Children of the Holy Emperor Chapter 38

038. Predator (2)

Martha was from a rural village in Rohan, famous for producing high-quality grapes.

Her beauty was well-known among those around her, so much so that the villagers whispered that she would soon become the lord’s concubine and live happily ever after. That is, until a band of thieves devastated the village.

Martha became the wife of Jerome, the leader of the bandits.

It was an unexpected predatory marriage, but she soon adapted to her life. There was no great difference in her suffering between cultivating her lord’s vineyard under the hot sun or being the wife of the leader of her band of thieves.

Moreover, although he sometimes couldn’t control his temper and raised his hand roughly, Jerome basically cared about the beautiful Martha.

But soon another misfortune came to her. When she was at the height of her pregnancy and her stomach was swollen, Jerome, who was drunk, struck her in the abdomen with his fist, causing her to bleed and collapse.

She came to her senses after a full day, but she had already miscarried the child.

Jerome, who was looking at her with mixed eyes as she sat in the hut in a dazed state, soon brought a baby wrapped in a small swaddle and threw it in front of Martha.

It was a beautiful baby boy with soft red hair and eyes as black as obsidian.

Martha could not forget the first time her eyes met her child.

The little thing wrapped in swaddling clothes stared at her without even crying. Her child’s pitch-black eyes were deep and dark, as if they did not reflect a single ray of light, and it seemed as if they were eating up her image in her eyes and even sucking her soul.

scary. This was so scary.

For a moment, Martha felt the urge to throw away the swaddle, but was unable to do anything for the vague fear that it would engulf her at any moment.

-pretty… It’s a kid.

Jerome was satisfied to see her smiling with tears in her eyes. Without realizing at all that the tears were from fear, not joy.

Baby Cayenne has grown up well.

The few women in the village envied the mother, Martha, caressing the child’s face as pretty as a porcelain doll. Jerome was also satisfied with the quiet baby who didn’t cry much.

The only one who felt uncomfortable was Marta, who always spent time next to the child.

Every time she didn’t make the meal on time, every time she couldn’t catch the child from falling while playing, she felt extreme fear as if her heart was being squeezed by the black eyes staring at her without an expression.

Sometimes, when Jerome, who was drunk, raised his hand towards the child, Martha had to throw her whole body into trying to stop his violence. It was because of groundless anxiety that something terrible would happen to her child the moment she became a useless mother who could not properly protect her.

iced coffee. Has she gone crazy? Every time she looked at the face of her innocent child sleeping, she doubted her own sanity.

Are you unable to love your child enough because he is not your biological son? She still had her baby, who died before being born, in a corner of her heart, so she might have misunderstood and hated Cayenne, who had taken his place and was quick-witted and smart.

But her anxiety soon became reality.

One day, while going to the laundry with other women, Jerome, who had come home early with a sound mind for the first time in a long time, suddenly touched the child as if he did not like something. That day, Cayenne was thrown into the wall of her cabin, severely twisting her left knee.

The child, who was so badly injured that he would never be able to walk properly again, stared at Martha with an expressionless face as soon as he opened his eyes. It was a gaze that sent a chill down my spine.

And the next day, Jerome, who had been drinking out of his mind, returned home and started beating Martha severely. It was a violence that had never been seen before.

Her subordinates and neighboring women, who found out about the commotion later, tried to stop her, but Marta’s left elbow was completely damaged that day.

It might be a coincidence. But when Martha opened her eyes to see her messed up face, she was met for the first time with the face of her Cayenne smiling brightly at her.

* * *

-How much did he notice, huh? mom.

Marta was reflecting on Cayenne’s voice in a dazed state.

-I thought that if I sent him a cumbersome lump, he would definitely start wandering around familiar places, but what did I miss? After all, I guess I should have just let my father kill me yesterday?

stagger. The steps up the cliff are dangerous.

-But if you die too early, don’t you think your suspicious uncle will bother you again? Why does it make me sick to my stomach to kill Aslan so easily? So, I was hoping for just one more day, but I guess I was too greedy.

Tears are flowing helplessly. But regardless of Martha’s will, her feet were steadily heading towards the edge of the cliff.

-That’s why I need a mother. She just needs to be a good mother and everything will be fine.

I thought this hard life would end one day, but at least not like this… … .

-But I’m glad it was useful at least once, Mom.

As she remembered Cayenne’s face smiling brightly at her for the second time, Marta’s feet kicked off the edge of the cliff.

* * *

Quang.

As the door opened violently and the bandits came in, Aslan, who had been dozing off against the wall, woke up in surprise. Before he knew it, Bart was standing up and watching them.

Before I could ask what was going on, one of the guys gave an order with a stern look on his face.

“Get ready. “A person fell from a cliff.”

Fall off a cliff? Those high cliffs to the west?

Then isn’t it already wrong?

Aslan thought so, but the mood of those who came in was unusual. It seemed that the injured person was someone quite important.

He grabbed some trauma medicine, painkillers, and bandages and left the cabin with Bart as if being dragged away.

When we arrived at the bottom of the cliff, quite a few people were already surrounding us.

Even before he reached the patient’s side, Aslan realized that he had no luck living. The patient, whose limbs are twisted here and there, is lying with his head in a puddle of his own blood. The smell of blood was overwhelming.

It was only as I got closer that I realized it was Martha. Her Jerome, her hardened face, staring down at her as she lay in her pitiful state.

In response to that quiet pressure, Aslan hurried to Martha’s side and knelt down.

But no matter how hard I tried, there was nothing I could do. The back of her head was crushed and she was still breathing, but it didn’t seem to last long. The eyes, which are already out of focus, are shaking back and forth.

