By the time we returned back from our date, Sly and Orm were waiting for us at the palace entrance
They told Lion that a huge number of the foreign visitors are waiting for his arrival despite them trying to resolve their issues to no avail as the pests kept demanding his presence.
Lion kissed me passionately despite hearing several voices yelling his name. With a snap from his fingers, the voices suddenly became quiet while he continued kissing me as if nothing happened.
Then he begrudgingly pulled back and kissed me on the forehead, apologizing that he had to end our date early because of the morons.
I chuckled while reassuring him that I had a great time with him and will be looking forward to our next date in which he looked overjoyed, bowing in front of me as he took my hand and kissed it, promising me that there will be no more interruptions on our next date.
After he left, Sly asked me if I want to go with him and Orm as they are taking a walk around the palace garden in which I eagerly said yes, much to their delight.
We had an animated conversation while walking around the garden that soon turned into comfortable silence when I tenderly held each of their hands, intertwining my fingers with theirs.
Both of them held my hand tightly yet gently as the three of us are humming in harmony with one of the songs that I usually sang when suddenly, we saw a huge crowd of creatures looking like the world is about to end at the courtyard that is located at the side of the palace.
Since the three of us are curious, Sly led the way as we slowly approached them.
Sly and Orm asked them all sorts of questions while I stood at a distance, noticing that some of the creatures that are holding all sorts of musical instruments, some of which are unfamiliar to me and the other creatures that looked like they are dancers seemed like they are at loss on what to do.
After a few moments, Sly and Orm came back and told me their dilemma.
It turns out that they are feeling pressured on what to present for tonight's banquet as my performance during the previous banquet made Leon raised his expectations towards them as he kept gently reminding them that he wants something fresh and new with their performance like what I did during my performance.
I can see their glares towards me in which I glared back while marching towards them with Sly and Orm trying to calm me down to no avail.
Their glares soon changed into looks of interest and enthusiasm as I told them my plans in helping them of their dilemma.
Then all of us, including Sly and Orm became busy as we have limited time to practice and prepare for tonight's banquet.
....
Lion looked confused on seeing me wearing a long coat while attending the banquet. He was even more baffled at seeing Orm and Sly fidgeting while murmuring all sorts of unintelligible words as they began sweating buckets.
Heh.
I don't blame them as they themselves have no idea on our presentation as I taught each of them individually on what to do, same with the musicians and the dancers.
I'm confident on their abilities.
When it was time for the performance to start, the rest of the pack along with Leon and Deus who sat with us, stared at me, Sly and Orm with curiousity in which I simply grinned at them, making Leon lit up as he suddenly got a feeling that tonight's performance will be very interesting since I'm on it.
I can hear the gasps of admiration and looks of fascination towards me as I removed my coat, showing the dress I designed and Orm's magic in making it.
I gave a nod towards the musicians in which they began to play their instruments.
Then Orm began to sing.
....
Earlier, I taught the musicians on what music to play as I was planning to have a presentation based on one of my favorite revived hit songs back in my previous world.
They aren't bad at all as they easily got the hang of the song I sang to them. They liked the song so much that they exceeded my expectations when they played the song with huge enthusiasm as the song has a fast tempo. They assured me that they can adjust the music tempo during the presentation as they will observe the movements of the dancers as well.
The dancers too aren't much trouble at all as after only two practices, they danced the same like the dancers in the hit song music video but even better since they added their own moves.
The dancers and the musicians thanked me happily for inspiring and helping them in which they promised me that they will make this performance extraordinary.
As for both Sly and Orm, I reassured them that they will do fine as well. Orm memorized the song easily but took quite a bit of time in practicing the tempo of the song though he managed to get it with a little help from one of the musicians who turned out to have a good talent in singing songs in all sorts of genre.
At the end, both of them will be singing, with Orm as the main while Hludwig, which is the name of the musician helping Orm, will be the backup singer and rapper.
Rap doesn't yet exist in this world so our presentation is definitely fresh for everybody.
I didn't show Sly my dance moves despite him nagging me that we should practice together. I just taught him his moves that he easily mastered as he kept on pleading until he stopped when I told him that it will be my surprise for him, making him looked thrilled, telling me that he will definitely look forward to it.
