His Breeding Obsession Chapter 144

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The Scarecrow Emperor, a puppet in the imperial palace, was not of the true blood of the Leanna Empire’s imperial family.

 

Grecan chose a random human to be Emperor, a tasty lure for the Crown Prince’s bloodline.

 

— ‘Your place has been given to an unworthy one, so come out and claim it.’

 

— ‘Don’t hide like a loach, show yourself.’

 

The crown prince was an ambitious man, so I expected him to show up soon, but I was wrong.

 

His bloodline was too cautious, and all he could find were traces.

 

The Cunning One.

 

‘Kill all enemies. I will kill them, so they can never threaten Mirania again.’ 

 

His eyes sank into deep darkness.

 

Grecan stepped over the ridge and landed on the mountainside.

 

Thud—

 

The beasts who had formed a fence around them bowed their heads toward Grecan and Hakan. The warriors who had been watching shrugged.

 

They slammed their foreheads into the ground as if they were facing the Grim Reaper.

 

Hakan’s sly gaze rested on them.

 

He rubbed his throat and spoke sternly, “You will tell me the truth when I ask.”

 

The whole village jumped to its feet.

 

Armed beasts, warriors pointed their sharp teeth and claws at them.

 

With the threat looming over them, they dared not lie.

 

“I know there was a man who helped you. Tell me what he did here, every detail.”

 

But the question made him jerk his head up.

 

“He, Mr. Granger, is a good, grateful man. He took pity on us hungry children and left his kill behind… Ugh”

 

Thwack!

 

“Argh!”

 

Hakan stomped his feet and bared his sharp teeth.

 

As his emotions took over, his body changed, and feathers sprouted on his temples and nape.

 

Clear evidence that it was not human.

 

Frightened, his gaze dropped to the ground.

 

“Who said anything about wondering what kind of creature he is? I don’t have to ask. He must be trying to hide his army. I know you humans hid them. Tell me where they are.”

 

Reaching out and grabbing the child by the nape of the neck, Hakan dug his sharpened nails into the child’s frail throat.

 

“Unless you want to kill this little human.”

 

Tears welled up in the young human eyes, and he shook his head.

 

“No, I didn’t hide him, my lord, he’s not for us to hide, and he’s got magic, and he’s a great man, and we don’t know where he is… please!”

 

Anaq screamed, Hakan’s fingernails pressing tiresomely into the child’s delicate throat.

 

When he teased a little harder, a trickle of blood ran down the sharp nail.

 

Hakan hissed in a cruel voice, “I’ll have to rip the kid’s throat out before he opens his mouth, won’t it?”

 

Fearing that he might make a mistake and kill the child, Anaq, a local villager, whimpered.

 

“…”

 

Grecan stood behind Hakan. He didn’t care if the man was trembling, or if he was scared to the point of peeing himself.

 

But Hakan’s squeaky voice was annoying.

 

He wanted to tell him to shut up.

 

But that would make it seem like I was protecting the humans.

 

‘I didn’t like that either.’

 

Meanwhile, Hakan’s threats to the villagers grew in intensity.

 

“Is it too easy to slit their throats right away? Why don’t you start with their fingers and toes?”

 

“My lord, please, please, I beg you.”

 

Hakan’s grin deepened as the people squirmed in fear. He seemed to revel more in terrorizing and frightening the humans than in finding the whereabouts of Granger.

 

Hakan chuckled as he toyed with their fears.

 

 Aww, they’re a pain in the neck. I should just kill them.”

 

‘…Annoying.’

 

Grecan, who had been as free as if he were watching a boring play, suddenly found everything annoying.

 

His mind, which had been so carefree just moments before, was now turbulent like a stormy sea.

 

The moods were rising and falling strangely.

 

Hakan’s casual mention of death. It seemed frivolous. It was insignificant.

 

‘Did I look like Hakan to Mirania?’

 

His eyes flared with anger, fragile as glass about to break.

 

The harder he tried to control his emotions, the more he felt Mirania’s absence.

 

‘I’m angry,’ Grecan muttered to himself.

 

‘Angry at Mirania, who I don’t know where she is, who I want to find, but who warned me not to.’ 

 

‘Mad because I can’t find you. Why aren’t you with me, right now?’

