Kapitel 14: Food For The Lions

It took every ounce of self-control Xuma possessed to lower her head and suppress the venom in her heart.

She didn't want to be controlled by her emotions anymore. She didn't want to repeat her past.

Though these men deserved to die in the most painful way, now was not the time. She couldn't implicate the innocent.

In the end...she still needed power to make a change.

Xuma glanced at the girls in the cage. The sight of the ferocious lions had them wide-eyed and pale-stricken with terror. A few wept with trembling limbs, while others mumbled incoherently and shook their heads as if in denial.

In short, they were on the brink of collapse.

Xuma released a turbid breath. Helplessness and distress gripped her heart with suffocating hands as she shifted her gaze and focused on the lions. Large and ferocious, their savage eyes contained a kind of hunger that thirst for blood.

She couldn't understand. In her past life, she heard the men of this empire treasured women. Had seen it in the way Emperor Ghazeyh treated her. However, the way they treated the female slaves was nothing short of barbaric. Prince Rimon did not hold a feast of food and drinks for the young nobles. It was a feast of 'Food for the Lions' with the slave girls as the meal.

Why didn't anyone find anything wrong with this?

Or…did the women they treasured only include the ones related to them?

"Roar!"

The thunderous roar of the beast shattered her thoughts. Xuma snapped back to her senses and scooted to the middle of the cage. The terrified whimpers of the girls grew louder as the shouts of the nobles intensified.

Maws open and teeth dripping with saliva, the golden beasts circled their cage with predatory eyes.

"Draw back the beasts! Open the cage!"

"Open!"

"OPEN!"

When the cry of the crowd reached a thunderous momentum, ten tanned men, Beast Trainers, in gray chainmail yanked on the chains wrapped around the lions necks with a force that dragged the creatures back. Snarling and growling, they clawed the hard ground and attempted lunged at the trainers.

A metal clank snapped the air. With a resounding crack, a metal whip blurred and the lions crumbled to the ground. Almost instantly, the thick scent of blood engulfed the air. The lions growled and roared threateningly at the Beast Trainers, who stared at them with cold, emotionless eyes.

Ignoring their bloodthirsty gazes, the trainers drew the lions far enough for one of them to unlock the iron cage. Throwing down three wooden sticks, the slave trainer pointed at the growling beasts and coldly declared.

"Five Lions. Ten of you. Kill them and you will become Prince Rimon's personal servants. Or…die and become the lions' food!"

"Wh…what?"

"Become…food?"

The fear of the beasts and the slave trainer's words threw the girls into a daze. Some fainted on the spot. The remaining girls stared at the three sticks, and their eyes flashed. Throwing a glance at the girls beside them, they scrambled to their feet, pushing and shoving as they fought their way out of the cage.

"Get lost! This stick is mine!"

"I touched it first!"

"Does that make it yours?"

With no weapons and the threat of death, the meek slave girls turned on each other. Xuma remained inside the cage. She, like the nobles, watched their exchange with cold a smile. But while hers was filled with helplessness, the nobles' eyes were filled with scorn.

"You're not going to get out?" Naila asked her with a strange look in her eyes. Aside from her and Xuma, the other three girls in the cage were out cold.

"Why? You want me to leave?" Xuma swept a cold gaze over her.

"Humph! I don't care what you do. However, if you want to stand a chance with those beasts, you'll need a stick to defend yourself."

"I would say the same for you."

The two girls stared at each other, eyes frosty, lips stretched into calculating sneers. After a period of silence, the other girl chuckled.

"So, you noticed, huh?"

"If you can, why can't I?"

Xuma snorted and turned her gaze back to the girls outside the cage. Three defensively held sticks in front of them, while the remaining three scurried to the edge of the ring, as far away from the beasts as they could manage.

The Slave Trainers gave them a slight glance, before jogging out of the ring and throwing the chains in their hands.

With a thunderous roar, the lions turned and raced towards the girls.

Naila shook her head. "How stupid! Sticks…something so weak would not be able to stop those creatures. At this moment, our only chance might be this cage." Giving Xuma another glance, she reached out her hand and shut the iron cage.

"But since you're here, I guess you figured that out." She smirked. The weird look in her eyes grew stronger.

Xuma frowned and narrowed her eyes.

She couldn't shake off the feeling…that this girl was up to something.