After Orm made my dress based on the design I told him, he began nibbling my ear much to Sly's annoyance that Sly began to nibble my other ear as well.
My patience finally snapped in which I squeezed both their cheeks in annoyance as I told them that I was about to give them kisses but they annoyed me so no kisses for now until after the performance.
They gave me grins in which they told me that they would definitely look forward to it.
The song that we are presentating was an extremely popular hit song back in my previous world that I kept watching on the internet despite not being the latest though numerous numbers of people kept watching it as it still has a lot of views regardless of being decades older.
It is a reggaeton-pop type of music, with tempo that start slow then becoming fast as the music progresses, with the dance itself a mixture of salsa and bachata with a lot of hip swaying, smooth and close partnered movements in which there's a lot of intensity and intimacy on its moves.
It is quite catchy and easy to dance to in which I'm confident that we will do well.
....
Sly soon understood why I told him earlier that my dance moves will be a surprise for him.
His look towards me while we were dancing is quite intense, giving me lingering gazes as he held me in which I stared at his mouth for a few seconds then slowly shift my focus from his mouth towards his eyes while giving him a coy smile.
Still, we continued with our dance though his touches are getting more intense as we soon became lost again in our own world, focusing on the music and our feelings towards each other.
As he embraced me behind my back while dancing in tune with the music, he whispered into my ear all his desire towards me, just like in the music video of the song that we are presenting.
It was a pleasant surprise for me that he acted like that because secretly, that was my favorite part of the music video.
....
After our performance ended, sounds of deafening cheers filled up the entire throne room with several female creatures screaming Sly, Orm and Hludwig's name, much to their embarrassment.
I chuckled at seeing them trying to keep a nonchalant face to no avail as some of the female creatures began offering themselves as their mates, turning the faces of the three much redder than before.
The musicians and the dancers crowded around me, thanking me profusely in which they pleaded that I will join them once in a while in future performances.
Of course I agreed though I reminded them that I can't join them as much as I want to as I have plenty of obligations, one of which will remind me before the banquet ends.
Since that day, it is quite common during any kind of event that they will perform it again until I taught them several new music and dance performances until they managed to make something out of their own creativity.
Still, our performance gave birth to several kinds of music which was popular back on earth but not yet discovered in this world.
Same with the dances too.
....
Like I said earlier, one of my obligations reminded me before the banquet ended.
I sat on Lion's lap as he embraced me tightly while talking to the rest of the pack, Leon and Deus when I saw out of the corner of my eye, Maelsa making his way towards us.
He's back.
And he doesn't look happy.
What's even more worse is that he didn't try to hide the fact that he wasn't happy at all.
I'm scared.
I need to get out of here.
Despite the fact that Maelsa is one of the creatures that I'm planning to investigate as I'm highly suspicious about him, panic began to fill my mind in which it was good timing that I heard Bubu calling out my name.
It's silly Bubu this time, not the serious one in which she immediately pulled me towards her playfully, snarling towards the others while I tried to reassure them, especially Lion that I'm fine and that Bubu and I will look around, despite the suspicious looks of everyone including Leon towards us.
In a flash, Bubu immediately ran outside the throne room with me on her back.
Once outside, Bubu kept running with no particular direction in mind, telling me that she's scared and that she took me with her as she saw the scary creature again.
She's scared of Maelsa?
She met Maelsa before?
Does she know him?
Suddenly, I can feel intense pain on my neck again, making me cry out in pain in which Bubu began to panic as she tried to remove the cuff from my neck, crying as well when she saw me crying from pain.
Her eyes deepened in color as she admitted that I smelled good though she doesn't want to eat me since I'm fun to be with.
Now THAT scared me more.
She's a predator yet she looked harmless.
You really shouldn't judge a creature by their appearance.
I told her to bring her pretty toys here, especially the golden haired one with different colored eyes in which she nodded enthusiastically, telling me that she understood.
She was about to go when several hooded creatures suddenly appeared, surrounding us in which I tried to distract them by biting my hand hard that blood began to flow.
I know that it was reckless of me to do that but it would be better for Lion to know the cause of my death than not knowing anything.
