"Mon—monster!" Someone yelled, and terror broke through the crowd.

The shaking grew stronger as if the earth itself had come to life. People ran blindly. Children screamed. Some even trampled through the smaller stands. I rushed along with them, pulling my hood up to hide the smirk on my face.

I lost sight of them briefly in the panic around me, but Leon was taller enough than most that I quickly found them again. He was leading Phoebe down into a wider street, where the stalls opened up to surround the city courtyard. I picked up my pace and shoved through the crowd. I had to reach them in time.

"Aaaaah!"

The ground exploded before me. A scaly monster pushed up through the hole. The creature was covered from head to tail in thin, centipede-like legs—it was bloody disgusting. Everyone scrambled out of the way as it slithered out, its length roughly twice the height of an average adult man, but the creature ignored them all and instead made its way directly toward the courtyard.

"Ahhh!"

"It's a monster! Help!"

City guards leaped out with their swords drawn, trying to prod the creature back into its hole, but it flicked its tail and sent the men hurtling back over the stalls.

One unhooked a balled-up net from his belt and threw it at the creature. The net expanded as it flew through the air before wrapping itself around the monster.

But its magic was weak, and it barely covered its body.

"What is that?"

"You tell me! This is my first time seeing a monster."

Unlike Berenice Knights, who spend most of their time fighting the North monsters, these city guards rarely, if ever, encountered them at all. Some might know a few types of monsters and their weaknesses, but the species I requested from Xavier was a rare one. The chances of anyone recognizing it were minimal.

Xavier had boasted to me, as if catching the creature had not been a big deal. People say it's hard to catch a coluber, but it only took me a few hours, he had said. It took longer for me to travel and get rid of the monsters that got in my way than to actually capture the coluber itself. I just lured it with bait and knocked it unconscious as soon as it surfaced.

Whatever my half-brother's shortcomings, he truly was a reliable ally.

I shifted my gaze to the monster once again. Even at a glance, it was obviously above the intermediate level, though considering its size, it would not be a high-level one. Still, it wouldn't be easy to defeat. Colubers were mid-level monsters known for their strong scales, thus making them very hard to pierce.

While a normal sword would kill any other mid-level monster, there was only one place where a coluber could be injured. Attacking it at random places did no damage—it would only provoke it.

And it was also provoked by the smell of blood mixed with wine. Colubers loved it like a drug.

Yes. The wine that woman had spilled all over Phoebe had been mixed with blood. And it was drawing the monster toward her.

"It's getting away!"

With one last shake, the monster got rid of the net and bared his fangs threateningly. Down in the courtyard, Leon grabbed Phoebe's hand and ran.

I guess it was time to move. Honestly, if this wasn't all my own doing, getting caught up in this kind of thing was puke-worthy. Oh well. We have to save the precious heroine, right?

I picked up a glass from one of the stalls and smashed it on the ground.

Honestly, if it wasn't my own doing, getting caught up in this kind of thing was puke-worthy.

But oh well, we have to save the precious heroine, right?

So, let the show begin...

I took a glass from one of the stalls and smashed it on the ground, picking up the largest and sharpest piece. Without hesitation, I ripped across my left palm and poured out the contents of the vial over the gashing wound.

And that was it.

The coluber froze dead in its tracks. Phoebe and Leon were equally frozen just a few paces away from it.

I lifted my bleeding palm into the sky. "Yes, here it is! Do you want it?"

The coluber sniffed the air, trying to find the source of the scent, before finally turning straight at me.

"What is she doing?" Someone shrieked between all the screaming and crying, but I stayed put while they all ran past me. None of them recognized me, not even any of the guards, so none of them tried to stop me.

Only Leon and Phoebe stopped, eyes widening in horror as they saw what I was doing.

The coluber snarled and scuttled toward me at full speed, and it jolted Leon to action, pushing Phoebe behind a row of wine barrels.

Everyone fled away from me, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stand my ground as it rushed at me.

It opened its jaw. Sharp, yellow fangs came inches from my face. Only then did I turn and start sprinting with all my might.

The saying that people could experience hysterical strength when put in a life-or-death situation was real. Even this feeble body that I have never used for running for all my life could run very fast if there were a monster chasing after me.

