“Quit trying to act tough. Stay put and keep quiet.”

Kwon Oh-Jin’s curt words had carried an unmistakable warmth.

Cassia’s heart, which was already pounding wildly, seemed to explode inside her chest.

Thump.

Like downing a vial of stimulants, endorphins rushed through her head like lightning. The chill running through her felt like someone blind all their life seeing the world for the first time. Rather, it seemed even greater than that.

Cassia hunched over, clutching her chest as if it would burst. “Ah... uh...”

From the depths of her memory, she heard her mother’s voice echoing down a quiet hallway.

“Still, I suppose it’s a relief. If Bella turned out like that too, I... Haaa...”

That sigh of relief, heavy with resignation, had crushed her. Since then, her world had been nothing but cold and lonely shadows. She pretended it didn’t matter, but it did.

“Hic...”

The sickness called loneliness could not be cured. It only slowly ate away and rotted the soul.

When her family abandoned her to a hospital in Iceland, when she wandered the snowy wastelands to flee the swarm of monsters, even when she became the Heavenly Demon’s puppet and killed anyone who stood in the way of his plans...

There was no one...

No one ever stood by her side. Her life had always been desperately, unbearably lonely as if it would never end. All she could do was carve away at herself, repeating the lie that she was fine, that she didn’t need anyone.

Lord Oh-Jin.

Then, a man boldly stepped into her life. A starlight that pierced the damp shadows. For the first time in her life, he remained by her side.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Exactly that. I don’t even know why I’m doing this myself.”

When she asked him why he was protecting her, he said that he didn’t know. He told her the reason didn’t matter.

Ah...

Cassia understood. She could feel it. Right now, he was risking his life to protect her. Not for Isabella or anyone else, but just for her.

It’s warm.

Her heart, which had been frozen like an endless tundra, began to thaw. The starlight blazing inside the shadows drove out the loneliness that had consumed her soul.

Cassia staggered to her feet, breathing raggedly. “Haa, haa.”

The wounds from the fight against Mobius made it nearly impossible to stand.

I can’t... lose this now.

After finally tasting another human being’s warmth, the tearing pain from her internal injuries no longer mattered. She could only see Kwon Oh-Jin standing against Mobius. Each time her eyes fell on his bleeding side, torn open by the white snakes, her chest burned with panic.

I... have to protect Lord Oh-Jin.

The warmth she had found in the endless cold felt more precious than finding water in the middle of a desert.

“Hukk.” Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor.

Thud.

No matter how desperate she was, severe wounds didn’t just simply vanish.

She bit her lip hard and began crawling across the ground. Even if she had to drag herself pitifully, she would reach him. Just then, her eyes met Mobius’s.

“Mmh.”

He had spotted her crawling and smiled pleasantly.

“No, let’s stop here.” Mobius shrugged and shook his head.

After finishing his brief exchange with Kwon Oh-Jin, he turned away without a hint of regret. Just before his body melted into the shadows...

—Cassia.

Mobius’ voice rang inside her head.

—This time, you managed to scrape by... but do you really think it’ll end here?

A serpent’s tongue tickled her ear.

—In his memories, the fact that you once betrayed him will never fade.

A bone-chilling shiver raced down Cassia’s entire body.

—You’ll be abandoned, just like always. When that happens, come find me, Cassia.

Mobius whispered that cruel promise, followed by a faint chuckle. Then, the serpent’s echo faded from her mind.

“Ah...”

Cassia trembled as her face turned pale.

Mobius’s last words filled her mind.

I’ll... be abandoned by Lord Oh-Jin.

Wasn’t that only natural? Just like how closing one’s eyes didn’t make the world disappear, the fact that she had betrayed him wouldn’t vanish from his memories.

If Lord Oh-Jin abandons me...

It would be like it had always been. Again and again and again, back into that endless, suffocating loneliness—

“Are you okay?” Just then, Kwon Oh-Jin’s question pulled her back.

“Ah... uhh.” Startled, Cassia stopped stepping back and scrambled on all fours toward him.

All she could hear echoing in her mind were Mobius’s words, “You’ll be abandoned.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me. Please, I don’t want to be abandoned anymore. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Clinging desperately to his legs, she begged him like a broken record.

