"Welcome to my charming home, darling," she added, glancing sideways at Mark. "Sorry things went to hell so quickly..."
"Don’t worry about it... I’m used to it."
Then Mark stepped forward.
"Yuki, Ely, take care of them," he ordered, raising his voice slightly.
The moment Mark gave the order, the beastmen who had surrounded them barely had time to react.
Yuki emerged from the shadows in the middle of the group — a barely visible silhouette that slipped between them without any of them managing to defend themselves.
In a matter of seconds, and before they could raise their weapons, half the attackers fell to the ground headless with a dull thud.
The rest, instead of fleeing or closing ranks, lunged quickly toward Mark — perhaps thinking the calm-looking human would be the weakest link.
Grave mistake.
Ely drew her sword instantly and stepped into their path.
Her blade cut through the air in a clean motion, and the gleam of the steel was the last thing several of them managed to see before being cut in half.
Once again, none of them had the chance to even defend themselves.
Mark simply watched the result of that ’fight’ with satisfaction.
Emi, who had stayed on guard with a dagger half-drawn from inside her clothing, blinked a couple of times, clearly surprised that she hadn’t even needed to use it.
Luna watched the brief encounter in astonishment.
She knew perfectly well the strength of those beastmen better than anyone, and that’s exactly why the scene before her eyes seemed so absurd.
’So these are the Emperor of Death’s subordinates...’ the princess thought, discreetly swallowing. ’I definitely bet on the right side.’
But then a thought.
’If they’re capable of something like that... what kind of monster must he be to command them?’
She looked at him in amazement. It was as if, until that instant, she hadn’t truly understood who this man really was.
"Good work, both of you," he said calmly.
"It was nothing for me, Master," Ely replied, sheathing her sword with a smile, clearly pleased by the recognition.
Yuki simply nodded in silence.
"Are there any more hiding around?" he asked, turning toward the assassin.
"No, the rest of the mansion is clear," Yuki replied instantly. "There’s nobody left alive apart from us and our target on the second floor."
"Perfect," Mark said, watching as the blood began to pool across the floor. "Then we’d better go upstairs and have a chat with our new friend."
And without further ado, he began climbing the stairs toward the second floor, in the direction of the room where Luna’s brother had locked himself in.
Emi and Luna followed, along with Ely.
But while they climbed, Luna shot a sideways glance at Yuki, who walked behind the group in complete silence, like a shadow.
One question wouldn’t stop circling in the princess’s head.
Where the hell had that woman been hiding during the entire journey?
She had shared a carriage with them for days, had slept in the same mansion, and not once had she detected her presence.
For someone with a beastman’s sense of smell and instincts, that was simply unsettling.
However, in the end she decided to swallow the question.
Something told her she wouldn’t get a satisfying answer, and in any case she had far more urgent matters to attend to at that moment.
When they reached the room, Daniel spun around sharply upon hearing the door burst wide open.
And seeing them walk in without a scratch on them, his expression went from surprise to confusion, and from confusion to something resembling fear.
"What...?" he stammered, his eyes jumping from one to another. "What are you doing here? Where are my warriors? There were more than thirty of them!"
"Ah, those?" Mark said with a shrug. "I gave them a little vacation... Permanent ones, I’m afraid."
Daniel let out a long sigh, loaded with an annoyance that barely concealed the nervousness starting to creep up his spine.
"Tch... Seems if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself," he murmured, recovering his composure.
And immediately he adopted a combat stance, flexing his claws and baring his fangs, planting his feet firmly on the room’s floor.
Mark, far from tensing up, turned toward Luna with a casual expression, as if Daniel didn’t even represent a threat worth his attention.
"Hey, Princess, is it alright if we kill him?"
"I’d prefer you didn’t," Luna replied, crossing her arms. "As much of an idiot as he is, he’s still my brother."
"Hmm."
"And above all, I need him alive and with a loose tongue... A corpse won’t do me much good for finding out what happened here."
"Something just occurred to me. What if he gets the same treatment he ordered for you?" Mark said with a smile, stroking his chin. "Seems fair to me, don’t you think?"
"That I can accept," she replied with amusement.
Daniel blinked in surprise.
"Hey... you know I can hear you perfectly, right?" Luna’s brother said, trying to make himself noticed. "You’re talking about how to maim me like I’m not standing right here."
But once again, nobody paid him the slightest attention.
"Ely," Mark said calmly, without even looking at Daniel. "Break his arms and legs. We want him alive and conscious so he can answer the princess’s questions."
"As you command, Master."
That was enough for Daniel to lose what little composure he had left.
