The Tyrant's Pet

"Apologies, if my thoughtlessness worried you… wait!"

Suzanne, Veronika, and Sybil's brains went blank when Aries suddenly shoved Suzanne to the side as she ran towards the street. They slowly looked back, only for their pupils to dilate upon realizing there was an incoming carriage while a child was running across the street.

<strong>'No,'</strong> was the first thing that came into their minds as they saw Aries push the child's shoulder with her fingertips, but they were too stunned to react quickly.

<strong>NEIGH!</strong>

Aries's breath hitched when the sound of horses rang on her side. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she turned and saw horses' hooves hovering over her.

"Oh," she whispered, letting the adrenaline pump into her nerves' ends. Without thinking twice, Aries jumped back to save herself, but immediately realized it was too late. She might've created distance, but it wasn't enough.

The horses would crush her.

"Abel." Another whisper escaped her lips as her body froze, watching the horses' hooves stomp her, wide-eyed.

"Kyaaah!"

Aries shut her eyes in the face of her impending doom, hearing Sybil's screams, Veronika's call, and the echoing sound of neighs. She raised her arms to protect her head, an action her body voluntarily made as she anticipated the striking pain.

But it didn't come.

The pain that Aries expected didn't come; instead, she heard loud noises she couldn't identify precisely. All she recognized was the screeching sound of metals and then something heavy — as if a log cabin had collapsed. Dust also wafted into her nostrils, and Aries detected the scent of woods… and blood along with it.

Slowly, Aries opened one eye to peek. The first thing she saw was a man's back and his auburn hair shining under the glares of the afternoon sun.

"Rome?" she called in a tiny voice. Her eyes then fell down, and much to her surprise, blood dripped from the end of his sword while two horses' heads rolled across the street. She covered her gaping mouth, only to realize there were more people around.

When Aries perked up and looked around, her wide eyes doubled. The street that previously had people casually passing by was now crowded, filled with men wearing cloaks over their casual uniforms, carrying swords, which they pointed at the child and at the carriage.

Despite the confusion, Aries caught a spear thrust into the carriage wheel that went through the other, which stopped the carriage on time. But at the same it, it resulted in the carriage tipping over to the side.

"My lady, are you alright?" Aries was snapped back from her trance when a familiar voice caressed her ears. When she turned, her brows furrowed.

"Climaco, what's going on?" she blurted out, watching Climaco snap his eyes at the men, who came out of nowhere and now congested the peaceful street.

Climaco cleared his throat as he set his eyes back to Aries. "Are you alright, my lady?" he repeated worriedly instead of answering Aries. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No… but —" Aries halted as she noticed more men in uniform behind Climaco. When she turned and looked around once more, she finally understood the situation.

These men… weren't just from the Marquess knight brigade. The men in cloaks wore the same plain uniforms inside; there was no insignia that could be seen. Meanwhile, Climaco was in their casual uniforms, and then the rest, wearing plain clothing — even civilian clothes.

As Aries registered the situation, more and more people approached the area to sate their curiosity. Some knights immediately made a line to stop everyone from going further. Meanwhile, the three princesses, Veronika, Sybil, and Suzanne, had their mouths agape at the people who came to stop the carriage.

Unlike Aries, who had her eyes closed, the three of them couldn't even blink! Hence, they saw multiple shadows suddenly hovering over them ‌that they thought a thick cloud simply covered the sun. Some of them sprinted past them. Actually, they came from all directions; even the guy sitting outside the tea shop while reading the newspaper jumped and brought forth a dagger which he threw at the horse's leg to stop it.

Everything happened so fast and in that few seconds' time frame, a lot had transpired.

"What… is going on?" Sybil muttered in disbelief before her knees gave way to the shock, relief, and confusion she experienced within a minute time frame.

"Drag him!" Roman's loud voice erupted in the air and then followed by the pleas of the coachman while a knight dragged him in the front. When the knight forced the coachman to kneel in front of Roman — the captain of this squad — he raised his bloody sword and pointed it at the coachman's throat.

"Please, don't kill me! I did nothing wrong — I — please; not —" The coachman pleaded and pleaded in fear until no one could even understand what he was saying. All they could hear was his shaking voice as he wept, frozen on the spot at the blade right in front of his throat.

"Bring out the passengers." Roman ignored the coachman as he glanced at the knights under his orders. "Dead or alive, drag them out. I will make sure they were all dead alongside this coachman."

"Please, my lord!" The coachman rubbed his palm as the dread he felt from the orders he heard was akin to being splashed by a bucket of cold water.

As the knights checked the inside of the carriage, a child's cry erupted in the air and then followed by a woman's panicking voice. Aries, who just returned to her senses, snapped her eyes and moved her gaze to the source of this sound.

Her eyes instantly widened, seeing that the child she saved was now surrounded by knights with their swords pointing at the child. Meanwhile, a woman was being blocked from approaching the child. She was crying, "please not my child! She's just a child — don't kill her!" and then followed by more pleas, chorusing with the coachman's pleading and the murmurings of the bystanders.