The King and Queen immediately swept Isla away from the chaotic main hall, frantically escorting her into the grand, quiet sanctuary of her bedchamber.
They gently laid her down upon the plush silk sheets, treating her as if she were made of the most fragile, precious glass, and immediately ordered the royal guards to summon the best physician in the kingdom.
Lucier sprinted into the room right behind them, his face deathly pale and his chest heaving with sheer, unfiltered panic.
He practically threw himself onto his knees beside her grand bed, his blue eyes wide with desperate concern.
"Isla!
Are you truly alright?
Please, tell me you aren't severely injured anywhere else!" he pleaded, frantically scanning her for any hidden wounds.
But as his worry began to settle, it was instantly replaced by a violent, blazing protective rage.
His hands balled into tight fists.
"I swear to the gods, I am absolutely not going to spare that arrogant son of a bitch!
I am going to hunt that bastard down and personally teach him exactly what happens when someone dares to lay their filthy hands on you!
He is going to pay an incredibly heavy, bloody price for this absolute disrespect!"
Isla let out a long, exhausted sigh, gently massaging the area just above her throbbing, swollen ankle.
'It physically pains me to admit this,' she thought begrudgingly, rolling her eyes at Lucier's dramatic, bloodthirsty declaration.
"Calm down, Lucier," Isla replied softly, her voice completely drained of its earlier fiery energy.
"I know perfectly well that obnoxious, yellow-eyed shrew speaks with nothing but bitter, venomous poison... but the undeniable, absolute truth of the matter is this: if he hadn't fearlessly stepped in and fought that monster today, I probably wouldn't even be alive right now."
Hearing those chilling, terrifying words, the King's face instantly lost all of its color.
He rushed forward, firmly but gently grasping his daughter's small hand in his own calloused ones.
"No, my precious child,"
the King choked out, his booming voice suddenly cracking with profound, overwhelming paternal terror.
"Please... do not ever let such dark, terrible words cross your lips again, not even by mistake!"
The King immediately dispatched a regiment of his finest, most heavily armed royal guards into the treacherous depths of the jungle to retrieve the beast's carcass, but upon their arrival at the clearing, they found absolutely nothing.
There was no massive, decapitated corpse, no dark pools of spilled blood, and absolutely no signs of a brutal, earth-shattering struggle; the pristine, undisturbed forest floor made it look as if the terrifying monster had never even existed.
When the bewildered guards returned to the palace and reported this deeply unsettling news, the King was left in a state of profound, paralyzed shock.
Never before had such a foul, dangerous beast dared to cross into the peaceful borders of his kingdom, and if a lethal, bloody battle had truly taken place there, there should have been at least a single drop of evidence left behind.
'Could there actually be absolute truth in Isla's furious, emotional accusations?' the King pondered, his mind racing with dark, terrifying suspicions.
'Did that arrogant, yellow-eyed swordsman Kavien secretly orchestrate this entire horrific ordeal just to stage a rescue and play the grand hero?
Or... is it something far worse?
Is there a massive, sinister conspiracy silently brewing in the shadows, directly targeting my daughter's life?'
His hands clenched into tight, trembling fists.
"If her life is truly in danger, then the time has finally come to summon him," the King muttered, his jaw set with an unwavering, dangerous resolve.
"Yes, this is the absolute right moment."
The Queen, who had been listening nearby, looked at him with wide, fearful eyes.
"Summon who, my King?"
He didn't look back as he marched decisively out of the grand hall, leaving her with only a cryptic, heavy whisper: "The one who is truly right for this."
Meanwhile, Isla was resting quietly in her grand bedchamber, her mind relentlessly replaying the terrifying, chaotic events of the afternoon.
A cold, suffocating wave of fear washed over her as she reached a brutal, undeniable realization: without her magical ring, she was absolutely powerless, nothing more than a fragile, ordinary girl entirely incapable of defending herself.
'If Kavien hadn't miraculously arrived exactly when he did, I would undoubtedly be dead right now,' she thought, pulling the heavy silk sheets closer to her chest as a shiver ran down her spine.
'There will inevitably be far worse dangers and terrifying obstacles ahead as I execute my ruthless revenge against those four wicked husbands... but am I slowly starting to forget my grand revenge entirely?
Am I letting my guard down just because they are currently children?
Is showing them mercy truly the right path for me to take?'
Her heavy, conflicting thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the soft creak of the heavy oak door opening, revealing the King standing gently at the threshold.
"Isla?" he called out softly.
"Dad? You are here?" she asked, pushing herself up slightly against the pillows.
"May I come in, my dear?" he asked politely, his face lined with deep exhaustion.
"Yes, Dad, of course, please come in."
He walked over slowly and sat on the edge of her massive bed, his eyes scanning her pale, conflicted face.
"What is wrong, my sweet Princess?
You look incredibly troubled and lost in thought today."
Isla looked down at her small hands, her voice trembling slightly.
"Actually, Dad... everything that happened in the forest today has left me feeling a little shaken and terrified."
"Why didn't you use your incredible magic to obliterate the beast instantly?" the King asked, his tone shifting into one of serious, intense parental concern.
"Actually, Dad, I was fully prepared to cast a devastating spell right then and there," Isla explained, biting her bottom lip in sheer, overwhelming embarrassment.
"But right as I confidently raised my hand, my eyes fell on my finger, and I realized it was completely bare; my magic ring had somehow slipped off and gotten lost back at the academy grounds... so without it, I couldn't do absolutely anything."
The King fell completely silent for a long, heavy moment, his gaze growing incredibly deep, sorrowful, and profound.
"Isla," he finally spoke, his booming voice dropping to a soft register that carried the immense, crushing weight of their kingdom's entire ancient legacy.
"You know exactly why you were born into this world, do you not?"
Isla swallowed hard, her bright blue eyes meeting his unwavering, intense gaze.
"Yes, Dad. I know."