The sunlight resting over his flawlessly symmetrical features felt dreadfully unreal.
‘This has to be a dream, right?’
Yet no matter how vigorously she rubbed her eyes, the man breathing softly in picturesque slumber remained right before her.
Good heavens….
“Ugh….”
While she was lost in a daze, the man shifted in bed.
At the same time, the sheet slid down toward the collapsed side of the mattress, exposing his sharply defined abdomen.
“Gasp.”
Terrified by the dizzying sight of his firm, muscular body, Mona tumbled straight off the bed.
A flash of memory had suddenly seared through her mind—that very physique locked tightly against her own.
Right on its heels came the recollection of the exact moment the bed leg snapped beneath the man’s fierce movements.
“…!”
And that wasn't all.
Gliding toward her out of the shadows, swimming through the dark to envelop her… unyielding, yet cool….
“…!”
Barely swallowing down the moan threatening to slip past her teeth, Mona scrambled frantically to gather her clothes strewn across the floor.
Though her entire body throbbed as if she had been beaten black and blue, the crashing waves of shock left no time to hesitate.
Without exception, the scenes from last night lingering in her mind were things no sober person could bear.
In truth, they were acts one could never commit without being thoroughly intoxicated by that perfume.
‘Damn it, what in the world did I create…?’
Instead of a perfume to befriend monsters, she had concocted one that turned people into beasts governed purely by instinct.
‘Just let me die.’
Hurrying her breathless pace toward the exit of the mansion, she caught her reflection in a wall-mounted mirror and froze.
“!?”
Her dyed ash-gray hair was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a shock of messy, stark-white locks jutting in all directions.
She had just dyed it yesterday, so why…?
In a flustered rush, she roughly tore away a layer of her skirt and draped it over her head.
Mona fled the unfamiliar estate without looking back once.
Then, like a child desperate to escape a nightmare, she ran and ran like mad.
***
For the first time in ages, Rihart had fallen into a deep, restful sleep.
It was a lethal dose of peace brought to him by an unknown woman.
Yet when he opened his eyes from that sweet slumber, the sheet against his fingertips was already cold.
His blue eyes turned as frigid as shards of ice as he surveyed the empty room, devoid of even a scrap of clothing.
The existence that carried such a sweet scent had vanished without a trace.
…Why was she gone?
All night, the woman had wrapped her arms around his neck, constantly goading him on with breathless whimpers.
So why?
Slowly, he pushed himself up after tenaciously burying his nose in the sheet, where the faint remnants of her sweet scent lingered as though waiting for her return.
To vanish after he had marked his territory so thoroughly.
Deep in his gut, a raw fury worthy of a beast boiled up violently.
Within that rage was more than just anger at the one who dared use him and flee.
It was tangled with disgust at his own complacency, having closed his eyes in a stupor of sweetness.
To lose what was his within his own territory.
A primal emotion he had never experienced before an accident turned him into a half-monster blazed before his eyes.
Amid the surging waves of unfamiliar sentiment, he slowly bent down and picked up the white mask lying on the floor.
“…I'll find you.”
Once that decision was made, the sharp sensations clawing at his gut softened slightly.
At the same time, the clamor churning in his head settled once more.
Indeed, if she got away, all he had to do was catch her again.
***
Arriving late to work, Jake, the senior graduate student, glanced around the laboratory and remarked.
Just then, Benny, the research student well-versed in high society gossip, shrugged.
Benny pinched his thumb and index finger together into the shape of a gold coin.
With the professor absent, the researchers were killing time by gossiping and snickering at Mona’s expense.
Creeeeak—
Speak of the ogre and it appears—Mona Bellose trudged limply into the laboratory.
The moment Jake caught sight of her gaunt, hollow face, his temper flared.
Jake's relentless scolding dragged on.
Her head hung low, looking as though she hadn't eaten a bowl of gruel in days, Mona walked over to a corner the moment the reprimand ended.
As she picked up the backlog of research logs, one of the researchers lightly tapped her shoulder.
As Mona set down her bag and stepped back out of the lab, Benny narrowed his eyes and whispered.
“Ahaha!”
Leaving the loud laughter behind, Mona staggered out of the laboratory and walked toward the slime testing room with a vacant expression.
Opening the door, she was greeted by the damp, distinctive stench of culture fluid.
Perhaps because it hadn't received its special treat of moss over the past few days, the largest slime in the center of the bench sat sulking, sunken deep at the bottom of the vat.
Watching the slime put on its little protest, Mona slumped to the floor with a long sigh.
After ‘that incident’ took place that night, Mona had remained completely bedridden for three days and three nights.
Amid terrible muscle aches and a high fever, she had wandered endlessly through nightmares.
Dreams of her neck being cleaved by the war hero’s blade.
Dreams of being swallowed whole by a red-eyed predator.
Even dreams of pitch-black darkness creeping in like a serpent to encircle her.
Mona mumbled like someone out of her mind toward the slime, which bubbled softly in response.
At first, she had firmly believed it wasn't human, but a doppelgänger.
Yet it hadn't been a monster clumsily mimicking a person.
It possessed burning body heat, and its heart beat with life.
‘And it didn't vanish when morning came…’
Mona recalled the man's striking face bathed in the morning sunlight.
In truth, it was closer to human than to any monster.
Her throat burned with anxiety, forcing her to swallow dryly.
It couldn't be. That being couldn't actually be Lord Rihart Cronel himself, could it?
If it really was him… what then?
A half-human, half-demon tainted by monster corruption was something found only in ancient forbidden grimoires.
‘That would mean I learned the dark secret of someone unimaginably high above me…’
Frankly, it was a hypothesis she had no desire to dwell on, so Mona shook her head vigorously from side to side and set about harvesting the slime cores.
***
Because her sore muscles protested with every slight movement, the extraction took much longer than usual.
‘Haah.’
Carrying the viscous core samples back toward the laboratory with a grim face, she found the normally deserted corridor of the Department of Monster Studies buzzing with commotion.
‘What’s going on?’
In front of the department noticeboard, the few staff members and researchers were gathered together.
Approaching the crowd with a puzzled frown, Mona read the posted notice, and her eyes rounded in shock.
[Notice]
It has been confirmed that Professor Thomas Levett was involved in inappropriate conduct in violation of Academy regulations. Accordingly, he has been suspended from his duties for the duration of the investigation.
‘Suspended out of nowhere?’
Mona’s lips parted slightly.
‘Then who is going to approve my thesis?’
…What about her early graduation?
While she stood frozen at the sudden bolt from the blue, Jake, who had been closest to Professor Thomas, shouted.
A clerk from the Department of Monster Studies, who routinely treated absences like a daily habit, answered nonchalantly.
Hearing the name ‘Rihart Cronel’ crop up out of nowhere at this exact juncture made Mona’s heart leap right into her throat.
Amid the murmuring researchers, Mona anxiously bit her lip.
Because that night, of all places, she had encountered ‘that thing’ right near the salon Professor Thomas visited.
Right then.
Benny, the resident expert on high society gossip, stepped toward the noticeboard and chimed in.
…What?
Turned the district upside down trying to find a woman?
