Chapter 173

173 The Howls

One of the guards who was standing in front of that broken door nodded in response.

The guard who had to deliver the message from the King then walked closer to the door so as to inform the Crown Prince that his presence had been requested.

However, the other guard came forward and stopped him on the way. “Where do you think you are going?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“I need to-”

“Shhh!” The other guard shut him up and took him to the other corner of the corridor. He didn’t want the new guard to disturb the Crown Prince if he was in the middle of... something private.

And after taking him there, he asked, “What do you want with the Crown Prince?”

“It’s a direct order from the King. He was asking for the Crown Prince.” The guard quickly clarified his purpose.

“Oh! But he is still in his wolf form. I don’t think it is wise to let him leave this cell before he reverts back to his human form.”

“Then ask him to revert back to his human form! It is an urgent matter!” the guard said in a bit irritated tone. “None of you thought that it was necessary to send someone to stand outside his previous cell, in case someone came looking for him. I have been running around in search of the Crown Prince for 12-13 minutes now.”

.....

He further added in a low voice, “And you know how delicate the King’s condition is.”

Both of the guards were suddenly startled when they saw a blurry figure leaping above them and whooshing past them.

They both exchanged a confused glance with each other because it took them both a second to register in their minds what they had seen in the passing.

“Was that the Crown Prince?” the guard who had brought the message asked.

The other guard turned to look at the door behind him and saw how all the guards looked surprised. The shards of the broken door that they had carefully put back together were everywhere. “Was that the Crown Prince?” he asked them.

“Yes!” one of them shouted back.

And another one immediately shouted in panic, “What are we doing here then? Shouldn’t we be running after him? What if he tries to run outside the castle?”

The guard who had brought the message mumbled, “I don’t think he is going outside the castle. I think he heard me.” And he immediately ran towards the stairs to make sure that the Crown Prince was indeed going where he thought.

After running for a while, the guard was able to see a dark shadow-like blur at the end of the corridor that led to the King’s chambers. He finally sighed and thought to himself, ‘Task accomplished!’

The black wolf was running down the moonlit corridor at the top of its speed. The bright moonlight that was cascading through the windows suddenly started to get dimmer and dimmer when the dark clouds crept in front of the moon.

‘Oh, come on! Why is this corridor so long?’ Everard screamed in his mind when no matter how far he ran, he felt as if he was running further and further away from his father’s chamber and not closer.

“Owooooo...”

The black wolf suddenly skidded on all its paws and came to a halt when the deafening silence of the long corridor got penetrated by the gut-wrenching howl that escaped from the King’s room.

‘What was that?’

Everard’s heart started to hammer inside his chest at an unprecedented rate because the howl that he had just heard didn’t sound like an ordinary howl. Somehow, he could feel the weight of heavy grief that the howl carried in it.

“Owooo... Owwo... Owwo... Owoooooooooooo...”

Soon enough, the whole castle echoed with similar grief-stricken howls, almost as if all of them were mourning for...

‘No...’

Everard’s big shiny eyes instantly welled with tears. A cold shiver ran down his spine, all the way to the tip of his tail, making the black fur on his body stand up.

‘Father...’

He shook his head to jerk away the tears from his eyes and looked forward. He could see a few of the royal guards running toward him while shouting something at him. He could see their lips moving, and he could hear the noise they were making, but he didn’t understand a word they were saying as if they were speaking in some incomprehensible voice.

He could see them desperately pointing toward the King’s chamber and gesturing for him to go there.

Everard’s breathing got heavier and heavier. He lifted his front leg and tried to walk forward. However, all of his feet began to tremble so badly that he ended up collapsing to the floor.

“Your Highness... Please... The King...”

He finally picked up a word or two from the guards. And those few words were enough for him to confirm the reason behind those soul-crushing howls that were now echoing far and wide.

Everard suddenly felt as though someone had plunged their fist inside his chest and had ruthlessly pulled his heart out of his body. He whimpered in anguish and curled up into a ball.

‘No... This cannot be happening... This is all just a really long nightmare...’

He was so devastated, angry, and confused that he somehow made himself believe everything that happened tonight was all in his head. He tightly closed his eyes and screamed, ‘This isn’t real! None of this is real! How can a man turn into a fucking wolf? I’ve been stuck in a nightmare for way too long.’

And he started to bang his head on the floor loudly while shouting at himself, ‘Wake up! Wake up, Everard! Wake up! Please!’

Crack! Snap!

Everard howled in pain when his bones started to twist and break again. He began squirming, stretching, twisting, and turning his body as if he was suddenly possessed by something. His whole body began to break and reform at such a rapid rate that he didn’t even get the time to breathe.

He was howling and grimacing in utter pain.

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Everard had never gone through this kind of anguish in his life ever before. The physical pain of reverting back to his human form, as well as the emotional trauma that he was going through right now, exceeded the hours-long pain that he had gone through a while ago during his transformation.

Even those who were watching him could feel his suffering and turned their heads away, unable to see the misery of their Crown Prince.

A couple of maids who had come running to offer the Prince’s clothes were crouching down far away behind a pillar. They were covering their ears, unable to hear the heart-wrenching screams that enveloped the whole corridor.

‘I wouldn’t wish this kind of pain even on my enemies,’ one of them thought while tightly shutting her eyes. ‘Even the eternal damnation would be less painful than this.’

The painful howls gradually changed into ragged screams. And the scream gradually turned into devastated sobbing.

“Bring His Highness’ clothes!”

The maids were suddenly startled by that harsh command from one of the royal guards. They immediately pushed themselves up on their feet and ran toward the Crown Prince.

“Please get up, Your Highness,” one of the royal guards said while grabbing the Crown Prince by his arm.

The other royal guards also surrounded him and grabbed him to pick him up from the floor.

Everard didn’t protest. He couldn’t protest.

His body felt too weak and sore everywhere, and his voice had died down. He let his body loose, almost as if he was a living corpse, and let the guards do what they wanted.

The maids and the royal guards worked together to decently cover up the Crown Prince’s body.

Two of the royal guards then put his arms around their shoulders and carried him toward the King’s chamber.

The moment the huge doors to the King’s room opened, Everard widened his eyes and breathed in sharply.

“No!” a breathless whisper escaped his trembling lips.

His heart shattered into a thousand pieces upon seeing the cold, lifeless body of his father, lying peacefully on the bed.

“Move!” He used all his strength and pushed both of the guards away from him.

And almost instantly, he fell down on his knees. His nape and his back got drenched in cold sweats. All the colors from his face disappeared, along with his ability to react to his father’s death.

He looked almost as lifeless as his father.