He claimed to love Rudis, but it wasn’t true love. It was a selfish, ugly obsession meant to bind her within his pain.

Iska lowered his head as he confronted his true nature. Tarkar. He was a dangerous beast. No matter how much he tried to deny it or believe he was different, that was a lie. From the beginning, he had been created as part of the cunning, cruel, and hideous darkness. That was his nature and destiny.

Iska knew painfully well what kind of being he was born as. Perhaps it was only natural that Rudis would leave him. After all, he had tried to taint her, to stain light with darkness, to corrupt her into a filthy, monstrous villain like himself.

Nevertheless, Iska still couldn’t give up on Rudis. He yearned for his sun—that radiant light that had enveloped even a hideous beast like him with infinite gentleness. But his world within that rising sun was crumbling, just like the forest of Grimnoir.

* * *

Just before 6 AM, Rudis slowly woke up in the room Noah had prepared for her. She stared blankly at the ceiling for a while before curling up and hugging her blanket, the events of last night vividly fresh in her memory.

‘What on earth did I do?’

She had begged Noah so desperately, driven by a lust she couldn’t control. Shame washed over her as she twisted in bed, clutching her head. Though she tried to convince herself it was all because of her beast-person transformation, that didn’t make it any less embarrassing.

While suffering from the memory of her shameful behavior, she heard commotion outside—Noah’s voice alternating with another familiar one. Xenon.

Rudis instinctively moved to open the door but hesitated. The atmosphere felt tense, with somewhat heated exchanges going back and forth.

“What exactly have you been doing all this time?”

“Weren’t you the one who brought Rudis here yourself for that very purpose?”

Xenon’s voice was followed by Noah’s composed response.

‘Xenon brought me here?’

Rudis froze with her hand on the doorknob. She had become so accustomed to waking up in Noah’s house after forced sleep that she hadn’t questioned why she was there in the first place.

“What are you doing that requires setting up a barrier preventing anyone from entering?”

“It was to block impure intentions. You should be able to figure that much out yourself—if you have a brain, that is.”

Unlike Xenon, who was filled with anger, Noah’s voice was cold and imperious—yet another side of him that Rudis hadn’t known before.

A moment of silence followed. Xenon took a rough breath before asking again in a low, cautious voice, “What’s with that creepy way of talking? So is the treatment possible or not?”

“What a foolish question. Do you think I’ve wasted all these years waiting for death like someone I know? What happened back then won’t happen again.”

What happened back then?

Rudis tilted her head in confusion. There seemed to be something between them, though as far as she knew, they had no connection.

“So now…” Xenon asked again, his voice tinged with caution and impatience.

“Why don’t you see for yourself? You might as well come out now instead of eavesdropping any longer,” Noah said sharply.

Startled by Noah’s cutting voice, Rudis nervously opened the door. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop deliberately.”

Xenon turned around when the door opened. Upon seeing Rudis, he rushed over and embraced her.

“Are you alright? I missed you.”

“…Me too.”

Though his usual composure was gone, his voice remained gentle and warm as always, making Rudis nod in response.

“That’s not a very convincing lie,” Xenon said with a playful smile.

“It’s true,” Rudis quietly confessed, making an admission. She really had thought about him, especially last night.

“Weren’t you curious about the treatment’s progress?” A cold voice interrupted her slightly guilty confession. Xenon met Rudis’s eyes and carefully asked, “May I take a look?”

Rudis nodded. Though she didn’t understand what “what happened back then” meant, it was clear that Xenon also knew something about beast-person transformation.

With Rudis’s permission, Xenon approached carefully and touched her lips. Unlike Noah, he gently opened her mouth to press on her molars, which felt strangely intimate. Perhaps her heat was continuing because the sun hadn’t fully risen yet. She crossed her legs slightly and averted her gaze. Xenon thoroughly examined her head and backside, checking her ears and tail carefully. After finishing his inspection, he hugged her tightly and sighed with relief.

“How long are you going to stay like that?”

At Noah’s voice, Xenon embraced Rudis even more tightly. The two men silently glared at each other. It definitely seemed like something had happened between them—some unpleasant history.

“Um… what do you mean by ‘what happened back then’? Has something like this happened before?”

It was Rudis who broke the uncomfortable silence. Even in this tense atmosphere, she had to ask, she had been dying of curiosity. As Rudis stepped out of Xenon’s embrace, a cold smile spread across Noah’s face, showing he had been waiting for this moment.

“It was a very long time ago.”

“That’s enough,” Xenon urgently covered Rudis’s ears protectively. “You don’t need to hear this.”

He tried to draw Rudis’s attention back to himself.

“I want to hear it,” she insisted.

“It’s just a story from the past. It’s all over now.”

Xenon’s face was filled with tension and desperation. But Rudis removed his hands and stood straight. His reaction only convinced her that this was something she absolutely needed to hear.

“Please tell me.”

Hearing Rudis’s firm voice, Xenon bit his lip but didn’t try to stop her anymore.

“This will be a long story, so why don’t you wash up first? I’ve prepared clothes for you,” Noah said, the corners of his mouth twitching with apparent pleasure. His face twisted strangely, sending chills down her spine as Rudis headed to the bathroom.

Once Rudis left, the room filled with a peculiar tension. Xenon broke the silence.

“What are you playing at?”

His voice was low and sharp as he glared at Noah.

“I should be asking you that. It was quite amusing—something the past you couldn’t even imagine,” Noah sneered, reverting to his usual manner of speech the moment Rudis disappeared.

“This has nothing to do with Rudis. I asked why you’re bringing up the past.”

“Nothing to do with her?”

Noah tilted his head with interest.

“Is that really the case? Or are you pretending not to know? Or perhaps desperately hoping it isn’t true? Or could you possibly be that stupid?”

Xenon’s expression hardened at Noah’s words.

“That’s impossible.”

He muttered with wavering eyes.

“If you’re going to deny it, at least fix that pathetic look on your face before speaking.”

“Is Rudis really…” Xenon’s voice trembled, but he couldn’t finish his sentence as Rudis emerged from the bathroom.

The clothes Noah had prepared were made of light fabric so white it shimmered with silver. The flowing fabric reflected the autumn light, rippling with every movement. Different from her usual attire, Rudis kept fidgeting with the hem of her skirt.

Xenon stared at her with disbelief. His red eyes trembled, clearly trying to deny what he was hearing. Noah chuckled deviously at Xenon’s reaction.

“It suits you well, indeed. Shall we begin our story now?”

Rudis quietly nodded and took a seat. Xenon remained stunned, still staring at her.

“A very long time ago, about 200 years back, there was someone like you—someone foolish enough to trust beast-people.”

200 years ago…

Rudis’s eyes wavered. That was also when the war Xenon had mentioned took place. The Token of Pathos had disappeared 200 years ago as well. Though the connection seemed unlikely, the link was still vague to her.

“But the base beast-people wanted to possess her exclusively and wanted her to become one of them.”

Noah’s eyes darkened, but he quickly returned to his cold, composed expression.

“I fought to get her back—to save the foolish one I couldn’t help but love.”