Monster. Kishian furrowed his brows at the tiresome nickname.
The emperor had ignored Kishian and called him a rice worm when he was still young and weak.
And when he grew up and became a threat to him, he secretly called him a monster.
The old man knew that his own life was precious, so he only called him a monster behind his back and never called him a monster to his face. However, it seemed like he didn't have that kind of sense left now.
He continued speaking arrogantly, as if he felt no sense of crisis.
"You don't know your subject. How could a monster who has lived by the blood of demons desire a noble Princess? It's a good thing you came all the way here. I will personally punish you for defiling my daughter with your ugly lust. After that, I will hang your severed head by the roadside. I will make all the people of the empire throw stones at your corpse and spit on it."
As the Emperor continued to speak, Kishian's face began to wrinkle.
Even though he knew it was a low-quality provocation, he found it hard to resist.
This was because even Kishian acknowledged to some extent what the Emperor had said.
He actually lived with the blood of a demon turned inside out.
Unlike other spirits who lived in splendid luxury, he rolled around on the battlefield, swung a sword, and smelled blood more than perfume.
Even in his own mind, he was a monster. A monster that wouldn't die even if it was wounded, but would come back to life.
That's why, when he first encountered Elona in his bedroom, he hesitated inside.
Even if it was for the sake of revenge against the Emperor, he wondered if it was right for someone like him to embrace such a beautiful and noble woman.
It felt like a sin for him, a monster, to be holding that pure white, delicate body that had lived surrounded only by precious things.
So, perhaps he should grasp the subject as the Emperor said.
But even though he thought that way, he couldn't give up, so he ended up coming here.
"Yes, I'm a monster. But you are not? You, who threw your daughter away without a care because you didn't dare to face such a monster, are you really a proper father?"
"What do you know to say such nonsense..!"
"Even if Elona hates and loathes me, I am ready to accept those feelings. I am ready to repent for the rest of my life. But I will not back down like this. Not until I save Elona from a monster worse than me."
The Emperor's loud voice, as if he were very excited, was transmitted through the magic tool.
Kishian put it back in his bosom.
The final negotiations have already broken down.
He simply gave the order calmly.
"Attack."
***
The loud noise didn't stop even after waiting.
It felt like the palace that boasted grandeur and splendor was collapsing.
There are no walls, so there is no need to use siege weapons.
However, the reason Kishian was destroying the palace by firing siege weapons was probably to put psychological pressure on it.
To psychologically pressure someone into surrendering obediently.
The operation seemed to have worked on the soldiers, as those standing outside the door began to fidget.
During that time, I entered the small bathroom attached to the shelter.
'There is...!!'
Fortunately, there was a small window there to let out the steam.
Because the shelter itself was half-buried underground, the windows were extremely high up and small.
First, I brought a chair and stood on it.
But even when I lifted my brow, I couldn't see outside properly.
After thinking about it, I took the hand mirror from my room and put it outside the window. I adjusted the angle just right and was barely able to see the situation.
The soldiers were fighting in a tangled mess.
The mirror itself was a bit small, and with so many soldiers tangled up in it, it was hard to see what was what.
'I can't see the situation properly. I don't even know where Kishian is.:
Even if a signal was sent to the cube, it was questionable whether Kishian would be able to see it.
'I have to escape on my own. But how...'
It was honestly the first time I felt so helpless.
I have to wait, trapped in this small space, without even being able to see outside properly.
The only silver lining was that the imperial troops were gradually being pushed back.
It was such a dizzying scene that it was hard to make out anything, but I could at least make out that they were stepping back.
If we just hold on a little longer like this...
"Your Highness, the Princess!"
Then a soldier who found my silence suspicious barged into the bathroom.
He came straight towards me and pulled my body towards him.
"Let go of this!"
"It's dangerous!"
He easily pushed me out of the bathroom and closed the bathroom window.
After putting the metal cover over the bathroom window and locking it with a key, even the bathroom became a completely sealed room.
The soldier, seeing me standing there in a daze, seemed to have misunderstood something and offered me false comfort.
"You don't have to worry too much. The Grand Duke won't be able to invade the palace. His Majesty has prepared something."
"Ready?"
Come to think of it, the Emperor had said the same thing.
He said he had prepared something to prevent Kishian from even setting foot in there.
The soldier, trying to calm me down from my anxiety, finally confessed the secret the Emperor had kept from me.
"There are several monsters captured by the Imperial Family. His Majesty has studied their habits and discovered that they react to certain scents."
"Wait, a monster? A certain scent?"
"I don't know the details, but I heard that the scent of a certain plant makes the monsters excited. To use this to stop the Grand Duke, he planted a lot of that plant along their path. As they advance, the scent will have seeped in, so if he releases the monsters, they will get excited and rush at the Grand Duke's soldiers."
Did you even prepare something like this?
It seemed that the Emperor had studied monsters from an early age, thinking that Kishian would one day target him.
I remembered treating the contaminated soldiers under the Emperor's orders.
I was wondering why there were so many contaminated people, but it seemed that they were probably contaminated while handling captured monsters.
"How many roughly..."
"I don't know for sure, but I think there are about twenty."
Twenty of them. If that many monsters were to rush in excitedly, even Kishian wouldn't be able to do anything.
At that moment, the eerie howl of a monster was heard from outside.
***
Instead of leading from behind, Kishian himself stood in front and cut down the enemies.
Compared to monsters, humans were such easy opponents.
With one swing of his sword, he could cut his enemy in half, armor and all.
He erased all thoughts from his mind and focused only on swinging his blade.
How many people were killed? So many lives were lost that counting them would be meaningless.
His whole body was covered in blood that was different from the demon's blood, but was thinner and had a brighter red color.
If he were called a monster because he was covered in demon blood, what will he be called now?
Murderer? Warlord?
Anyway, it was good. The results were in sight, worth enduring the humiliation.
"The enemy's momentum has been broken! If we just push a little harder, it looks like we'll be able to enter the palace!"
As the soldier reported, the imperial army was gradually retreating.
Some people even ran away in fear at the sight of Kishian.
It was right in front of them. When he felt relieved, he heard an unpleasant, familiar sound.
"Krrrrr!"
It was a monster. The imperial army brought the iron cage containing the monster from somewhere.
Kishian doubted his eyes. A monster? Could it be that they had captured it to use as a weapon?
But those were creatures that could not be tamed.
They only harbor hostility towards humans as if it were their nature, so if they were let loose, they would start biting the nearby Imperial Army.
But contrary to expectations, the released monsters didn't even glance at the imperial army and rushed straight towards us.
"Ugh!!"
"Kill the monsters first!!"
The monsters that rushed towards the allies literally began to prey.
It chewed through the armor without a care with its sharp and strong teeth and then took the meat.
Kishian immediately cut off the heads of the nearby monsters, but too many had already been released.
"Live, live!"
"Attacks are not working!"
"Ahhhh!"
Screams were heard here and there.
The number of released monsters was close to twenty.
Killing one was of no use, and the morale of their troops, which had been high in anticipation of victory, quickly cooled.
Kishian then slew the second monster and stared at the palace.
It felt like Elona's existence, which he thought he would soon get back, had slipped out of his grasp once again.
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