23. Endless Forest

The royal family was dragged away with some of them cursing the Huang family while others were desperately crying out for mercy but none was to be found.

The following day, an announcement was heard all over the city claiming traitors to the throne had been captured the previous night and were to be executed at high noon.

No one was invited to witness the bloody affair but humans just have the kind of minds that want to see these kinds of things. At the announced time, people flocked to the city centre in waves leaving no space unoccupied. At the centre of the gathering, there was an execution stage on which tall muscular men whose faces were covered by black bags stood with their chests out in the open. They only wore black trousers and large black boots. These men held large pangas that seemed to absorb all the light that fell on them. Just by looking at these pangas, one would feel as though they had been cut.

The royal family was dragged onto the stage leaving the crowd silent. They had all assumed that the Huang family were the prisoners and the royal family the executioners. This scene sent the crowd into a clamour.

An elder from the Huang family stepped onto the stage. He cleared his throat loudly making the crowd go silent. In a practised manner, he proceeded to read out the crimes committed by the royal family while producing evidence and witnesses for each crime. To make matters worse, each crime seemed to be worse than the previous. By the time the elder was done, the entire crowd was clamouring for the deaths of the royal family while praising the Huang family for doing heaven's work and cleaning up the world.

The elder was pleased by this outcome for he knew that he had accomplished his work in the best way possible. For any new ruler, especially one who takes over using force, it is a very good idea to bring the masses over to your side by tarnishing the name of the previous ruler as much as possible. Of course, this is not a problem for new rulers who are powerful enough to rule by force and do not care about how many people they have to kill in rebellions and riots. The Huang family knew this and carried out their plans so that the people were on their side from day one.

As the executions were going on, the white wolf was with the young miss in the royal palace that was already being heavily renovated.

"I know that it is time for you to go and no matter what I say today, you will still leave me behind. You have chosen the path of vengeance but the little I know of this path is that it usually does not end well at all. Even if one can get their vengeance in most cases, they feel no satisfaction whatsoever rendering their life goal meaningless. The loss of purpose leads them to do some stupid things or even turn into the very thing they hate. If you can one day achieve your vengeance, remember that I will always be on your side no matter what you become. When you are done, please come back to me, not as a pet or tamed beast but as my best friend ."Huang Biren said all this while on her knees looking into the wolf's yellow eyes. The wolf had wet eyes and the two simply looked into each other's eyes for a few minutes.

Instantly, the wolf disappeared leaving only a white envelope in front of the young miss who was already in tears.

For days, the wolf ran towards the forest it had once called home. The place where its pack came to an end leaving all who left the forest with shattered minds.

The wolf reached the edges of the forest and before it entered this place where the weak were surely lunch and the strong may become supper, it stood there and analyzed its decisions up to this point. With its eyes closed, the white wolf strengthened its resolve before dashing off into the Endless Forest.