I’m not doing it.

Over my dead body. The council can go to hell!

Let them do their worst!

Anna stormed out of the room, furious, but trembling all over. Leon’s words echoed in her head, reminding her just the predicament she was in.

It wasn’t that she had forgotten what the council asked. It was that she refused to think about it at all. Especially the second condition to keeping Leon alive.

Make an heir in six months if he survives.

Anna glanced in the direction of his room, and for two seconds she contemplated flooding him with her black spores so he’d die.

"Urgh! Now I really want to go home!"

[You have one task left, hostie. Crush that and you’re 50% closer to going home.]

On hearing the System’s voice, Anna’s face turned dark and angry. "You have some nerve to talk, after you left me to die!"

[In the future, it will make sense why you got two very specific final tasks.]

Anna huffed, folding her arms. "Really that’s the consolation you’re going to offer me?"

[I don’t offer consolation, Hostie. I deal with facts and pattern recognition.]

Anna chewed on her inner cheek. She wanted to ask what Tristan could possibly be useful for that made the system protect him. But she had a feeling she wouldn’t like the final answer.

"Your highness," Azul emerged from the room and walked up to her. "The soldiers are outside. Will you be addressing them?"

Anna nodded. "Let’s go."

"But you need to rest first,"

"No. Let’s go. The sooner I get this done, the sooner we can wrap up and go back home."

Azul bowed and fell in line behind her. Together, they walked out of the inn and into the night.

Anna froze as she saw the damage done by the attack.

Destruction, a lot of things broken and thrown all around, and blood. So much blood.

The soldiers ran about, providing aid and medical attention to as much wounded people as they could. Anna saw one person missing a leg. The other had his hand chewed off. The other was lying lifeless, with a gaping hole in his chest. There was a mother clutching her cub’s body and wailing at the skies. A young woman holding her husband and sobbing into his unmoving chest.

"No..." Anna gasped, shaking her head as tears flooded her eyes. "What...it can’t be..." she took a step back, coming in contact with Azul.

"It was too late by the time we arrived, your highness. The Dream Weavers did this. It was them."

One of the wounded spotted Anna. "There she is!" He screamed, pointing a bloody finger at her. "You! You evil woman! You dare show your face here?!"

"It’s her!" Another added. "She’s the one that caused all this! Everyone, she’s the cause!"

"You killed my son!"

"My husband is dead because of you!"

"Look! My leg is gone and it’s all your fault!"

"If you hadn’t come here my son would still be alive! Rotten bitch! You should have died instead of my Ryan!"

"Why didn’t you die instead?!"

Their voice rose higher and higher, filled with more and more anger.

Anna shook her head wildly, tears flowing freely down her eyes. "I didn’t...I didn’t mean to do any of this!"

"Liar!" One of them picked a rock and tossed it at her. Azul moved, catching it before it could hit Anna. The others began picking up rocks, chucking them over.

Chaos broke out.

The soldiers moved swiftly, forming a barricade, in an attempt to hold back the angry mob.

"Kill the Princess!" One person’s shout rose above the others.

"Stone her to death!" More voices joined in.

"Kill the Princess! Kill the Princess! Kill the evil woman!" They chanted.

Azul pulled Anna behind him, stopping the barrage of rocks and sticks with his body. "You should go inside, your highness. I’ll handle this."

Anna was too stunned, too horrified to speak. She knew the crowd was right. If she didn’t show up, maybe she wouldn’t have brought the Dream Weavers with her.

The dead bodies filled her mind. That little cub, the man with his chest hollowed out.

People died.

The angry mob got louder. And louder. Their voices thundered through the air. In seconds, they broke through the barricade of soldiers and rushed forward, some of them changing into their beast form. Azul screamed at Anna to fall back. Too frozen to react, Anna couldn’t move.

[Host! Your life is in danger! These people will kill you if you don’t move!] the System blared through her head, frantic.

But...then I’ll atone for what I did.

[Host! Move it! Now!]

