The Mad Dog Who Was Meant to Devour Me Broke My Collar at the Execution Block

Chapter 1: The Guillotine's Cold Rain and Hungry Chains

Torrential rain mercilessly soaked the pure white dress, stained with mud and blood, plastering her translucent silver hair to her skin. Cold raindrops traced her collarbone, disappearing into the heavy iron shackles.

Leohnhardt von August, his luxurious gold-embroidered military uniform drenched by the rain, looked down at her, a twisted sneer on his lips. "Are your tiresome excuses finally over, Eleonora, the villainess of our age! I shall offer the moment your head falls as a spectacle for the people!" Though choked by the iron collar around her throat, Eleonora von Weissheit narrowed her sapphire eyes. The sharp edge of her gaze did not waver in the slightest.

"I have never offered an excuse, incompetent Highness. Can a pig who devours the laws I created and the nation's treasury truly gauge the worth of my neck?" Her voice, filled with dry contempt, cut through the rain and echoed across the execution grounds. Leohnhardt, his skin flushed crimson with rage, gripped the hilt of his saber until it creaked, and then jerked his chin towards the large man on the platform.

"You dare to mock me even now! Executioner! Strike off her insolent head at once!" he screamed. At the center of the execution block, the large man gripping the massive guillotine blade roughly tore off his black cloth hood. Beneath his wet, jet-black short hair, hungry, beast-like golden eyes were revealed.

*That man... the Crown Prince's body double, and the Imperial City's assassin, Gilbert...*

The man's blade flashed. What its tip sliced was not the wooden post. It was the carotid artery of a guard, who was supposed to protect the Crown Prince's throat. With a dull thud of flesh being severed, fresh blood spurted, and the execution block was engulfed in a maelstrom of screams. The blood mist mingled with the rain, filling the air with the lukewarm scent of iron.

"Wh-what madness is this, executioner! You're killing the wrong person!" Leohnhardt von August stammered, trembling in fear.

"Huh? Don't whine in my ear, you small fry. I never had ears that would move at your command to begin with," Gilbert snarled, his voice crazed. His leather attire creaking, splattered with blood, Gilbert kicked up the mud on the execution block and knelt before Eleonora. His gaze, appraising his prey, lingered on her silver hair.

His blood-stained, rugged fingertips roughly pulled at the cold iron collar constricting her slender throat.

"I've been looking for you, my owner. ...Only my teeth in this entire world are allowed to take your head," Gilbert whispered, a thrill in his voice. The collar pressed against her windpipe, choking her. A shiver of suffocating pain ran down her spine, and Eleonora let out a hot breath. Her skin prickled, and her heart pounded against her ribs.

"...If you wish to make me submit, then stop my breath first, stray dog," Eleonora von Weissheit whispered back, a hint of excitement in her tone.

"Heh, I'll kill you. But before that... I'll devour you whole," Gilbert replied, his voice laced with madness. With brute force, he tore the iron shackle apart. Sparks flew, and shattered pieces of iron bounced across the cobblestones. Gilbert slammed a black smoke magic bomb, pulled from his pocket, onto the ground at his feet. Amidst the rising black smoke and confusion, he roughly lifted her slender waist.

Chapter 2: The Ruined Cathedral, a Contract of Bites

Pale moonlight streamed through the shattered stained-glass windows, filling the air with the scent of dust and blood. In the depths of the desolate chapel, Eleonora's back was roughly slammed against the cold stone wall of the altar, and she brushed back her disheveled silver hair.

"What is the meaning of this, stray dog? Abandoning your mission to kill me and carrying me away—His Highness will never forgive you," Eleonora von Weissheit said calmly.

"His Highness? I never cared about that bastard's orders to begin with," Gilbert retorted, his voice angry. Gilbert's thick chest pressed against her, completely blocking any escape. His rugged, large hand tightened around Eleonora's slender throat.

Her windpipe narrowed, and a fierce pulse hammered against her skull. Blood rushed loudly in her ears. Her lungs convulsed, gasping for oxygen, and the sapphire eyes, usually hidden behind a cold mask, became moist with an irresistible heat.

"I just wanted that cold, death-seeking expression you showed on the execution block... to be mine alone," Gilbert whispered, his voice excited.

"Mmm... Fufu, then you should just kill me here. Don't touch me... when you don't even have the resolve to devour me whole!" Eleonora von Weissheit whispered back, her own excitement barely contained.

"You said it, you bitch," Gilbert growled, his voice crazed. His exposed fangs sank deep into her defenseless white nape.

"Aah...!" A poignant, sweet cry escaped Eleonora's lips, and crimson blood welled up on her porcelain-like skin. The man's tongue relentlessly probed the wound, greedily savoring the lukewarm taste of iron.

