Previously
Caesar awakens in a feral state, destroying the room's furniture and reacting with animalistic terror to a thunderstorm. Irenia hides in a wardrobe with a dagger provided by Giovinetta, but Caesar senses her and rips the wardrobe apart with superhuman strength.
I carefully raised my finger and pointed toward the window.
“That thing… It’s loud, but it can’t hurt us.”
“A-Are you all right?”
Only then did Caesar react to my words. He had been curled up and trembling, but slowly lifted his head toward me. A strange sense of relief seeped into my chest.
His eyes, calmer now, were
glistening with a faint wetness. He blinked twice, slowly.
At that very moment, lightning flashed with sudden, brutal brilliance. A silver flare tore through the gloom, exposing the entire room in sharp relief.
At last, I could see Caesar for what he was. A breathless murmur slipped unbidden from my throat: “Ah…”
What was this? What had I just seen?
An instinctive wave of dread and revulsion crept through me.
Most terrifying of all was his left hand.
His fingers were a knuckle longer than normal, the joints bulging unnaturally. His nails were razor-sharp and pitch-black, and distorted black scales clung to the back of his hand.
This wasn’t a human hand. It couldn’t be. It was horrifyingly alien.
Thunder cracked abruptly, rumbling so hard it seemed to shake the very ground.
Caesar’s body violently seized once more, and he let out a tearing shriek:
“Aaaargh!”
I wanted to scream along with him, but my voice wouldn’t come.
He screamed on and on, then dissolved into ragged gasps.
With an appalling crackle, his body began twisting grotesquely. His chest heaved as he panted with violence, his bones slowly buckling as though snapping inward.
Thick, black veins surfaced across his cheeks and arms, spreading like a creeping web pushing through from within.
Then, he screamed again.
“Ah… Aaaaargh!”
Just watching him was agonizing, painful beyond endurance.
“C-Calm down…”
I reached a hand toward him, trying to soothe him, but his eyes no longer held any sanity or calm. Nothing was left in him except raw savagery.
A guttural sound scraped out of him, like the snarl of a beast dredged from the abyss.
A primal terror flooded me from head to toe.
I trembled, my teeth chattering together.
What he had been a moment ago was nothing like what stood before me now.
That gleam in his eyes was unnatural.
I might die. I could be slaughtered right here. I wanted to scream, to cry out for help.
Yet there was no one to hear, no one who would ever come.
Because I was simply a living sacrifice thrown to the monster before me.
“Haven’t you heard? All four women betrothed to the First Crown Prince ended up dead!”
“Found drenched in blood…!”
The wedding hall gossip echoed in my ears all over again.
All I could do was cling to my wits, fighting with everything not to lose consciousness.
I had no other choice.
Then, suddenly, his cries ceased.
A heavy thud followed.
I lifted my head to find him collapsed on the floor.
This was my chance. I tried to run for the door.
I couldn’t run, though; I crawled, dragging my injured leg behind me.
I barely managed to reach the door.
I yanked the knob with all my might, but it wouldn’t budge.
In desperation, I began pounding on the wood with my fists.
I already knew they had locked it after the guards left.
This heavy wooden door would never open.
Even so, I couldn't just give up.
I began clawing at the wood with my fingernails, as if I could scratch through it.
Everything around me grew eerily still.
A sharp chill ran down my spine, as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head.
Everything inside me froze.
I shouldn’t have turned around, but my body betrayed me, moving of its own accord.
Slowly turning my head, I caught a crimson glow above two luminous eyes.
I stared straight into the eyes of that thing.
“Aaaah!”
I screamed at the top of my lungs, blindly slashing the dagger in my hand as if it were a lifeline.
I couldn’t see a thing anymore.
Oddly enough, Caesar just watched me quietly, as though my thrashing had nothing to do with him.
“Ah!”
A sharp sting flared in the palm of my hand.
I had cut myself with the dagger while swinging it wildly.
The blade struck the floor with a dull clatter.
Blood welled up profusely, burning as though boiling water had been poured over my hand.
Drops spattered against the floorboards, pooling into a small puddle that began to spread.
Caesar remained fixed on me, staring like a child discovering something strange.
My strength gave out; I could no longer stand.
I sank beside the door, slumping against it and struggling for breath.
Then he began moving toward me.
