The Shadow Assassins’ Deadly Strike on My Foot Jelly — The Emperor’s Reply and the Beast Tamer’s Fall
The Grand Banquet Hall had descended into absolute chaos.
“Get that thing! The white beast is ours!”
Black-masked assassins poured through the shattered windows like a nightmare, ropes whipping down from the ceiling. Each of them gripped a blade smeared with shimmering, virulent poison.
This was no random terror. These were elite killers—professionally trained, ruthlessly drilled, and organized to perfection.
Their target was crystal clear.
Me.
“Not on my cub, you bastards!”
The fire in Princess Kailian’s crimson eyes burned hotter than the blades themselves. One sharp gesture and a gleaming ice lance lanced through the air.
**BANG!**
The assassin at the front of the charge had his head cored clean through.
*Our butlers really are terrifyingly strong.*
I swallowed hard at the sight. No wonder the palace staff had been so fiercely protective of me.
“Blanc—hold on tight!”
Kailian scooped me up in one arm, the other hand already firing off bolts of magic as she carved out a path.
But the numbers were overwhelming. Traitors disguised as chamberlains closed in from every side, tightening the net.
“Over here! Only the beast matters! The rest can die!”
The leader’s voice cracked like a whip.
That was the moment a mass of mana-charged spiderwebs shot straight at me.
**I had to move!**
I instinctively threw myself against Kailian’s shoulder, just as the webs whistled past.
One assassin’s dagger slashed through the gap. The edge kissed the tip of my tail, slicing off a few fine strands of my priceless white fur that drifted like snow in the air.
My heart froze.
Time seemed to stop.
The cold kiss of that blade, the sight of my own fur floating away—then the scream tore out of me in a raw, animal wail.
The entire hall’s atmosphere shifted.
It was as if the coldest silence had been dropped into the room.
“…Just now…”
Kailian slowly turned her head. Her eyes were already empty of reason.
“You cut my Blanc’s fur?”
**Crack.**
The marble floor beneath her feet began to freeze solid. A storm of frost roared outward.
“Die.”
**KWA-AAANG!**
One flick of her wrist and a colossal iceberg erupted. The assassin didn’t even have time to scream before he was sealed inside the crystal pillar.
But that was only the beginning.
“Pointing a blade at the Divine Beast, you fools!”
A tear in the sound of it—Saintess Lina’s voice. She’d ditched her gentle smile for something far more militant. Her huge holy staff swung like a warhammer, shattering assassins left and right.
*She looks more like a paladin than a saint.*
“Heretics! Feel the divine hammer!”
**CRACK! BANG!**
Each swing carried pure holy power. The assassins gurgled and dropped, foam already on their lips.
*Is that… really the Saintess?*
I stood there, stunned, forgetting even to run.
“Oh my, what wretched creatures these are.”
A heartbeat earlier the empire’s highest nobles had been fanning themselves with delicate grace or sipping wine. Now their faces had changed the moment they saw my fur sliced.
“If this were the North, we’d have torn you apart and fed you to the bears!”
The Duchess of the Borderlands ripped her silk dress open with one brutal tug. Beneath it, thick, battle-scarred muscle flexed into view.
*That level of strength… does her husband handle paperwork?*
She drew a heavy dagger from her thigh sheath. Green aura coiled around the blade like living smoke.
“How dare you touch our precious little Blanc? You filth!”
She kicked off the floor and launched. **BOOM!** Three assassins were shredded into paper scraps as she passed.
*Whoa…*
“Out of my way! I will protect the Divine Beast!”
The meek Count with the monocle snatched it off and stepped forward, a dozen magic circles blooming around him.
“You won’t even get one bone. Disgusting lot!”
No incantation. Pure magic rained down. The assassins couldn’t even react before they were swept away.
“Protect the Divine Beast and the Imperial Princess! Guard that soft belly!”
“For the Empire!”
The nobles who had been quietly watching finally moved.
A retired duke, a mercenary-born count, and a legendary war hero whose name was still respected even by enemy kingdoms—each of them discarding their gentle, polite masks to become pure killers.
They fought as one. The hall became a slaughterhouse in seconds.
*Wow… these are the same people who used to pet my paw pads and coo?*
“What… is going on…?”
Even Kailian’s earlier anger had vanished. She just stared at the nobles in stunned silence.
“**Kyawoo!**”
*Hang in there, everyone! I’ll give you all the grooming later!*
I threw my whole strength into cheering.
“**KRAAAAAANG!**”
“**Kyaaaaah!** He’s so cute!”
“Heart… oh, Father, I’ll… I’ll go now…”
“Truly… so… so adorable…”
The nobles erupted into cheers once more.
At that moment Crown Prince Demian dragged in the bound assassin leader. The man was barely conscious, shaking violently.
“Talk. Who gave the orders? Who’s behind it?!”
Demian grabbed the man by the collar and punched him again and again.
The assassin’s eyes darted to me—then to the mad fighting nobles surrounding me—and terror flooded his face.
“B-Barkan… Crown Prince Arman of the Barkan Empire…”
He broke under the pressure.
*Barkan…? Who the hell is that?*
Kailian’s gaze turned to ice again, killing intent rising like a blade.
“You dared commit kidnapping on foreign soil… and you chose my Blanc?”
She set me gently on Emperor Karsion’s lap and snatched up the fallen sword.
*Butlers… where are you all?*
“Go fetch that bastard right now. I’ll cut his head off myself.”
“Wait.”
The Emperor stroked my head calmly, never once stopping the gentle pressure he applied to my paw pads.
“Just kill him?”
The Emperor’s lips curled into a smile so wicked it could only be called evil incarnate.
“If that fellow is so desperate to see my little Blanc… then we should show him. How much we love this child… and how terrifying that love can be as a weapon.”
He summoned the chamberlain.
“Summon the Barkan delegation to the hall at once. And…”
He winked at me.
*Why… what?*
“Blanc, warm-up time is over. It’s time to show them your burn.”
*Burn?*
I tilted my head. *Am I supposed to throw a scratch?*
*Doesn’t matter.* Mercy was a foreign word to anyone who dared threaten me.
I planted my front claws and dug into the marble floor.
**Drut. Drut.**
I would shred them all.
A moment later, Crown Prince Arman—summoned without explanation—pushed open the hall doors.
He faced a hundred nobles radiating killing intent around him and, at the center, the Ice Princess gripping a frozen dagger.
“…The party atmosphere is a bit… tense?”
Sweat beaded on Arman’s forehead as he backed away.
*Too late, kid.*
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**TRANSLATION NOTES (for the translator’s internal reference only — not part of the output):** The chapter opens with a high-stakes action sequence that escalates into a full-scale massacre, highlighting the contrast between the “cute pet” persona of Blanc and the terrifying power of his human guardians. Key emotional beats include Kailian’s protective maternal rage, Lina’s paladin transformation, the nobles’ sudden dual nature (elegant to lethal), and the Emperor’s strategic taunting. The Barkan reveal and Arman’s appearance set up the next confrontation. All dialogue was adapted for natural English rhythm while preserving character voices: Kailian’s sharp imperious tone, Lina’s reverent fury, the Emperor’s arrogant imperial drawl, and Arman’s arrogant formality. Special in-universe text (system notifications, etc.) was not present in this chapter, so none were styled. The tone remains lighthearted comedy with sudden violence and overwhelming cuteness.