But already feeling intimidated, and now hearing him tell her to go away, she couldn’t find the courage to touch him again.

‘The smell of blood…. What should I do…’

Even if he was drunk, didn’t it hurt?

Conflicting thoughts raced through her mind for a moment… but there was no choice. Regardless of her feelings, treatment had to come first.

Saena began trying to wake him. But only with her voice, without touching him.

“Cons…, Your Grace.”

She stopped herself from calling his name.

“Please wake up.”

His deeply furrowed face gradually softened at her voice. His wrinkled brow smoothed, his clenched jaw relaxed, and his eyelids slowly opened.

“…Saya?”

“Yes. Here, try to get up.”

“Saya. Saya, Sayaa…”

She thought he was waking up but something was wrong. With hazy eyes, he just kept mumbling her name unnecessarily.

“You seem hurt here… quickly, eek!”

She hoped he would lift himself away from the broken glass shards, but he suddenly grabbed her arm. Not content with that, he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her abdomen.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just…”

“……”

“Saya. I…”

While her body stiffened at his sudden embrace and apology, he continued mumbling.

“I…”

I what?

“…Caligo… that son of a…”

Just as he seemed about to say something, he suddenly spat out a curse.

First telling her to go away and now cursing?

Who was Caligo? She had definitely heard that name before…

Perhaps he wasn’t talking to her?

She thought he had woken up, but was he still half-asleep?

As his large frame clung to her like he was hanging on, Saena found it difficult to maintain her balance even with her own body. Feeling like they might both fall, she opened her mouth to try to separate his body from hers.

“W-wait, let go…”

But then she was startled by the wet sensation on her hand.

‘…Blood?’

He was clearly injured. She could see his shirt stained red around his upper arm below the shoulder and above his shoulder blade.

‘How badly is he hurt?’

There was quite a bit of blood, but it was hard to tell through the clothes. Saena moved to lift his shirt but hesitated.

Earlier that day, his mysophobia had caused that incident—what if he suddenly woke up and changed again when she touched him?

Fear made it impossible for her to attempt even slightly exposing his skin.

‘I’ll just wake him up.’

“Constantine.”

She called his name while shaking his uninjured shoulder.

“Wake up.”

“Mm.”

“Let’s treat your wounds and then you can sleep again.”

The body that was tightly wrapped around her waist gradually stiffened, suggesting he was waking up.

Then suddenly he jerked upright.

That would make the cuts open and bleed more.

Saena spoke to him in a sharp voice without realizing it.

“Don’t move.”

“…Pardon?”

“Stay still for a moment.”

“……”

Though he looked confused while remaining stiff, Constantine didn’t move as she said. But he kept glancing at her nervously, surely because of what happened earlier that day.

Saena spoke with a somewhat expressionless face.

“You might have glass embedded in you. You fell over there.”

He seemed to quickly grasp the situation when she pointed to the traces of broken fragments.

“I need to look at your wounds.”

“……”

At her words, Constantine’s expression became serious as he lowered his gaze and avoided her eyes.

“You hate my touch, don’t you.”

Just moments ago he had clung to her himself, yet now he hated her touch…

It was complicated. Apart from the unpleasantness of what happened during the day, she didn’t feel particularly good about this.

“Would a doctor be alright?”

He flinched and shrank at her somewhat sarcastic tone and words. Constantine fumbled with his mouth as if he’s trying to say something.

“You won’t be able to reach your back alone. We need to examine it carefully since there might be glass embedded.”

“……”

“Have someone you prefer called to treat you, Your Grace.”

“That…”

Constantine rubbed his eyes with his palm and swept back his forehead in apparent difficulty, then took a deep breath.

“Haah. Would you…”

After a brief pause, he continued, like he’s made some decision.

“Would you look at it for me?”

…When did he go from not letting her touch him to suddenly this?

Saena looked into Constantine’s eyes, finding his intentions difficult to understand.

“It’s not that I hate your touch. It’s just…”

He started to explain something more but seemed to decide to show rather than tell, then began to unbutton his shirt. Watching him undo his front buttons with downcast eyes and slightly fumbling movements gave off a strange impression.

Like… a shy bride undressing before her groom on their wedding night.

‘…What.’

Pushing away the absurd thought, Saena followed his gradually exposed skin.

The first thing that caught her eye were the frighteningly well-defined muscles of his chest and abdomen. Saena’s eyes widened at the sight of the distinct contours that would surely feel firm to the touch.

