The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 108

Meanwhile, Victor seized the opportunity presented by the commotion to slip out of the wedding hall. He was fortunate that everyone was so focused on Chelsia that they didn’t notice his departure.

Victor wiped the sweat from his brow, his face etched with tension.

Being intercepted by Keinrich and his gang en route to the rendezvous point was a complication he hadn’t anticipated.

It was a stroke of luck that Chelsia had also been captured. Otherwise, he was certain he would have been taken directly to Zabis.

Victor retrieved the communication stone hidden in his pocket. He hastily contacted his rendezvous partner, and the call was answered almost immediately.

It seemed they were expecting his call. The other party answered with an irritated tone.

“Hey, why didn’t you show up at the meeting place?”

“I’m sorry. I ran into a problem,” Victor said, groveling despite the accusatory tone. He couldn’t return to Zabis now. They would have realized by now that he was the one who poisoned the fox [referring to Zabis, who is likely a fox beast-kin].

Besides, Ivan and Isla were already after him. He had to meet his contact and escape to a safe place before it was too late.

“So, what’s your location?”

“Ah, fortunately, it’s close to our agreed meeting point. I’m around here…”

Victor was about to specify his location when he spotted a masked man approaching in the distance. A pure white butterfly pattern adorned the black mask.

“Ah, here he is!” Victor exclaimed, waving his hand in delight.

Silver eyes, as cold as glass, captivated him. The mere eye contact was enough to overwhelm Victor, and he froze, petrified.

He felt like prey caught in a predator’s gaze. Victor barely managed to stammer a protest.

“Why, why are you doing this…?”

But Victor couldn’t finish his sentence.

The man brushed past Victor, who was trembling, without making a sound, and murmured quietly.

“It would have been troublesome, but you came on your own.”

His voice was light and airy, like a butterfly’s wings. Victor blinked, not immediately comprehending what had just happened.

A moment later.

“…Huh?”

Victor felt something flowing from his neck and reached up, but it was too late.

Thud—

Victor collapsed, lifeless, and a pool of red blood formed around him.

The man glanced coldly at the body, shook his sword, and muttered, “They said you are no longer needed.”

With those words, the man disappeared as silently as he had come.

Afterward, Ivan was the first to discover Victor’s lifeless body.

“Oh.”

Ivan stared at Victor’s limp corpse on the ground. It certainly looked like he was dead, but just to be sure, he cautiously approached and nudged him.

“Are you dead? If you’re dead, say you’re dead.”

Unfortunately, the corpse remained silent. Ivan knew better than to expect a talking corpse.

Ivan lingered around Victor’s body for a few moments before sighing softly.

“Haa, this is troublesome.”

He had been ordered by the head of the family to capture him alive.

‘He even sprayed a paralyzing scent to prevent pheromones from being detected,’ Ivan thought.

Ivan frowned at the faint sweet scent lingering in the air. The fact that Victor had been cut down so swiftly indicated that his assailant was incredibly skilled.

It was a disaster that he had been distracted by finding Chelsia in an unexpected location.

At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility.

“What should I do?” Ivan groaned, tearing at his hair.

The drug that Victor possessed was one that could temporarily reverse and overload pheromones.

He needed to find the source, as it had even worked on Zabis, who was immune to most poisons.

And now, the most likely witness was dead.

If he returned empty-handed, he was sure to face severe consequences.

So, he rummaged through Victor’s pockets, hoping to find something, but all he found was a broken communication stone.

“This is a disaster.”

To think he was wandering around as a fugitive, penniless. He was useless even in death.

With no other choice, he decided to take even the broken communication stone with him and was carefully collecting the pieces when he sensed a terrifying energy rapidly approaching from the distance.

Thinking it was an attack, Ivan went on high alert and rubbed his eyes to get a better look. The silhouette seemed somehow familiar.

He belatedly realized that the terrifying presence was Zerachiel in his beast form [Zerachiel can transform into a Black Lion].

A beast-kin girl was riding on his back. Amusingly, she was complaining of motion sickness with a pale face, but she was diligently pointing the way.

“Oh? Who are the young master and that person?” Ivan wondered.

Ivan’s eyes narrowed. Zerachiel was carrying another female beast-kin on his back after Chelsia’s absurd remarriage ceremony.

‘There’s no way our young master would be having an affair. Then who is that pretty herbivore child?’ he thought.

‘Could it be a love triangle?!’ Ridiculous fantasies filled Ivan’s mind.

The reality was that Ella was walking so slowly that Zerachiel had no choice but to transform into his beast form.

If he had matched her pace, it would have taken twice as long.

At first, he tried to carry Ella in his mouth, but she fainted as soon as she saw his fangs, so he woke her up and put her on his back.

He hadn’t considered that there was nothing more terrifying for a herbivore beast-kin than being carried in the mouth of a carnivore beast-kin.

Of course, even if he had known, Zerachiel wouldn’t have cared.

At that moment, Zerachiel, who had arrived right in front of Ivan in the blink of an eye, transformed into his human form and growled abruptly.

“Where is she?”

“Ayaya.”

As a result, Ella, who was riding on Zerachiel’s back in an unguarded state, rolled onto the ground. Ivan’s head followed the direction Ella was rolling.

‘A rabbit beast-kin,’ Ivan thought.

Ivan stared blankly at Ella, who had rabbit ears due to the shock. Even the way her human form was dispelled was completely insignificant.

The sight of the pink fluffball rolling around pitifully might have been pitiful, but there was no emotion in Ivan’s eyes.

He simply judged that she wasn’t an important person, seeing as she was being treated so insignificantly.

At the same time, he was impressed that she had the courage to ride on the back of a Black Lion despite being a herbivore beast-kin.

“Didn’t you hear me? Where is she?” At Zerachiel’s repeated questioning, Ivan lowered his head and reported.

“Ah, I’m sorry. As you can see, Victor is…”

“Have you become unable to understand words in the short time I haven’t seen you?”

“Yes?”

“Where is Chi Chi [Zerachiel’s nickname for Chelsia]?”

‘Who cares about that guy?’ Ivan thought.

Zerachiel didn’t seem to care about the mission to capture Victor alive. It was obvious that he was already dead.

Ivan had thought he would be angry about why he hadn’t been captured alive. But his red eyes were anxious to get to Chelsia’s side.

The reason Zerachiel was so worked up was different. On the way here, he had heard that some dog beast-kin named Keinrich was flirting with Chelsia.

“Ah, was it you? Hmm, so Chi Chi is over there…” Ivan said, pointing in the direction of Chelsia, unable to resist the terrifying force. Zerachiel quickly disappeared.

Whoosh~

A gust of wind blew.

Ivan, who was suddenly left alone with Ella, awkwardly smoothed his hair.

Seeing that she was a rabbit beast-kin, she seemed to be Hebel’s helper who had handed over Victor’s drug pouch. He hadn’t realized that the helper would be so young.

Meanwhile, Ella began to dust off her disheveled clothes.

It was a huge mistake to think that Zerachiel had changed from before.

Zerachiel without Chelsia was ruthless enough to remind him of the old Zerachiel.

‘I’ll kick you away with my hind legs if you get in the way,’ Zerachiel had said.

‘Then I’ll die,’ Ella had thought.

‘Then you have to hold on tight, what else can you do?’

He could tell just by looking at his eyes that the words he said while reluctantly putting her on his back weren’t just empty words.

That ruthlessness was no different now than it was then.

‘I almost died for real,’ Ella thought.