"Don’t underestimate me!" he roared, launching himself at them with everything he had. "I am a son of the Grand Beast Lord! I won’t let a handful of strangers come to my kingdom and humiliate me in my own—!"
Daniel didn’t get to finish the sentence.
One instant he was charging forward, certain he’d at least reach one of them.
The next, all sense of balance vanished, ceiling and floor swapped places, and a searing pain shot through all four of his limbs at the same time.
By the time his mind caught up with what had happened, he was already on the floor.
With his arms and legs at unnatural angles, unable to move anything below the waist or beyond his elbows.
Daniel writhed on the floor, groaning in pain, moving clumsily and pathetically from side to side, unable to do anything but drag himself a few centimeters like a wounded worm.
"Who the hell are you?!" he screamed through his teeth, his eyes full of tears of pure rage and helplessness. "Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?! I’m a prince! A son of the Grand Beast Lord!"
Nobody responded, which only seemed to enrage him further.
"When my brother Jack finds out about this, he’s going to hunt all of you down!" he continued, his voice cracking between pain and desperation. "He’s going to tear you apart one by one! You, those two bitches, all of you! You have absolutely no idea what you’ve just gotten yourselves into, you bastards—!"
"Brother... we both know Jack couldn’t care less what happens to you," Luna cut him off sharply.
"..."
She approached him with slow steps and crouched down in front of her brother, who was still writhing in pain on the floor.
Luna looked down at him from above, and for the first time since she had set foot in the mansion, there was no trace of her usual nonchalance.
What was on her face now was something cold and cutting.
"Right, let’s cut straight to it," she continued, crouching in front of him.
Luna drove the tip of her heel down on one of her brother’s broken arms, making him let out a harrowing scream.
"Where is Jack?" she asked with a calm that contrasted completely with her brother’s cry of pain. "And while we’re at it, where are the others?"
"Go... go to hell, you bitch!" Daniel spat through his teeth, his face soaked in sweat. "I’m not telling you anything, you traitorous whore!"
The princess looked at him without flinching.
"Wrong answer," she said before pressing down a little harder with her heel.
Daniel’s scream echoed through the entire room again.
"Where is Jack?" Luna repeated in an unhurried tone, as if she had all the time in the world. "I’ll ask you as many times as it takes... and we both know I have far more patience than you have tolerance for pain."
"Fucking... witch!" he groaned, writhing. "When father finds out about this...!"
"Father isn’t going to do anything," Luna cut him off. "So stop clinging to that fantasy and answer me."
She applied pressure again.
Daniel held out a little longer.
He clenched his teeth, tried to swallow the pain and hold onto that last sliver of pride he had left.
But in the end, the body always wins.
"Alright! Alright!" he caved, between tears and gasps. "Stop, please! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you!"
Luna eased the pressure, though she didn’t fully remove her foot.
"Speak. I’m listening."
"Jack..." Daniel said, breathing with difficulty. "Jack is at the palace... At father’s palace... That’s where you’ll find him."
Luna frowned.
"At the palace?" she repeated, unable to hide her surprise. "But that makes no sense... Father has never been able to stand having us nearby, that’s why he sent us to live in separate residences, so he wouldn’t have to see our faces."
"I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth," Daniel replied desperately. "A few days ago... he moved into the palace... that’s all I know, I swear."
Just one look at her brother’s face was enough for Luna to understand that the panic and pain were real.
Then she stood up, her gaze distant, turning that information over in her mind.
Something didn’t add up, and the more she thought about it, the worse she felt about it.
She turned around and walked toward Mark, leaving Daniel lying there and groaning behind her.
"We have to move quickly," she said quietly, her brow still furrowed. "I need to talk to my father as soon as possible... I have a bad feeling about all of this, and the sooner we get to the palace, the better."
"Very well," he replied with a nod. "We’ll come with you. We didn’t travel all this way to sit around."
Luna gave him a brief look of appreciation.
"Ely, Yuki," Mark said, turning toward his subordinates. "We’re moving. Stay alert."
"As you command, Master," both replied.
And with that, the entire group began filing out of the room, leaving the mess of the mansion behind and heading toward the exit with a new destination in mind.
The palace of the Grand Beast Lord.
Daniel, still lying flat on his back on the floor, lifted his head with difficulty as he watched them leave.
"H-hey..." he called out in a broken voice. "Wait... you’re not going to leave me here like this, right?... Right?"
Nobody stopped.
"Hey!" he insisted, writhing on the floor. "At least call someone! A healer! Anyone! You can’t just leave me here like a sack of potatoes!"
The door closed behind them, leaving him completely alone.
"...Fuck"