Since that day, Lavi’s life had turned upside down.

He couldn’t bring himself to face Sel. Every time he did, memories of that day resurfaced, and his body reacted instinctively. So he avoided him, and it felt humiliating.

The fact that something he’d struggled with for his whole life had resolved itself before a man—an exceptionally well-endowed man at that. Despite his slender frame, he had a striking masculinity. Not that Lavi was lacking in that department himself.

Frustrated, he started meeting women indiscriminately. But it only filled him with a sense of aversion. His body had reverted to its old state.

Flora had shown up at the mercenary camp again. This time, the woman, undeterred, stripped down to her nightclothes and pressed herself against him. Flora was an undeniable beauty without a single flaw.

Yet, he felt as cold and numb as a stone. Eric even offered a potion that supposedly helped with situations like these, but Lavi sent him away. The revulsion was undeniable, and he knew then he had crossed a river he could never return from.

Just as he was angrily pushing Flora away, Philip knocked on the door urgently, informing him that Sel was in danger.

After that, he could hardly remember how he made it there. By the time he arrived, he was empty-handed, having even forgotten to bring a weapon.

Standing before Sel was the healer he thought he’d half-killed before. The man had ignored his warnings to leave town and, seemingly having sold his soul, had turned to voodoo, summoning a dark spirit to gain power.

It was his mistake, letting him live with the vow he wouldn’t kill.

Seeing Sel’s arm being slashed by a knife, he couldn’t move straight to his side. And then, when his mask fell off…

He stopped dead, his mind going blank. Sel’s scream registered too late.

He despised himself for it.

Grabbing a fallen branch from the ground, he channeled his aura into it, beheading the man. As expected, dark energy poured out of the severed neck.

The dark smoke rose, black as pitch, reminding him of himself—unwanted, met with contempt, viewed as a scourge upon society.

Even heaven seemed indifferent. To a man possessed by a spirit, it had denied even an heir, and now… with a man.

Lavi chugged from the bottle of alcohol he was holding.

Drunkenly, he slammed his head on the table. Over and over.

‘No. I am not gay.’

‘I’m not attracted to men. I shouldn’t be.’

His desolate words echoed through the library.

—

The next morning.

“What’s going on, sir! You drank again?” Philip shook Lavi awake.

For once, the spirits had left him alone as he drank himself into a stupor.

Eric, who had come down after Philip, surveyed the table.

Shattered glass fragments lay scattered around. It was obvious he’d blacked out after one tiny glass of alcohol.

“Honestly, he’s built like he could gulp down a barrel, but his tolerance is pathetic,” Eric muttered. “Two beers. Keep that in mind.”

Philip’s eyebrows furrowed.

No matter how much he trained, his liver apparently refused to toughen up.

“But why would he drink in the library? Usually, he’s at the bar on the first floor.”

“Maybe he was waiting for someone or wanted someone to see him?” Eric shrugged, softly muttering, “Too bad we were the first ones to find him.”

With that, Eric slid an arm under Lavi’s shoulders and knees, lifting him like a princess.

In his sleep, Lavi wrapped his arms around Eric’s neck, mumbling softly in his ear.

“Ahh, damn it, what the hell!” Eric yelled.

“Gah! What’s wrong, Deputy?” Philip asked in shock.

“…Nothing.” Eric rubbed his ear against his shoulder, as if trying to scrub off Lavi’s whispered words.

When he reached Lavi’s room, he dropped him onto the couch. Eric then took out a clean handkerchief and wiped his ear again.

But the words Lavi had mumbled earlier lingered in his mind.

“I’m not gay. I don’t like men.” The desperate, heart-wrenching words left Eric with a strange, uneasy feeling.

—

The old man possessed by the evil spirit had always been a real threat to Sel. The traumatic memories of her childhood left deep scars. Every time she visited town, she’d clutch her chest, fearing she’d run into him, and sleep gripping a pistol, fearing he’d come for her.

His death brought her a real sense of relief.

Sometimes, she would remember the pain of the blade that had pierced her arm, but his death assured her of a safer tomorrow.

Eric brought her some late-night treats as she lay in bed again that night. Lavi, following close behind, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Thanks, Eric. Are you heading out somewhere?” Sel asked.

Eric, who usually wore a short silk robe at bedtime, was now dressed in long sleeves and pants.

“No, rookie. I’m going to bed in exactly 42 minutes.”

“Then why the full outfit…?”

Eric gave Lavi a sidelong glance and replied, “Because I don’t want to show my bare skin to someone who might ogle me.”

“…Ogle?” Lavi’s face twisted in shock. “Eric, are you saying that to me?”

Eric quickly turned his head straight forward.

Lavi’s face darkened as he stomped his feet.

“What nonsense is this? Me? Why on earth would I?”