The world slowed down. The angry shouts became muffled, like Anna’s head was pulled underwater. She saw Azul shifting into his beast form, white fur erupting all over his body. The angry mob trampling on the unfortunate soldiers who couldn’t get away in time. The man in front of the mob had already shifted, a sleek black wolf with claws aimed at her face.

Anna closed her eyes, bracing herself for impact.

But when the impact came, it knocked her right off her feet and into the air.

It took a split second for her to realize what had happened.

"None of this was your fault," Ray said tensely, making Anna open her eyes. "That’s what Dream Weavers do. They spin lies and force hateful images into people’s heads. Don’t believe anything. You did nothing wrong."

Anna looked down. They were tens of feet in the air, far from the chaos. The mob screamed in collective frustration, shaking their fists and snapping their jaws at her.

"But it was me. I led them here. If I didn’t..."

"Anna."

She paused, turning to face him.

"It wasn’t your fault. You were attacked too."

The moment he said that, Anna remembered what the empath had shown her about Tristan.

She grabbed the lapels of Ray’s jacket and buried her face in his chest as quiet sobs racked through her. He held onto her tighter, before taking flight.

"We’ll be at the palace soon. Don’t worry, your highness. I won’t let anyone harm you."

Anna nodded, too exhausted to speak. In her head, all she could see and hear was the angry mob.

Back at the inn, the mob slowly dispersed seeing as Anna was gone. The rest of Anna’s husbands came out, alerted by the commotion.

Leon, even wounded and pale, stood strong and imposing. Deep down he was glad to be reinstated as General. But he also seethed with anger at everything he had heard.

"Where’s the Princess?" He asked the closest soldier.

"General Leon!" The soldier bowed quickly. "It was a misunderstanding. The people believed she—"

"You! You’re the army General right?!" One of the beast women stormed up to Leon. "You married that murderous witch right?!"

Leon stared down at her with eyes so cold it could freeze a boiling lake. "Yes, she is my wife. Watch your tongue when you speak about her." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The woman spat at his feet. "Nonsense! My husband lost his arm because of that woman! We won’t stand down and watch her destroy this kingdom! All of us will—"

Leon grabbed her neck, holding her suspended in the air. "And what will you do about it?"

The woman’s eyes widened with fear. She struggled, kicking her feet and trying to free herself of him to no avail. His grip on her only tightened.

"You stand before me, threatening my wife and you think I’ll listen to you?"

Her face turned purple, her eyes bulging.

"Hey! Let my wife go!" Her husband emerged, clutching the bloody stump left of his arm, his legs shaking so hard his knees knocked together.

The mob fell silent. All eyes turned to Leon. Even though he wasn’t in military uniform, and his left arm hung limply at his side, he still exuded a terrifying aura.

"Leon," Azul appeared beside him. "Let her go."

"No. Not until she stops breathing."

The husband gasped, falling over from fright. "P-please...don’t kill my wife! Please!"

Azul grabbed Leon’s wrist, threatening to break it. "Let her go." He spat through grit teeth.

Leon sighed. He glanced at the woman, then his face filled with disgust. Instantly, he let her go and turned away. The woman scampered away and ran over to her husband, sobbing like a baby into his chest.

"How far are the mines from here?" Leon asked the soldiers.

One of them bravely stepped forward. "A days journey at most, General."

"We move out immediately."

Azul took a step forward but someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Let him go." Kai said. "It’s best that way."

Azul watched Leon round up the soldiers and immediately head out in less than ten minutes.

Deep down, Azul wasn’t the kind of person to worry about other people. Not that he didn’t care, but mostly because he always had other things on his mind, or nothing at all.

But as he watched the cars leave, worry filled his heart. Worry for Anna.

From what he’d seen, Leon wasn’t stable. Granted, he’d always been a little different, but the Leon Azul knew was a General who was noble and steadfast. The Leon of the past would never harm an innocent civilian.

Azul looked up to the sky, hoping Anna got away safely. Ray was a strong flyer, but Azul still worried. He knew that if Leon was an aviation type beastman, he’d have chased Anna down already.