* * *
“Huff, huff.”
As I reached the entrance of the domain, a golden wave shimmered and the barrier opened.
My lungs ached as if they were tearing into pieces, but I didn’t stop running; if I delayed and he died, it would truly be irreversible.
“Locke! Can you hear me? Where are you! If you can hear me, answer me!”
Worried that my voice might be drowned out by the rain, I swung the luminous stone lamp back and forth.
Shwaaaaa—
The surroundings were eerily quiet, as if even the mountain beasts had gone into hiding from the torrential downpour.
The silence soon turned into terror.
In both of my lives, this was the first time I had ever stepped foot inside the Allure Domain.
Perhaps that was why I was so frightened.
I started muttering to myself to ward off the fear.
“Damn it, I can’t see a thing because of the rain! Why aren’t you near the barrier? Where on earth are you hiding! Locke!”
My toe caught on something and I stumbled.
Had a tree root been exposed by the rainwater?
I rubbed my eyes hard with the back of my hand to wipe away the streaming water.
As I held my breath and tried to focus my vision, I screamed immediately.
A figure wrapped in a robe was lying face down—it was definitely a person.
“Ugh, aah!”
Terrified, I didn’t even have time to turn around; I simply backed away until I tripped over a tree root and fell.
My fingertips went numb, and my heart felt chilled.
I wanted to run away right then, but I had to check who it was.
“Ro… Locke? Locke, is that you?”
I was scared and trembling, but if he was still breathing, I had to hurry and provide first aid.
Swallowing hard, I slowly approached the body.
From a distance, I extended my arm and shook the body a few times.
Then, the body rolled over, and the hood covering the face fell back.
The man, lying dead with the whites of his eyes showing, was a guard from the mansion.
“Ugh, holy shit!”
I was so shocked that a curse from my life before last slipped out.
‘Please, please let me live.’
I prayed to the heavens and then slowly examined the knight’s condition.
Not only were his eyes rolled back, but his chest showed no movement, and his complexion was unnaturally pale.
It was clear he was dead without even checking for a pulse.
The likely cause of death was a wound in his left abdomen.
It was considerably deep.
Judging by the lack of gushing blood, he appeared to have been dead for quite a while.
“Urgh.”
Looking at the wound made my stomach churn with nausea.
But I couldn’t just pass by because I saw something embedded deep inside.
I wondered if it might be evidence of a murder.
Eventually, I had no choice but to reach in.
At that moment, something black began to slowly ooze from the corpse’s mouth.
Oh, please, God!
Even in a world with monsters, am I really seeing a soul escaping?
I grabbed the hard, sharp object I felt and scrambled away from the body.
As I did, I bumped into something behind me.
It didn’t feel like a tree; when I fumbled with my palm, I felt something damp and moist.
It was hard and heavy. It was definitely not human skin.
Moreover, there was a pungent, musky smell.
I remembered the servants mentioning this.
They said that when washing the monsters Cassian kept, there was a pungent, musky odor.
They said if they didn’t wash them until that specific scent was gone, they’d face a terrible scolding.
Goosebumps erupted from my fingertips and traveled up my spine to the top of my head.
‘Don’t be afraid. No need to panic. What’s a monster? Even the soft-hearted Aiden can hunt them just fine.’
Right, there’s no reason I can’t do it.
The more urgent the situation, the calmer I had to be.
I bit my lower lip, gripping the hilt of the dagger Aiden had given me.
I felt a cold breath on the back of my neck.
Grrr, the growl of a beast scraping its throat echoed near my ear.
At this distance, I would surely hit it if I swung my arm.
Naturally, power varied wildly depending on the grade of the mana stone.
Since it was a gift from Aiden, it had to be high-grade.
I gritted my teeth and swung the blade with all my might toward the thing touching my shoulder.
Squeaaak!
Struck by the mana stone’s power, the massive beast staggered and pulled away as if in pain.
It worked. In that brief moment, I caught a glimpse of its form: a bizarre creature with a wolf-sized head and horns.
I hurried to put distance between us.
Even a moment of feeling fear was a luxury now.
If I don’t run now, I’ll die much faster than in my previous life.
That would be so unfair.
Repeating that to myself, I ran toward the barrier that monsters could never cross.
“Huff, huff!”
As I ran with all my strength, I began to see the entrance of the forest where the barrier had opened.
I didn’t let go of the thread of hope and sped up even more.
Snort, huff.
Thud!
But unfortunately, the difference in speed between me and the creature was like heaven and earth.
The monster, shaking its head fiercely, caught up to me in a single leap.
It broked the way to the barrier to keep me from escaping and pinned me down by pressing its massive front paw onto my shoulder.
