Several months earlier…

Rachel was spending time, as she always did, in the abandoned forest where the elves lived in hiding. Once, the forest had been filled with elves.

Now…People simply called it the Abandoned Forest.

After the war between Emperor Felix and the elves had ended…

Count Flynn had taken in the surviving elves and helped them settle deep within the forest.

Rachel hadn’t known they existed while growing up.

She learned the entire truth on her ninth birthday.

Fearing that Rachel’s true identity might one day be exposed, Count Flynn never allowed her to enter high society.

Even so, she was never lonely.

The elves living in the abandoned forest became her friends.

“What?”

“You saved someone when you were little?”

Rachel raised an eyebrow at Lucius’s question.

Although he looked about her age, she’d learned the first day they met that elves were actually much older than they appeared.

“…I don’t know. It was some boy.”

“What?! Rachel!”

Lucius’s face instantly turned pale.

Grabbing her shoulders with surprising force, he shook her.

“Tell me exactly what happened. How did you save him?”

“Ouch, Lucius.”

Rachel pushed his hands away.

Then she straightened her back and sat upright.

She knew his reaction wasn’t normal.

Nor was the strange way he occasionally looked at her.

‘I need to draw a clear line.’

Rachel understood that age meant very little to elves, who lived lives bordering on immortality.

They could become soulmates and marry despite being centuries apart in age.

But when Rachel had been a child…

Lucius had already been an adult.

It made his gaze difficult to endure.

It had to be nothing more than a passing curiosity.

The number of elves had dwindled so drastically that Lucius was already approaching the age when he should choose a mate.

“I was only nine, so I don’t remember everything. But I do remember blowing air into his mouth. Was that really an imprint?”

“…D*mn it.”

Lucius looked utterly devastated.

“Why, Rachel? Why did you do that?”

He ran an agitated hand through his hair.

“It’s an imprint. An imprint, d*mn it.”

Throughout their entire lives, elves accepted only one life partner.

During their bonding ceremony, they shared a brief kiss, much like humans did.

But to elves… It was a sacred ritual in which they breathed life into one another.

An imprint.

A mark engraved upon each other’s souls.

A promise to remain together for eternity—

Until death separated them.

“…So I…”

“Yes. You imprinted on a human whose name you didn’t even know.”

“But I saved his life…”

“You did. You shared your life force with him.”

Rachel’s face turned deathly pale.

She had never imagined such a possibility.

“When that happened… Did your heart race? Did you start sweating?”

“…Yes.”

“…I thought so.”

Lucius roughly brushed his hair back.

His narrow green eyes fixed on Rachel.

“Has your birthday according to the lunar calendar passed yet?”

“My lunar birthday? No. My regular birthday already has, but…”

Lucius searched through a nearby cabinet before handing Rachel a small vial.

“I never thought you’d end up needing this. Keep it with you.”

“What is it?”

“Listen carefully. Once your birthday on the lunar calendar passes, the power of the imprint will erupt beyond your control. It’ll only grow stronger as time goes on….Some elves even lose consciousness because of it. So if you ever meet that human…”

Lucius’s face twisted with displeasure.

“That… Reiner, or whatever his name is…”

“If I meet him?”

“Drink this.”

“Why?”

“Because it’ll suppress the effects. When you see him…You’ll feel an overwhelming urge to become one with him. When that happens…Take the medicine…and run.”

“…What?”

“No.”

“Actually…You’re only half elf. So your case should be a little different.”

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“Half your blood is human.”

“That means…There’s a good chance you’re the only one who’s been imprinted. He’s human and your imprinting power is only half as strong. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Rachel nodded hesitantly.

“So…there’s a good chance I’m the only one who’s imprinted?”

“Exactly.”

“Which means…”

“As long as you can control yourself when you’re around him…you’ll be fine.”

Rachel thought quietly before asking,

“But…what if I never see him again?”

“What?”

“What if I don’t know where he is…..or he’s somewhere too far away for me to reach?”

Rachel remembered the rumors she’d heard after Reiner returned to the Newberic Empire.

That he lived somewhere in the North.

“Or if he’s in a place I can never go.”

Lucius let out a relieved sigh.

“Then that’s fine. If you can spend the rest of your lives without ever seeing each other again, there won’t be any problem. So don’t worry. There have even been elves who found new mates after their partners died… or disappeared to places they could never return from. They’re exceptions, of course. But it has happened before. So you’ll be all right.”

