Chapter 29
The Hunted Beast
Looking at Draycoop after seeing the Monster Deposed Emperor's undamaged half of his face, he suddenly started to look like a horse's head.
'No way. Was I really trying to seduce a man like that?'
Just last night, she was happy about the possibility of tricking Draycoop Treloni into an engagement, which would bring her territory, compared to Louise and Yuan's successive marriages to the Monster...
'This is unfair.'
What would Yuan Pellieresse think of herself standing next to Draycoop Treloni?
The Deposed Emperor Claude Euphris, who covered his damaged half of his face, even looked more mysterious because of it!
Like her impressions of this Mansion, Regina's evaluation of the Deposed Emperor was drastically different on the first and second days.
'No. That's not it.'
Regina, who was endlessly comparing Claude and Draycoop and feeling despair, suddenly met Yuan's anxious eyes, and her fighting spirit soared.
She roughly stabbed at her food with her fork, swallowing the breakfast items.
'No matter how beautiful, it's only half.'
Draycoop was incomparable to a man who couldn't even go out without a mask and had no title.
Regina suppressed the spitefulness that surged up from time to time, trying to think as she had yesterday.
When she thought about it, the ugliest thing was Yuan Pellieresse, sitting there pretending to be okay, sweating profusely! That Crow wearing bright clothes that didn't suit her.
Even if it was uncomfortable, she had to be with Draycoop Treloni up to the entrance of the ballroom during her debutante.
It was even possible that a better man, encouraged by seeing Draycoop, would approach her.
Putting the debutante issue aside for a moment, Regina decided to focus on her parents, who were glaring at Yuan as if they wanted to kill her.
She was driven crazy by her father, who wouldn't tell her why Yuan was needed or what she had stolen.
She also couldn't understand her mother, who subtly hoped for her return, saying that if Yuan had been there when organizing the books, there would be no headaches.
Regina's nervous gaze passed the Deposed Emperor couple and reached Prince Bolonico next to the Emperor.
And then.
"!"
The moment she met his intense blue eyes, Regina froze for a moment.
The doll-like First Prince Bolonico smiled at her as if he was very happy to see her.
That smile was like a ray of light to Regina, who had only received nods from the horse-headed Draycoop.
When breakfast was over, about 50 horses were neighing at the Mansion entrance.
It was because the First Prince Bolonico, with a glossy face, had suggested a hunting game.
As those who wanted to see the rumored Black Manor dressed appropriately and headed to the Mansion entrance, Claude came out from the end of the group.
Like when he first greeted the Emperor yesterday, Claude, wearing a mask, revealed his wax doll-like face to the outside, as if there had been no disturbance last night.
The Emperor, mounted on his horse, scanned him and spoke as soon as he got on his horse.
"Is married life fun, Klaud?"
"......"
"The servants heard embarrassing sounds all night long."
"......"
"You're a man after all, aren't you? Even with that Crow-like appearance."
As a slight crack appeared on his face, which was like a delicate piece of ice, the Emperor laughed with his mouth wide open.
Those who didn't see Claude's subtly disheveled face, that is, those who didn't hear the desperate events of last night at all, praised the Emperor as a witty joker and followed him on horseback.
Claude, entrusting his body to the horse like a doll on a string, finally remembered Yuan visiting him at dawn.
He remembered pushing Yuan against the wall and threatening her.
He remembered the warmth of her hugging him, apologizing.
'He hugged that woman in that situation?'
The violent Deposed Emperor, Claude Euphris, invited a lot of guests and spent a scandalous night with his ninth wife.
Every time he rode his horse through the cold winter forest, those whispers began to shake Claude relentlessly.
Claude bit his lip, overwhelmed by the shame he had experienced all night and the self-disgust that had struck him since morning.
He belatedly realized that his head was not clear and his body was lighter than the miserable night.
He must have taken Yuan Pellieresse's medicine and desired her.
After riding for a while,
Claude faced the cruel smile of his uncle, who was aiming a monster-hunting arrow with a bizarrely twisted arrowhead at him.
The words, why are you aiming that at me, did not come to mind.
Only last night.
The moment he grabbed his uncle's shoulder as he tried to desire his wife in front of his eyes, the fleetingly distorted eyebrows came to mind.
Claude stood tall amidst the sound of the vicious arrow cutting through the wind, the voices of someone shouting Your Majesty- Your Majesty-! Not that way! around him, and the chaotic sounds.
It was an arrow he couldn't avoid, shouldn't avoid, and didn't want to avoid.
"The Emperor is crazy!"