A single step, a glance up at my face, then another step.
As if he were studying my state.
He came remarkably close.
“Y-You…”
Yet what caught his attention was the pool of blood.
He crouched down toward it, sniffing at it ravenously.
My chest felt ready to burst from the sheer tension.
“Stop…”
He lifted his head as if my voice had reached him. Then he closed the distance even further.
We were so close our breaths mingled.
His face was right there.
He did nothing but keep sniffing at the blood.
His warm breath drifted up along my neck, its heat stinging against my skin.
“Please… stop…”
Then, slowly, he began to lick my neck.
It was slick, searing, and utterly bizarre.
I choked down a gasp.
I shut my eyes and forced myself to endure it.
Then, without warning, I felt that same tongue against my wounded palm.
Startled, I threw my eyes open.
He was lapping the blood straight from my hand without the slightest hesitation.
The wet sound of liquid sliding down his throat filled the room.
My eyes widened—not from pain, but from pure horror.
He cradled my palm, licking greedily as though caught in a trance.
He looked like an infant nursing, driven by that same desperate urgency.
As his tongue pressed against the cut, a strange tingle crept through me.
“Ah…”
Every time his teeth grazed the wound, my body pulled tauter.
All I could do was bite down on my lip to bear it.
I had no idea how much time passed.
It felt simultaneously endless and fleeting.
He remained engrossed in licking away my blood, while I used my other hand to wipe away my tears.
Then something strange occurred.
The black veins sprawling across his cheek began to fade.
His twisted extremities were shifting back to their natural shape.
“Huh…?”
It was so astonishing that the pain slipped from my mind.
Caesar slowly raised his head.
Our eyes met once more.
Yet that feral glare was entirely gone.
In its place was a sated look, like a beast that had just fed its fill.
His mouth was smeared with blood, yet he gave me a gentle smile.
“Hah…”
At last, the knot of tension inside me came undone.
I drew a deep breath, and tears spilled down my cheeks.
Caesar began peering at me hesitantly, as if taking in my distress.
In truth… he no longer looked like a rampaging monster, but a frightened little animal.
Perhaps he hadn't roared to attack me, but simply to survive.
So I called out to him again.
“Hey…”
He didn't answer. Instead, he abruptly laid his head across my lap, gazing up at me from below.
He stretched out comfortably, as though treating my lap as a pillow.
Without thinking, I reached down and began patting his head.
He flinched at my touch at first, but quickly relaxed into it.
He even nudged his chin against me, as if asking for more.
That gave me courage.
Slowly, I let my hand slide toward his cheek…
Though I worried he might bite me again, something else bothered me even more.
Lifting my sleeve, I wiped the smeared blood from his cheek. How could he have made such an untidy, terrible mess?
Caesar gave his lips a quick lick, let out a soft grumble, and then broke into an abrupt smile.
Ah… When he smiled, I realized it. His face was extraordinarily handsome… carrying an innocent quality, like a gentle creature that had lost its way.
I stroked his head again. I had no idea why, but my racing heart was settling bit by bit.
Though I couldn’t be completely certain, the feeling that he would harm me was gone.
When I was young, I used to feed a stray dog in secret from the servants. I didn't actually keep it as a pet, but I gave it scraps.
At first it growled and snarled warily, but once its belly was full and it realized I meant no harm, it began drawing near.
Once it opened its heart to me, everything became easy. It would bury its head in my lap and beg for affection, just like Caesar was doing right now.
Amid this bizarre haze—where exhaustion, fear, and a fleeting peace tangled together—I gently reached out and stroked his head once more.
I whispered softly to him:
“There… good… good boy…”
I felt the warmth of his glossy black hair under my palm, softer than the fur of any stray dog.
His body heat and the weight of him against me pulled me back to reality, yet what flooded my chest was not fear, but a strange contentment.
He yawned suddenly, full of heavy laziness. I blinked in surprise. Was he truly going to sleep right now?
I thought about waking him, but I couldn't bring myself to shatter this precious moment of peace with my own hands.
Outside, the rain had stopped, leaving nothing in the room but the steady cadence of his breathing.
His fevered warmth wrapped around me, filling me with comfort. As the lingering tension dissolved, drowsiness took over, and my eyes drifted shut before I knew it.
FADE OUT