Tame or Be Captured (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 004
A subordinate who had gone scouting answered.
‘Well, from some point on, she’s nowhere to be seen. The snowfall is heavy, so even footprints are invisible, and it’s hard to find her.’
As expected, she gave up.
He hadn’t expected her to follow this rugged mountain path to the end from the start, but life as a hunter was never easy.
Without a certain level of toughness, he couldn’t accept her as a member of the organization either.
Especially since there was no precedent for female hunters in Lycaon.
He tried to cut off his interest as if nothing had happened.
He hadn’t attacked the bandits in the first place specifically to save her.
The fact that the woman received his help was just a lucky coincidence while carrying out a request, and his duty ended with saving her life.
After that, whether she lived or died was none of his concern.
But strangely, a corner of his heart ached and felt uncomfortable, as if he had left something important behind.
She was the woman who, when he first saw her, was being chased by bandits without even proper shoes.
Moreover, the look in her eyes when she said she would become a Lycaon was sincere.
It was a dangerous gaze that didn’t know its own limits.
‘……This won’t do.’
He stopped his horse and called out to someone.
‘Sosa.’
‘Yes, Captain.’
As Sosa approached his side, he calmly said.
‘I’ll go bring that woman myself, so you take the subordinates and return to the village first.’
‘What? But it’s dangerous to go alone because of the blizzard!’
‘……I don’t want to hear that someone died because of me anymore. Besides, there’s a high chance the bandits are still nearby. They’re already furious because of us, so if they find her again, they won’t hold back.’
When he spoke seriously, Sosa nodded with a grave expression.
‘Understood. You must return safely.’
‘Yeah. Don’t worry and go ahead.’
The organization members showed great interest in her, whether they realized it or not.
Though they didn’t say it out loud, they were curious if she would really follow them and secretly hoped she would pass the test safely.
As Sosa led the colleagues and ran ahead, he hid until they were far away, then transformed into a horse.
The fact that he was from the ‘Kelpie’ clan, capable of transforming into a horse even among the minority tribes, was known only to Sosa among his subordinates.
After running swiftly for a while, shaking his mane.
Finally, he found the blonde woman collapsed in the middle of the narrow path.
She had stubbornly followed without giving up, only to collapse in the snowfield.
Jackal couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded the more he thought about it.
She said she wasn’t afraid of death.
Having stepped on the threshold of life and death countless times, he felt a bit resentful toward her for saying such words so easily.
But why was it that her figure overlapped with his own when he left the village long ago?
He, too, on the day he left the village, was prepared to do anything to survive.
As he approached, regulating his rough breathing, she lifted her head and looked at him with half-closed eyes.
Seeing a faint, welcoming smile form on her pale, trembling lips, he inwardly clicked his tongue.
It felt like discovering a flower deer that had barely survived in the snowfield.
Then she looked at him, smiled, and said.
‘I don’t know if horses resemble their owners… but you’re a truly clever and handsome horse.’
Upon hearing that, uncharacteristically, he showed a flustered emotion on his face.
Fortunately, since he was in horse form, it wasn’t too noticeable, but already a fondness for her was blooming in his heart.
Jackal draped the wolf fur he had been wearing before transforming over Asha’s body, then suddenly hoisted her onto his back and ran through the snow.
Already bothered by her bare skin touching him, when she suddenly buried her face in the back of his head, he flinched.
While transformed into a horse, his beastly senses, especially his sense of smell, became several times stronger.
The fragrant and mysterious scent from her body pierced his nose, making it impossible for him to gather his wits.
Jackal shook his head vigorously, trying to ignore it, and quickened his steps to reach the village as soon as possible.
In this weather, prolonged exposure to the cold could lead to frostbite, requiring fingers or toes to be amputated.
While he sat motionless in front of the fireplace, lost in thought, the physician and Yuris arrived in the room.
“Chief.”
“Yuris.”
She bowed her head slightly in greeting.
Jackal relaxed his expression and said.
“Sorry for suddenly asking this. It would look a bit odd if I did it myself…”
“It’s fine.”
Yuris smiled brightly. She was one of the few female members in the organization.
A typical case where a subordinate’s mate joined the organization.
Yuris soaked a towel in warm water and murmured playfully.
“But if she’s to become your mate, it wouldn’t be bad for the chief to do it yourself…”
He flinched in front of the fireplace. Yuris giggled secretly.
She gently wiped Asha’s frozen body with the warmed towel.
“Goodness, look at these thin arms and legs! They’d break with a single tap!”
While she clicked her tongue, the physician examined Asha’s condition beside her and said.
“Her physical condition is extremely poor. It’s unbelievable that she came through such a snowstorm in this state.”
At their reactions, Jackal’s face also grew serious.
“Is it that bad…”
“Yes. Her body is much weaker than average people. It would be best for her to get plenty of rest.”
As the physician and Yuris quietly left the room, Jackal, left alone, gazed down at Asha, who was bandaged and sleeping soundly.
Even at a glance, her body was covered in large and small wounds. It didn’t seem like a body that had lived comfortably like a princess.
