"The inner city!" the rodent-maid screamed, her voice shaking violently. "The royal guards are marching through the streets! They are tearing down all the banners of the second prince! They are breaking into the mansions of the high lords!"

The old goat-female stopped her stirring, her face turning grave. "The coup? Has it reached the outer rings already?"

"Yes!" the maid cried, wrapping her arms around her own shaking shoulders. "They say Prince Cassian has officially entered the inner citadel! He is hunting down his brothers one by one! The city gates are completely locked down! No one is allowed to enter or leave the capital walls until the royal bloodline is settled!

Lin Wan felt a cold drop of sweat slide down her spine. Her fingers gripped the edge of the wooden tub so hard her nails clicked against the wood.

She looked down at her chest, feeling the thick cloth wrapper around her neck grow suddenly hot. The black mark underneath gave a sharp, violent throb, as if it were laughing at her fear.

The purge had officially begun. The monster was cleaning his house, and the entire capital was now a closed cage.

.......

By the third day of her life in the slums, the atmosphere inside the capital city had turned completely suffocating.

The bright, beautiful blue skies of the Upper Realm were entirely gone, replaced by a permanent, heavy blanket of dark purple storm clouds that hung low over the palace towers.

A constant, low rumble of thunder vibrated through the ground, making the windows of ’The Drunken Goat Tavern’ rattle day and night.

Lin Wan stood over her giant wooden tub in the dark corner of the kitchen, her arms covered in white soap bubbles up to her elbows.

Her skin was raw and red from the harsh soap, and her face was still covered in thick gray soot, but she didn’t care about the discomfort anymore.

The physical pain was the only thing keeping her mind from fracturing into pure panic.

Next to her, two rough goat-females who worked as kitchen maids were leaning against the wooden counter, chopping raw vegetables with large iron cleavers.

They were leaning close together, speaking in hushed, terrified whispers that easily carried over the sound of the bubbling soup.

"Did you hear what happened at the northern plaza this morning?" the first maid asked, her voice shaking as she chopped a thick red root.

*Thud.*

*Thud.*

"Everyone is talking about it," the second maid whispered back, her yellow eyes wide with fear. "The second prince is dead. They say he tried to flee through the secret underground tunnels beneath his mansion, but Prince Cassian’s shadow hounds dug him out like a rat. Prince Cassian didn’t even use a weapon. He dragged his own brother out into the public square by his silver hair."

Lin Wan’s hands froze beneath the greasy water. She closed her eyes, her breath catching sharply in her chest.

*Gasp.*

"And then what?" the first maid whispered, her cleaver stopping in mid-air.

"He executed him right there, in front of all the high lords," the second maid said, her voice dropping into a terrified whimper. "The royal elders tried to step forward to stop him. They cited the ancient laws of the bloodline, begging for mercy. Prince Cassian didn’t even look at them. He just released a single wave of his dark royal pressure, and three of the oldest elders... their spirit cores just crushed inside their chests. They dropped dead on the gold stones without a single drop of blood being spilled. The plaza is completely covered in red now."

*Clang!*

Lin Wan’s arms gave a violent jerk, and the heavy iron pot she was holding slipped from her greasy fingers, slamming hard against the bottom of the tub. The black water splashed up, soaking the front of her dirty apron.

The two maids stopped talking, turning their heads to look at her with annoyed expressions.

"Watch it, new girl!" the old goat-female shouted from across the kitchen, throwing a wooden spoon at her direction. "If you break my pots, I will deduct it from your soup portion!"

"I am sorry," Lin Wan whispered, her voice barely audible. "My hands... my hands just slipped."

She quickly lowered her head, her heart pounding against her ribs like a trapped bird.

She tried to calm her breathing, but her mind was spinning out of control. ’He crushed their spirit cores without even blinking.’ The image of Cassian sitting in that iron cage, covered in dirt and bleeding from his old wounds, flashed across her mind.

She had thought he was a helpless slave. She had thought she was the one in control because she held the iron token. What a stupid, dangerous fool she had been.

"He is a monster," Lin Wan whispered to herself, her tears mixing with the dirty gray soot on her cheeks. "Weiwei... we can’t stay here. The city is too small. If he finishes with his brothers, he will come down here. We need to leave. I can climb over the outer walls at night."

[We can’t, host!] Weiwei’s voice rang out inside her brain, sounding incredibly tense and strained. [My backend grid shows that the capital’s protection array is now running at three hundred percent capacity. Prince Cassian has placed his personal elite vanguard at every single inch of the outer wall. If a single stray bird tries to fly over those stones right now, the defensive runes will blast it into ash instantly. Trying to leave the city is literal suicide. Staying in this filthy kitchen is your only shield. His royal eyes are fixed on the inner citadel. He doesn’t care about a poor slum tavern right now.]

Lin Wan bit her lower lip until she tasted a faint hint of copper blood. "He doesn’t care... right. I am just a common female to him. He has a kingdom to conquer."

She forced her shaking hands to pick up the iron pot again, scrubbing the burnt edges with all the strength she had left. But deep down, the heavy, pulsing heat below her collarbone told a completely different story.

That night, the storm above the capital grew even worse. Large flashes of purple lightning illuminated the tiny attic room every few seconds, casting long, twisting shadows across the wooden walls.

Lin Wan lay on her narrow straw bed, her body curled into a tight, protective ball under the scratchy blanket. She was completely exhausted, but every time she closed her eyes, the dark images would find her.

Eventually, she drifted into a deep, heavy nightmare.

In her dream, the tiny attic room was completely gone. She was standing in the middle of a massive, golden palace room filled with soft silk curtains and the heavy scent of jasmine.

The floor beneath her feet was cold and wet. She looked down, and her eyes went wide with horror as she saw a river of dark royal blood flowing around her ankles.

Suddenly, a deep, terrifyingly familiar sound echoed from the dark ceiling above her head.

*Purr...*

It was a slow, low, and smooth sound that resonated straight into her bones.

Lin Wan slowly raised her head. Sitting on a massive throne carved from black obsidian stone was Cassian.

He was dressed in his flawless imperial robes, his long dark hair flowing wild around his broad shoulders. But his face was completely hidden in the darkness, save for his slitted golden eyes.

They were glowing like two burning suns in the void, staring straight down at her small, trembling form.

He reached out a large, clawed hand from the darkness, his long fingers stretching down toward her neck.

"Are you scrubbing well, my little master?" Cassian’s voice whispered directly into her ear, his breath feeling cold like ice against her skin. "Do you think the dirt can hide your sweet scent from me? Run further. Let me see how long you can last before I put you back on your leash."

*Gasp!*

Lin Wan shot up from the bed, her eyes flying wide open in the pitch-black darkness of the attic room.

*Inhale!*

*Inhale!*

She took deep, frantic gulps of the cold night air, her chest heaving violently as she pressed her hand against her pounding heart. Her entire body was completely soaked in a cold, sticky sweat.

A large flash of purple lightning lit up the room, revealing the empty, quiet corners of the small space.

There was no gold palace. There was no black throne. She was still inside the safe, dirty attic of the slum tavern.

But as Lin Wan reached up to touch the cloth wrapper around her neck, she let out a small whimper of pure terror.

The skin beneath the cloth was burning hot. The black manticore crest was pulsing so violently that she could feel her own pulse racing at twice its normal speed.

The net was closing in, and even in her sleep, she could feel the heavy shadow of the hunter standing right outside her door.