* * *
If he really wanted to escape clean, he should’ve run off the moment he got the chance.
But since things had turned out like this, he’d have to make his move before the banquet.
“Here, take this.”
Eren slipped another artifact—one he had hidden away—onto Cain’s least-injured finger.
All the rings looked exactly the same, like they were custom ordered in bulk.
“What is this?”
“It’s an artifact with teleportation magic.”
“Why would you give me something so valuable…? You should keep it, Count—”
“I have another one.”
Eren showed him the second ring with a casual flick of his hand, stopping Cain from taking it off.
Good thing he hadn’t returned it last time and had kept it hidden.
Honestly, he’d been planning to use it to sneak away…
‘Why does this keep pricking my conscience!?’
“But still…”
Ugh. Should he just take it back?
Eren stared at the artifact with obvious regret in his eyes.
Cain, who’d been insisting he was fine, suddenly fell silent.
“…”
He looked between the ring and Eren, then quickly hid his hand behind his back.
“Well, if you’re offering, I’ll gladly accept it, Count.”
He wasn’t actually grateful—and that was probably disrespectful—but for some reason, Eren seemed like the type to take it back at any moment.
So Cain blurted out a thank-you before anything could change.
‘…Tch.’
Maybe he noticed Eren’s unfiltered gaze, because Cain bowed his head and quickly walked off.
Eren sighed, mildly regretting giving something away when he could barely take care of himself.
Night had fallen, draping the battlefield in shadows.
Eren’s face showed clear signs of exhaustion—not so much from the hours of strategy meetings, but from all the crazy stares he kept getting.
Especially from one of today’s arrivals—Carlyle, the story’s main character, and…
“You look tired, Eren.”
Yeah. Him.
Julius Renan. One of the original novel’s sub-leads.
Eren had spent way too much energy brushing off that guy’s hand from his waist—multiple times.
Eren shot him a glare.
“Thanks to you.”
“Mmm, now that hurts a little. I just thought you were about to topple over, so I wanted to catch you.”
He talks like he’s innocent…!
Eren had been sitting just fine.
Julius smiled slyly at Eren’s kitten-like scowl, his lips quirking up in amusement.
Before Eren could realize it, Julius had sidled right up next to him again, wrapping an arm around his waist like it was the most natural thing in the world.
He bent down, whispering softly in his ear.
“Sleeping alone can be dangerous. Why not spend the night in my tent?”
Eren frowned, shoving his palm against Julius’s forehead to push him away.
‘Dangerous, my ass. YOU’RE the danger!’
Between Carlyle, who gave off dangerous vibes, and Julius, who was all honeyed words and secret moves, the one to really keep an eye on was definitely the latter.
The guy was smooth, seductive, and far too aware of how attractive he was.
“I decline, Marquis Renan.”
“Oh dear. I never expected to be turned down. So cold… I’m wounded.”
Julius looked genuinely hurt, his eyes drooping.
Tears welled up in his green eyes, making him look like a retriever who’d been kicked out of his owner’s lap.
‘Trying to seduce me, are we?’
Eren, who knew all about Julius’s tactics, wasn’t fooled in the slightest.
He pushed him away again with his short arms, straining with effort—but Julius didn’t budge.
Eventually, Julius sighed and pretended to be defeated, backing off with exaggerated reluctance.
Eren gave him a fierce glare and stormed off to his own tent, huffing.
He could be heard checking and double-checking the locks, making Julius chuckle low in his throat.
“Pfft, ahahaha! Where did that tiny kitten even come from?”
His laughter echoed far and wide, but just as quickly as it had come, it vanished.
His face, once filled with mirth, went blank.
A strange glint shimmered in his emerald eyes.
“You look cute when you’re feisty. I suppose I’ll let you go for tonight.”
He turned and walked to his own tent—but never took his eyes off Eren’s.
“I can’t sleep! What if someone barges in?!”
It was like the world itself wanted to remind him that this was a dark fantasy novel.
Every time he tried to sleep, he’d recall the deranged stares from those crazy male leads.
Eren looked down at his body with a sigh.
Slender limbs, a petite frame.
His skin was so pale it looked almost like white jade.
He glanced at the mirror and saw his reflection—his soft silver hair gleamed like silk, and his sapphire eyes sparkled brightly.
His lashes were so long that when he closed his eyes, they brushed against his cheeks.
And those pink lips…
He stared in a daze, almost narcissistically.
His original body hadn’t been bad, but this one?
This one was another level.
His large eyes, sharp nose—it was all perfectly symmetrical.
‘No wonder everyone’s going crazy.’
He was still zoning out at the mirror when he heard it.
A soft clinking sound from the locked door.
‘Click. Click—’
No doubt about it.
Someone was trying to force the lock open.
‘I—I knew it!!’
Panicked, Eren plastered himself against the wall on the opposite side of the entrance.
At this hour, there were only two people reckless enough to barge in like that.
Carlyle Firentium and Julius Renan.
Either one was dangerous in his own right.
Eren’s face went pale as he frantically looked around.
‘Where—where did I put it?!’
His fingers were so thin that he felt he might drop the artifact if he kept it on, so it was a mistake to take it off for just a moment.
The artifact was sitting on the desk just as he had left it earlier, but it was not visible to Eren’s panicked eyes.
“Ah…!”
Just as he rushed to find the ring on the desk,
Clink-
The sound of metal striking metal echoed as the tent’s door flung open.
Upon seeing the man emerging from the darkness, Eren’s eyes widened in surprise.
As Eren confirmed the identity of the man who had entered the tent, his eyes trembled like a leaf in the wind.
“What… is this…?”
Flustered, he quickly took a step back, distancing himself from the man.
“Who are you…?”
The man before him was neither of the two people Eren had expected.
With his fiery red hair, almost glowing in the darkness, and golden eyes that gleamed like a wild animal’s, the man looked nothing like anyone Eren had anticipated.
He was…
“Who are you?”
Eren didn’t recognize him.
The man’s massive, almost unreal physique was so striking it could have come straight out of a fantasy.
His attire, although well-made, couldn’t hide the powerful muscles beneath.
His handsome face, in stark contrast to his body, was elegant like a piece of art, and his tall stature easily drew everyone’s attention.
Despite this, Eren did not stop being cautious.
Perhaps it was because of the scar under his right eye, or the chill in his golden gaze, but Eren instinctively knew the man was dangerous.
A forced smile spread across the man’s face as he scanned Eren from head to toe.
Eren, trembling like a rabbit before a predator, tried to pull away, but the man’s hand stopped him in an instant.
Though he struggled to free himself, the difference in their strength was clear.
“G-get away…!”
“Are you… Eren Nefendis?”
His deep voice rang out, clear and direct, throughout the tent.
* * *
