로그인{Ragna's POV}I was on my knees.And for a while, I wasn’t entirely certain whether I was breathing or merely remembering how.Every breath scraped through my chest like shattered glass while blood gathered at the corner of my mouth before dripping lazily onto the stone beneath me and joining the countless crimson pools that had already claimed the courtyard. Sweat stung the countless tears carved across my skin, mixing with blood until I could no longer tell where one ended and the other began.My clothes had become little more than strips of ruined fabric clinging stubbornly to my body. Claw marks crossed my arms, shoulders and stomach in uneven patterns, some still bleeding freely while others had already begun drying into dark, brittle streaks.Bruises had claimed whatever skin the cuts had spared, and so, every muscle in my body throbbed with the dull protest that followed being pushed far beyond its limits.Still… I was alive.Slowly, my eyes drifted across what remained of the
{Ragna’s POV}The Blood Mother’s claws hovered a breath away from the King’s chest.For a heartbeat, neither of us moved.Then I released her wrist.The sudden absence of resistance made her arm twitch instinctively, but instead of finishing the strike, she stopped. A low growl vibrated deep inside her chest as she stared at me, her monstrous frame tense, and every muscle coiled beneath scarred flesh as though trying to understand what had just happened.I didn’t return the stare.She wasn’t the reason I’d walked all the way back here.My attention settled on the man still sprawled beneath her.His eyes met mine, wide with confusion and something far less familiar on his face.Fear.Without ceremony, I caught the front of his blood-soaked royal vest and hauled him upright in a single motion. He stumbled toward me, still trying to recover his balance, while I held him there as though he weighed nothing.For a brief moment, I simply looked at him.This was the first time we’d ever stood
{Ragna’s POV}I walked.The broken lengths of chain dragged across the stone behind me with a harsh metallic scrape, their weight tugging faintly at my wrists. Somewhere beyond that sound came shouting— distressed, frightened voices and men cursing as they stumbled after me. But I never turned to see them. The pressure on the chains told me enough. Some of the warriors were still holding on.Let them.The courtyard disappeared behind me as I crossed into another corridor, my pace never changing.“Fucking stop her!”“Hold the chains!”“Bring her down!”Footsteps thundered from ahead.And then a palace warrior rushed into my path and reached for my shoulder, his claws spread wide as though he thought a single grip would halt me.Without breaking stride, I caught his face.My fingers closed around it almost absently and the next instant his skull struck the wall beside us with a crack that echoed through the corridor.His body slid to the floor.I kept walking.Another came from my left
{Ragna’s POV}Nobody moved.The entire Palace seemed to have forgotten how.The Commander General still hung against the stone wall, his lifeless body suspended grotesquely by the enormous bone that had pierced straight through his chest. Blood crept steadily down the pale masonry beneath him, each crimson trail lengthening in dreadful silence.No one looked away.Not the warriors.Not the servants.Not the terrified villagers who had fled behind the Palace walls believing those walls meant safety.Every gaze rested upon the lone figure standing beyond the village road.The Blood Mother.She neither snarled nor threatened. She simply stood there, her towering frame outlined by the dying afternoon light, her monstrous silhouette so unnaturally still that it unsettled me more than any roar could have.She looked… Patient.As though she’d already decided how this day would end and nothing could interfere. Around me, I could hear breathing.Nothing else.The Kingdom itself seemed to be hol
{Ragna’s POV}I couldn’t stop looking.The warriors continued pouring past us in waves, but my attention remained fixed on the horizon beyond them, where the land dissolved into the orange haze of the sinking sun.Nothing.There was nothing there.No army. No monsters. No towering beasts charging across the plains.Only distance.Beside me, Milena seized my wrist.“Ragna.”I didn’t answer.“We have to go.”Still nothing.Another scream drifted across the fields, carried by the wind before dissolving into silence again.Milena tugged harder. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need to go back to the Palace. We have to.”I kept staring.This time she stepped in front of me, wrapping both hands around my arm as she tried to pull me away. “Ragna!” Her voice cracked. “You heard them. They’re coming. I don’t want to die.”Neither did I.At least… I didn’t think I did.I wasn’t even sure what I was waiting to see anymore. Part of me expected something to emerge from the horizon at any m
{Ragna’s POV}Recognition spread faster than fire.One person pointed. Another looked. A third stopped walking altogether, and before long voices were passing my description from mouth to mouth until I was no longer standing in the middle of a street.I was standing inside a rumor that had suddenly remembered it possessed a face.“The Arena girl.”“The demonic female.”“The one who survived the Bloody Gnai.”“The one that killed the King’s Beast.”People weren’t simply looking anymore.They were gathering.Some edged closer out of curiosity while others kept their distance, their fear obvious enough that I briefly wondered whether they expected me to start breathing fire.I looked at Milena.“Do you know what we do now?”Her eyes darted nervously between the growing crowd.“…What?”I drew one slow breath.“Now we run.”Then I ran.The crowd erupted behind us.“Catch her!”“Don’t let her escape!”“Seize the demon!”“Someone call the guards!”Milena hesitated for only a heartbeat before
{Ragna’s POV}For a moment, nobody moved.The corridor seemed to shrink around us as the King’s gaze settled on our little group, drifting from my father to me and then back again. The shock on his face lasted only a second, but it was enough. It was enough for me to understand that he had recogniz
{Ragna’s POV}You’ve got to be kidding me.That was the first coherent thought that managed to survive the shock.Grunta’s finger remained pointed directly at me while the entire Bone Yard stared as though I had suddenly grown another head. What made the situation worse was the complete lack of hu
{Ragna’s POV}“Wait. What?”Liam looked completely serious.“A fight.”“A fight between you and I?”“Yes.”“No way.”That finally earned the slightest reaction from him.“Why?”“Because you’re the Crown Prince.”“And?”“And I’m trying to decide whether this is insane or just unusually creative.”His
Chapter 21 ~{Ragna’s POV}“Uh…”Nobody answered.I stood there for another second while dozens of horrified faces continued staring at me like I had just arrived carrying a plague.“Did I interrupt something?” I asked.There was no response and the silence was beginning to feel personal.I pointed







