Chapter 203: No One Leaves
Zane~
The moment Natalie and Jacob vanished before my eyes—just like Maeron had—it was like someone had tossed gasoline onto a bonfire.
The hall detonated into pure chaos.
Shrieks erupted like fireworks, piercing the air with raw panic. Somewhere in the madness, someone cried out, "She’s a witch!" — and that’s when the real witches in the room bristled. You could feel it — a sudden pulse of offended magic, quiet but furious. To them, being a witch wasn’t an insult. It was power. Legacy. Identity. And now people were flinging the word around like it was something dirty. As if calling Natalie a witch explained away the fear in the room. As if being a witch was something shameful.
A man nearby went stiff, then crumpled to the marble floor like a puppet with cut strings. Gasps rippled. A woman, wide-eyed and stumbling, backed into a tall statue — it crashed down behind her with a thunderclap, stone shattering on impact. Plates hit the floor like rain, glasses toppled, red wine crawling like blood across the white linen. Chairs scraped back in a wild chorus as people tripped over themselves, scrambling for the exits.
"She’s not even a wolf!" someone shouted from behind, their voice trembling like a struck bell. "Did you see that? That girl’s a witch!"
Another voice broke through the noise, raw with desperation: "We need to leave — now! Get out!"
I watched in stunned silence as panic tripled. Triple. Like people had been waiting for one more crack in reality to tear the room apart. And Natalie vanishing into thin air—without even a sound—was exactly that crack. They didn’t know her. Not like I did. Not the way I loved her.
I snapped out of my stupor as bodies surged toward the grand exit, elbowing and jostling each other. But before they could even reach the door—
"HALT!" boomed a commanding voice that silenced the hall like a whip crack.
I whipped my head around, heart hammering, just in time to see the palace guards move fast—blurs of muscle and steel closing off every single exit. They formed walls of bodies, shields drawn, spears and guns held in perfect discipline.