“I-I never meant to lie! I never wanted to hurt you! N-No, I’m not making excuses! I’m sorry, I was wrong, I-I just...”

Her arms tightened around his legs as her words tumbled out, jumbled and incoherent.

Kwon Oh-Jin frowned as he looked down at her. No matter how he looked at it, Cassia was clearly not in her right mind.

“P-Please forgive me. I beg you.” She stopped clinging to his leg and pressed her face down low as though to kiss his feet.

“Enough.” Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed her shoulders and pulled her upright.

Her emerald eyes, flooded with tears, stared back at him. She looked so fragile as if she could shatter at the slightest touch.

Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes. “What did he say to you?”

Her shoulders jolted at his words.

So I was right.

No wonder Mobius had pulled back so easily.

Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue in irritation. “What did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything—”

“If you don’t tell me now, don’t ever expect to see me again.”

“T-That’s!” Her head shot up in panic. “He said... I’ll be abandoned.”

“Abandoned?”

“Yes. That you, Lord Oh-Jin... would never forgive me.”

Kwon Oh-Jin laughed in disbelief. He couldn’t understand why Cassia clung to him so desperately.

“Please... don’t abandon me.”

Not that he could even abandon her in the first place. It wasn’t like he owned her or something. Still, he looked down and sighed deeply at Cassia, clutching his pants with a pleading face.

What the hell did I even do to make her this obsessed with me?

Sure, he had freed her from being the Heavenly Demon’s puppet and helped her when she tried to stop the Heavenly Demon’s unsealing. He also overlooked her betrayal when she struck him down to save her sister and saved her again when she nearly tried to kill herself...

Huh. That’s actually a lot now that I think about it.

“L-Lord Oh-Jin?” She looked up at him fearfully.

Her anxiety pulled him away from his thoughts. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Kwon Oh-Jin gulped as he stared into those frantic eyes.

Even so, this isn’t normal.

Her obsession with him was undoubtedly tangled with her past.

Cassia had lived her entire life with an unknown illness that twisted her bones and muscles together. She couldn't do anything but wait for death. Even if she had been born into the prestigious Colgrande Family... No, rather, she despaired even more because she had been born there.

And that must have grown worse as Isabella grew older.

An elder sister born with a fatal illness and a younger sister blessed with natural talent. Even the family cat could have guessed which one would inherit the Colgrande name.

In a life like that...

Would even one person have ever truly taken her side?

At least Kwon Oh-Jin had Song Ha-Eun. She had been there since their childhood, so he never truly felt lonely.

For a girl trapped in a frail body, bound to a wheelchair, and waiting for death... Had there ever been someone like that for Cassia?

“Haaa...”

Now he finally understood why Cassia clung to him so desperately. Only his choice remained.

Accept her or push her away.

He had already decided when he stood up to Mobius in her place.

“Are you asking me to forgive you?”

Cassia nodded frantically while trembling. “Y-Yes! I’ll do anything you ask! S-So please...”

Kwon Oh-Jin smirked. “Then, I suppose you’ll have to take the punishment I mentioned earlier.”

He teased her to ease her desperation as though someone was holding a knife to her neck.

“The punishment you mentioned earlier...?”

“Turn around.”

“Huh...? T-Turn around?” Cassia’s eyes widened in surprise.

At least Kwon Oh-Jin felt relieved to see her fragile expression replaced by pure shock.

“I-If that’s what you want.” Blushing furiously, Cassia hesitated before slowly turning her back to him and sticking out her butt.

Even then, her long black dress concealed everything so he couldn’t see much.

“I-I should take off my dress too, right?”

“No, that’s not necessary—”

“I’m being punished after all, aren’t I?” Unlike when she had boldly flung her dress up earlier, her face flushed with embarrassment as she gripped the hem of her dress with trembling hands and began to lift it.

As the black fabric gradually rose, her pale butt and the edge of her dark lace underwear could be seen.

At that moment, as if it were some trick that Mobius had left behind, Isabella woke up and groggily pushed herself upright.

“Where... am I?”

Isabella’s eyes darted around the room, only to land on the frozen Cassia with her dress lifted and Kwon Oh-Jin standing right behind her.

“Am I dreaming?” Rubbing her eyes, Isabella shook her head.