Sure enough, Haniel wrinkled her nose bridge and repeated herself.

“Regan, I understand your concern, but have you perhaps forgotten that I’ve been living here all along? I know the area beyond the forest is dangerous. That’s why I won’t go deep inside. I’ll just quickly check the trees near my territory’s boundary and come back if anything happens.”

“No. That’s not enough.”

Then what? As if asking this, Haniel looked at Regan, who said:

“Of course, in that Nightmare Forest……”

The man who was about to lecture his unheeding mate suddenly stopped, struck by an ominous premonition.

Looking down, he saw Haniel’s round golden eyes. Just clear, sparkling eyes without a single cloud…

With a sudden realization, Regan asked in an uncharacteristically gentle voice:

“Haniel. You do know that this forest where you live is called the ‘Nightmare Forest,’ right?”

“……Nightmare?”

Indeed.

Haniel didn’t even know that the forest where she had settled was known to the outside world as the terrifying Nightmare Forest.

Huh, so that was it after all. As Regan let out a hollow breath, Haniel grumbled and complained.

“Really now. A forest where a resident clearly lives—though not exactly normal—being called the Nightmare Forest. Who named it that way?”

“Haniel, people don’t think anyone lives in the Nightmare Forest. I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen you myself.”

Haniel scratched the back of her head slightly and swallowed her words.

In fact, there was a reasonable explanation for why she didn’t know this forest was called by such a terrifying name.

Setting aside the fact that she didn’t even know there was an outside world. While this forest might be terribly dangerous wild territory to intruders from outside, to Haniel, who was loved by all living creatures, this forest was just “potentially dangerous,” nothing more.

Perhaps because she had been too afraid to venture far outside the eerie forest, she had never directly faced its dangers within.

Barring direct natural disasters or other factors, no dangerous creature roaming the forest would try to take Haniel’s life. So even if Haniel felt some fear about entering the forest, it was nothing compared to the extreme fear and disgust that outsiders harbored toward this Nightmare Forest.

However, Regan, unaware of Haniel’s ability and having his own concerns, could only harden his expression.

“Have you never heard of it? The ‘Rifts,’ I mean.”

At that moment, her thoughts froze at Regan’s sudden question.

“Huh?”

Rifts?

Haniel’s eyes widened like lanterns.

This was a word she had never expected to hear.

Rifts?

How did this man know about the Rifts?

‘Could it be that in this world, it’s strange not to know about Rifts?’

As if her racing thoughts were visible like a transparent glass ball, Regan’s handsome face filled with disbelief.

“……No way.”

“No, I’ve heard a little about them! I just haven’t seen one in person.”

“That’s only natural.”

The man clicked his tongue.

If she had seen one directly, it would mean the observer’s death.

Yes. This confirmed it.

Unbelievably but clearly… Haniel, this innocent woman who would become his mate, was living in this Nightmare Forest filled with Rifts without knowing exactly what Rifts were.

She said she had heard a little about them, but she probably hadn’t heard properly.

‘Perhaps with the death of her tribe’s protectors, there was no one left to tell her about such things.’

Regan’s blue eyes, which had been frowning with displeasure, flashed.

If she hadn’t known about the Rifts until now, she definitely needed to know now.

Regan had vaguely noticed that the magical power Haniel occasionally used was protecting this area.

It was clear that humans had all disappeared except for Haniel due to some unfortunate incident, but afterward, the magical power and knowledge that had miraculously kept Haniel alive in this Nightmare Forest.

That powerful force, better described as civilization, undoubtedly the heritage of the “human” species, was not something a single individual could build up alone.

But even those were just lucky breaks. Living in a place like this, being sucked into a Rift or killed by a monstrous creature was just a matter of time.

It would be helpful to explain as much as possible right now to prevent this naive woman from freely roaming the forest as if it were her own living room.

Regan raised his eyebrows with a grave expression.

“Haniel, the reason this forest is called the ‘Nightmare Forest’ is… because it has more Rifts scattered throughout than any other place discovered so far. Neither my homeland nor the Elven country of Anaserph, which borders the forest, has been able to create a complete map of this place.”

“What? Why……”

“Isn’t it obvious? Because all the visitors died.”

“!”

Haniel swallowed hard. Her heart pounded.

So it was a dangerous forest after all.

A man-eating forest!

‘D*mn, they dropped me here to farm without telling me any of this?’

She unconsciously gripped the axe at her waist tightly.

She was barely suppressing the urge to smash a certain system window, but…

Regan, thinking Haniel was frightened, tilted his head slightly and led her to a nearby chair.

To an observer, it might have looked like a predator herding its prey to devour it, but Haniel, now accustomed to his size, found herself pushed into the chair before she knew it.

‘…Does this guy think I’m so scared that my legs would give out?’

It was embarrassing because she was indeed a little scared, so she had nothing to say.

“Sit and listen. You don’t seem to properly understand what Rifts are, so I’ll explain, Haniel.”

Regan paused briefly, sorting through various confused emotions and facts swirling inside him.

His gaze grew distant, as if looking far away or recalling some memory.

And when he spoke again, his voice came out rough and low, as if scraped by thorns.

“Rifts… are disasters and chaos. Places like graves for living beings where all environments, spaces, and even time are jumbled together… I’ve heard that Rifts can also s*ck in the souls of mortals. They are traps and ant lions that indiscriminately devour almost everyone, except for those with extremely narrow odds or the very lucky ones.”