 

Like a child who craves love and fears abandonment, Grecan wanted to cry.

 

His momentum was destructive, threatening to tear the world apart, despite his fragile, breathless heart.

 

Violence pulsed through him like the clink of a full glass of water.

 

“Grrr…”

 

The corners of his mouth turned up in a pout. Fangs bared, lips lifted.

 

The overly sharp teeth looked like they would tear anything to shreds if they were caught. His fingers twitched as he pointed to the floor.

 

It convulsed with uncontrolled life and rage.

 

Screech, crackle—

 

His nails, once rounded like a human’s, became triangular and pointed. Then round again, pointed.

 

“Ha, High Lord?”

 

Hakan, drunk on his madness, glanced back, startled.

 

The air had changed. There was a rapid spread of vivacity.

 

A few of the weaker ones collapsed under the weight of the oncoming death. The eyes of the others wavered.

 

“Monsters, monsters…”

 

The shadows on the floor danced like flames.

 

Thick dark shadows oozed out from it. It was the kind of powerful energy that would stop your heart if it struck you directly.

 

The insects that had been chirping and buzzing fell silent.

 

The beast burrowed into each tree’s hollow, desperately digging itself into the ground.

 

The beast’s warriors, who had been so ferocious just moments before, fell back with a muffled, weak cry.

 

“Ha, High Lord…”

 

They’re going to die.

 

The quick-thinking ones dragged their heels and retreated backward.

 

“Hmph, ha…”

 

The same Anaq who had just begged for the child’s life faltered.

 

A terrifying momentum consumed them.

 

Hakan’s white-knuckled grip loosened.

 

The child, sprawled on the floor, cried out. Regaining his senses, Anaq scrambled to his feet and wrapped his arms around the child.

 

“High lord.”

 

Hakan, sharp nails and teeth bared, took a step back. His tense, tender face was contorted with fear.

 

The thought of terrorizing the villagers to learn Granger’s location fled from his mind.

 

Only survival instinct ruled his mind.

 

“Ca, calm down. If you get enraged now, we’ll all die. You need to get a grip.”

 

Instead of an answer, a ghastly wailing sounded like something from hell.

 

Hakan’s scowl deepened, ‘This is bad. If you keep this up, we’ll die, we won’t survive, just like back then.’

 

That was some thirty years ago.

 

In a fit of rage, Grecan had lost his temper.

 

The result: annihilation.

 

All life in the immediate vicinity was destroyed. Every last one of them.

 

None dared to contend with him then, but none dared to raise their heads in his presence afterward.

 

Ducking quickly to the ground and barely surviving, Hakan pissed himself at the nightmare that came to mind.

 

My breath caught in my throat, as if Grecan’s nails would cut my throat at any moment.

 

A tangible, materialized shadow was squeezing his throat.

 

‘You’ve lost your senses. There’s no way I could die…’ 

 

Contrary to Hakan’s fears, Grecan hadn’t lost his mind.

 

‘They’re like worms.’

 

He looked at the men kneeling before him and thought.

 

‘Weak creatures who will die at the touch of my hand.’

 

His appearance was changing from moment to moment, like a beast from hell, but his mind remained rational.

 

[The lives you so fleetingly slaughtered for the sake of your anger are precious.]

 

Why?

 

Mirania’s words made no sense.

 

There were too many of them to kill, anyway, and killing a few of them would be a small price to pay.

 

But Mirania was furious. Not only was she angry, she was going to abandon him.

 

Just for this.

 

‘Why, please, why. They tried to use you, they attacked you, they tried to kill you…’

 

Why does she hate him for trying to punish them?

 

‘Tell me. Tell me what I should do. Tell me how I can stop being abandoned. …I miss you, Mirania.’

 

Grecan stared helplessly at the violent rage that radiated from his heart.

 

‘If I unleash my rage like this, all those who are trembling at the sight of me will die.’

 

As easily as a child stomping a bug to death.

 

“Roarrr!!!.”

 

He cleared his throat, and the weakened young humans collapsed in a heap.

 

Grecan’s eyes narrowed.

 

They were as black as a lightless night.

 

Those who met his gaze stiffened, squirming like mice before a snake.