Fear filled my body. The thought that I might not survive. It was probably an irrational fear; I knew Xavier wouldn't let me die. But I couldn't help it. My life was on the line.

Oh my God, I must be crazy.

I gritted my teeth and forced my legs faster, pushing my body to the limit, but the coluber was hot on my trail. It was much faster than I could ever be, so fast that it had no control. It slammed through tables and chairs and stalls and anyone who wasn't fast enough to get out of its way.

It was angrier now. It howled on the remains of a stall before correcting itself and resuming its pursuit.

If I end up becoming a monster's snack, I will haunt every goddamn main character in this fucking book world!

I turned quickly, weaving around the stalls of the now mostly empty courtyard, searching for the blond man with impatient eyes.

There he was, in the middle of the plaza, just on the other side of an abandoned flower stall, his sword held high to catch my attention. "This way!"

He didn't even need to tell me. I ran straight toward him, yelling, "Slash it exactly between its second and third joints!"

He clutched his sword firmly, waiting for me to jump behind him before charging forward to meet the coluber.

Ugh!

He was indeed one of the best knights in the empire. He swung just as the creature reared its head back to snap at him, its foremost legs kicking in the air as it did so. Leon's sword cut right between its second and third legs, and its head dropped like dead weight.

Black blood splattered from the stump in its neck, drenching us like a hose.

I staggered on my feet, too tired to avoid it. I could barely keep myself up. I tried to find something to lean on, but the plaza was leveled from the monster's rampage.

I collapsed along with the rest of the coluber's body. Its head lay only a few paces from my feet, jaws still wide open, fangs still terrifying in death as it had been in life.

I almost died. I sat heaving, trying to even out my breath. And yet I couldn't help the bliss that slowly spread across my face. I buried my head quickly to hide it.

I succeeded.

I had protected the precious heroine right in front of Leon. No one was hurt, and the monster was dealt with.

People were slowly coming back from the side streets. Phoebe was peering out from behind the wine barrels. Leon snapped through his trance and knelt in front of me to whisper, "Are you okay, my lady?"

I nodded, but my brain stuttered and my eyes were taking in more light than I expected. Every part of me went on pause while my thoughts caught up.

I tried to get up despite my shaky legs, Leon rising with me, but the monster's blood had trickled and pooled under my shoes and I slipped right towards Leon with a yelp.

However...

Smack!

I landed on the ground violently, monster blood splashing all over my body all over again. People gasped around the area. Pain shot through my hands and knees, but especially the cut in my palm.

Motherfucker!

I tried to move my foot and winced as a sharp ache shot up my ankle. My luck must have run out and this was the universe reminding me of my place. That none of the book's male leads would conveniently appear to save me or even catch me. It didn't work that way for me.

Bitch!

I looked up to see Leon standing there, gaping. And is that guilt I see?

I narrowed my eyes angrily. Well, it's too late for guilt!

Shouldn't you at least have the decency to catch me in this situation? How could you just let me fall for fuck's sake!

He immediately dropped to the ground.

"I'm sorry, my lady. My mind must have wandered for a bit. I should've caught you."

"It's fine, sir," I said, faking a smile through gritted teeth. "It was my own fault that I slipped and fell. It wasn't your fault for not catching me on time."

He winced at my words and slight swirls of petty satisfaction formed in my chest. Good.

"Sir Leon." Phoebe was running toward us. Her hood was blown away by the wind, revealing her majestic silver hair in all its glory for everyone to see. Even disheveled, she looked pretty. While me... I looked down at my blood-covered state and sighed inwardly.

I must have looked like shit.

"Lady Phoebe."

"Are you okay, sir? Are you hurt anywhere?" She asked.

I narrowed my eyes in annoyance.

Hello... I'm also here. Am I invisible to you?

I knew that she didn't mean to offend me. She wasn't that kind of character. She was just naive and oftentimes ignorant of the consequences of her actions. Probably because she was raised like a flower in a greenhouse.

But it doesn't mean all of her actions are forgiven.

After all, hurting someone or stealing something isn't the only thing that makes you guilty. Foolishness and being unaware of your foolishness makes you guilty too.

