#88. Show Me Your Beast
Her sensual red lips parted slightly.
The air around me seemed to suddenly expand—
or maybe it had all evaporated.
I turned my head sharply, gasping for breath.
Even if I lost this battle of wills, there was no other way out.
“Please return to your room quietly.
And stop saying such blasphemous things in the temple.”
I wanted to warn him sharply.
If my eyelashes hadn’t trembled so much,
I might’ve sounded half-convincing.
Perhaps out of a shred of conscience,
Nikolai glanced toward the statue of the goddess Morasincia hanging on the wall.
“A person should always act according to time and place.”
He nodded solemnly.
I snapped my fingers, playing along.
“That’s exactly what I was going to say!”
“Besides, isn’t this the temple where the sacred relic was once kept?”
“At last, some sane words from you. Looks like you’ll escape divine punishment today, Your Majesty.”
Just as I started to breathe in relief,
Nikolai seized my wrist tightly.
“Then let’s go outside the temple.”
A jolt like lightning shot through my body.
His turquoise eyes blazed as they fixed on me.
Under that scorching gaze, I stumbled over my words like a fool.
“W-why?”
“Because this is a temple.”
My heart took another violent hit.
I wanted to beg him to stop—
afraid that I’d end up surrendering disgracefully.
But my lips wouldn’t open.
“The priests might be eavesdropping.
That Arkanso fellow has quite the sharp ears.”
Nikolai’s moist tongue brushed across his lips.
He was breathtakingly beautiful again tonight.
He hid it behind casual words,
but he was just as desperate as I was.
“If you wish, I don’t mind doing it here either.”
His voice sank low, velvety and heavy.
Smothering the strange mix of fear and thrill,
I feigned ignorance.
“Do what?”
“Anything.”
His gentle fingertips brushed my brow,
then slid down to trace my cheek, my jawline.
Every touch made a dull, tingling ache coil in my stomach.
It felt like my heart might explode any second.
Breathing raggedly, I bit the edge of my lip.
The solemn goddess statue on the wall and the sacred atmosphere of the temple
only intensified my guilt.
Finally, in a gesture of surrender, I pulled him by the hand.
“Let’s go! Outside the temple!”
If it’s come to this,
then I’ll see Nikolai’s beast for myself.
Because the one who tempts should be me, not him!
✦ ✦ ✦
There were four assassins in total.
Franz rubbed the cold sweat from his palms onto his sleeve.
Shade was displaying his skill to the fullest,
but their opponents were no ordinary men.
The sharp clash of blades rang in Franz’s ears like screams.
“The thugs on the farm were nothing—Shade cut them down in an instant.
But what if he gets hurt this time?”
The assassins targeted Franz relentlessly,
and each time, Shade’s sword intercepted them.
Owen and Douglas stood protectively before the prince.
Douglas, visibly tense, asked,
“Are you unharmed, Your Highness?”
“It’s not pleasant, but I can endure.”
“I worry that the sight of such cruelty may upset you.”
Douglas raised a hand to shield Franz’s eyes.
Franz shook his head and gently pushed it away.
“I appreciate it, but no. I won’t faint this time.”
“But still—”
“My knight is fighting for me.
It’s my duty as his lord to watch until the end.”
In truth, he wanted to cover his eyes and ears—
to curl beneath a desk and wait for it to end,
just as he had when his mother collapsed that day.
“I’m not that four-year-old child anymore.
I won’t be afraid of those who target me!”
He gritted his teeth and glared at the assassins.
Who sent them?
Could it be…?
Franz’s face grew even paler.
From a very young age, he had been haunted by danger.
“When the Empress Dowager still lived, every day was a battle of nerves.
If I hadn’t learned the world early, I would never have survived.”
After Penelope’s exile, assassination attempts became rare—
an attack on the Crown Prince could trigger a bloodbath.
Yet unknown enemies had bribed his maids,
poisoned his meals,
and schemed to drive a wedge between Nikolai and him—
until Elizabeth entered the palace.
“Where is Elizabeth now? What is she doing?”
He missed her—
her red hair, her smile, even her nagging.
“Urgh!”
One of the assassins collapsed, blood spurting from his heart.
The remaining three were wounded.
“R-retreat!”
Sensing defeat, they began to flee.
Shade’s sword pierced one through the back.
“Gaaah!”
Another screamed as a dagger buried into his leg.
One barely escaped alive.
“Shade, are you hurt?”
A few drops of blood speckled Shade’s handsome face.
He flicked them off with his fingers, his expression heavy.
“I’m sorry.”
“What for? You saved me.”
“I killed again… in front of Your Highness.”
His opaque, unreadable eyes fell to the ground.
He seemed to recall Elizabeth’s words.
Franz forced a smile and patted his shoulder.
“You did well. If you hadn’t, I’d be the one dead.”
“…Did I really do well?”