“Aaack!”
As I lay flat on my back, the beast—stepping on both of my shoulders—opened its maw wide enough to easily fit a human head.
Damp fluid dripping from its teeth fell onto my cheek.
‘I can’t die like this! It’s too unfair!’
I clenched my jaw. I gripped the sword again, intending to make one last desperate struggle.
Just as I was about to plunge it into the creature’s glistening eye—
Slash!
The monster exploded into hundreds of pieces right before my eyes.
Patter.
Shards and blood splattered everywhere.
Fortunately, the blood that ran down my face was soon washed away by the rain.
…My God. I had no idea the mana in the sword Aiden gave me was this powerful!
I was so shocked that I sat there blinking, catching my breath as it felt like my lungs would burst.
Just as my field of vision cleared from where the wolf had been blocking it, something seemed to shimmer in front of me.
It might have been an illusion because it was dark and the rain was heavy.
But another monster might have smelled the blood, so I didn’t let down my guard and gripped the sword hilt tightly.
“Locke? If it’s you, answer me. If you don’t, I’m swinging the sword right now.”
“Why on earth…”
Through the sound of the rain fiercely beating the earth, a pleasant, low-pitched voice spoke.
In an instant, the strength left my body, and my trembling legs gave way.
An unknown emotion welled up from deep within my chest, and the terror that had been tormenting me just a moment ago vanished completely.
“Locke! Is it really you?”
I had reached my limit.
Smiling at the dark silhouette and blinking my rain-soaked eyes, I no longer had any strength left and collapsed.
A moment later, a pair of old shoes approached with slow, steady steps and stopped in front of me.
I was held fast, buried against a broad shoulder as an arm wrapped around me.
Due to the dark surroundings, my sensitive ears picked up the sound of the rain and the intermittent howling of monsters.
Was it because the person holding me was so warm?
Even though he was just a servant with no special abilities, strangely, I wasn’t scared at all.
“I never imagined someone would step into a monster’s domain on a rainy day while leaking pheromones everywhere. It’s nothing short of a suicide mission.”
I couldn’t help but flinch at the refined voice.
I looked up and thought I could see a faintly distorted expression.
“Phero… mones?”
When I asked back, his cold, amber eyes turned toward me silently.
Pheromones.
That was impossible.
It wasn’t time for me to manifest yet.
Since waking up in Cedric’s body, I had encountered many strange things, but nothing was as bewildering as manifestation.
And there was no way I would mistake the timing of my own manifestation.
I was about to tell him he was mistaken, that it must be the scent of bath oil.
Suddenly, my vision swam.
I hurriedly pushed Locke away.
Then, leaning against the damp earth, I gagged.
It was one of the signs of manifestation pain.
That can’t be right.
I froze, staring blankly at the ground.
With a frustrated sigh, Locke reached out his arm.
Even though I knew it was to support me, the sight of Locke’s hand—the one that held a sword—triggered a trauma.
I curled my body into a ball, wary of his hand.
“Honestly, I don’t know what you’re trying to do.”
Looking at me as if I were an insignificant creature, he hid the hand that had been reaching for me behind his back and muttered, “How bothersome.”
Then, he casually tucked a sword into his belt and lifted me up with one arm.
Crackle, crackle.
I heard the sound of logs burning.
I could also smell damp moss.
Realizing I wasn’t at the mansion, I slowly opened my eyes.
The shadows of jagged rock walls flickered in the firelight.
It was Locke.
He was sitting a short distance away, tossing split pieces of wood into the fire.
I had lost consciousness while my arm was around his neck, being carried almost as if I were floating.
It seemed he had brought me to a cave in the mountains to escape the rain.
‘He didn’t abandon me!’
The Locke I knew would have found it too bothersome to care whether I lived or died; he would have used me as a barrier key and tossed me aside.
As I thought, the man in this life was different from the one in my previous life.
My suspicion that his harsh and violent nature had hardened after the war for the throne became clearer.
‘But why did he come here? Does the barrier not open if I’m unconscious?’
I wondered why Locke had brought me to a cave instead of the mansion.
But I was even more curious as to why he hadn’t abandoned me in the rain.
I sat up slowly, feeling disheveled.
“Did you bring me here?”
He didn’t answer.
Because of that, the atmosphere became a bit awkward.
I hesitated, but since I had so many questions, I spoke again.
“You must have found me a burden, so thank you for not abandoning me and bringing me here. If it weren’t for you, I would have died of hypothermia in the rain. But why did you come here? Did the barrier not open because I was unconscious?”
Locke glanced at me.
* * *