“Will I really?”

“Yes.”

Lucius studied Rachel’s troubled expression.

Only then did he realize he’d become far too emotional over the subject.

‘As long as they never meet, none of this matters. If Rachel ever suffers because of it… I’ll be the one by her side.’

“Rachel.”

Erasing the anxiety from his face, Lucius knelt before her.

Bringing himself down to her eye level.

So she would trust him.

“Don’t worry. You’re a half-elf. You won’t experience it as intensely as a full-blooded elf would.”

After a brief hesitation, he added,

“You just have to endure it.”

“Is it really something I can endure?”

“From what I know—You’re different.”

Lucius cut her off firmly.

“You’re a half-elf.”

“Oh…”

“You’re the exception. Do you understand? So if you ever happen to meet that human…you must endure it.”

Rachel forced an awkward smile.

Lucius gently covered the back of her hand with his own.

“Endure it…and become my mate instead, Rachel. I can wait for you forever. All right?”

Lost in his own feelings, Lucius never noticed the smile slowly fading from Rachel’s face.

***

Rachel had no intention of either running away…

Or enduring it.

Contract marriage or not…

She was now Reiner’s wife.

At the very least, she intended to fulfill a wife’s duties.

Whether that meant managing the household…

Or sharing his bed.

‘I was the one who proposed this marriage. So it’s my responsibility.’

That was only natural.

More than anything else…

She didn’t want Reiner to learn about elves.

Or imprints.

She wanted to protect the man who had rescued her from hell by agreeing to this marriage.

The last thing she wanted was to place another burden upon the shoulders of someone who had spent his entire life being hunted by the Emperor.

Besides…

According to Lucius, because she was only half-elf, the imprint’s influence shouldn’t be very strong.

Now that so few elves remained, Lucius had devoted himself to preserving their history.

There was probably no one in the world who understood half-elves better than he did.

So…

She would simply live as Reiner’s wife.

When the five years he’d proposed were over…

They would divorce peacefully.

Then she would leave.

Rachel had no intention of ever taking another mate…

Or another imprint.

That was the conclusion she had reached about her marriage to Reiner.

“Reiner. Could you turn off the light over there?”

“…?”

Reiner simply stared at Rachel, unable to think of what he should say.

He had planned to show her around the castle before she went to sleep, so she could become familiar with the place while he was away.

Knowing how exhausted she’d be after days on horseback, he’d hurried through all of his work to make it back before she fell asleep.

Yet the first thing she asked was… For him to put out the lights.

Reiner stood there in silence, unable to move or even answer.

Then…

He suddenly remembered something he’d said upon arriving at the castle.

‘Keep the clothes simple. I’ll be taking them all off her tonight anyway.’

“…I see.”

Only now did he understand why Rachel was acting this way.

‘This is a problem.’

He pressed two fingers against his aching temple.

That hadn’t been what he’d meant at all.

Graham Castle was an unusual place.

Aside from a few elderly women who worked in the kitchens and two or three young maids…

It was filled almost entirely with men.

Most of those who chose to endure life in the harsh North were men.

And nearly everyone who had lived with Reiner on the island had been men as well.

That was why he’d deliberately said those words.

No matter how much he trusted his people…

He couldn’t guarantee there wasn’t at least one madman among them.

So he had made it unmistakably clear in front of everyone.

Rachel is my woman.

She’ll be spending the night with me.

As long as everyone believed that…

No beast would dare covet the lord’s wife—

A woman who had already shared her husband’s bed.

He had only meant to ensure Rachel’s safety.

Yet…

She had taken him literally.

‘What am I supposed to do now?’

Legally, they were husband and wife now.

Spending their wedding night together wouldn’t be improper.

But he had no desire to claim a young woman who had only just come of age.

At the very least…

Shouldn’t her first night belong to a time when she truly wanted it?

“Rachel.”

At the sound of Reiner’s voice, the figure beneath the blankets visibly flinched.

He walked over and stopped beside the bed.

Rachel had pulled the blanket all the way up to her neck.

Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

She looked exactly like a tiny rabbit standing before a lion.

“Rachel. I’m going to touch you now. Will that be all right?”

Reiner spoke as gently as he could…

Careful not to frighten the little rabbit any more than she already was.