Her heart pounded wildly, cold sweat gathering in her palms.
Every instinct screamed at her.
The situation was turning ominous.
Just as Mona opened her mouth to press Benny for details, Jake spoke first.
“Hic!”
Hanging on Benny’s every word, Mona let out a startled hiccup.
White hair.
A white mask.
It matched her appearance that night to perfection.
She was doomed.
Benny gave her a puzzled look as she continued to hiccup.
Clapping both hands tightly over her mouth to suppress the hiccups, Mona shook her head frantically.
Jake narrowed his eyes.
“?!”
“…”
Clicking his tongue, Jake went on nagging.
Mona nodded while stifling another hiccup, then staggered back toward the laboratory.
***
She could hardly remember how she dragged herself through the workday and returned to her dormitory.
‘…He’s going to kill me.’
She had witnessed a war hero and imperial nobleman transform into a monster; there was no way he would let her walk free.
Vivid visions of his razor-sharp blade cleanly severing her neck replayed endlessly in her mind.
At the same time, the desperate screams she had overheard in that dark alley echoed in her ears.
It was something she should never have seen, never have heard.
“Ugh…”
Mona pulled the blankets over her head, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Witnessing what she shouldn’t have was terrifying enough, but the unfinished perfume she brewed having an accidental aphrodisiac effect was an entirely separate catastrophe.
She had drugged an imperial noble with an aphrodisiac.
Even if it had been unintended and she had succumbed to the effects herself, no one in power would ever accept such an excuse.
What if she got arrested for possessing illegal substances and rotted away in prison for the rest of her life?
Tortured by gruesome possibilities at the news of Rihart Cronel hunting her down, Mona could not sleep a single wink that night.
***
Moments later, a woman stepped into the office, looking pale with nerves.
The moment Rihart laid eyes on her, his expression hardened.
He vividly remembered hair as white as snow.
The woman had even left a single white strand behind on the bed, almost like evidence.
Yet anyone could see this woman's hair was plainly silver.
‘Besides, the woman held in my arms was far more petite.’
Rihart gave a curt shake of his head.
The moment the woman was dismissed, Dominic, a knight of the Black Knights waiting in the back, groaned in sheer exhaustion.
A handsome young man with fresh green hair and tidy features, Dominic now looked like wilted spinach after days of relentless searching.
Tearing the district apart in search of a woman had only turned up illicit tobacco peddlers and drug addicts one after another.
Rumors were already spreading that Rihart’s true goal was to strangle the black-market funding of Luna District's patrons, and that this mysterious woman was merely a pretext.
Dominic lowered his voice to a whisper.
The four elite knights of the Black Knights, Dominic included, knew that Rihart was suffering from aftereffects after being engulfed by that colossal, unidentified chaos.
They couldn’t not know.
Dominic hadn't even been pulled inside; he had merely brushed against its outer perimeter.
Even so, he wrestled with lingering symptoms, so one could only imagine what Rihart had endured after diving deep inside and clawing his way back out.
Rihart spoke in a frosty tone, remembering the sweet, scalding heat of her body in his arms that had put the beast within him to rest.
He swallowed the impatience simmering in his gut.
In truth, he had assumed tracking her down would be simple.
The women who frequented the Luna District were a limited crowd, and her hair was distinctly unusual.
Yet despite scouring salons, entertainment houses, and even gambling dens, not a single person recognized her, let alone claimed to have caught a glimpse.
‘…This is starting to pique my stubbornness.’
He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, his gaze turning chilly.
Bang—!
The door flew open, and Hugo, Vice Commander of the Black Knights, bolted into the office.
Rihart raised an eyebrow.
Hardly any time had passed since they subdued the corrupted black dragon, and now monsters were breaking loose at the border once more.
Rihart’s lips set into a grim line.
***
Mona spent the next three days trembling in fear.
Every knock on the door made her heart drop, and she held her breath at the faintest footsteps passing through the hallway.
Yet as nearly a fortnight went by without incident, the terror dulled, and she gradually regained her composure.
‘If he hasn't found me by now, he probably never will…’
When she thought about it rationally, Rihart had likely been out of his right mind due to the perfume’s side effects, just as she had been.
There was no way he could clearly remember her features, especially behind that mask.
Besides, the salon Professor Thomas frequented was nestled in an entertainment district Mona had never stepped foot in before.
No matter how thoroughly he tore that area apart, he would never find a single clue leading to her.
Calmly listing every reason why he could never track her down, Mona made her way to a dye shop.
‘It was a stroke of luck that the dye washed out completely that night.’
She always kept her hair dyed ash gray, while the world believed the woman he sought had stark white hair.
Now that she considered it, the reason her dye had stripped away was straightforward.
His presence had warped the ambient mana, causing the cheap dye crafted from low-tier alchemy to flake off her hair like loose dust.
‘I need to upgrade to the expensive kind.’
Something that wouldn't flake.
The expense stung, but it was far better than paying with her life…
Mona clutched her emergency savings, scrutinizing the premium dye display with a solemn expression.
The shopkeeper ambled over to ask.
“…”
Mona was left momentarily speechless.
How absurd that everyone had mistaken a criminal pursuit for a whirlwind romance.
‘I suppose that unreal face of his is to blame.’
He hardly looked like the type who hunted down women just to destroy evidence.
Clicking her tongue, Mona purchased the well-stocked ash-gray dye and stepped outside.
Looking closer now, young noble ladies sporting white hair began to catch her eye one by one.
‘Even if anyone ever saw my white hair, they'd just mock me for jumping on the trend.’
Ridiculous as it was, it worked out in her favor, and Mona scratched her head as she headed toward the research institute.
***
Yet once the dread of Rihart subsided, immediate reality proved to be a horror of its own.
The clerk from the Department of Monster Studies answered listlessly.
She needed to pass her initial thesis review within the year to apply for early graduation next year, but she had no professor to sign off on it.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
As Mona sat in a daze, mechanically filling out research logs that barely registered in her mind, the day wore on.
By afternoon, a department clerk suddenly came to fetch her.
The Dean of Academic Affairs held considerable sway within the academy.
Mystified, Mona made her way toward the dazzling, opulent main hall where the dean's office was located.
And there, the dean made her an unexpected offer.
The dean continued gravely.
Sensing that it would only invite trouble, she moved to decline right away, but the dean cast out his bait.
A bait she could not possibly refuse.
“…?”
“!”
Early graduation.
At that phrase, Mona answered as if spellbound.
Without realizing she was digging her own grave.
“I'll do it.”
