When Asha didn’t answer, he clicked his tongue and muttered to himself.
“……Useless bitch. I knew she was worthless, but I didn’t expect her to be so stupid.”
Asha frowned upon hearing him speak of his only daughter in such a way.
“Don’t sacrifice the lives of innocent people for power! There’s nothing more despicable than that.”
He laughed at her words.
“Despicable…that’s one way to put it. But who among us can really distinguish what is truly despicable?”
Asha didn’t quite understand his words and furrowed her brow slightly.
Suddenly, an earthquake shook the ground, and various types of thrips and root maggots began to erupt from the ground like a volcanic eruption.
Asha quickly aimed her bow, but the monsters crawled toward the villagers instead of her.
Just as Asha thought the monsters were about to attack the people, they suddenly stood in a shield-like formation in front of them, facing her.
It was an unbelievable sight.
Asha’s eyes trembled.
How could monsters protect people instead of attacking them?
Is there someone here controlling the monsters…?
Could it be that the monsters’ appearances were the work of the minorities?
Everyone, including the monsters, looked at Asha with a puzzled expressions.
As if she was the monster here, not them…
Asha felt like an outsider, alone.
But then, someone walked out of the crowd.
“Asha Camelia.”
The village chief looked at her intently and opened his mouth again.
“Vanessa.”
Asha’s expression hardened.
The only person in this empire who could informally call the butterfly was Emperor Karaf.
“Are you an ally or an enemy of the Black Rose?”
Only then did Asha realize that she had fallen into a trap.
It seemed that killing Gabe’s hawk and sending it to him was their doing as well.
Even if Karaf had been attacked, there was a chance Asha might not have come. They wanted to hurt even Jackal, her true love, to ensure her presence here.
The village chief spoke again.
“If you do not follow our will, we will have no choice but to kill you. That way, the wind spirit will be passed on to the next butterfly candidate.”
Asha looked at them with trembling eyes.
But minorities couldn’t look her in the eye.
Until she had come to the imperial palace, Asha had been close to them.
She didn’t expect to be betrayed by those she trusted, leaving her feeling shocked and overwhelmed.
This was a complete 180-degree change from the past.
Asha could understand Karaf’s heart a little better now that she had been betrayed.
“Please make a wise choice.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Kiam’s knights drew their swords and surrounded Asha.
Asha looked at him with hurt eyes and spoke.
“…Let me ask you something. Please answer my question first.”
“What is it?”
“What did you do to Jackal?”
The village chief smiled lightly.
“Did you think we wouldn’t find out? You and he tried to extract information from us by joining hands with the Emperor. He is now poisoned and is hovering between life and death. If you want to save him, do as we say.”
Just as the village chief finished speaking, a great wind blew from behind, and Asha turned around.
In the air, there was a giant queen wasp even bigger than the moth she had seen before.
But when she saw someone riding on the big wasp, Asha’s eyes gradually widened.
Dart…. was standing on the giant wasp.
He had a cold expression on his face that was 180 degrees different from the face she had seen so far.
“Why is he here….?”
As Asha muttered with a blank look, the village chief said.
“Greetings, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
The village chief knelt down and bowed his head, along with the rest of the people.
Kiam, who was nearby, put down his sword and greeted him politely, a courtesy that had never been shown to Karaf.
As the giant wasp landed on the ground with a blast of wind, Dart lightly jumped off it.
The maggot monsters rushed towards him, and Dart stroked their heads slowly as if praising them.
As she watched him control the monsters, Asha understood all the situations that had happened so far, as if lightning had struck her head.
The ominous energy she felt from him when the monsters invaded the temple… it was because he was the one controlling the monsters.
Asha clenched her fists, realizing the full extent of Dart’s plan only now.
He had orchestrated the kidnapping of Karaf during the pilgrimage.
How long has he been preparing this plan?
Was it also part of his plan to get injured while protecting her from monsters?
The thought that he had sacrificed himself as a springboard so that Karaf would agree to go on the pilgrimage gave her goosebumps.
“You…brainwashed the minorities from the beginning?”
“It’s not brainwashing, Lady Vanessa.”
Dart replied, looking around at those kneeling around him with a majestic presence like an emperor.
“They simply recognized who the ‘real emperor’ is…a long time ago.”
Asha was speechless with shock, and her body became cold as she broke into a cold sweat.
She couldn’t move from her spot, trembling with the weight of betrayal. Dart looked at her apologetically.
“…I’m sure I told you to treat Vanessa with respect, didn’t I?”
