Taming the Empire's Ruthless Monsters: My Husband and His Killer
[ Mature Audience Only (Dark Fantasy Romance) + 2 Male Leads + Comedy, Grief, World-Building, Beast Powers, Strong Female Lead, Immersive Writing Style, and Everything Packed in One. ]
The woman sat still, legs crossed, a hand resting lightly on each leash.
The chains led downward — left and right — disappearing beneath the black folds of her throne. The only sound in the room was the soft clink of metal against the stone floor.
On her left knee, the leash was taut — held firm in her fingers, black leather wound once around her palm. The chain stretched to the man kneeling below, his head slightly bowed, thick black hair falling across sharp golden eyes. The lion insignia gleamed darkly against the collar at his neck.
On her right, the second leash hung more loosely, though not by much. The man it led to sat still — silver-haired, pale-skinned, his chest rising and falling with quiet restraint. The panther emblem at his throat shimmered under the torchlight, his ice-blue eyes locked ahead, lips drawn in a silent snarl.
Both were silent.
Both were beautiful.
And both were leashed.
The woman, however, did not look at them. Her gaze was locked forward — on the man kneeling in front of her, hands tied behind his back, posture proud despite the blood at his lip.
The green-haired man tilted his head back and laughed.
“Shame,” he said, the sound echoing in the chamber. “The Emperor of the North and the Southern Duke… reduced to nothing more than pets. Is that what you do now, Leash Mistress? Break kings and chain them at your feet?”
The woman didn’t blink. Her eyes stayed fixed on his.
But the panther shifted slightly, the chain tightening an inch under her hand.
The lion growled, low and deep.
The green-haired man smirked wider. “Dogs. The both of them. Well-trained, I’ll give you that.”
“Cats.”
Her voice was soft, but the room fell silent.
She leaned back in her seat slightly, her fingers curling around the leashes as if they were natural extensions of her hands.
“They are cats. And tell me…”
Her head tilted faintly, just enough to be unsettling.
“Isn’t it wolves who become dogs? Not lions. Not panthers.”
The green-haired man’s jaw clenched.
'!'
drip
A bead of sweat fell from his forehead, trickling down through his cheek as his eyes trembled. The green pupil held cunning and shrewdness to escape any unknown path as the assassin mercenary group's leader trembled, not because of the woman, but because of the man standing beside her who looked at him.
The man with black hair and golden eyes glinted sharply at the command of the collars pulled, and even the one with silver hair, glinting with sapphire eyes, caused the green-eyed man to tremble in his whole being.
He knelt with his head turned down as he realized, while his wolf insignia glowed near his ear.
He would soon be leashed like them.
He would become the dog under her leg... the dog he had just laughed at.
"But you are not lucky enough to get the seat beside them..." Her voice was calm before the man's eyes widened as the woman lifted both hands, more like guided by those men, before both gave her hand a kiss on each while she, with a composed sharp voice, declared, "Because you see... my hand are full, though."
Her voice halted, eyes looking down as she slowly lifted her heels, tilting her head as she said, "But maybe, I can think..."