Countess Pellierse, Priscilla Pellierse's shrill scream filled a corner of the Black Manor's garden.
Priscilla was hiding behind Frederick, trembling, as soon as she saw the Deposed Emperor's miserable appearance being carried in with the captured beasts.
She couldn't help but scream at the sight of Claude Euphris's face with his mask removed and his tattered body.
"How could he do that?"
"Be quiet, Priscilla."
"Honey! Why didn't you stop him when you followed him there? If you went hunting, you should have caught beasts, but why, why!"
"You think I didn't try to stop him?!"
The Count Pellierse lowered his voice as he watched the Deposed Emperor being carried in on a stretcher and the Emperor getting off his horse with a face that showed no remorse.
The Count, who was staring at the Emperor with bloodshot eyes, lowered his head quickly, fearing that he might make eye contact.
"If you disobey, you're dead no matter what. If you had seen the face he made when he shot his nephew with that hideous arrow, you would never have said that!"
The Count whispered lowly, wiping his sweaty hands roughly on his clothes.
The Emperor threw the captured beasts, telling them to grill them for his nephew's recovery.
And he bluntly said, 'The party is ruined today since the Mansion owner is injured,' and ordered them to prepare to return.
As the butler Gustav hurried out, Yuan appeared, and Count Pellierse's face turned bright red.
It was a chance to meet Yuan by attending the party as the family of the Deposed Empress.
But to return like this without any gain was unacceptable.
"Let's go quickly! I'm too anxious to stay here any longer!"
"We have to meet Yuan before we leave!"
"That's ridiculous! With His Majesty the Emperor here like this..."
Amidst the people quickly forming a procession, Yuan stood at the Mansion entrance with a pale face.
Emperor Igor approached Yuan with dignity and now openly hugged her and said goodbye. He even seemed to be pretending to bite her earlobe.
Emperor Igor, staring at her face, which was so white it was almost blue, chuckled and turned his back without hesitation when he was told that the preparations were complete and mounted his horse.
Count Pellierse pushed his way through the Pellierse family, who were hurriedly getting into the family carriage, and ran to Yuan.
"Yuan! This is how dangerous the place you're in is! Do you understand? You have to get a divorce right now!"
Yuan composed her dazed mind and stepped back.
She saw the doctor Hille hurrying up to the second floor.
She was also concerned about the pale face of the butler, who had sent her out, saying that escorting the Emperor was more important. It was clear that Claude was hurt somewhere.
Her uncle's face, trying to say one more word to Yuan before the long procession left, came right up to her face.
"Yuan!"
"This is my home now, what are you talking about?"
With her head in a mess, the thought of her uncle being scary flew far away.
After facing Emperor Igor for two days, she deeply felt how insignificant the uncle she had been so afraid of was as a villain.
Yuan compulsively rubbed the places where the Emperor had touched her and glared.
"Go away. This is my home. Don't tell me what to do."
Her uncle, in a hurry, put strength into his face until his eyes popped out, then gritted his teeth.
"That's your delusion. How is this your home!"
"Go away."
"Your husband. That Monster killed your sister!"
Yuan paused, and the Count, emboldened, warned.
"Do you think your sister died because it was really her time to die?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The seven brides who entered this Mansion before your sister. Do you think all those women just ran away? Some of them died! Deposed Emperor Claude Euphris is a guy who goes crazy and turns into a Monster every night! What would he have done to his wife? Your sister was in this Mansion once! Definitely! And what happened? She died!"
Count Pellierse took another step closer to Yuan.
"Do you understand? The one who killed your sister might be that guy you call your husband! Don't blame the wrong person when there's someone else who killed her, Yuan Pellieresse! Cut ties with your family? Absolutely not. Your family is me! Your aunt and your cousin! No matter how much you hate and dislike them, you can't cut off blood ties! That's patricide!"
It was shameless talk from someone who served the Emperor and his son, who had abandoned his nephew and ascended to the throne.
Yuan shook her head, denying the overwhelming anxiety.
Now was not the time to argue with her uncle.
When Yuan ignored him and turned to go to the second floor, her uncle grabbed her shoulders and shook her.
"The Emperor 'hunted' your husband. Something must have displeased him. The Emperor is that kind of person! If he's even slightly displeased, he'll humiliate or kill them! He never just lets things go! Is the place you're trying to abandon your family for a happy place? Living off that hunted Monster's pain?"
"Anything is better than being in Pellieresse, hurting on behalf of people who have nothing to do with me."
"You!"
The Count's face, which had been red all along, turned bright red, and soon, as if all the blood had drained from it, turned pale.
"You, you! Did you reveal your ability?"