He said, turning around and glaring at the village chief.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”
The village chief, who was so proud of himself, bowed his head, unable to move in front of him.
Dart looked down on him with contempt.
“Now that there’s not much time left, don’t act rashly.”
“…. Yes.”
Dart looked at Asha, who was standing still as if her soul had left her body.
“If you’re concerned about that man’s life, then come quietly with me.”
He put Asha on the wasp’s back and flew away somewhere.
* * * * *
“To think that we’re now hunting monsters…!”
The Lycaons were in the middle of a fierce battle against monsters popping up all over the village.
With Jackal absent, Gabe took over the command and ran around the village with his sword in hand, cursing every time he struck a monster.
Following Gabe’s instructions, the members surrounded the village and fired flaming arrows without hesitation.
The best way to kill spider mite-like monsters was with holy water or fire.
Yuri contentedly watched the man who shot the flaming arrows the fastest.
“He really is the man I fell for.”
The women also joined in defending the village, lighting fires on sticks or sprinkling salt, while expressing their disgust for the monsters.
“…I’m so sick of these spider mites!”
The most troublesome pests in farming were spider mites and scale insects.
The head cook, Wede, brought a bottle of alcohol from the kitchen, lit it on fire, and threw it like a bomb.
“Be careful not to burn down the houses!”
“Yes! Our precious village cannot burn down again!”
The women quickly went into the kitchen and made a natural insecticide by mixing egg yolks, cooking oil, and water.
“Will this work?”
“Of course. No matter how big they are, they’re still bugs!”
As they put the mixture into buckets and threw it around, the monsters made painful sounds as their noses and mouths were clogged, struggling to breathe.
The remaining Lycaons followed Gabe’s instructions and divided themselves into teams to fight. Some shot flaming arrows, some used swords, and some stabbed monsters with spears as they emerged unexpectedly from the ground.
However, perhaps due to the oil, the fire spread more easily on the monsters’ bodies.
As the monsters, whose entire bodies were engulfed in flames, ran around the village in agony, the houses also caught fire.
“Oh, my…”
At that moment, when the Lycaons were in despair, an ice arrow flew from the opposite direction.
They looked over and exclaimed in surprise.
“Chief!”
“Sosa!”
Jackal and Sosa rode horses and decapitated monsters with terrifying speed.
Especially, Jackal used the power of the water spirit to create a chain with a scythe and fought splendidly.
Every time he passed by swinging his chain, a blue chill froze, and the monsters’ bodies were neatly cut in half.
When the monsters were almost gone and the terrible screams could no longer be heard, Jackal shouted.
“Is everyone okay!?”
“Yes!”
All members gathered in one place and checked the number of people.
There were injuries, but fortunately, there were no fatalities.
Everyone calmed down and took a deep breath.
“It’s fortunate that we arrived on time.”
Jackal ordered Nek to put out the fires that were spreading throughout the village.
Nek sprang out of his chest like a geyser and transformed into a typhoon, running around and extinguishing the fire.
The Lycaons watched in a daze as the water swirled and swept through the village.
Gabe pushed through the crowd and ran straight to Jackal.
Gabe’s charismatic command and cursing from just moments ago had disappeared, and he spoke with a choked-up voice and teary eyes.
“Without you, Lycaon was really close to collapsing…”
The Lycaons laughed openly, but Gabe must have felt a heavy burden. Jackal understood and comforted him.
“You handled the situation really well. I made the right decision to trust you. Even if I hadn’t come, you would have done a great job of protecting the village. Well done.”
Jackal patted him on the shoulder, and Gabe nodded, weeping even though he was glad of the compliment.
Sosa shook his head behind them, but he was smiling too.
The Lycaons’ faces were filled with joy as they saw the two people they had not seen for a long time.
But Jackal’s expression turned serious and he quickly told them what had happened.
Everyone’s expressions turned to shock as they listened.
“I have declared to the village chief that I will return to the imperial palace and kill the emperor. However, we’ll return to the minority village and capture the chief alive.”
“Understood!”
But it was at that moment that they were preparing to leave.
A group of men set foot in the Lycaon village.
“…… Chief!”
All the Lycaons’ eyes widened as they saw a man running at the front of the group.
They could never forget that face.
“You goddamn Nasson traitor……!”
Gabe rushed towards him with a murderous glare, and Ruan trembled with both hands up as if surrendering.
“W-we, the Nassons, have come to help Lycaon!”
“What?”
Gabe asked, raising an eyebrow, and then countless members of the Nasson Clan followed.
The Lycaons all looked at them with widened eyes.
