Chapter 25: Punishment

As soon as the day broke, the servants’ quarters went wild. The total number of servants who were taken away by the Palace Guards, including Temi, was five.

They didn’t know that Ariel would tattle to the emperor so soon, but the servants were quite phased by this.

Temi was seized with intense fear as she was dragged by the Palace Guards with a cloth on her face and her arms bound together.

Rumor has it that he was an emperor who relentlessly threw away women after using them, so Temi thought Ariel was a cheap girl who temporarily grabbed hold of the emperor’s bottom area. She thought that if she cut her face, the emperor would abandon Ariel without mercy, but she didn’t expect him to drag him away like this.

“Get down.”

Temi arrived somewhere she didn’t know.

With a Palace Guard’s hands pushing her forward as soon as he finished uttering the dry command, she fell to the ground.

Her hands tied behind her back couldn’t break her fall and she fell face first on the dirt floor, causing tears to well up in her eyes.

“Do you know why you’re here?” At the sound of a cold, grumble-like low voice, the five bodies of Temi and the other servants trembled like cottonwood in the wind.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Ahhhh!”

“Sa-save me!”

Each of them burst into tears, raising their terrified voices.

After kneeling on the floor until the last servant fell to the floor, the Palace Guards finally stripped the cloth off their faces.

The sudden light made Temi frown.

She could see someone standing in the distance.

“Don’t you understand?”

“Huuk…”

This was the emperor’s camp.

Having come to clean up several times, Temi immediately found out where she was.

Ariel was standing opposite from her and with the emperor’s guards next to her.

Even so, her white face was even paler than usual.

It wasn’t only Temi who was surprised. The other servants, who restrained Ariel’s arms from both sides and uttered their contempt for her before, were also caught in Temi’s same state of shock, gasping for breath.

“I… I’m sorry.”

In these cases, one absolutely had to bow down. Temi lowered her head and hit her forehead on the floor.

What’s the big deal about pride in front of one’s life? If only she could live, Temi would crawl on the floor and lick Ariel’s feet.

“What did you do wrong?”

Her freckled and grumpy face that was full of tears and snot wasn’t very pleasant to look at. Maybe it’s because they hurt Ariel.

Carlos looked through each of the faces of those servants and forced himself to swallow the boiling anger inside.

“What did you do wrong? I’m asking.”

There had to be three more days before the hunting competition was over. Since Leandro couldn’t do it himself, he ordered Carlos to find and punish those who hurt Ariel.

If Leandro hadn’t told him to do it, he would have done it on his own.

Carlos’s teeth clenched at the mere thought of them daring to hurt Ariel and causing her to bleed. She was a woman whom one should never touche carelessly. It was maddening that they swung a knife at Ariel, for whom his heart trembled because she was so precious that he could only reach out to her without Leandro’s permission.

Swish-

The sound of a sword being unsheathed resounded.

When Carlos pulled out his sword, two of the servants burst into wails.

If they had known that she was a person who had the emperor’s favor, they would have never touched her. However, it was too late. Regret is late, at its earliest.

Carlos’s eyes, which checked the sword’s point, flashed with a murderous glint.

“Lord Carlos.”

If it weren’t for Ariel’s voice calling for him, Temi’s neck would have been slain away. Carlos turned his head with the sword in his hand and looked at Ariel.

“I have a favor to ask.”

‘You can’t kill her so easily.’

Staying up all night, Ariel pondered how to make Temi pay for her wound. And a little while ago, she came up with a good idea after she saw Temi’s face which was mangled with tears.