The hooded figure stared at the woman inside the jail cell and asked, "Were you the one who planned to kill Sisi before?"
...
Leah didn’t know what this man wanted to do. But there was nothing she could hide anyway, so she simply nodded. "And so what? Are you here to avenge her? Well, you can kill now. I don’t give a damn since I’ll be hanged by the morning."
"No. I’m here with an offer," the hooded figure said. "I’ll set you free, but in exchange, you’ll have to be my follower. You’ll have to tell everything about the palace and the Beast Kingdom’s capital city—the layout, the social conditions, and everything else."
"You’ll also have to follow to human civilization and work as my spy," the hooded figure added. "This is the only ti I can co to save you. Otherwise, you’ll die tomorrow, so think carefully."
Leah stared at the hooded figure in silence for a while before asking, "What do you plan to do?"
"I want to destroy this kingdom," the hooded figure replied. This ti, there was a hint of anger in his voice rather than indifference. "I want to make sure this kingdom is razed to the ground, and there’ll be nothing left for that bastard Beast King."
Leah was surprised by that answer. This man’s hatred ran bone-deep, as if he truly carried a lifeti of grudge against the Beast King.
She tried to recall whether the King had offended anyone, but the Beast King was notorious for being willful and cruel to his enemies, so there must have been countless people who wanted him dead.
But still, if she agreed to this, wouldn’t it be counterproductive?
What she wanted was to beco the Beast Queen alongside the strongest beastman to ever exist. She wanted to bear his children, so her na would be immortalized as the powerful queen of the Roc Forest.
But if this man truly had the power to destroy this kingdom and defeat the Beast King, wouldn’t that an he was even better than Kael?
There was a trace of lust—not for his looks, since half of his face was covered by the hood, but for the power he represented.
"What’s in it for if I join you?" Leah asked.
"What’s in it for you?" the hooded figure scoffed. "You get your freedom. And if you want to mate with that foolish Kael, I’ll allow it."
Of course, Leah wouldn’t say that she was already considering mating with him instead. She didn’t yet know whether he was stronger than Kael, so she kept that thought to herself.
Besides, the idea of freedom alone was already tempting. She didn’t want her efforts to end so abruptly. She still hadn’t achieved her goal of becoming the Beast Queen and killed her enemies, such as Sisi and Ruela.
She wanted to overturn her fate—from a filthy maid born to serve, into the Beast Queen.
Wouldn’t that make an amazing tale throughout the Roc Forest for generations to co?
"Before I say yes... can I see your face?" Leah asked. "If we’re going to be partners, at least let trust you a little."
...
The hooded figure seed to contemplate for a mont before slowly removing the hood that covered half of his face.
Leah was stunned to see a handso tiger beastman with a fierce gaze. He was handso—and undeniably powerful.
All beastn possessed an instinct to sense another’s aura, and could imdiately tell whether an opponent was strong.
And this tiger beastman...
He was probably the strongest Leah had ever seen—second only to Kael.
But Kael was akin to a demigod with strength blessed by the Moon Goddess herself, while this tiger beastman possessed the peak strength a regular beastman could reach.
"W-what is your na, kind sir?" Leah asked.
"My na is not important," the tiger beastman replied curtly, but that didn’t deter Leah at all.
After all, if this man could find a way to defeat a demigod like Kael, she wouldn’t mind becoming his mate.
"So, do you agree to my offer or not?" the tiger beastman asked again.
"I have no choice, kind sir," Leah replied weakly. "I’m yours from now on."
The tiger beastman scowled at her words. He hated hearing such a declaration from her.
But Leah didn’t care.
She still believed she deserved so form of compensation from the Moon Goddess after being fated to live as a servant her entire life.
Thus, she also believed that this handso tiger would eventually fall in love with her.
Unlike the Beast King, who barely ever spoke to her, she would have all the ti in the world to slowly win him over—until he beca obsessed with her.
"Fine. You are my follower for now," the tiger beastman said. He then grabbed the steel bars and bent them apart with brute force, creating a gap wide enough for Leah to escape her cell.
As she stepped out, she asked, "So where are we going now? Surely we can’t just leave through the front door, right?"
The tiger beastman clicked his tongue and pulled his hood back on. He swept Leah off her feet and carried her bridal-style.
"I can walk in and out of this goddamned palace with ease," he said. "Nobody here is a match for ... except for that bastard king."
Leah’s heart began to race as he carried her like a bride. She had never been treated so gently before, and it made her heart flutter in a way it never had.
She stared at the tiger beastman’s chin, her gaze intense, and silently hooked her arm around his neck.
’That’s it. I’ll make him my husband,’ Leah thought. ’But that can wait. First, he has to prove that he’s stronger than Kael—so he’s worthy of , the future Beast Queen.’
With that, the tiger beastman and Leah left the underground prison, disappearing into the night so swiftly that no guard noticed the death-row convict had gone missing.
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