“You really don’t remember this morning, do you? When you were breathing heavily in my ear, muttering that you weren’t gay…!” Eric’s voice trailed off as Lavi’s hand clamped over his mouth.

Eric shook him off, recoiling from the sudden contact.

“Don’t touch me with those lecherous intentions, you perverted bastard!”

Eric tended to drop formal speech when he got worked up.

“Pervert? Ha, coming from the guy who wears nothing but tiny robes and underwear? Now you’re calling me the pervert?”

Their heated bickering only cooled down when they finally heeded Sel’s command to leave the room.

After that, Lavi’s anger became increasingly obvious toward Eric. Watching him, Eric finally understood Lavi’s true feelings and went back to wearing his favorite silk robe.

—

Lavi imposed a week-long ban on Sel leaving her room.

If he didn’t, she’d push herself to work no matter her condition, so he took measures to stop her. Though, that wasn’t the only reason.

The villagers and mercenaries who had seen Sel’s face were constantly sneaking around, trying to catch another glimpse of her. After all she’d been through, she hardly needed to deal with their curiosity as well.

No longer did people call her a beggar, a nuisance, or an infectious plague.

Now, she was the mercenary who had risked her life to save the village chief’s daughter, the most beautiful mercenary in Rapiche Village with her golden hair and blue eyes. An angelic face, they said, and a devilish strength.

The words used to describe her had changed.

Sel, the Cavalry Mercenary—that was the title she had earned for the first time.

Her face was now known to those who needed to know, and stories about her were spreading fast.

If she were to hide her face again, it would only fuel people’s curiosity.

Lavi and Eric encouraged her to let her face be seen without worry. They reminded her that, since they no longer lived near the Black Forest, there was no need for her to wear a goblin mask to ward off magical energies.

“Right. I don’t need to hide anymore. After all, everyone already knows what I look like now.”

This experience allowed Sel to shed her old shell.

No longer the unlucky beggar, she had even discarded the mask that had concealed her face for so long.

After taking off the mask, the ringing in her ears, oddly enough, stopped.

She placed the torn pieces of her mask into a small box.

Hearing of her injury, her mercenary comrades came to visit her. Of course, they first needed Lavi’s permission, and since he only allowed a 30-minute visit, they all came at once to make the most of their time.

“Sel, I’m so relieved. When we had to leave you that day, my heart just broke….”

Philip, teary-eyed, admitted he wished he’d come back with her to the mercenary camp.

“I’m fine, Philip. Thanks to you, Karin is safe, and that’s what’s important.”

“Still, Sel,” Philip sobbed. “You… you’re really handsome.”

Everyone burst out laughing at Philip’s emotional words.

Choro jumped in, “Sel used to call our handsome Commander a weasel. Now I get it. To him, he’s just another animal. When you’re used to looking in the mirror at that face, who else would look good enough to you?”

“Right, and he’s well-equipped, too…” Braeden mumbled, looking down at the floor.

As the one who’d had the closest look at Sel’s ‘equipment’ that day, Braeden was responsible for spreading the rumor that Sel was as manly as they come.

Thanks to him, the story spread so widely that even the village maidens were outside, dying to catch a glimpse of Sel.

Normally rough and ill-tempered, Braeden had softened up since the “sausage incident.”

Though he initially avoided Sel, Braeden gradually began to approach her, bringing her dried chicken br*ast or boiled eggs, claiming he’d “picked them up somewhere.” Sel, forgiving him for that day’s mishap, became closer to Braeden than before.

They were in the middle of a lively gathering.

Punctual as ever, Lavi glanced at his pocket watch and knocked loudly on the open door.

“Time’s up. Out.”

“Oh, come on, Commander! Just a bit longer—”

“Out.”

Hearing Lavi’s low tone, Philip quickly quieted down and ducked his head.

Once Lavi had shooed everyone out, he turned sharply to look at Sel.

Sel scratched her temple, cautiously asking, “Is something wrong…?”

“You’re hurt. Are you out of your mind?”

“Pardon?”

“You looked like you were having the time of your life—laughing, chatting.”

“Pardon?”

“You keep laughing like that, and you’ll reopen your wounds. So don’t laugh like that.”

She wasn’t stabbed in the gut or anything—what was he going on about? Sel just responded with a bored “Yes” and turned her gaze toward the ceiling.

These days, talking to Lavi always made her feel irritated.

He’d argue over every little thing or get angry for no reason.

But she didn’t want to fight with him.

Every time she felt upset with Lavi, she thought of him running over to her, not even fully dressed, in his bare feet.

She’d decided to forgive him about a hundred times. And this was only the twenty-sixth time.

Lavi stomped out, slamming the door loudly behind him.

At the noise, Sel flinched. This was her twenty-seventh time holding in her temper.