Maxwell, dismounting from his horse, spread his arms towards Arabel. As Arabel leaned into the Emperor’s arms, his large hands grasped her slim waist and brought her into his embrace.

His arms wrapped around her back and waist, applying pressure gently without hurting, pressing her against his body, while her small feet that didn’t touch the ground wiggled in the air.

Their gazes met at eye level, intertwining and seeping into each other. Her clear eyes captured his deep, rippling ruby-red eyes and felt his thirst, while his sharp eyes trapped her moist light brown eyes and tasted her excitement.

As if they were alone in the world, silence beyond quiet flowed around the lake, but it was cozy and warm.

The Emperor’s eyes formed an arc as they drew close enough to touch Arabel’s face. His sharp nose tip gently tickled her round nose tip, and his hot breath settled on Arabel’s lips.

As the Emperor’s head tilted a bit more to the side, his long eyelashes slowly lowered, casting shadows on his cheeks.

The Emperor carefully embraced the girl’s lips so as not to break her excitement, and the girl shyly accepted his penetrating lips, quenching the Emperor’s thirst.

The sound of heated, moist breaths escaping from their locked lips spread gently across the lake.

“Then, each time… do you stay here?”

As Arabel asked, looking at the Emperor rowing the boat, he silently nodded.

A place to hide when he transforms into a damned black panther once a month. Although most of the lake had turned into cold glacial water, a very small part of Lake Innis was still hot spring water.

People believe that Innis, now called Lake Glaches, ends at the shore where Arabel first disembarked, but in fact, soil was deliberately brought in to create a coniferous forest to separate the glacial water from the hot spring water.

Once a month, on the night when the white moon meets the black moon and perfectly conceals each other, a curse that forces him to live as a black panther for two days.

The continent had only one white moon, but a thousand years ago, there was said to be a twin moon. For some reason, the twin moon lost all its light and became a black moon, drifting across the dark sky, forgotten in people’s memories.

Once a month, on the day when the twin moons meet, only when the white moon disappears does the black moon reveal its existence.

“I’ve tried everything to find a clue to break the curse. From ancient historians and anthropologists specializing in monsters and curses to scientists, even black magic sorcerers and psychics, I’ve scoured the continent to bring them, but it was all useless.”

The Emperor’s dejected red eyes gazed at the lake, where bubbles of steam were popping.

“I ordered them to share their experiences and knowledge, claiming it was to catch the monster black panther… Later, I even went as far as disguising my identity far from the palace to let them study my body.”

The Emperor was detecting changes in his body that were increasingly affected by the curse, rather than finding any clues. Recently, his body had started to show abnormalities even on nights when the white moon wasn’t obscured by its black twin.

The kind eyes looking at the Emperor, who appeared to be the strongest in the world, wavered with sympathy.

They captured the lonely and tired expression he didn’t want to show even to himself in the mirror.

“The reason I created a hideout in the Innis hot springs is because the black panther finds stability when near hot water. In other words, it means the beast I become doesn’t rampage. The scent of conifers is a smell the black panther dislikes, so it serves as a good boundary to prevent the black panther from leaving this place. Even if I built high and thick stone walls, if the monster wanted to, it would come out.”

“Then, when you were injured in the mountains behind our estate…”

As Arabel cautiously opened her mouth, the Emperor answered with a bitter smile.

“It was to meet a shaman who claimed to have faced the last black panther. It was a trap, and I was severely injured by Count Korad and his soldiers. An emperor who almost lost his life to a loyal subject who was chasing the black panther under imperial orders… My knights are as skilled as I am, so they’re not to be underestimated.”

The large eyes watching the Emperor, who was joking with one corner of his mouth raised, sparkled with moisture.

She couldn’t even imagine the fear and despair he had to endure. Not wanting to show useless expensive tears of sympathy, Arabel pressed her eyes and bit her lower lip firmly.

“In three days, I must come here before sunset and helplessly surrender my body to this wretched curse. I’ll have to curl up and hide as if dead for two days.”

As the Emperor spoke, deliberately raising one eyebrow nonchalantly, Arabel struggled to suppress the hot air caught in her throat and asked.

“Why… didn’t you call for me? I thought you would call for me last month on the night the twin moons met. But I heard you went on a three-day secret trip to the provinces… Is the reason you brought me to the imperial palace perhaps because I could be of help?”

It had been nearly two months since the Emperor and Arabel returned to the imperial palace. Last month, on the night when the twin moons met and the white moon disappeared, the Emperor did not call for Arabel.

