Chapter 259 - The Wail Before the Dragon

  t Laurence:

  We were being led by the duchess’s servants, forced along like prisoners. One of the maids had struck me across the nose earlier, and the pain still throbbed with each step. I could have retaliated with my wind magic, but I knew better. Resistance would oe things further. For now, I chose silence, hoping that my injuries could be turned into an advantage, proof of mistreatment I could report to the royal court ter.

  Politiobles were not allowed to act violently against other here were rules, after all. Besides, we weren’t part of the duchy; we were nobles from the kingdom, sent here under royal authority.

  The Evenharts might have suspected our involvement in the assassination attempt, but they had no solid proof, at least not yet. In such situations, things could bee legally ambiguous. I wasn’t sure how the w would apply, sidering their rank as high nobles, but I still believed the kingdom would interveo protect us. At worst, the Evenharts might face fines or be ordered to repair the damage caused here. A sp on the wrist. I didn’t care what happeo them. I just wao leave this alive.

  Nikous Wolves fled to take cover, but I suspect the bastard is trying to erase evidence. Why else would he keep proof of his as? Could he be sideriraying us? Not that I cim innoce myself. I kept some evideoo. No one would be foolish enough to it such madness without ensuring there was something to prove we weren’t ag alone.

  It doesn't matter. My share is safely stored in a ste bracelet. Even if they torture me and I fess everything, when they search my mansion, a servant already knows that if it's not me personally, he must destroy the bracelet. I bet the others have taken simir precautions and secured their evidence just as carefully.

  Despite my careful pnning, fear g me. What if Nikous Wolves turned over evidence before we could defend ourselves? He was the one who had suggested this entire plot, but if he acted first and painted us as the true spirators, we could all be damned.

  No! The kingdom would surely be cautious... I hope. We would have a proper trial. I believe none of us would hand over anything, as we could still e out as victims in this situation. If we pyed the game correctly, the kingdom would have no choice but to side with us, right?

  The truth was beginning to sink in. We were pletely and utterly ered. If the kingdom had to choose between sacrifig a few nobles or maintaining their alliah the Evenharts, the oute was obvious. Someone had to take the fall. Someone had to be made an example of.

  And I had no iion of being that someone.

  We were led out into the courtyard, and the sight nearly made me sick.

  Blood spttered the stohe stench of death g to the air despite the rain. Bits of... flesh... were smeared across the wall. Yet it had been ed retly. There were no bodies left, just the aftermath of a massacre.

  A little further ahead, I spotted the duchess seated calmly in a chair. Beside her sat the oner with long, reddish-brown hair, whom I reized as the mother of the heir.

  The maids behind us shoved the tips of their spears into our backs, f us to our knees.

  "Argh! Bloody hell!" I cursed, my kting the ground hard.

  The duchess watched us with cold, calg eyes. A servant approached, carrying a silver tray with a wine gss, which the duchess sipped from leisurely before returning it to the tray.

  Then, after a long pause, she spoke.

  "I believe we begin."

  Her voice was ice.

  "Please! I beg you! I'll fess everything!" one of the nobles cried out, his voice trembling with desperation.

  I stared at him in disbelief.

  "Idiot!" I roared, rage boiling inside me. "They have no proof! They 't act against us! Diplomacy protects us!" I spat, trying to maintain my posure, but the fear alpable. Some of the nobles around me were visibly distressed, yet they remained silent, while others trembled.

  "They 't—" I started again, but before I could finish, a fist struck my face with brutal force, delivered by one of the maids.

  "Do not interrupt Lady Margaery," the maid said coldly.

  "Girls, teach him how to respect the authority of a queen," the duchess ordered with an icy calm that sent shivers down my spine.

  Without hesitation, the maids obeyed. Kicks rained down on me, and in desperation, I raised a wind barrier, trying tain trol.

  "You bitch!" I screamed, lifting my hand to jure a wind bullet aimed directly at the maid closest to me. "I'm doh this mockery!"

  But when I turhe sight before me froze my entire body. My breath caught in my throat. Every hair on my body stood on end, and a cold sweat ran down my back.

  A massive gray paood before me, its pierg eyes staring directly into my soul. Its presence was like a bde at my throat, silent, lethal, iable.

  It was a Moon Panther, a deadly assassin feared across every er of the ti.

  I fell backward, colpsing onto the cold stone floor, my heart hammering in pure terror.

  The nobles around me scrambled to their feet, paniing them as they raised their trembling hands, attempting to summon defensive spells. But deep down, we all khe truth.

  There was no hope.

  Nothing. Not even magic could stop that thing.

  "How... How is that beast here!?" one of the ammered beside me, his voice crag with hysteria.

  The Moon Panther moved gracefully, its powerful form stalking forward until it stopped right beside the duchess and the oner woman, standing as a silent guardian.

  The duchess's calm gaze met ours. "Think carefully before daring to raise your voices against me again," she warned, her voice soft yet filled with unspoken danger.

  The panther's eyes never left me, its unblinking, predatory stare making my throat tighten painfully.

  "This... this is a Moon Panther! A killer! A monster!" Baron Franklin shouted, his voice raw with panic.

  "No one tame those beasts! How did you trol it?" I mao stammer, my voice breaking as the panic surged higher.

  The duchess chuckled, a quiet, chilling ugh. Her eyes narrowed as she spoke, her voice smooth as silk but sharper than steel.

