Chapter 2

Cursing as she leaped lightly down from more than five meters in the air to land in front of Kiril, Gayeon dropped to one knee and hastily aimed the shotgun she was holding at the grizzly, which had already drawn close.

“Move.”

She thought the world had tilted.

By the time she realized that it was because the man behind her had roughly shoved her head and knocked her over to the side—more precisely, thrown her— the grizzly was already making a huge leap at the man.

“Ah……”

She had only met him briefly, but just as she vaguely thought, So that beautiful face of his is about to vanish under a bear’s paw, instead of dodging the bear charging at him, the man plunged into its embrace as if he were hugging it instead.

The man’s body sank deep into the huge bear’s frame.

Was it she who was stunned watching it, or the bear.

For some reason, Gayeon suddenly became curious about that.

The forepaw that had been about to swat the man lost its destination for an instant because of the man diving in, and instead the vicious bear’s maw tried to bite into the back of Kiril’s neck.

Thunk.

He swung something.

That was all Gayeon thought at first, vaguely, but soon she realized what it was.

“That……”

She could not believe it.

Though she was seeing it with her own eyes, something unbelievable had happened.

The blade, having pierced straight through the bear’s lower jaw, was drawn sideways with tremendous force.

Blood spurted like a fountain.

Realizing that it was not the man’s blood but the bear’s, Gayeon sprang to her feet and staggered backward.

Thud!

Along with the sound of the grizzly collapsing to the ground, the shotgun slipped from Gayeon’s hand.

The grizzly’s neck was half separated from its body and hung limply. Its breath had not yet fully stopped, and the rasping growl it made was clearly audible even to Gayeon.

The man, drenched in blood from head to toe, slowly raised the upper half of his body from where it had been buried in the bear, as if it were nothing.

With a single shake of his head, he flung the dripping drops of blood into the air, then slowly turned around.

Then he took out from inside his coat a navy check-patterned handkerchief, still untouched by blood, with a luxury brand logo embroidered on it, and wiped down the knife still held in one hand with a smooth stroke.

The black body of the MK3 military knife used by the U.S. special forces Navy SEALs was revealed.

She was staring at Kiril’s profile as he cleaned it more carefully than even his own face.

Watching a stream of blood roll down the bridge of his nose, Gayeon unconsciously dropped her gaze to the shotgun lying at her feet.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.”

As if he had read her desire to pick it up like a ghost, Kiril spoke without even looking her way.

Soon, after holding the fully cleaned military knife up to the sunset for a look, he tucked it away back inside his coat, and only then walked toward her.

To Gayeon, the sight of him approaching quietly and with measured precision looked like the footsteps of the Grim Reaper.

She lifted her chin.

If she showed fear, she would lose.

But the man already seemed to have noticed her fear.

Even so, Gayeon met his gaze without wavering.

He cannot k*ll me. He cannot k*ll me.

Thinking it over dozens of times, she did not avoid his eyes.

But would he really not k*ll her?

Strangely, she could not be sure.

He slowly came closer, facing her, and looked her over in detail.

His gaze passed over her soft cheek, her slightly trembling lashes, and the black pupils set behind those lashes.

As if a hunter were deciding whether or not his prey should be killed.

“Ms. Angelica Willis.”

A beguiling voice sounded from only inches away.

The man speaking her English name, and that name itself, both felt terribly unfamiliar.

At the breath he gave off, her lips, which had been dry, suddenly grew moist.

He was so close that it felt as though her blinking lashes might tangle with Kiril’s lashes, still wet with blood.

A thick smell of blood surged between them, but neither of the two stepped back.

Gray eyes that resembled the gray grizzly bear met Gayeon’s black eyes.

“Answer.”

He spoke to her lazily.

“……Yes, Mr. Belov.”

Glancing briefly at the gray grizzly behind Kiril, which had at last breathed its last, Gayeon answered obediently.

Their lips were so close they seemed as though they might collide at any moment.

Their breaths tangled.

As if pleased by her polite reply, the corners of his red lips, stained with blood, curled upward.

At that moment, Gayeon realized it.

That this born hunter had decided what he would do with her.

He could draw the knife from inside his coat at any moment.

She still did not know whether she could snatch up the shotgun faster, or whether the knife would be faster.

If she slammed a fist into his solar plexus before those lips moved away and then grabbed the shotgun, there might still be a slight chance.

It was while she was calculating this and that in her head.

“May I use the bathroom in the mansion?”

“……What?”

When the issue was life or death, what on earth had he just said?

Kiril, boldly presenting an answer that had not been among any of her expected answers as though it were obviously the correct one, added when Gayeon failed to give a proper response.

“I’d like to take a shower.”

The madman who had killed a bear with his bare hands—more precisely, with a military knife—was smiling fresh and bright right in front of her.

In that instant, a painfully sharp sourness spread through Gayeon’s mouth, like the time in childhood when, enchanted by that vivid yellow color, she had bitten down with all her strength into an unsliced lemon.

◇ ◆ ◇

“Aaaahhh!”

The moment Elin saw Kiril, who stepped into the mansion entrance first, a terrible scream burst from her mouth.

Thinking that the blood-covered man had killed her young lady, she shrieked as if she had lost her entire world.

“I’m alright, Elin.”

When Gayeon, whose small frame had been hidden behind Kiril, poked her head out from behind him and spoke, the pupils of Elin, who had collapsed onto the floor, widened as though she had seen a ghost.

“My lady! Good heavens, what has happened to you?”

“I ran into a bear.”

“You did, my lady?”

Gayeon shook her head and, with a glance, indicated the man standing in front of her.

Even with one hand covering her mouth, the foul smell of blood drifted over.

Twining the ends of his hair, already stiffly hardened with blood, around his fingertips, Kiril’s face showed no expression at all.

His subordinates were already standing about ten paces away from them.

When this beautifully made man smiled, he had been dangerous but like a flower, yet when he did not smile, the atmosphere around him turned icy.

Such a chill flowed from him that it was hard to believe this was really the same man she had thought beautiful just moments ago.

“……Whi……”

“Yes?”

The man, who had been staring blankly into the air for a moment, whispered something to Gayeon.

When she asked back because she had not heard properly, one of Kiril’s subordinates, standing far off, quickly spoke in his place.

“Which way is the bathroom?”

The nearest one right now was the bathroom in her room.

That place would be a bloody mess.

Gayeon, who had been about to guide them to another room, froze.

Kiril’s face was gradually turning whiter.

Among the face caked here and there with bloodstains, the pale patches showing through were becoming so bluish-white that she could see it happening with her own eyes.

“The closest one is in my room.”

The moment Gayeon finished speaking, Kiril grabbed her wrist.

And just like that, Gayeon was dragged in an instant all the way to her room.

He took the stairs three or four at a time and, upon reaching the room, swept his eyes over it.

Dragged there in the blink of an eye like a marionette with its strings cut, Gayeon realized what he was looking for and pointed to one of the two or so doors in the room, only to be dragged off again.