“What on earth is going on here!”

Lightning struck the imperial palace.

Princess Kesera’s face, filled with rage, trembled violently. The guards who had been watching the prison door now found themselves effectively imprisoned.

Even that was fortunate. Except for the two guards who survived, the rest were completely torn apart by the monster’s claws—a scene of horrific slaughter.

Kesera placed her razor-sharp sword diagonally across the necks of the guards who were shaking with fear.

“Why didn’t you report this immediately?”

“P-Princess! W-We’re so—”

Slash!

Hot blood splattered across the stone floor.

Red liquid spurting from the severed heads of the two guards left dark stains on the hem of Kesera’s dress. The Princess of Eodiphia glared at the blood dripping down her blade before kicking open the prison door with terrifying force. The imperial mage hurriedly followed behind her.

“Your Highness!”

“The monster has escaped.”

“Please don’t worry. Currently, the imperial knights and skilled mages are searching the entire castle.”

“And yet there’s still no news? How many knights and mages do we have in the imperial service? And still nothing!”

“W-Well, that’s…”

Kesera clutched her throbbing head and swung her sword through the air. Blood from the men she had just beheaded dripped onto the floor beneath her feet.

“Princess, how did that monster manage to escape? Wasn’t it wearing restraints?”

“I believe it transformed into a woman to trick the foolish new guards into removing its restraints. Then it likely changed into a child to slip through the bars.”

“What?”

“I’ve been uneasy since the Momo incident, and now this has happened. No matter how much we strengthen security, the creature can freely change its form. I thought it was unusual from the moment it did that to Momo, but I never expected it would escape prison to find her.”

“What connection is there between its escape and Your Highness’s attendant? Could such a monster possibly form an attachment to someone?”

“These creatures engage in group orgies, but contradictorily, they imprint on a single female and pursue her obsessively—the female they first mated with during their initial heat. Do you understand what this means?”

“I-I dare not presume to understand what Your Highness is saying.”

“I’m saying the creature believes its female has been taken from it! Searching the castle like we’re looking for lice won’t help. The monster is walking naturally around the castle, wearing human skin!”

A heavy silence suddenly swept over the gathering.

They reflexively glanced at the person next to them, their faces pale with terror and trembling with fear.

A monster that could tear people apart without lifting a finger—a walking murderer now roaming the castle, mimicking human appearance.

Constantly changing its form.

None of them knew what the monster’s human form looked like.

Even Kesera, with an unusually stern expression, murmured blankly:

“…Momo is in danger.”

* * *

“Your Highness, what should we do now? Apart from the dead guards, there have been no casualties yet, but if we leave things like this…”

“First, make sure this doesn’t reach His Majesty’s ears. Keep the servants’ mouths shut tight. Divide the troops in two for the search! I’ll take the eastern section, and you lead your mages to search the western castle.”

“Is there any clue about the monster?”

The imperial archmage asked gravely, his hand trembling on his staff. Kesera furrowed her brow, recalling the monster’s appearance in prison.

A dark, murky exterior, like being covered in ink. Among that darkness, the only thing with color—fluorescent blue protrusions.

“The eyes.”

“Pardon?”

“Since ancient times, it’s been said that the eyes reflect a person’s soul.”

It might be a stretch or a wild guess, but there was no other way to distinguish the monster among the hundreds of people in the castle.

“Whether that monster transforms into a human or animal, it will have blue eyes.”

“But how many people have blue eyes?”

“Monsters have abnormally dilated pupils unlike humans. Now hurry!”

The imperial archmage quickly gathered his apprentice mages and headed toward the western castle.

The creature was a Taracan, a high-ranking monster species. Moreover, it was going through a turbulent period and had its possession taken away, so it might slaughter indiscriminately. Its strength would be beyond imagination.

The archmage clung to the sliver of hope in the Princess’s final words:

[Monsters tend to assimilate with their imprinted targets. We can only hope that Momo’s gentle nature has influenced that monster. But its instinct to kill will remain, so don’t let your guard down.]

The archmage strode forward, waving his staff.

His apprentice mages followed the leader with hurried steps. Just then, one mage’s eyes caught sight of a servant lingering in the distance.

The mage broke away from the group of rushing mages and walked toward the servant.

“…Mage?”

A long shadow fell over the head of the servant who was sweeping with a bent back. The blue-eyed servant stopped cleaning and bowed deeply to the superior.

“You must be working hard searching for the monster. But there have been no suspicious movements around here.”

“…Mo.”

“Pardon?”

“…#…2. Mu… @Mo…”

“What on earth are you saying, Mage?”

“…”

What’s with this idiot… I’m busy enough already.

The servant slightly raised a furrowed brow.

The pale chin of the mage, who also had eerie blue pupils, came into view.

The moment the servant took this in, his eyes widened. Sweat began to seep into the hand firmly gripping the broom.

He quickly buried his face toward the floor again, not daring to lift his head.

The servant broke into a cold sweat before the strange being he had mistaken for an imperial mage.

Creak… creak…

His bent back trembled violently. Hearing the unidentifiable metallic sound in his ears, the servant forgot even the thought of escape and asked tearfully:

“W-What are you s-saying…”

“…”

Their gazes met at close range with those unnaturally vivid eyes.

The servant, who roughly knew about the commotion in the palace, instinctively sensed his situation. Desperate to survive, he moved his lips frantically.

“Are you talking about Momo, Princess’s attendant Momo?”

“…#…)_My… Mo… @Mo.”

“I-I don’t know where she went, but Momo hasn’t been seen since morning.”

The blue eyes that covered more than half of the whites sank into sadness.

The mage moved his cracked lips several times, then spoke in more fluid language, though still haltingly:

“Th-thank… _# you. Th-thank… _#…you.”

Thank you. I’m sorry.

Words Momo always had on her lips.

The servant continued to tremble uncontrollably before the monster filled with disappointment.

“Then I’ll be—”

Squelch!

But the servant couldn’t finish speaking as he collapsed to the floor with a hole in his stomach.

A giant spike connected to the monster’s arm was pulled out from the servant’s pierced abdomen, accompanied by dark red blood.

The monster, with sad eyes, shook the blood from its hand. Then, weakly looking around, it wandered aimlessly through the palace corridor.

“My Momo, my wife… Mine. My…”

The monster, having nearly completed its Imperial language patch, kept muttering.

The Imperial language seemed to have quite a few words for referring to a female.

So the monster pondered briefly which term of endearment to choose from among the many words.

My woman, my wife, my possession, spouse, bride, honey…

My better half, my housewife…? My old lady…? This one doesn’t feel right somehow…

By now, instead of a mage’s appearance, he had reverted to a nineteen-year-old boy with midnight-blue tinged black hair.

The pale-skinned beautiful youth blinked his long eyelashes. Clear teardrops like pearls pooled there.

“Not Momo.”

Imprinted monsters give each other new names. He wanted to call his woman by his own pet name, not that damned ‘Momo.’ He already had something in mind.

And he wanted her to give him a new name too.

“Where are you…”

The monster continued to wander through the castle, weeping sorrowfully as it searched for Momo.