  "Tamed? No. This creature is not tamed," she said, her lips curling into a dangerous smile. "She is free to go wherever she pleases, to do whatever she desires. A... there are only two people in this world she has chosen to protect."

  The panther's eyes bore into us, uing, unyielding.

  "Care to guess who those two people are?" the duchess whispered, her gaze sweeping over the group of trembling nobles.

  "It 't be...!" another noble gasped, attempting to rise to flee, but a maid was faster. She grabbed his shoulder and forced him back down to his knees with practiced efficy.

  "Kneel."

  The maid's voice was sharp, authoritative, and the noble, now pale and shaking, obeyed without resistance.

  The duchess tinued, her voiow colder than before. "My daughter... and my hey are the ohis panther has chosen to protect. The very same people you tried to harm."

  A suffog silence fell over us.

  My heart pounded so violently I thought it might burst. My body felt trapped between seari and icy dread. The realization was setting in. This was not a iation; it was a death sentence.

  I could hear Baron Franklin trembling beside me, his voice barely above a whisper. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

  The duchess's eyes narrowed.

  "Kill him," she said, as casually as if she were discussing the weather.

  "AHHHHH!" Franklin's scream echoed across the courtyard as the panther lunged, its cws tearing through his flesh as if it were nothing but paper. The baron colpsed, blood gushing from the deep wounds as the beast's fangs sank into his stomach, ripping him apart with brutal efficy. His agonized cries lingered far too long, yet none of us dared to move. We were all paralyzed, ed by absolute terror.

  The panther tis grim work, disemboweling him as casually as one might peel a fruit. The sound of flesh being torn, the wet squelg as ans spilled onto the ground, was unbearable. I tried to avert my eyes, but the horror forced its way into my vision until I doubled over, vomiting onto the stone floor.

  When it was dohe panther returo the duchess's side, sitting calmly as if the massacre had been nothing more than a minor invenience. Blood dripped from its cws, staining the stones beh it, yet it remained perfectly still, a silent predator awaiting its and.

  The duchess, seated in her ornate chair, watched us with icy detat. Her gaze lingered for a moment, then she spoke with a voice as sharp as a bde.

  "Does anyone else wish to lie to me?"

  The silehat followed was deafening. The nobles around me were pale as corpses, their eyes wide with shod fear. None of us could even muster a whisper in protest.

  "You've itted a crime!" one of the nobles shouted, trembling, desperately ging to the st shred of defiance he could muster. "Diplomacy doesn't allow this!"

  The duchess's eyes narrowed dangerously. Slowly, she rose from her chair, the calm in her demeanor shifting into something far more menag.

  "Diplomacy?" she echoed, stepping forward.

  Before the man could react, her hand shot out, gripping his hair and smming his face violently against the stone floor. The siing crack echoed through the courtyard, blood pooling instantly beh his shattered nose.

  "Fuck diplomacy!" she roared. With a brutal kick, she struck his face again, the blood dripping freely as he groaned in agony.

  "e!" she bellowed, her voice challenging the heavens themselves. "e and seek vengeance!”

  The air grew heavier, thick with an overwhelming energy that pressed against my chest, making it difficult to breathe. The stones beh our feet vibrated. The castle walls groaned as if under immense pressure.

  A massive shadow darkehe sun above.

  "ROOOOOOOOOAAAAR!" The thunderous roar of the winged beast shook the very grouh us as it op the fortress wall, perched like a monstrous predator surveying its prey. Its colossal form, crimson as blood, with jagged spikes protruding from its scales, spread massive wings that blotted out the sun.

  In that moment, I lost all trol. My body buckled uhe sheer, primal terror that gripped me, and I colpsed to my knees, paralyzed. My entire being was ed by a fear so overwhelming that humiliation twisted deep in my gut. The warm sensation spreading down my leg made it painfully clear. I had pissed myself.

  It was a beast torn straight from a nightmare. Its scarlet hide, glistening with moisture, seemed carved from molten stone. Rows upon rows of jagged teeth lis maw, each glimmering with deadly promise. But the eyes... the eyes were the worst of all. Its gaze burned with fury, and the mere presence of the creature seemed to drain the very air around us, turning the atmosphere into something suffog, as though pure evil itself loomed before us. In that moment, I could barely breathe, my eyes locked onto the face of the colossal being watg us. Every subtle movement it made was a remihat we stood before something capable of making the world kneel, as if it were a god. No ohere repared to face such power.

  A true... dragon!

  I could hardly believe the ess of the duchess, the on-born mother, and the maids as that monstrosity stared us down.

  Fear ed me so pletely that my body gave out. I retched onto the cold stone floor, trembling so violently that my hands failed to support me. I colpsed onto my side, still vomiting, as every muscle surreo sheer panic.

  The nobles around me were er, frozen in pce, paralyzed by terror. Some fainted on the spot, while one remaianding just long enough for his body to lock stiff, eyes wide in a vat stare.

  He didn't blink.

  It was as if the life had been drained from him entirely.

  The duchess watched the se with visible impatience, pressing her fingers against her temples.

  "Wonderful..." she muttered, irritation clear in her voice as she eyed the trembling noble. "His mind colpsed from stress. Well, he's probably gone insane now."

  She exhaled in frustration, her gaze hardening. "What used to take me days of careful torture, Cyl managed with just a look."

  Turning toward her maids, she waved a hand dismissively.

  "He's useless now. Nothing but ay shell. Take him outside and feed him to the pnt."