Shade still looked uncertain—
his blank face softened only by the faint droop of his brows,
which made him look lonely.
Douglas and Owen chimed in.
“Sir Shade’s duty is to protect Your Highness.
You didn’t kill; you fulfilled your duty. You did splendidly.”
“The Marquis of Nettleton speaks the truth.
Without you, we’d all be corpses.
You did well—thank you.”
Only then did Shade’s tense shoulders ease.
To Franz, he suddenly seemed like a boy younger than himself.
“Could he even be twenty?
He looks too young for a knight, yet his stealth skills are exceptional…
Just who is Shade, really?”
While Franz pondered, Douglas spoke cautiously.
“We should return to the palace at once, Your Highness.”
“These assassins were sloppy for a hit on the Crown Prince.
What kind of assassin flees after losing a comrade?
And there were too few of them.”
Franz stroked his chin as he looked down at the bodies.
Douglas, too, looked uneasy.
“They may have been after the imperial seal.”
“Only one person besides us knew I had it.”
“Who?”
“The Minister of the Interior, Kares.”
At that name, Douglas’s face paled,
and Owen swallowed hard.
“But he’s known to be His Majesty’s most loyal servant!”
“His Majesty’s, yes.
Whether he’s mine… that’s another matter.”
Franz smiled bitterly.
“He probably noticed when I used the seal—it leaves a record.
But even he doesn’t know if I carry it with me or store it elsewhere.
Sending assassins for something that might not even be here?
It doesn’t add up.”
“For someone as thorough as the Minister, indeed not.”
Douglas nodded.
Owen spoke again.
“Then someone else may be behind this?”
“Possibly. Or not.”
“Hmm…”
“Maybe it was a test—to see who I meet, what I’m plotting,
and who’s protecting me.”
“They played with human lives just to test you?”
Owen grimaced.
Blood from a corpse seeped beneath his boots.
Franz muttered quietly,
“This won’t end with just one attack.
Things are about to get complicated.”
✦ ✦ ✦
How could I draw out Nikolai’s beast?
Arkanso had told me this:
“The beast lies hidden beneath His Majesty’s reason.
When he grows truly starved, it will reveal itself.
When the time is ripe, use Morasincia’s Eye.”
I tightened the strap of the small leather crossbody bag.
Inside were Morasincia’s Eye and a piece of ice.
I had already tested the first relic on several people.
Each reaction varied slightly—
but only two people showed no red smoke at all.
Nikolai and Susan.
Susan had only faint green smoke,
and Nikolai… nothing.
I thought he was empty—but maybe something was concealing it.
A mix of curiosity, fear, and tension clawed at my stomach.
Nikolai led me down a dark path without hesitation.
We passed the high priests’ cemetery
and entered a narrow forest trail.
Once the temple’s bell tower vanished from sight,
unease began to stir.
Crickets chirped somewhere unseen.
Nikolai remained silent,
his grip around my hand faintly throbbing.
“Where are we going? It’s pitch-dark out here.”
The only light before us was the full moon.
Anyone who’s walked a moonlit path knows—
moonlight is brighter than you think.
But to someone used to LEDs and city lights,
it offered little comfort—
especially in the middle of a nameless forest.
“There’s something I want to show you.”
His deep voice broke the silence.
“What is it?”
“You’ll see soon. Watch your step.”
He pushed aside the rocks and slipped through a narrow passage.
I had to hunch my shoulders and twist sideways to follow.
Through the damp smell of moss and rotting leaves,
a faint sweetness wafted in.
Then, between the stones, the space suddenly opened up.
“Wow…”
The breath left my lips before I knew it.
Before us spread a vast field blanketed in white—
a carpet of tiny, glowing flowers
that shimmered like they held the moonlight themselves.
Crouching down, I inhaled deeply, savoring their fragrance.
“To think there’d be a field like this here…
How did you even find this place?”
Dizzy with the perfume, I looked up at him.
Backlit by moonlight, he asked,
“Do you like flowers too?”
A sharp ache bloomed in my chest, dulling their beauty.
The magical serenity of the night dimmed,
and even my gratitude for being brought here vanished.
A man who could not perceive scent
would never have loved flowers.
“Lady Laila must’ve liked flowers too, then?”
Why did my words always come out so curt?
It was all in the past anyway.
The past has no power—
and Laila was long gone.
A nameless sorrow tangled in my heart.
The thought that he’d brought me to a place filled with her memory—
it pierced me.
You’re nothing but her replacement.
That’s what it felt like he was saying.
“I want to go back.”
I knew I sounded moody, irritable even—
but I couldn’t help it.
And maybe, selfishly, I wanted him to feel a little hurt too.
“Elisabeth.”
He took my hand.
It was still hot—
but I couldn’t bear it any longer.
“Let go. I want to be alone.”
As I pulled away, I lost my balance.
Clutching his robe, my knee struck his leg.
“Ah—!”