Leon cleared his throat as he answered, "I'm perfectly fine, my lady." He glanced at me, still with a guilty expression. "It was my lady that—"

She gasped and turned to me timidly.

"Are you okay, my lady?" She asked, embarrassed. "I was so scared when I saw the monster chasing after my lady earlier."

"As you can see, I'm as well as I can be in this situation," I answered, still with a fake smile.

"If you don't mind, may I help you to the bench, my lady? You shouldn't be on the floor like this." Leon asked.

"Yes. I'd be grateful, sir."

Leon bent down and I put my arm under his shoulder. He lifted me easily, but suddenly froze when I hissed and winced in pain. "No. This won't do." He sighed. "Excuse me, my lady."

He slid an arm under my knees. I was startled a little, but he ignored it. Before I knew it, he was carrying me bridal-style.

I covered my mouth in surprise, but he carried me without a single word, as if I was as light as a feather. He took me to the edge of the plaza where a row of benches overlooked the square and gently laid me down. I sat up, still feeling awkward.

"How did you do that, my lady?" Leon asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

"Do what?"

"Bait the monster. And how did you know its weakness? I have never seen that kind of monster before."

"I was born and raised in the North where a monster attack is an everyday occurrence, so I'm quite familiar with their species and their weaknesses," I explained calmly. "That one is a coluber. And it responds to the smell of blood. That's why I slashed my palm to attract its attention."

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either.

It was true that coluber responded to the smell of blood, but so did almost all monsters. The coluber's reaction was specific and quick because Phoebe was covered in blood mixed with wine.

So, how did I manage to attract coluber's attention immediately? Simple. It was thanks to the rotten monster blood that I received from Xavier earlier.

The fresh blood that was spilled over Phoebe's dress was nothing compared to the smell of rotten monster blood. Monsters were more excited by the blood of their own.

But of course I couldn't be found carrying a vial of monster blood around. It would be too much of a coincidence and people would suspect that I was the one who staged everything. So to avoid suspicion, I had to cut my own palm first and camouflage the monster's blood with my own.

But on the plus side, at least it had given me a more dramatic effect.

To be honest, I didn't really care much about Phoebe's reaction. It was Leon's favor that I wanted to gain. But from their perspective, wasn't I now this empress who bravely used herself as bait to protect them?

The male characters like this kind of thing, don't they? Watching a female character doing something out of the ordinary. You know, the 'oh, she's so not like other girls, she's so intriguing' type of clichés.

After all, romance fantasy novels were all predictable, weren't they? I even worried that they were all mass-produced.

Of course I wasn't saying that what I did would guarantee the outcome, but at least I got his attention for now, and that was all I needed.

Leon sighed heavily and pinched his nose. "It was very fortunate that my lady knew how to deal with it, but please refrain from doing something like that again in the future. It was very dangerous."

It must be awkward for him, a mere knight, to scold me, the empress, but the adrenaline must still be influencing his judgment.

Fortunately, Xavier arrived just in time. His breath was rough as if he had run a marathon to find me, and a worried expression was plastered on his face. As expected of him, his acting was top-notch.

"Calypso, are you okay?" He scanned me from head to toe, and his eyes immediately landed on my bloody palm. He pointed at Phoebe with his chin. "Hey you, get me some water."

"Excuse me—"

"It's okay, sir." Phoebe grabbed Leon's arm to stop him. "I'll go."

She came back not long after with a bottle of water and immediately handed it to Xavier. Without a word, he ripped out the edge of his white shirt and emptied the bottle over it. Phoebe and Leon only watched awkwardly while Xavier took my hand and carefully wiped my wound with the rag.

Fortunately the cut wasn't that deep. At first, it stung a bit, but the adrenaline kicked in and soon I could barely feel anything at all.

Xavier finished by taking out a clean handkerchief from his pocket and tying it expertly around my wound. "This is the best thing I could do for now. We'll have to have it checked by the physician later."

"Okay," I answered. "Thank you."

"Please tell me, are you hurt anywhere else?"

"I'm fine, Xavier. I'd just tripped and hurt myself a bit, but I'm fine."