My impulsive action did manage to distract the hooded creatures in which I yelled at Bubu to run and get the pretty toys.
She instantly obeyed and ran much faster than the time she chased me all over the palace.
I can hear sounds of licking and low growling as I huddled on the floor while holding the cuff around my neck, trembling with fear and pain in which I silently prayed to the heavens that my death will be fast.
The pain around my neck intensified that soon sounds of growling began to get louder as well.
Then I felt the first bite.
....
I covered my face as much as I could but I couldn't manage to cover the rest of my body.
There's no point for me to cry out as it was too painful for me to even groan in pain.
I just lay there, watching the hooded creatures trying to fight among themselves as they each want to get a bigger share of the prey, which is me.
I can't move.
Thankfully, my extremities seemed intact though the appearance doesn't look good at all as it clearly shows that some creatures tried to consume me.
As for my neck, the sizzling sounds kept on going which I ignored as I'm starting to prefer the pain from my neck than the pain from the rest of my body right now.
Suddenly, a powerful fire blast struck the hooded creatures, burning their bodies with such intensity that despite the hooded creature's efforts on using magic to put it out, they can't as several deadly fireballs struck them again, making them yell in pain in voices that sounded too horrible for me to describe.
I can feel tears flowing from my eyes as I looked enviously at them, wishing that I could be burned as well as my body looks too horrible to looked at.
The nicer way to describe my body right now is that it looks partially consumed, though I can confirm that I still have complete extremities that are still attached to me.
Funny that the hooded creatures didn't yet die despite being burned alive though they couldn't move anymore while they kept yelling in pain in that horrible voices of theirs.
I can hear the sounds of the pack running towards me in which I can hear Lion yelling all sorts of unintelligible words towards the hooded creatures as a dark light came out of his hand that is facing towards one of the creatures, destroyed it by turning its body into ashes.
The rest of the pack attacked the other hooded creatures with madness except for Sly as he tried to heal me with his blood by giving it to me through his mouth as I'm too weak to suck his blood from his forearm.
He tenderly cradled me in his arms, speaking reassurances to me though he wasn't looking at me but towards the remaining hooded creatures. The look in his eyes are so terrible and awful for me to describe in words.
Lion is driven by temporary madness of vengeance as he did not destroy the remaining hooded creatures but continued to let them feel pain by engulfing them with fire with increasing intensity as Orm placed a restoration spell on them, preventing the hooded creatures from dying but made them experience intense pain again and again as the cycle kept repeating.
Alpha is currently consuming one of the hooded creatures despite it being alive as he ignored its horrible screams of pain, deliberately avoiding its vital organs as he made the creature wish for a quick death.
As for Ghost, he had a mad glee on his face as he kept smashing and pulverizing the extremities of some hooded creatures, telling the rest of the pack to not touch his prey as he is having some fun with them as hearing their tortured voices gave him enthusiasm to practice his brawling skills.
Sly yelled at the rest of the pack to save some prey for him in which Lion and Orm smiled at him cheerfully, assuring Sly that he can have his pick as they have several available for him to choose from.
Alpha asked for another prey from the others as he needs more extremities to consume as he already consumed the extremities of his prey, making Orm chuckle and perform a spell that restored the extremities of all his prey while Alpha began to lick his lips in anticipation then instantly devoured the hooded creatures' extremities again.
Despite being horrible to look at, I soon became bored watching them in which I realized that the intense pain on my neck hasn't yet disappeared even though I already consumed Sly's blood.
It seems like I'm also one of the hooded creatures being tortured as well.
I didn't say anything though Sly soon noticed that he began sniffing around my neck in which he immediately made me drink his blood again.
The cycle kept repeating for quite sometime, same with the fate of the hooded creatures.
Sly began to realize the pattern that he immediately gave a roar towards the rest of the pack, telling them what he noticed in which Lion used a spell to completely destroy all the hooded creatures while Sly held me tightly as I began to sob because of the intense, mind breaking pain from my neck.
Lion then took me from Sly, embracing me as he tried to give me his hand for me to bite which I refused.
Then suddenly, we heard someone laughing.
It turned out to be Maelsa, who was watching us from the shadows with amusement and delight on his face.