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Chapter 88

“I thought it was like a ghost. There’s a story like that. The story is that where many people have died, resentment gathers and ghosts appear.”

But ten years ago, Mrs. Willow encountered the monster.

“His Majesty was seventeen at the time. At that time, he wasn’t quite as notorious as he is now. He was a little rough-tempered and cruel—but the previous Emperors were so noisy that it wasn’t even controversial.”

Although Serwin received no education, he led the Empire with remarkable skill. He himself marveled at his growth. She had served his mother and had been watching him since he was a newborn baby, so he had an unrivaled place in her heart. She was a little anxious when he talked to nothing in the air, but she still trusted and watched him.

“One day, the place of the Hunting Day was changed to the Imperial Palace Forest, and criminals to be executed were brought into the Imperial Palace.”

She thought it was strange, but it wasn’t something for a maid like herself to intervene in. This is because it was up to the Emperor’s knights to bring in sinners and prepare for the hunting contest.

“That day was hectic. As the nobles flocked to the imperial palace, I had to pay extra attention.”

Mrs. Willow’s eyes, reminiscing the past, were already anxious. It was because the memory of that time still remained as a nightmare.

“I was barely relieved after midnight, and suddenly I thought I should bring a coat to His Majesty. I’m not too stupid. Whatever it was, at that time, it’s okay to have someone else do it.”

Now that she thinks about it, she felt like she was possessed by something. Anyway, then she took his coat and headed for the imperial forest. While the nobles were eating, drinking and chatting, Serwin was nowhere to be seen. She suddenly felt anxious.

“I searched for His Majesty and went through the forest in a hurry. Then I bumped into a person running in a different direction and fell.”

It was a man in black robes worn by death row prisoners. He checked Mrs. Willow’s maid’s suit, and put a sharp dagger to her neck. He looked like he was going to survive by taking her as hostage, but he had already used all of his strength to cling to her.

“I still remember that person’s breathing.”

A breath mixed with a hissing sound. Her back was wet with the blood that had been dripping from his stomach.

“I should have turned away from there and ran away without looking back, but my legs didn’t move. I just dropped there like that—”

Mrs. Willow paused for a moment. Just thinking about it was painful and frightening, so she ran out of breath. Amelie knelt down in front of her and held her hand.

“Then, then there was a monster.”

Whoosh! The sound of the wind sounded just like a scream. As the sound of footsteps got closer, she could see the trees rotting from far away. When the ominous figure finally showed up, she almost collapsed. The black smoke she had seen for decades was wrapped around him.

The sinner was threatening him by pressing her neck with a knife, but Serwin just smiled. Despite the threat of her life, she thought his drowsy smile was unfamiliar.

[Not with Mrs. Willow.]

When black smoke wrapped around the sinner’s body, his body quickly rotted. The sinner was alive until his bones were revealed to be as white as anyone else’s.

Watching the scene, her body trembled. What is this? What’s happening right now?

[It’s still a waste]

Serwin, or the thing that looked like him, left her alone and went back. The voices of sinners who still survived and ran away from the direction he disappeared were heard. Only then did the surrounding situation begin to become clear. It was a human hunt.

She can’t remember with what spirit to make her go home. She was just mesmerized until her daughter, who woke up in the morning, called her.

“I went to the Imperial Palace on the same day. I thought I should check what I saw. Then the Emperor’s knights were throwing bones into the lake—”

Mrs. Willow said she wanted to visit Serwin and quit her job. Serwin didn’t ask anything, and allowed her to quit work right away. She noticed that Serwin remembered last night when he didn’t hold onto her.

“It felt like lightning hit my head, yes. On a foggy day, His Majesty seemed to be in a good mood, and his hands were getting rougher for a reason.”

Mrs. Willow left the capital with her daughter. She was never going to come back. But every year on hunting day, she couldn’t stay away without returning. It was to see if something like that night would happen this year or if Serwin was still a monster. Every year, the sinners disappear on hunting day. All Mrs. Willow could do was pray for their repose, which she did not even know their names.

“His Majesty is a monster. Now, even when it’s not Hunting Day, he’s killing innocent people, right?”

“Is that why you called me to tell me to break up with him?”

“…Yeah. If you stay there, Miss Bourbon will see something terrible.”

It was not easy to make up her mind to meet Amelie. Who knows if she is a monster like Serwin? Even after sending a reply, she had countless nightmares because she was afraid of getting entangled with Serwin again. Still, if she was a good and ignorant woman, she had to help. If she could save one more innocent life like that.

“…all regrets later.”

Mrs. Willow smiled bitterly. Feeling the weight and regret of the past years, Amelie couldn’t say anything for a while.

******

After a while, Amelie left the house. Mrs. Willow’s daughter made a fuss when she saw her coming down from the top floor, but headed to the front door without responding to a word.

