CHAPTER 503: EATEN? NO, CRUSHED TO DEATH!

Lola was used to seeing Izu and his team training. They often trained even back in Novera. It was the reason they got that kind of punishment before. So even when she saw them training here, even more intensively, she wasn’t surprised.

But tonight, something was off.

Lola quietly approached Izu, studying him from head to toe.

Izu wrestled with the dummy, and once he was on top, he punched its head repeatedly. Every jab was stronger than the last until its neck almost snapped.

"Hah!" he exhaled sharply as he threw one final punch, eyes burning, teeth clenched. His head was still filled with the mockery he endured earlier, and he vented it all on the dummy.

But his anger quickly subsided the moment he noticed a figure from the corner of his eye. Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned, and flinched when he saw Lola.

"Izu?" she called gently, tilting her head to the side. "Something... wrong?"

"Madam." He scrambled to his feet immediately, lowering his head before subtly checking if Atlas was nearby.

Seeing his reaction, she smiled. "Atlas is inside," she said warmly. "I was looking for the twins."

"Oh." He snapped his eyes back to her. "About the Young Master and the Young Miss—they were in the greenhouse with Haji and Sir Slater."

"The greenhouse, huh?" she hummed, rocking her head. "I see."

But Lola didn’t leave. Instead, she smiled and clasped her hands behind her back, walking playfully toward him with her upper body tilted to the side.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a soft smile. "You seem upset."

Izu pressed his lips into a tight line. "I am alright, Madam. Just a little tired from training."

"If that dummy were a person, I’d say it’s overkill," she quipped. "Look at its neck."

He glanced at the training dummy, only now realizing how completely he had wrecked it. He shifted his attention back to her and let out a quiet sigh.

"I was just training," he said simply. "I’ll have another round of running with the team. I’ll excuse myself first."

With that, Izu walked away after giving her a short bow. Lola watched him leave with her arms crossed under her chest.

"Something is bothering him," she murmured, pouting a little. "I wonder why people’s moods have been odd lately."

Earlier, it was Slater whose mood was off. Now, it was Izu. But clearly, Izu was keeping something from her, which she understood.

Since Lola was already used to Izu, Atlas had given him and his team the special task of looking after her temporarily. For Atlas, Lola would adjust better if she were surrounded by familiar people.

She understood him because when Atlas arrived here, everything had been new to him.

If not for Allen, he wouldn’t have known anyone in this foreign place far from home.

In the middle of her thoughts, Lola suddenly heard Chacha yelling from a distance.

"Mommy~!"

Lola turned toward the direction instinctively, only to see a huge black creature sprinting straight at her.

"Huh?" Her brows knitted as it barreled toward her. After a beat, her breath hitched as she caught sight of a pair of golden eyes glinting in the dark.

A black panther.

"Shit," she breathed, her mind screaming at her to run and hide, but her body wouldn’t move.

Lola stood frozen, as if vines had sprouted from the ground and wrapped around her legs, pinning her in place. She held her breath, staring at the creature charging toward her at an incredible speed.

After trying to survive all these years, she thought. Am I just going to die here?

Where did this thing even come from?

Although her feet stayed rooted, her mind ran faster than a racing car. A flood of questions surged through her—how a panther got here, why it was on the premises, and what in the world was happening.

But all her thoughts stopped when the black panther leaped over her.

"!!!!"

Lola’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as the massive panther’s shadow swallowed her whole.

Holding her breath, she watched it soar above her in slow motion. Her mouth fell open at the sight of a gigantic black beast clearing a grown woman like she was a tiny barricade.

Holy... shit...

A loud thud echoed as the panther landed several meters behind her. Even so, Lola remained unmoving, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her. When she finally recovered, she slowly turned around.

The first thing she saw was the panther’s rear, standing over someone. And then, a pair of black shoes facing her.

Deep lines formed between her brows as adrenaline surged through her veins. She hadn’t even seen who the panther had attacked, but in her heart, she already knew.

"Atlas!" she screamed, ready to jump the panther, only to remember she’d be its next meal if she tried that.

Scanning the area desperately, her eyes landed on the broken training dummy. She grabbed it, spun toward the panther, clenched her teeth, and yelled:

"HEY!!"

When that didn’t work, she hurled the broken dummy at the panther’s rear.

The dummy hit the panther’s back pathetically, but it did stop. Lola flinched hard, her heart racing and her subconscious screaming:

Stupid.

Oh no, oh no!

Lola mentally panicked, taking a careful step back. Her complexion had already paled, and her entire body froze when the black panther turned to look at her. It licked its sharp canine, eyes glowing like she was fresh meat.

But before she could launch into a doomed battle to save her husband, the supposed meal of the predator tilted his head and peeked at her. He was lying underneath the panther like a dead luncheon, expression deadpan as always.

"What are you doing?" he asked, voice cool and toneless, snapping Lola back to reality.

"Huh?" she blurted, only to earn an equally calm, "Hmm?" from him.

"You’re... you’re alive?" she stuttered, watching Atlas blink slowly. Her gaze drifted back to the panther, and the moment their eyes met, Lola instinctively turned and ran.

At the same time, the black panther jumped off Atlas and sprinted after her. It took less than five seconds to catch up, pouncing on Lola. She fell forward with a small shriek.

"Ack—!" she yelped, but instead of mauling her, the giant black cat simply sat on top of her. "Ah—!"

Lola choked, staring back at the panther in horror.

The hell?! she mentally screamed. What is wrong with this panther? It isn’t gnawing me to death—it’s crushing me to death!

Just when Lola thought it couldn’t get any worse, a small white cat strolled around her. She paused and looked up, watching the cat’s tail swing left and right. Then, with effortless grace, the cat hopped up and sat right on top of her head.