Bound To The Ruthless Lycan

Chapter 15 : Hunting in the Royal Garden

"So you finally showed up, little lady."

The rustle of dry leaves echoed from behind the bushes of the Royal Moonflower Garden. Three tall, burly shadows stepped out slowly, encircling Sera from three directions.

Sera froze on the stone path. Clutching her chest, she feigned shock, stumbling back a few paces with terror painted across her face.

"W-who are you?" Sera's voice trembled violently. "Why are you blocking my path?"

The tallest man standing in the center sneered. Crossing his arms over his chest, he eyed Sera up and down.

"Turns out Lady Cassandra wasn't lying," the man scoffed mockingly. "This girl truly has no brains. Walking alone into a secluded garden in the middle of the night without a single guard."

"Don't waste breath talking, Leader," the second spy on the left chimed in, unsheathing a short sword from his hip. "Just take her now. Baron Logan is already waiting outside the estate."

Sera stepped back further until her back neared a row of rope-draped stone pillars supporting trailing moonflowers.

"Please don't hurt me!" Sera whimpered, her eyes wide with panic. "I have jewelry! Take it all, just let me go!"

The lead spy stepped closer. Reaching into his cloak pocket, he retrieved a glass vial containing the wolf-paralyzing poison.

"We don't need your cheap jewelry, little lady," the leader said, grinning broadly. "We only need your blood. Don't worry, this poison won't kill you outright. It will merely paralyze your entire nervous system so you can't scream while we carry you out of this castle."

Sera stopped in her tracks. She ceased backing away. The terror radiating from her face moments ago vanished without a trace. Her brown eyes turned instantly frigid and razor-sharp.

"Oh, is that so?" Sera said. Her voice no longer trembled; her tone turned abruptly calm, brimming with dark authority.

The lead spy frowned, unsettled by the drastic shift in Sera's demeanor. "What do you mean?"

Sera tilted her head slightly, eyeing the three men before her with a mocking glare.

"You thought you were hunting a frightened servant? You just walked into a killer's den."

Before the three spies could digest her words, Sera yanked a hidden cord anchored to the base of the stone pillar behind her.

The pull unleashed a heavy stone statue and a row of vine supports above them. Without mercy, thick wooden beams and massive stone planters came crashing down, collapsing the iron moonflower trellis straight onto the spies flanking her right and left.

A sickening crash shattered the silence of the night. The heavy support beam crushed the first spy, breaking his leg bones with a loud, violent snap.

"Argh! My leg!" the first spy shrieked, writhing on the grass.

The second spy managed to leap backward to dodge the falling structure, but his eyes widened in shock as he saw Sera closing in on him with terrifying speed.

Sera wasted no time. From the folds of her night dress, she drew two small daggers with blackened blades coated in borderland scorpion venom.

"You miserable b***h!" the second spy bellowed, slashing his blade toward Sera's neck.

Sera ducked effortlessly. Dodging to the side, she plunged the dagger in her right hand deep into his inner thigh.

The spy groaned in agony, stumbling back a few paces. "Bastard! You set a trap for us!"

"Not just a trap," Sera countered coldly, twirling the dagger in her left hand. "The venom on my blade is already in your bloodstream. In five seconds, your leg muscles will go completely numb."

The second spy attempted to take a step forward to strike back, but his left thigh suddenly refused to move. Losing his balance, he collapsed onto the wet grass, panting heavily, his face deathly pale.

"How could a woman like you..." the second spy wheezed, his breathing ragged.

"I was raised in a borderland war zone," Sera cut him off ruthlessly. "I learned how to kill before I learned how to dance in a ballroom."

Seeing both his men incapacitated in seconds, the lead spy panicked. Realizing they had catastrophically misjudged their target, he frantically unstoppered the glass vial of wolf-paralyzing poison, preparing to smash it onto the ground near Sera's feet.

"Take this, b***h!" the lead spy screamed.