Moreover, as he felt when carrying her on his back earlier, she was so light that he barely felt her weight.
He thought it was impressive that she decided to leave the village with such a frail body.
Just as he became curious about her story.
“Forgive…”
A faint murmur reached him, and he blinked.
A single tear rolled down from her closed eyes.
“Forgive me… please…”
Jackal let out a small sigh and looked at her with pitying eyes.
It seemed she had lived a much harsher life than he had imagined.
Then, the moment he reached out to wipe her tears.
“I’ll do anything… please… spare that child’s life… Your Majesty…”
His eyes widened slightly, and he froze with his hand in midair.
He couldn’t understand why the word ‘Your Majesty’ came from the mouth of a minority tribe woman.
Soon, a deep wrinkle formed between his brows.
The day he first met Emperor Karaf was unforgettable.
Even if he lived several lives, he would never forget it…
The empire’s flower and butterfly, said to be a match made by heaven.
Contrary to that reputation, their first meeting was neither romantic nor peaceful.
She was a slave.
A slave sold from the northern regions to make the emperor bloom.
On the day the minority village was razed to the ground because of Count Delphinium, Asha was dragged out into the yard with her hands tied, without even a single shoe, just like now.
In the horrific scene of the entire village burning, she desperately tried to escape but was caught by knights and brutally beaten.
Then, in that moment, a bright golden light suddenly burst from her body, and miraculously, a butterfly pattern appeared between the tears in her dress.
With the auspicious news that a butterfly had appeared in the empire, Asha was dragged to the imperial palace as she was.
And without even proper grooming, she met the man called the emperor for the first time.
In a torn dress, she prostrated herself on the floor, and right in front of her, a chillingly low voice rang out.
“…Raise your head.”
Asha slowly lifted her disheveled hair and sweat-soaked face.
Unlike the floor where she lay, a man with dazzling appearance sat arrogantly on a splendid golden throne embroidered with red roses, legs crossed and chin propped.
Asha had heard rumors that he was a tyrant stained with slaughter, without blood or tears.
But the moment she saw his face, she thought he was a man of excruciating beauty.
Perhaps because he was the flower symbolizing the empire, she could boldly claim that no one, man or woman, she had ever seen was as beautiful and captivating.
Until then, she had wondered why so many women were obsessed with his love, but she thought that with a man like this, one might fall in love at first sight and actively court him.
Though the fact that he was a cursed tyrant was the problem…
In the Etzheim Empire, it is said that those who inherit the imperial blood are born with the ‘Spirit of the Flower’ in their hearts.
But the one who becomes emperor always has the ‘rose’ symbolizing the imperial family in his heart, and Karaf Rode Etzheim was a special ‘black rose’ among them.
It was the first time in history that a black rose had appeared in the empire.
It is said that when the emperor blooms, he can protect the empire from unexplained plagues or monsters, but there was no precedent for a black rose.
In long history, there was only an oracle that a black rose, when born, would possess immense power but ultimately lead the empire to ruin, unable to control it.
Thanks to this, the nobles speculated that he was born with some extraordinary power but were busy checking and undermining him.
And as if fulfilling that prophecy, Karaf became a tyrant cursed before he could even bloom the flower within him.
He arrogantly raised his chin, narrowed his eyes, and looked down at her.
Jet-black hair and red eyes that seemed to hold blood stared at her quietly.
It was a gaze like a beast lazily watching prey it had already caught.
Truly the demeanor of one at the top of the food chain.
A sneering smile faintly appeared on his lips as he examined Asha.
“Your appearance is passable.”
Asha, who had been from the lowest class, became the palace’s butterfly that day, receiving the title ‘Banetsa’.
The palace servants and nobles believed that true ‘blooming’ occurred only through union, so they did their utmost to push her into the emperor’s palace, and soon, an unforgettable first night with him arrived.
On a night with a faint crescent moon, two shadows overlapped in the emperor’s bedroom.
When the male lead is punished by carrying the female lead’s child and having periods like a woman
“I’ve given birth to two children for you, yet you still think about him.
Was I nothing but his substitute to you from beginning to end?”
Synopsis:
Meng Huan, a scumbag who has dated countless girlfriends, transmigrates to a female-dominated country.
Day 1: Whether it’s female dominance or not doesn’t matter. The beauties here are passionate and amorous. Isn’t it easier to date them than in modern times?
Day 2: After a night, Meng Huan discovers the differences in the female-dominated world. Men here actually have chastity locks and menstrual cycles. This hinders his ability to perform, damn it!
Day 3: What’s wrong with sleeping around? I don’t want you to marry me. I’m meant to be a playboy. I don’t care about male virtues… What? You want to drown me in a pig cage? Marry, I’ll marry!
Day N: Meng Huan inexplicably vomits and receives the shocking news of his life… He’s pregnant.
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No way…did Karaf set up this situation with the assassin or kidnapping attempt to earn points?
Not practically, it is a form of torture. Jackel didn’t jump into the water on his own while tied to the boulder.
It seems backward that the Empress is invited to a Duchess’ tea party.