Before I knew it, Bart quietly came to my side, selected a small pouch of herbs he had brought with him, and held it out.

Aslan takes one look at his face, takes his pouch, and taps the flint. Soon, the lit herb bag began to burn slowly, emitting a pungent medicinal scent.

“… “What is that?”

Aslan responded to Jerome’s quiet voice.

“It is a herb that has an analgesic effect. It will ease the pain.”

“… … .”

And they stayed by her side in silence.

How much time passed? Eventually, her breathing stopped completely and her pupils opened wide. Jerome closed Martha’s eyes with his own hands and remained silent for a while, putting his hands on her eyes.

After a while, when he finally opened his mouth, his voice became hushed.

“… “Who discovered it?”

“Hans from the search team. He said he was off duty today and was cutting wood… … .”

“Keep him in the barn.”

omg. An empty sound escaped from the bandits’ mouths. Hans, a pale-faced man, hurriedly came in front of Jerome and knelt down on his knees, trembling.

“Two, boss! I notified her as soon as I found her! Why me… … .”

“Then tell me who pushed Martha off the cliff.”

“… yes?”

Jerome spoke coldly without even looking at Hans, who was bewildered.

“If no one pushed you, you must be the culprit.”

“that… … !”

“What are they doing?”

He slowly stood up and glanced at his subordinates. That face looked like it could kill someone at any moment, so some of the guys who were watching grabbed Hans, who was still dazed, and retreated from the spot.

Jerome, who had been glaring at them for a moment, then looked down at Aslan sitting next to Martha. The look in his eyes was so cruel that Aslan froze as if he were a rat in front of a snake.

“Being an apothecary is useless.”

Jerome spit out those words as if he was chewing, then turned and left.

Everyone who remained at the bottom of the cliff just looked at each other’s faces, not knowing what to do. Let alone the truth of the accident, it is now impossible to predict where the anger of that foul-tempered leader will go.

Aslan was also slowly mulling over Jerome’s last words, when he suddenly heard the sound of someone falling down helplessly on the floor. It was Cayenne.

The boy had a pale face and his whole body was shaking, as if he had seen a ghost.

Still, seeing him like that in front of his mother’s death makes me think that that human horse was also a human baby. Aslan simply thought so, but he soon realized that was not the case. This was because Cayenne’s gaze was directed in the wrong direction, not at Marta.

So, to be exact, standing next to Aslan… … .

‘Bart?’

Bart and Cayenne were facing each other.

Aslan looked up at him without thinking and was so startled that he stopped breathing. Although he usually had a cold expression, Bart’s face now looked extremely inorganic.

Nevertheless, signs of terrifying anger are vividly conveyed from him. It was a thrilling pressure that could not even be compared to Jerome’s momentum.

Perhaps it was his cold eyes. The eyes, which reflect the early afternoon sunlight with a strange silver color, have a chill that makes you feel like you’re freezing just by looking at them from the side. It was not unreasonable for Cayenne, who was receiving all that attention, to react that way.

Bart stared at Cayenne for a while with his sharp sword-like eyes, and then he opened his mouth. In his calm voice, he could sense extremely restrained anger, and Aslan unconsciously felt chills.

“Was it all your fault that the souls on the mountain ended up like that?”

“you… What are you… … .”

“I watched for a while to see if something evil had come in and done something like this, and I found it absurd. What have you been eating? “Do you know what that means?”

Eat it up? what?

Aslan was puzzled by the incomprehensible sound, but Cayenne, the person involved, seemed to know something. As his eyes grew larger, the whites of his eyes stood out, making him look like he was almost four hundred years old.

“Well, well… … . How do you do that… … !”

Cayenne sat down in a cold sweat and took a step back.

Only then did some bandits notice their strange atmosphere and intervened among them. They were the looters who had been watching Aslan since morning.

They roll up their sleeves and narrow the siege little by little with grim expressions.

However, now that most of the bandits had followed Jerome and left, except for a few of the raiders, the remaining bandits seemed confused about what to do about the treatment of Aslan and Bart.

Meanwhile, Cayenne, who had stood up unsteadily, turned and started limping away.

The only opportunity is now. Aslan thought.

Judging from Jerome’s mood when I last saw him, it seemed like he had no intention of keeping Aslan and Bart alive in the future.

And it seems that Bart’s thoughts were the same.

“Get ready, Aslan. “I have to leave here now.”

Wow. At that moment, Bart swung his arm and plunged his fist into the head of the guy standing in front. No, not a fist… The guy’s forehead was dented in the shape of a handcuff.

“… … !”

“That bastard!”

“Kill me!”

The surrounding bandits attacked all at once. And in an instant, everyone was hit by Bart and left lying on the floor.

Puck, puck.

It was truly an exquisite blow.

The man, who looked so corrupt and had no Aura, was defeating the bandits with such ease that he seemed to have no idea what he was trying to do. Just dodge the rain of raining fists from the bandits as if they were just passing by, and use the simplest route to hit their vital points… No, I throw away the handcuffs.

What was surprising was that, despite this, no auror activity was felt in Bart at all. He really only effectively wielded heavy handcuffs and chains to hit their heads.

Soon there were no bandits left standing unharmed at the bottom of the cliff. After all, traces of handcuffs remained like stamps on everyone’s heads.

The power of the handcuffs, which made my wrists tattered just by trying to use my hands, was truly enormous. Even Bart, the person who wielded it, seemed surprised by its destructive power.

He looked at his wrist for a moment and quietly admired it.

“I thought it was just a bad prank, but it turns out this guy was better prepared than I thought.”

No, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I don’t think so, Bart.

fantasy,