“You don’t look sad at all…”

Rosana lowered her eyes and smiled bitterly. Then she let out a deep, heavy sigh. The quiet room closed in around Rosana’s throat.

On impulse, Rosana threw on a cardigan and went outside. The thin cardigan couldn’t block the biting wind and fluttered uselessly. White breath scattered into the air with each exhale, but she didn’t stop walking. She felt like running away somewhere.

Cool air wrapped around Rosana.

“…It’s quiet.”

Perhaps because she’d never come out at night, the landscape without any guards on duty felt surprisingly unfamiliar. Rosana walked alone down the long corridor. She headed toward the garden where she’d followed Jane before.

Only the sound of her solitary footsteps echoed. Soon she arrived at the garden and collapsed onto the bench where she’d sat before, catching her breath. 

She stared endlessly at the dimly twinkling stars. Comparing herself to the stars shining clearly through the clouds, though hazy, made her feel infinitely shabby.

The endlessly shining stars, and herself gazing up at them enviously from below. Rosana hugged her knees.

“I know. The truth is…”

That’s when it happened. She heard a strange sound.

“…!”

She jumped up in shock. She looked around, but in the garden shrouded in darkness, there wasn’t a single point of light. She couldn’t see anything. But the surroundings were so quiet that she couldn’t have misheard.

Confirming her wariness, the strange crying sound came again. It was an odd noise—like a beast’s howl, or perhaps a person’s scream calling for help.

“…”

Normally she might have ignored such a sound. But it resembled the cries of her childhood self that she’d heard in her dream. Her feet naturally moved slowly toward where the sound came from.

The place wasn’t very far. Past the garden and down a long path, she saw a small inner palace on the verge of collapse. The strange crying sound came from inside.

“…Should I go in?”

The palace, no different from ruins, was eerie. But Rosana’s steps didn’t stop. The emotion contained in that voice seemed to share a similar name to the emotion she possessed.

The door dangled precariously, and she carefully entered through the gap. Rosana’s light footsteps echoed. The rotting floorboards creaked, and the wind coming through the broken windows made a chilling sound.

And in the darkness, she saw a black shadow whose form she couldn’t identify.

Rosana approached the form with narrowed eyes. Hearing her footsteps, the unidentifiable form turned its head toward her. Rosana’s steps stopped abruptly.

The pupils of those golden eyes were sharply narrowed vertically. Anyone could see they were a predator’s eyes. As the moon peeked out from between the clouds, moonlight streaming through the window revealed a glimpse of its form.

‘…A wolf?’

It was a wolf with dark blue-tinted fur. Seeing Rosana, the wolf growled. The wolf bristled its fur, refusing Rosana’s approach. But she wasn’t scared at all.

‘Why is that…? Because I heard the scream earlier?’

A wolf and a person. Sharp claws and fangs, a threatening cry. Rosana should have been scared and afraid. But in Rosana’s eyes, she could see the wolf hesitating and backing away.

What could it be so afraid of that it was trembling? 

And the wolf kept shaking its head. The moment she thought that, taking advantage of Rosana’s lowered guard, the wolf pounced on her in an instant.

“Ugh…!”

Rosana was pushed by the large wolf and fell backward. In the process, her left shoulder was scratched by sharp claws. Rosana’s eyes furrowed.

It wasn’t a severe wound, but her dress tore and blood seeped out. The wolf looked ready to bite into Rosana’s bleeding neck at any moment.

“Grrr…”

It was a beast’s cry. Rosana opened her eyes properly despite the pain making them scrunch up. The sharp teeth gleaming right before her eyes were chilling.

Certainly, it resembled a wolf’s appearance. The only difference was that it walked on two legs instead of four. Then, the bright red tongue that came out of the wolf’s mouth licked Rosana’s shoulder. Rosana’s body flinched at the tongue sweeping over her wound. But Rosana couldn’t take her eyes off those golden pupils.

‘These eye color…’

The intense golden eyes looked familiar. They resembled the eyes she’d liked since coming here, the eyes she’d thought might see her. 

Though the pupils wavered, seemingly having lost some reason, the strength contained in those eyes hadn’t disappeared.

The cry strangely resembled his voice. Rosana reached out and gently touched near the wolf’s eyes. The texture of the fur touching her hand was soft and cold.

“…Your Majesty?”

The golden-eyed wolf stopped breathing. Jade, who had been licking Rosana’s shoulder drawn by the smell of blood, moved far away. He snapped to attention at Rosana’s small voice and the title “Your Majesty.” 

Jade stared at the fallen Rosana with trembling eyes.

‘Why…? Why is she here?’

Only the words “I’ve been caught” circled in his head. The secret he absolutely didn’t want discovered had been exposed to someone else. 

That secret was the fact that monster blood was mixed in his body. Thanks to that blood, he was sturdier and stronger than ordinary people. That blood played a large role in his consecutive victories in war.

But when his life was in danger, when he bled so much that he felt the threat of death, a change occurred. Perhaps it was because of his attachment to life. The monster blood flowing in his body would boil up, and he would transform from human form to monster form.

That’s why whenever he received a serious wound, he had to return to the imperial palace as quickly as possible. Before his transformed monster self could harm people.

Today too, Jade immediately ordered Fel to bind his hands and feet firmly with chains so he couldn’t move. 

But Jade, having lost his reason, soon broke the chains with his strong power and shook off the knights trying to stop him.

Jade didn’t want to hurt people. Barely maintaining his thread of reason, he broke through a window and ran out, avoiding people.

He couldn’t suppress his transformation into a monster and he hurt people. Moreover, he’d been discovered by someone who absolutely shouldn’t see him. 

Even if she was different from the person he thought she was, very few would understand. 

He still wasn’t certain. Even those who had been with him drew their swords when they saw his monster form.