The Emperor reached his arm out of the boat and dipped his hand in the lake. As if lost in thought, the Emperor drew a low circle with his hand, causing gentle ripples on the water surface.

Letting the warm water flow through his fingers, a low voice flowed through his teeth.

“No one wants to show their ugly side to the person they love.”

For the first time, the red eyes avoided Arabel’s gaze and looked at the ripples he had created in the lake. The Emperor knew how shocking and grotesque the changes in his body were when he transformed into a beast.

It was a pain as if the sky and earth trapped his body and narrowed the space between them, crumpling and distorting all the bones inside, as if a large hand was pulling out his skull and mercilessly bouncing it on the ground.

Clearly, he had brought her from Kander’s estate to use her. The fatal injury that almost cost him his life was completely healed without a scar the next day because of her, and a ray of hope entered the endless despair.

He couldn’t let go of her, who was clearly connected to the curse and might even hold the key to breaking it. But now…

The Emperor’s red gaze encompassed the small shadow floating on the water as he thought. I don’t want to show her my suffering from the curse.

If I see her sad because of me… I realized that might be a greater pain than the curse. No, what’s even more frightening is… What if she becomes afraid after seeing my ugly form? What if she’s disgusted?

In the body of a black panther, the beast’s instincts began to gnaw away at and dominate his reason, which struggled not to forget his humanity.

Last month, when he transformed into a beast, for the first time he tried to climb over the wall that separated him from the outside world.

The instinct to tear, bite, and destroy excited every corner of his body, and his nerves twitched at the faint scent of wild animal blood. The Emperor, who had never cared about what people thought of him, was afraid.

Afraid that Arabel would avoid him if she saw him transform into a beast. Afraid that he, transformed into a beast, might not recognize Arabel and harm her.

In that moment, thin arms embraced his face to her bosom, and warm lips settled on the crown of his head, taking away his fear. Arabel had approached the Emperor, hugging his bowed head while standing, and remained still.

“Perhaps I… will have to live with this curse until I die.”

The Emperor said, lowering his arms helplessly to his sides as he was about to embrace Arabel’s waist.

“Forgive my selfishness that can’t let you go.”

It was terrible selfishness. Even though it was clear that he would bring her sadness and danger, the ugly desire to keep her by his side.

Arabel knelt down and held the Emperor’s bowed face in her hands. Her clear eyes looked straight into the Emperor’s eyes without wavering.

A small but firm voice penetrated the Emperor’s ears.

“Please promise me that no matter what happens, you will never let me go, that you will never leave my side.”

Although she was asking the Emperor to promise, her words sounded as if she was making a promise to him.

That no matter what happens, she would never let him go, that she would never leave his side.

The Emperor’s dejected red eyes regained their light, and he nodded like a good child in Arabel’s hands.

The two silhouettes reflected on the lake slowly overlapped and became one.

At the empty lakeside of the imperial palace where the patrolling soldiers had left.

A small stirring was heard from a secluded corner where the palace’s brilliant lights couldn’t reach.

“It seems the palace people believe the Emperor is spending time with the empress candidate at the end of the lake shore. They’ve been setting up tents and bringing food there all morning.”

“Seeing that the Emperor is not visible there, it looks like he has taken the empress candidate to Lake Innis, the beast’s hideout.”

“I wonder if he told her about his curse? I hear she’s the only candidate the Emperor truly favors. They say she’s also a strong contender to win this competition.”

“There’s no way… A man full of arrogance and pride like him wouldn’t want to show his weakness. Moreover, he’s a person who doesn’t trust others. He will never reveal his vulnerability.”

Two figures, a man and a woman with long cloaks pulled down to cover their heads, continued their quiet conversation. The gazes of the two who had left Beosu Volcano Island and arrived at the imperial palace captured the white moon that had not yet become full.

“Things have become interesting. I wonder if the empress candidate by the Emperor’s side tonight will be safe.”

“To think that tonight is when the twin moons, not yet full, meet once every three hundred years. Poor empress candidate. She’ll have to witness the terrifying moment when the Emperor transforms into a beast.”

“Is that all? She’s about to lose her life being by his side. Lord Caligo said this lunar eclipse will make the beast most violent, so she’ll either die by the beast or… since she’ll learn the Emperor’s secret, she’ll be killed by the Emperor.”

“He said that because the black twin moon’s energy is so strong tonight, even the unknown power that has been interfering with the curse recently won’t be able to do anything.”

“Let’s go near the coniferous forest and wait. Tonight might be the night we capture and take her to Lord Caligo.”

The figures of the man and woman talking as they walked along the lakeside faded into the distance.