Sera lunged forward before he could slam the bottle down. With a swift, calculated strike, she kicked his wrist. The glass vial flew into the air, landing unbroken deep within distant bushes.

The leader groaned in pain as his wrist sprained. Drawing a dagger from behind his waist, he lunged at Sera brutally.

Sera crossed her daggers to lock his blade. Metal struck metal with a sharp clang ringing through the night. The man used his superior physical force to press down against her.

"You think you can beat me with cheap tricks?!" the lead spy snarled, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

Sera looked directly into his eyes. An icy, faint smirk touched her lips.

"My cheap tricks have only just begun," Sera whispered.

She intentionally yielded her grip, letting his own momentum pitch him forward. Simultaneously, Sera slipped to her right, dropping the dagger in her left hand.

From her sleeve, she drew a long silver needle that gleamed under the moonlight. Without hesitation, Sera drove the silver needle straight into the gap between the vertebrae at the base of his neck.

The lead spy's body instantly locked up. The dagger slipped from his grip, thudding onto the grass. He stood frozen like a pillar, eyes wide open, but not a sound emerged from his throat.

He tried to wiggle his fingers, but his entire body—from his neck down to his toes—was completely paralyzed. He couldn't even blink.

Sera stepped back two paces. She retrieved her dropped dagger from the ground, then lightly brushed the silver needle protruding from his neck.

"You must be wondering why you can't move or speak," Sera said in a tone as conversational as if discussing the weather.

The lead spy could only shift his pupils toward Sera, sheer terror flooding his eyes.

"It's a nerve toxin needle," Sera continued, lightly tapping the stiffened man's shoulder. "This toxin won't kill you. It merely disconnects your motor nervous system. Your body cannot move at all, but your brain remains fully functional. Your hearing remains sharp, your vision crystal clear, and most importantly, you will feel every bit of pain in complete awareness."

Sera leaned close to his ear.

"I'm sparing your life tonight," Sera whispered, heavy emphasis on every word. "I am leaving you alive so you can serve as a living witness. You will tell Damon every name of Baron Logan's infiltrators and Cassandra's involvement in this vile scheme."

The man screamed frantically in his mind, but his mouth remained sealed, unable to release even a breath.

Sera turned around to inspect the other two intruders lying helpless on the grass. The first spy was still groaning under the heavy timbers, while the second could no longer lift his head due to the scorpion venom.

Sera drew a long breath, sheathing both her daggers back into the folds of her clothing.

Suddenly, a flurry of rapid, heavy footsteps thundered along the stone corridor outside the Moonflower Garden. Bright torchlight pierced the garden's darkness from afar.

"Over there! Quickly!" Marta's frantic cries echoed in panic. "Your Majesty, please save Lady Sera! They brought dangerous poison into the garden!"

The iron gates of the garden burst open. Damon charged in at the lead, his sword drawn in his right hand. The Alpha's face was deathly pale, his eyes ablaze with wrath and terror for Sera's safety. Ten elite palace guards flooded in behind him, weapons drawn and ready to strike.

"Sera!" Damon roared, his chest heaving heavily from sprinting all the way from his study.

But Damon halted abruptly on the stone path.

The elite guards behind him slammed to a stop, nearly colliding with one another in sheer shock.

At the rear, Marta covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide with disbelief at the scene before her.

There was no gruesome abduction scene like everyone had imagined.

In the center of the Moonflower Garden, three elite spies trusted by Baron Logan lay bleeding and helpless upon the wet grass. One was crushed under ruined stone pillars, another lay stiffened by venom, and their leader stood rooted like a statue with a silver needle jutting from his neck.

Amid the three black clad intruders, Sera stood serene under the moonlight.

Her face was pristine, without a single scratch or scar. Calmly smoothing the minor creases in her night dress, Sera brushed a speck of dust from her sleeve, then turned toward Damon with a faint, elegant smile.