He seemed like he wanted to say something, but a guard approached before he could utter a single word. He looked young, probably still in his late teens. He seemed intimidated by Xavier and Leon's tall frames. "Excuse me, miss, sir? I'm with the city guard and I'm gathering key witness statements to report this attack to the council. Would you mind coming with me to answer a few questions?"

"Lead the way," Leon said when none of us objected.

The guard turned toward me. "You seem to be very knowledgeable about monsters, miss. It'd be much appreciated if you could also help us with the report."

"No, I'll go." Xavier offered. "I know more about monsters than her."

The guard hesitated, but at Xavier's cold, piercing glare, he quickly asked him and Leon to follow him. He took them a short distance away to the middle of the plaza, where the monster still lay in a pool of its own blood, leaving me alone with Phoebe.

I detested sitting next to the heroine more than anything else that had happened to me today. Her disheveled hair and wine-covered dress were nothing compared to my absolute mess of an appearance.

My body was so sticky with blood, it was disgusting. I even smelt like death, and then there was my injury to top off my list of miseries.

Phoebe must have known that I wasn't in the mood for an idle chat since she just sat beside me silently and kept her eyes on the ground. I was completely fine with that. I was more interested in observing Leon, anyway.

The sweet and kind knight. Emotions, feelings, and flashbacks of my past life returned to me. The moments before I knew the ending of his story.

The only character I had come to love when I had read the novel.

The irony.

Too bad for Electra. I won't let her have her sweet Leon back in this timeline. After all, why should I share my favorite toy with someone who I couldn't care less about, and who couldn't care less about me?

His blue eyes shifted at that moment and met my gaze and there was this strange voice in my head that kept chanting, look at me!

And true to it, Leon never stopped stealing a glance at me as he gave his statement to the guards. He was watching me with his eyes open wide as if looking at something wondrous he had never seen before.

I held back a smirk. My heart was beating excitedly at this development.

Yes, that's right! Be intrigued with me and keep thinking of me as a kind and mysterious empress, then slowly open up to me. I will keep you so interested that you'll have to come to me. After all, there's no such thing in the world as affection without reason.

It didn't take long for them to finish their statement. They were making their way back to us when it finally rushed over me. The tension that had been squeezing my body for days was easing all at once, now that everything was done. My whole body felt heavy, like cotton soaked in water.

I have low stamina. It's really lame.

I let out an empty laugh and fell to the ground.

"My lady!" I heard Phoebe gasping, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

Why the hell do I keep on falling? It's annoying.

Someone tried to pick me up—Xavier, judging by the smell of his perfume, but—

"Move." A familiar voice pierced through the air. "I will carry her."

It can't be.

There was a pause. I felt Xavier back away, and then I was gently picked up.

I know these arms.

I blinked my eyes open. My vision was blurry, but... it was his dazzling red hair.

"Arsen," I whispered.

"Hmm?"

"You came."

I felt his muscles clench at my words.

"I came," he finally answered. His soft voice made me relax.

"Can you come bloody faster next time? I'm rather tired of falling."

Later, I would blame my peculiar words on my exhaustion and dizziness. But for now, I just couldn't care less.

"I promise I will always catch you from now on."

"Do you swear it?"

"What?"

"Do you swear to always catch me from now on? If you let me fall—"

"Yes, I swear to always catch you and never let you fall," he answered solemnly. He held me tighter in his arms, as if he was already afraid of breaking his promise.

The thing about the main leads in the book is that they always keep their promises. As they are the perfect people that this world moves for, they will always manage to do what they swear.

I felt lighter knowing that at least I wouldn't have to fall again when he was around.

"Good," I mumbled before falling asleep wrapped in Arsen's arms. A small smile tugged secretly on my lips.

***

Author's Note:

Sorry for the late update. I've been very busy these past weeks, and well, I didn't make it to the Wattys, but it's okay. It's the experience that matters. Hahaha...

Finally, we're moving on to the next phase of this story. I hope you're not disappointed with this development. But well, we'll still have a long way to go, and I hope you guys will still be with me for the ride.

Anyway, what do you think of this chapter? What's your favorite scene? Please share your thoughts with me. Oh, and did you expect it was a monster that Calypso requested from Xavier?

The theme song of this chapter is Villain by Stella Jang