‘Serwin lied. Why did you do that?’

Considering Mrs. Willow’s words and Serwin’s actions so far, it was clear that Serwin knew that the night of hunting day, disaster would swallow his body.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

Death row prisoners from all over the country are transferred to prisons near the capital. Again this year, a number of prisoners on death row had disappeared.

‘Why did Serwin prepare the death row prisoners? Didn’t disaster come when the seal was weakened, regardless of Serwin’s will?’

Amelie was very confused. According to what has been summarized so far, Serwin knew in advance that disaster would appear and prepared, and deliberately left her behind to successfully complete human hunting.

‘Serwin can’t do that to me—. No, it was Serwin who gave me the fabricated data—. Then why the hell?’

Unmodified and Modified data. When comparing the two, the biggest difference was that the hunting season and the occurrence of the anomaly were periodic.

‘The fact that abnormalities happen periodically — it bothers me.’

Amelie became anxious.

‘Maybe Serwin made some promises with the disaster— no, let’s not make a random guess.’

Amelie shook her head. Even if she made a random guess by herself, she was just overwhelmed by negative emotions. The more important the problem was, the better it was to talk honestly with the other person than to think up conspiracies alone.

‘Let’s go to Serwin.’

Amelie made up her mind and pushed her numerous questions to one side of her head.

As she raised her head, she could see three people looking worried back at her.

They couldn’t talk to Amelie easily and waited because she was deep in thought while standing with a dark face.

“Everyone’s been waiting for a long time. The conversation was longer than I thought.”

When Amelie spoke first, Renia and Milena came at a rapid pace.

“Are you okay?”

“What’s wrong? Did you hear something bad?”

“I’m okay. Mrs. Willow told me everything I wanted to hear about honestly.”

“I’m saying this because you don’t look okay.”

said Renia.

“Let’s hurry up and get on the carriage. You don’t look good. You’d better go back and rest quickly.”

Chad was also worried about Amelie. Amelie looked at Renia.

“Young Lady Renia. I’m sorry, but can you go back alone?”

“I’m fine but—”

Renia was very worried about sending Amelie by herself. Even when she was stabbed and fell into the lake, Amelie didn’t look so anxious. She wondered how shocking Mrs. Willow’s story was to make her like this.

“I’ll tell you everything later.”

“You don’t have to worry about me. It’s because Miss Amelie’s complexion doesn’t look good.”

“I’m okay.”

Amelie smiled helplessly.

‘If you look like that, I can’t ask more questions.’

Renia decided to follow Amelie’s will.

“I’ll bring a separate carriage for Young Lady Manvers to ride in. Miss Amelie please get on the carriage. It will go straight to the Imperial Palace.”

Chad said.

“No. I’m going to where His Majesty is. Where is His Majesty now?”

Chad couldn’t answer right away and hesitated.

“The hunting contest will be in full swing, so he will be in the Imperial Palace forest. It was written that way in the invitation.”

Renia replied instead.

“A while ago, Young Lady Serina came to the hunting grounds to meet me and said that I was not there, so she went to the Imperial Palace. She couldn’t even enter the palace, so she had to leave.”

“Huh? That’s kind of weird.”

“That’s right. If hunting day is in the Imperial Palace forest, there is no reason to come back from the Imperial Palace to find me.”

“The Imperial Palace won’t block access now because of the hunting competition—it doesn’t make sense that she couldn’t go in.”

Amelie smiled at Chad.

“Where did the hunting grounds change to?”

“Miss Amelie, that’s—”

“I can find it without Sir Chad telling me. I’m asking because I’m running out of time.”

If she looks for it, she can find it quickly. She was just afraid that midnight would come while she was wasting that time.

“I am only following His Majesty’s orders.”

“Then are you going to not see His Majesty until midnight?”

Chad hesitated. He was well aware that Serwin had been hesitating until this morning whether or not to inform Amelie and seek help. Frankly, Chad hoped Serwin would stop hunting humans with Amelie’s help.

‘If the hunting of the Hunting Day continues like this, I’d feel so sorry for His Majesty.’

Every year after hunting day, Serwin’s mental health would severely drop. The more he knew about the disaster, the harder it was to pretend not to know his king’s pain.

“…It’s at Grand Malt hunting ground.”

“When did he change it?”

“He changed it in a hurry this morning.”

“This person really planned it! He even changed the location!”

It was clear that he changed it urgently because he thought she would notice if he did something at the imperial palace.

Amelie burst into anger. Just let her meet Serwin. She’ll pour cold water on him!

“His Majesty kept hesitating. Please understand his position, my lady.”

Chad bowed deeply. Though they were just following Amelie, the knights who were watching the situation a little away felt the need to intervene.

“Sir Chad. Are you disobeying orders?”

Maxim and the other knights, who had been hiding, appeared.