‘Didn’t Malek or Jane order all the servants to absolutely not leave their quarters?’

Yet she existed before his eyes. That fact confused his mind. And the most confusing fact.

‘How did she know it was me after seeing this monstrous appearance?’

Their appearances had absolutely nothing in common. Who could possibly recognize an emperor from seeing a beast’s form? Unless they thought him an intruder. He swallowed hard. 

But Rosana had accurately seen through his identity. “Your Majesty.”

“H-how… Kugh…!”

Jade barely held onto his reason, which seemed ready to extinguish at any moment. Rosana wasn’t the problem. As the dormant monster blood awakened, it craved blood. The monster inside whispered to bite into the flesh of the weak and soft-looking woman before his eyes.

The smell of blood seeping from Rosana’s shoulder stabbed at the tip of his nose, beyond just pricking it. He bit his tongue to keep from licking his lips, and restrained his own legs with his hands to keep from lunging. Sharp claws dug into his thigh.

Rosana looked at Jade, who sat crouched at a distance. The dark blue fur that had touched her hand moved away. Rosana raised herself. He stared at Rosana with one eye narrowed, his head seemingly dizzy.

“What are you doing here? No, more than that, how did you recognize me?”

His voice strained desperately to hold onto reason. The distance between them was too far to reach even with an outstretched hand. Without answering, Rosana brushed off the cardigan that had fallen to the floor when she fell. When Rosana took one step closer, he shouted.

“Do you want to die!”

“No. I have no such intention.”

Jade shouted with blinking eyes. Even at his fierce glare, Rosana didn’t shrink back. Would a lion feel this way with a rabbit before its eyes? Saliva was pooling in his mouth. He bit his tongue, suppressing his instincts as much as possible.

“Why did you come out? Didn’t you hear not to come out if you heard screams? What if I’d gone mad with blood and killed you? Haven’t you heard the rumors about me?”

The highly agitated Jade spat out words in succession.

“Has Your Majesty gone mad with blood?”

“…”

“Have you gone mad?”

“…No, that can’t be.”

“Then that’s settled.”

Rosana murmured quietly in a businesslike manner.

“Rumors can’t be trusted anyway.”

Rosana smiled faintly. Jade stared blankly. It was clearly a smiling face. But why did she look so sad?

Rosana walked slowly toward Jade. At that sight, Jade was horrified. His bulk far exceeded Rosana’s, and if he used his sharp teeth and claws, she wouldn’t even be a mouthful. 

But Rosana didn’t stop, and when she came right up close, she gently draped her outer garment over him. Jade was startled by the cloth placed over his shoulders. It was a thin cardigan that blocked the wind.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“What…?”

Jade retorted. The voice that had been craving blood just moments ago faded at Rosana’s absurd action.

His upper body, covered in fur, was completely exposed—his shirt must have torn when his body swelled. Rosana worried about Jade, whose fur was blown by the harsh wind and who sat on the ice-cold floor. 

No, actually, this was the action she’d wanted to do for Mari. Seeing him groaning and bleeding, she saw Mari from the past overlapping with him.

“You’re seriously injured too. If you sit on the cold floor, even wounds that should heal will worsen.”

Jade’s mouth fell open. He suspected she might have mistaken someone else for Rosana. But his eyes could distinguish people even in darkness. There was no way he could be mistaken. 

Jade’s threatening mouth opened and closed repeatedly before spitting out a hoarse voice.

“The wound has already healed. More than that… aren’t you scared?”

“I know Your Majesty won’t kill me. There’s no reason to be scared. What’s truly frightening is something else.”

She was sincere. Of course, his appearance was shocking. But his eyes were still his. If so, there was absolutely no reason to be afraid. What she feared most was the gaze of people who called her “Rosana.”

Jade could only stare at her. He called out to Rosana in a voice drained of strength from sheer disbelief.

“You…”

“Yes.”

Rosana said brightly. Thanks to that, it was Jade who pressed his mouth shut. He felt like he was having an ordinary conversation in human form rather than in his transformed monster state.

Laughter burst out at the absurdity. He silently looked down at his hands. These were the claws that had torn through the chains and cut down the knights trying to stop him from escaping. Rosana’s blood was slightly smeared on his claws.

“…It’s been a while.”

Everyone worries anxiously about what to do if he transforms into a monster when injured, but no one speaks to him this calmly. He always ran away too. So no one could see, invisibly. 

The evidence before his eyes still told him he wasn’t human. Jade stared at his claws and spoke in a lifeless voice.

“Don’t you see… the blood on my claws? It’s your blood. I accidentally…”

He grimaced in anguish.

“Ah…”

A small sigh came from Rosana’s mouth. Then she lightly grasped her shoulder. Blood stained her palm. It was the same blood as the blood on Jade’s claws. She asked Jade calmly.

“Did you do it on purpose?”

“No…”

“Then… do you want to kill people with those claws?”

“…That’s not it either.”

“I see.”

“Is that… all?”

The Jade she’d experienced wasn’t someone who killed people carelessly. The small wound on her shoulder was proof of that. If he’d really intended to kill her, her throat would have been bitten the moment their eyes met, and when he swung his claws, it wouldn’t have ended with just a scratch on her shoulder. His claws were that long and sharp.

Jade stared blankly at Rosana. He was truly curious. 

Wasn’t she surprised by his appearance? 

It was strange that Rosana recognized him after seeing this form, and her detached attitude of neither being surprised nor running away was peculiar. Jade’s head was filled with hundreds of question marks.

She was always like that. Just when she seemed to move as expected, in an instant she would show strange behavior, acting like nothing had happened. So without realizing it, Jade spoke his inner thoughts aloud.

“Are you really that ‘Rosana’?”