The Cursed Beast Caught My Leash - Chapter 132

Trapped in the darkness, Stella panted and looked around. Before her stretched a sanctuary with a ceiling so high it seemed to have no end.

She stared in awe at the steps soaring up toward the faraway ceiling, then hurried across the hall. The interior was quite dark, but with torches hung sporadically, visibility wasn’t too difficult.

Passing by opposing stone statues, she paused at the foot of a dizzyingly steep staircase to catch her breath. Though she had seen it in her dream, witnessing so many stairs in real life made her head spin.

Gathering up her dress, Stella began to climb. There was not even a railing—one misstep and she could tumble. But now was not the time to tremble in fear.

Before long, noise erupted from the direction of the entrance.

Stella halted mid-step and glanced down. As the temple doors opened, multiple footsteps echoed. Swallowing dryly, she stared at the shadows flickering along the walls.

Her bad feeling was spot on. The group marching in with heavy strides were Pantege’s imperial knights.

‘No…’

Not knowing whether Gabriel and the holy knights in the forest had survived, Stella clenched her eyes shut, then opened them. In her golden eyes now shone a fierce resolve.

As in her dream, the altar stood at the temple’s highest point. Upon it lay a gem, dim and pale.

An ancient relic. A gem sought by Northerners over centuries. With the arrival of a new prophecy in Calis, it was thought to have no more connection to curses.

But the moment she saw the gem fixed to the altar, she knew. Her guess had been right. If she poured her Mind’s Eye into that vessel, she could finally set the gears of fate back in place.

‘Just a bit more…’

Clutching her trailing skirt, she climbed. She had to reach the top before the knights caught up. For now, the distance between them remained large.

That’s when she sensed a dark killing intent behind her.

“……!”

Alert, Stella dropped and crouched. An arrow grazed her head and clattered down the stone steps. Eyes wide, she looked below.

A marksman stood dozens of steps down, drawing his bow toward her.

“Ah…!”

She had no time to dodge. The second arrow was loosed. Frozen, she instinctively raised her arms to shield her head.

A sharp pain tore at her shoulder. Blood seeped through the grazed fabric. Gritting through the pain, Stella forced herself upright.

“Hey, what are you doing? You almost hit her in the head!”

The commander, likely of the imperial guard, smacked the archer’s shoulder.

The man lowered his taut bowstring and responded, “Wasn’t the order to kill her if necessary?”

“‘If necessary’! Did you forget the part about keeping her alive if possible?”

“Look at her, does she look like she’s about to surrender? Let’s just kill her here.”

While they bickered, Stella took the chance and scrambled up the stairs. Her thighs ached as if cramping, but she didn’t stop.

“We’ve already taken out everyone outside! Only this woman remains, and you’re calling that ‘if necessary’? Idiot. Besides…”

The commander’s eyes gleamed as he watched her ascending figure.

“She’s said to be one of the most beautiful princesses on the continent. Would be a waste to kill her. Drag her down.”

“Yes!”

At his order, several knights began climbing. The clanking of armor echoed in rhythm, and Stella’s breathing grew heavier.

Suddenly, a fast-moving arrow pierced her skirt. It was meant to trap her, to save the knights the trouble of climbing so far.

Still, Stella pressed on—until she stepped on the blood dripped from her earlier wound. She slipped and staggered.

The Pantegeans burst out laughing.

“Why not stop resisting and come down now?”

“We promise we’ll handle you gently, Your Highness!”

A sharp ache throbbed in her twisted ankle. As though mocking her desperate struggle, arrows were fired again and again, clattering at her feet.

Eventually, Stella collapsed on the spot. Through her blurred vision, she saw the knights slowly ascending, their sneering faces dripping with vile malice. They didn’t look at her as a person, but as prey to be toyed with. If they caught her, it would be over.

‘I can’t fall here. I mustn’t…’

The leading knight suddenly broke into a sprint. He was smaller than the others—quicker.

Stella screamed and kicked wildly. The man trying to grab her missed his footing, flailed his arms, and tumbled down the steep stairs. It was a harrowing sight.

“That insolent bitch!”

“Seize her now!”

Seeing the knights closing in, no longer mocking, Stella’s face turned pale.

Could she escape on her injured leg? She had little hope. Her will, barely holding, began to crumble.

Boom! A deafening explosion rang out.

The startled Pantege knights all turned their heads at once. Stella, sprawled pitifully, also looked down.

“…Ah.”

She instinctively covered her open mouth with her hand. There was no way she wouldn’t recognize the man who had shattered the massive stone gate she had barely managed to close with all her strength.

“Estella!”

A sharp voice soared up the towering stairs. Islay, who had taken down five knights in a blink, looked up at her with blazing eyes.

Had she ever seen him look so overwhelmed with emotion?

Each time he swung his sword, an enemy fell. The tide had completely turned. The knights who had been ascending now cursed and scrambled back down.

With Mikel and the other Northerners entering behind him, the skirmish ended in an instant. Stella, relieved, quickly turned her gaze upward.

“Stop, Estella! Don’t move and stay right there!”

His thunderous voice echoed to the vaulted ceiling. But if she stopped here, if she reached for his hand, she would never face the relic.

Panting, gasping for breath, Stella finally reached the summit. She was so dazed she didn’t even realize blood was flowing from her ankle—the graze left by the earlier arrow.

Leaving a trail of blood on the stone floor, Stella stood before the rectangular altar. In her labored gaze gleamed a transparent gem. Just as in her dream, the large gem fixed atop the altar’s thick, candlestick-like pedestal was so big it couldn’t be fully covered with both hands.

“This… this is…”

It was the sacred relic that once held immense power centuries ago. The divine force said to have cursed Peruno through High Priest Simon’s life force. The gem, now drained, was a hollow shell.

But Stella could still see it. Like a parched seabed revealed after a drought, traces of the divine force remained, cracked and dry—just as Father Padro had once described.

Carefully, she reached out. As her fingertips touched the cold gem, sparks flew. Reflexively, she pulled back, then wrapped both hands around it.

Amazingly, warmth began to spread slowly through the relic. At the same time, something began slipping out from her own body.

So it really was this. My intuition was right. Her breath, ragged with rising exhilaration, quickened even more.

‘But at this rate…’

Islay, having cut down over thirty enemies, was now heading up the stairs. His face was terrifying—one she had never seen him wear.

‘There’s no other way now.’

From the moment she left the palace, Stella had kept a dagger hidden in her robes. Without a moment’s hesitation, she drew it and slashed her wrist with the sharp blade.