‘Wow…’

No matter what angle she looked at herself in the mirror, she could never find such bone structure and form on her own body.

Just looking at those shapes that appeared so solid made her want to reach out and stroke them to confirm, but his expression was too serious for her to try.

Soon, as he pulled his shirt aside to reveal his shoulder, his straight collarbone stood out prominently. His broad shoulders and similarly curved, solid-looking forearms were exposed.

Saena examined his upper body, unable to look away, not realizing she was staring rather obviously at his n*ked form.

‘…Beautiful.’

Though his body was huge and robust, the inverted triangle of his waist prevented it from looking dull. Rather, it appeared both sleek and powerful.

But why was he suddenly taking off his clothes?

Regardless of her appreciation, she couldn’t understand the situation.

Finally, with a thud, the shirt fell to the floor.

Constantine turned around with somewhat hesitant movements.

“…Ah.”

“……”

As he turned around and his broad back spread before her eyes, Saena was startled.

Naturally, she expected his skin to have the same color as his exposed front, the back revealed to her was… Good heavens. Different.

The massive back plate. Upon seeing that broad back, Saena was first overwhelmed by its color.

It was so densely covered in patterns that flesh color was barely visible. Given how wide his back was, the contrast between his skin and the alien colors felt overwhelmingly striking.

What on earth was that?

As the initial shock from the colors subsided, she could examine it more closely.

There were multiple overlapping circular formations that also resembled wave patterns, with all sorts of geometric shapes etched there in incredibly complex formations.

‘Why would someone carve such things into a person’s back?’

This was her first thought.

As she stared at the back with questions in mind, whether because her focus was distorted by the complex patterns, Saena suddenly flinched when the patterns seemed to move.

‘No, is it because of the lamp’s shadow?’

The lamp’s shadow seemed to ripple and move across his back.

As if it’s alive.

‘…No. It really seems to be moving?’

As she stared intently at that back, she somehow felt like the rippling shadows there were watching her.

It might sound impossible, but it really felt that way.

Saena took one step closer. His back slightly contracted at her approaching footsteps. Again, the shadows on his back seemed to ripple strangely.

‘This isn’t just a pattern…’

Perhaps…

‘Is it a type of Guardian Spirit?’

She couldn’t have imagined it before when she only knew the outward appearance of Guardian Spirits, but after getting to know Constantine and learning about their various forms and abilities, she could make such a guess.

Looking more closely from a nearer position, she even felt a somewhat familiar energy from that back. Though she didn’t know how she could distinguish such energy, she felt it nonetheless.

It seemed to be a type of Guardian Spirit indeed. Whether it was the Guardian Spirit itself or remnants of its power, she wasn’t sure.

As she concentrated intensely on that energy, she remembered when she had felt this sensation before.

Back then. During her debutante ball, what had risen behind his back…

And in the sky garden, the black energy that had caught her when she was floating in the air.

And when visiting the Kramer mansion, what had suddenly sprung from behind his back…

‘Caligo!’

Yes. Back then, he had definitely called it that. Not Morev, but Caligo.

At the time, she thought something was strange but didn’t know what… but if he had a hidden power with its own name, it made sense.

If this formless thing was his true power, it was understandable why he would hide it.

Saena slowly raised her hand and touched the middle of his back, the hollow of his erector spinae. Though it was a light touch, his back muscles all tensed enough to visibly move.

Swoosh.

Somehow the dark parts of the pattern seemed to scatter away from her hand. Though the pattern itself was black, it appeared even darker due to that rippling energy.

Looking at it that way, the pattern seemed like a prison containing it. Though it rippled endlessly, it didn’t move beyond the pattern’s boundaries.

It was strange and peculiar.

Ah, so that’s why.

His nearly mysophobic way of dressing was actually… because he didn’t want others to see this?

If that was the reason for his reactions all this time, it all made sense.

‘To carve so many patterns…’

It must have been incredibly painful.

The blood seeping from the glass cuts looked dark red and clotted… it seemed as if the patterns were either absorbing the blood or the blood was seeping through the gaps in the patterns.

That’s why such thoughts occurred to her.

It definitely didn’t look like something that could be carved in a short time, so perhaps…

Saena felt somewhat sorry for him and stroked his back, then wiped the flowing blood around the wounds with her sleeve.

“…Sae… na.”

He barely managed to say her name in a voice that seemed to sink like a swallowed breath. If his nightmare-ridden suffering had seemed slightly satisfying before, now it felt pitiful.

Oddly enough, the fear he had given her during the day vanished instantly.