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~Chapter 3~
If There Is No Prey, the Hunting Dog Will Be Killed (3)
“Empress, Your Majesty?”
The Empress, who always welcomed Regina with a gentle smile while sitting on her bed, was now lying down.
If it weren’t for the red blood dripping onto the floor, her face would look so peaceful that it seemed she was just sleeping.
There was so much blood under the bed that Regina wondered if it could really all come from one person.
Regina shivered when she saw the red pool and the Empress’s pale, bloodless face.
She couldn’t believe it. The Empress had been killed.
The only person in the palace who cared for her died alone like this. Regina could not believe it.
The gentle and beautiful Empress had been sick for a long time, but everyone loved her. How could she die in such a dark place, with no one to help her?
As Regina opened her mouth to call out about the Empress’s death—
“Aaaah! The First Princess killed the Empress…!”
A loud scream came from outside.
Regina quickly turned her head and met the eyes of Imelda, one of the Empress’s maids.
Imelda screamed at the top of her lungs.
“The Empress is dead! The First Princess stabbed her! She said she would heal her but killed her instead, the Empress, the Empress!”
Her voice was so loud it shook the whole palace.
It was a trap.
There was no time to mourn the Empress. A cold feeling ran down Regina’s back. She looked at the hallway with a pale face.
Servants who hadn’t shown themselves before now appeared everywhere, joining in.
“It’s treason!”
“The First Princess started a rebellion!”
“She tried to take the throne, and when she couldn’t, she killed the Empress…!”
Regina ran out of the bedroom by instinct. She pushed aside the maids in her way with magic and reached for the window.
She was about to shoot flames, but suddenly remembered—her subordinates were still in the palace.
They were all resting in their rooms, not knowing anything. If Regina ran away now, who would this plot hurt next?
With that thought, Regina stopped her hand.
Before long, knights rushed in. Their harsh kicks and rough hands forced Regina to her knees.
Heraith walked out slowly behind them, looking down at Regina with a bright smile.
“Didn’t I say it? I would put you back where you belong.”
In his hand was the magic sealing device Regina knew too well.
And so, Regina was locked in prison as a traitor, and soon the verdict was given.
“Regina, the traitor, is stripped of all ranks and titles! Her unworthy magic is sealed forever, and she will be exiled beyond the magic barrier. Painful death to the traitor!”
It was a death sentence.
Huff, huff—
Regina was out of breath.
With her magic sealed, there was nothing she could do.
When she came to her senses, there were monsters in front of her. All she could do was run away from them.
Regina wandered the monster zone outside the barrier. Through her torn collar, a red crescent moon mark could be seen. It was proof that her magic was sealed as a criminal.
“Let’s see if you can survive without your precious magic!”
Heraith’s mocking voice rang in her ears.
“You will never escape this curse.”
All those times he sealed her magic and hurt her during “duels” must have been practice for this.
Regina ground her teeth. But it was too late to realize it now.
“Ha…”
It was her fourth day in the monster zone. Her whole body was a mess.
Even so, Regina had to keep moving. The monsters kept chasing her because they were attracted to a magician’s blood.
Monsters were very sensitive to the blood of magicians. Magic-filled blood and flesh made them stronger and excited them even more.
The monster chasing Regina now, called an “Ezel,” looked like a wild boar and had a sharp nose. Once it picked a target, it never let go.
Regina’s nerves were so tense that she jumped at every little sound.
Night had come, and the air turned cold. The wind went right through her torn clothes, making her body shiver.
No matter how hard she tried, her magic would not work. Her stamina, built up from fighting monsters for years, was almost gone.
Regina finally hit her limit.
She looked around, but there was nothing left to use as a weapon. The branch she once used like a spear was long broken.
A group of Ezels surrounded Regina, who had nothing left to defend herself.
‘I can’t die like this.’
She had to survive.
She needed to go back to Permang and save her subordinates who would be in trouble. The traitors had to pay the price.
Regina bit her lips.
The only place left to run was up the tree. As the Ezel’s sharp teeth came close, Regina grabbed a tree and climbed.
She heard the Ezels’ teeth snapping below her feet. Gritting her teeth, Regina stubbornly looked up.
Blood flowed from her fingernails, and her shoes fell off.
Regina finally reached a thick branch and broke it off, sharpening it quickly.
She glared down with blurry eyes, clutching the branch tightly as she felt the Ezel’s dirty breath at her feet.
She gathered her strength to stab down with the branch.
Slash—
The Ezel near the tree was suddenly cut in half. A sword covered in white light shone in the dark forest.
Regina couldn’t take her eyes off the beautiful arc made by the sword.
All the Ezels guarding the tree were killed, and the person who did it walked toward her.
He had black hair like the forest at night and cold blue eyes.
He swung his sword and shook off the Ezel’s blood, then looked up at Regina in the tree.
“So this is where all the noise was coming from.”
The moment she met his blue eyes, Regina’s whole body tensed up.
When those cold eyes stared at her, she felt like she was facing a wild beast. She couldn’t move at all.
‘A dangerous man.’
“Are you a magician?”
She heard the man’s voice, but couldn’t answer.
Meeting a new threat, Regina’s tired body finally gave out and her mind faded.
After the Permang Empire built the magic barrier, monsters were pushed out and flooded into the Fredericks Empire. The monster wave became a disaster for Fredericks.
The lands bordering the monster zone were crushed in a way never seen before.
Within a few weeks, the border guards and monster-fighting teams couldn’t handle it.
Finally, the royal elite knights had to go out on regular expeditions.
If they could kill all these monsters and cross the barrier into Permang, they would have invaded ten times already.
Today, too, the knights of Fredericks were building camps to fight the monsters. The long rows of tents showed the power of Fredericks.
“Once these monsters are gone, we must destroy Permang Empire next!”
“It’s their fault for making the magic barrier! That’s why we have this monster wave!”
“That’s right, Your Majesty!”
“We should invade right away!”
The knights kept shouting, making the emperor of Fredericks and the head commander, Conrad Fredericks, raise his eyebrows.
For almost four years, they had fought monsters directly. But instead of getting fewer, the monsters just kept increasing.
Special teams were made every year to cut down the monster numbers, but there were always many casualties. Now, there weren’t even enough knights to guard the capital.
Even with this tough situation, Conrad didn’t force the noble families’ private soldiers or defense troops to fight. He personally led the battles against the monsters.
And yet, the others still talked about war so carelessly.
‘Do they even know what they’re saying?’
Even though he was annoyed, Conrad didn’t lose his smile.
When the knights saw his mouth curl up, they became quiet.
Conrad Fredericks also hated the Permang Empire. But there was nothing he could do for now.
Before revenge, he had to protect his own people first.
