black panther, believed to have disappeared from not only the empire but the entire continent, revealed itself. It is said to have been the strongest of all the monsters that had appeared so far.

The monster infiltrated the imperial palace in the capital, mauled the crown prince to death, and then abducted the crown princess. The monster and crown princess who vanished have not left a trace to this day.

‘They said monsters no longer exist in our time.’

Perhaps the man before her was the empire’s last remaining monster. Avoiding the man’s confident gaze, Arabel wrinkled her nose.

He seemed to have been badly injured while on the run. By the looks of it, he couldn’t even take care of himself… yet here he was making disheartening claims about ‘taking responsibility’.

“Does your injury no longer hurt?”

Lacking the courage to look at his wounded navel area, Arabel lowered her gaze. The man looked down at his own body. Now only faint bloodstains were visible, with no other apparent wounds. A satisfied smile spread across the man’s red lips.

“It’s healed completely. Miraculously so.”

“That’s good. In that case……”

As Arabel began to back away,

“I’ll be going first. If my father catches me here, forget about following my teacher, I’ll be sent to a convent.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than she quickly ran towards the cave entrance.

As she ran out of the cave, Arabel briefly turned her head and shouted:

“Whatever you do, don’t get caught and stay hidden deep in the mountains. It’ll be a disaster if you come down near the village. I’m leaving the village soon, so I won’t be able to help you anymore.”

The man narrowed his brows as he watched the cave entrance where Arabel had vanished in an instant.

“Leaving without even telling me her name.”

But that wasn’t a major concern. If he put his mind to it, he could know how many spoons were in her house by the end of the day.

What bothered him was her words about ‘leaving the village soon’.

He remembered her lips that had chattered endlessly last night as she warmed his cold, stiffening body with her small form. She had constantly boasted about a man who was ‘the most handsome and perfect teacher in the world’.

“Unfortunately, things won’t go according to your plans. Now that I’ve found you, I absolutely cannot let you go.”

He had finally found the thread of the curse he had been searching for so long. His beautiful ruby-colored eyes momentarily deepened to a blood-red hue.

Just then,

“Your Majesty the Emperor!”

“Your Majesty Maxwell!”

Two men wearing long cloaks leapt into the cave, cutting through the moss vines in one stroke.

The legs of the two imperial knights bent in unison as they bowed courteously.

“We are relieved you are safe.”

“Please punish us severely for failing to protect you!”

Both knights looked as if they had been wandering the mountains all night long.

As the man slowly rose, a long shadow fell over the knights’ heads. A coolness that seemed to freeze the surroundings and a heat that seemed to burn everything emanated from his 9-headed body.

A cloak was draped over the body reminiscent of the god of war.

“Before that, by the end of today……”

The two knights, heads bowed, held their breath as they waited for their lord’s command.

As he swept his long fingers through his black hair, pushing it back from his forehead, a face full of dignity was revealed.

A chilling aura emanated from him, capable of striking down everything around with a single glance. With a sharp and arrogant expression he had not shown even a fraction of to the clear-eyed girl, he looked down with red eyes.

Maxwell de Ponte August, the 27th emperor of the Helterde Empire in its greatest era of prosperity since its founding, commanded:

“There is someone who must be found. Someone who will return to the imperial palace with me.”