"Does it hurt? Do you feel like you're dying? This is the taste of survival, Eleonora. Your body, your life—I'll devour it all," Gilbert whispered, a strange affection in his tone. At the scorching sensation of the bite mark being licked, Eleonora dug her nails into the man's jet-black hair and whispered in ecstasy. Her fingertips dug into his scalp, her breathing ragged.

"Yes, good... Burn everything in the Empire to ashes, then finally, devour me whole..." Eleonora von Weissheit whispered, her voice filled with a dark love.

BANG! The heavy cathedral doors were kicked open. The shattered hinges clanged with a jarring metallic sound, brutally trampling the night's silence.

"That's enough, you traitors!" Leohnhardt von August screamed, enraged.

Chapter 3: The Reversal of Judgment, a Crown Stained with Mud

With dozens of private soldiers behind him, Leohnhardt drew his sword and screamed. The reddish-black light of torches starkly illuminated the two figures standing on the altar.

"I've found you, harlot! Did you think you could escape by coupling with a lowly assassin!" Leohnhardt von August bellowed. With crimson blood still seeping from her neck, Eleonora looked down coldly from atop the broken altar. She gracefully smoothed her disheveled silver hair, showing not a hint of disturbance.

"Pitiful Highness. By gathering your forces here, are you unaware of what has become of the Imperial City Palace's treasury and military, now left vulnerable?" Eleonora von Weissheit asked calmly.

"Wh-what are you talking about!?" Leohnhardt von August exclaimed, surprised.

"I made arrangements before I ascended the execution block. The Northern Noble Alliance and the underworld guilds should be scattering evidence of your corruption and treason across the world, and by now, the bells of a coup d'état must be ringing," Eleonora von Weissheit stated, utterly composed.

"Im-impossible... Such a thing, by your hand alone...!" Leohnhardt von August stammered, trembling in despair.

"Enough chatter, you pig," Gilbert growled, his voice crazed. A shadow darted. Leaving no sound of boots on the cobblestones, a jet-black blade flashed. Gilbert's vicious blade instantly sliced through the private soldiers' carotid arteries, staining the corridor crimson with blood spray. Without a moment's pause, the man's sharp kick mercilessly shattered the back of Leohnhardt's knee. The dull crunch of bone echoed through the hall.

"Gyaaaah! My leg, my leg!" Leohnhardt von August screamed in terror. Gilbert's mud-stained boot mercilessly stomped on the back of the Crown Prince's head, who was groveling on the floor. The sickening sound of a breaking nose mingled with it.

"Hey, hey, who are you pointing your sword at? My owner isn't a woman a pig like you gets to touch," Gilbert said angrily.

"P-please, Eleonora! I was wrong, I'll make you my empress! The Empire is yours, just spare my life!" Leohnhardt von August pleaded, trembling in terror. Eleonora cast an icy gaze down upon the man slurping muddy water. Her sapphire eyes, devoid of a single drop of mercy, froze the Crown Prince's despair.

"Gilbert. The pig's squealing is grating on my ears. Cut out that filthy tongue so he can never call my name again," Eleonora von Weissheit commanded calmly.

"As you command, my cruel villainess," Gilbert replied, his voice crazed. The sound of a blade tearing flesh and a muffled scream melted into the darkness of the burning cathedral.

Chapter 4: Two Monsters Blooming in the Scorched Earth

The spire of the northern fortress. A cold night wind swept through, and the Imperial City spread out below, engulfed in crimson flames. The crumbling debris of the royal palace, the distant cries of fleeing citizens, echoed like a rumble from the earth.

Behind Eleonora, her luxurious black and silver dress fluttering, an arm reeking of blood reached out. Gilbert forcefully pulled her slender waist closer, his hot tongue tracing the bite mark on her exposed neck.

"We destroyed everything, Eleonora. Are you satisfied now? Or shall we turn the whole world to ash next?" Gilbert whispered, a possessive love in his voice.

"Yes, I'm satisfied. ...But my heart is still so hungry," Eleonora von Weissheit whispered back, her voice equally loving. Gilbert's hard palm once again enveloped her white throat, applying pressure that brought her to the brink of suffocation. Pain and pleasure mingled, and a hot current surged down her spine.

Her vision flickered with the struggle for breath, and Eleonora's sapphire eyes took on a melting heat. Their breaths mingled, scorching the last vestiges of reason.

"Tell me, Gilbert... you promised to tame me, didn't you? Love me to the point of breaking again tonight... and never leave me alone to die," Eleonora von Weissheit whispered, her voice excited and demanding.

"You don't have to tell me, I'll love you to the bone. When you die... it'll be inside my stomach," Gilbert whispered back, his voice crazed and utterly devoted. Breaths escaped their lips, overlapping as if in a struggle, dissolving white into the cold night air. The taste of iron, overflowing from their entwined tongues, carved their contract even deeper. Illuminated by the light of the burning empire, the two shadows, clutching each other's throats, simply fell deeper into the abyss of the night.