❖ ❖ ❖
The next target for their party, the SSS-rank regression dungeon The Tail Serpent’s Trap, was unusual in that it required qualifications just to enter.
It was located right in the middle of the empire’s capital’s highest-level hunting grounds, as if it had nothing to hide. The dungeon entrance was an ancient temple, wrapped in thick vines that coiled around it like a snake. If one pushed through the vines and stepped inside, a system message would immediately appear before sending their body flying backward.
[You cannot enter The Tail Serpent’s Trap.]
[A dungeon entry qualification is required.]
— Keys to the Tail Serpent’s Trap 1, 2, and 3 are required.
— Can be obtained from A-rank, S-rank, and SS-rank rare dungeons.
Despite these requirements, some heroes had managed to collect all the keys and challenge the dungeon first. However, whether they had failed or succeeded was unknown—no rumors of a first clear had ever spread.
Adventurers curious about the dungeon had invited Kelian’s party to join forces for a joint expedition, but they refused. Just as they always had, they intended to clear it on their own.
They stopped by Summer Village because it housed an A-rank rare dungeon and also served as a convenient starting point to plan their next route.
Of course, the moment they set foot in the village, the locals swarmed to catch a glimpse of Kelian and his famous party, known across the entire empire. It was uncomfortable, but they were used to it by now.
“Thank you!”
As they searched for an inn where they could stay for a day or two—maybe three at most—a woman’s voice cut sharply into Kelian’s ears.
Without thinking, he turned toward the sound and spotted a woman stepping down from a shabby carriage, bowing to both the driver and someone still inside.
Despite the noisy crowd surrounding the hero’s party, her voice reached him as clearly as if she were whispering right beside him. Perhaps it was simply because he was paying attention, but there was no reason for him to be doing so in the first place. He concluded that her voice must have been abnormally loud.
“Well then, I’ll be off now!”
Her uncommon black hair cascaded down her back naturally. Though she looked as if she might collapse at any moment, she still spoke brightly, her voice unwavering as she finished her farewell and moved on.
Even though the area was packed with people, she didn’t seem the least bit bothered by it. Was she simply oblivious, or did she not have the luxury of caring? Her wary eyes darted around before she quickly disappeared into the crowd.
“Where is she…”
Going?
The words nearly left his mouth before he caught himself and closed it. His companions didn’t seem to have noticed anything and continued their search for an inn. Soon, Kelian dismissed the woman from his mind as well.
He saw her again later that evening while dining at the inn with his party.
Their meal had already been disrupted once—an opportunist had approached, begging them to lift a supposed curse, only to be exposed as a fraud and flee the inn in embarrassment. Before they could recover from the annoyance, another commotion broke out.
“S-Save me!”
It was her.
The black-haired woman from earlier dashed behind Jenin, seeking refuge.
“Well, well. Fancy running into the hero’s party here. You must be working hard for the good of the continent.”
“What do you want?”
“Oh, nothing to do with you fine folks. We’ll just be taking the lady here.”
The thugs who followed her into the inn gestured lazily toward her, acting as if this was just routine business. Naturally, Kelian’s gaze drifted back to her, but she didn’t even glance his way.
Tension lined her face, exhaustion deepening her features even more than before.
“Come on, let’s not make a scene here. We wouldn’t want to trouble our dear heroes, now would we? Let’s go upstairs and talk.”
When one of the thugs stepped closer to the woman, Kelian’s fingers twitched.
He knew Jenin could handle it—she was the one the woman had sought help from, after all. There was no reason for him to interfere. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, he wanted to step in. Even though she hadn’t even spared him a glance.
“For reference, my level is 73. If you still want to fight, go ahead.”
At Jenin’s words, the thugs bolted out of the inn without a second thought.
“Are you okay? If you’re worried about them, I can walk you home.”
“N-No… I’m fine.”
With the problem seemingly resolved, the woman hesitated as if she still had unfinished business. Her gaze swept over the group, lingering on each of them as if considering something—yet, once again, it never reached Kelian.
His mood soured even further.
It didn’t make sense.
“Th-Thank you for your help. Then, I’ll be going.”
“Ah, wait—!”
Before Jenin could stop her, the woman left behind a single gold coin and quickly exited the inn.
Jenin stared at the coin resting in her palm, then suddenly burst into laughter.
“Wow, that’s hilarious.”
“What’s so funny? That your good deed was only worth a single gold?” Dain scoffed.
But once Jenin’s laughter started, it didn’t stop so easily. She was naturally cheerful, but seeing her laugh this hard was rare.
Does she really like that woman so much?
Before he realized it, Kelian found himself staring intently at the single gold coin resting in Jenin’s hand.
❖ ❖ ❖
It was Aine Kruger.
The woman who desperately avoided looking at him, who flinched and turned away the moment their eyes nearly met. The one who rejected his outstretched hand but took Barkrud’s without hesitation. The one who had even fallen into a rare dungeon with him.
Kelian could feel his companions watching him, as if sensing something was off from the moment he spoke Aine’s name. But no one knew it better than he did—he was the one acting strange.
With a tangled mess of emotions, he cleared the dungeon. He had rushed through it, not for himself, but because Aine seemed exhausted.
“Thank you. I’ll accept it gratefully.”
When he handed her the item dropped by the boss, Aine’s face lit up with a bright smile.
At that moment, a pain like a sword piercing his heart struck him.
He had never once allowed a fatal wound to land on him, whether from human or monster. He had no experience with the pain of being stabbed in the heart. And yet, there was no other way to describe the breath-stealing sensation that overtook him.
“I’ll give you this in return.”
“For me…?”
“If you don’t want it, you don’t have to take it…”
What she gave him in exchange for the boss item was a childish-looking handkerchief.
“No, I’ll take it.”
As he accepted it, their fingers briefly brushed. A fleeting touch—yet the warmth of it burned like fire.
Before that heat could fade, Kelian pressed his lips to the handkerchief.
It had no scent. And yet, somehow, it was overwhelming.
For the first time in his life, he realized he needed a kind of patience he had never known before.
“Thank you.”
❖ ❖ ❖
“I am Petrel Rivens, lord of Three Seasons Castle, and this is my daughter, Linna Rivens.”
It wasn’t unusual for Kelian to deal with people who refused to take no for an answer. So when the lord and his daughter suddenly appeared, he wasn’t particularly surprised.
Despite having only been in Summer Village for a few days, he had already declined multiple invitations to the lord’s castle. Sending messengers hadn’t been enough—now, the man had come in person, clearly unwilling to leave empty-handed.
“Please take my daughter, Linna, as your wife.”
As expected. And just as quickly, Kelian responded without hesitation.
“I refuse.”
“Ah, but you haven’t even gotten to know my daughter yet. If you spend just one day with her, I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”
“That’s right! I’ve always dreamed of marrying you, Hero. I’ve worked hard on my abilities, and my level has even surpassed 30. Of course, I could never compare to you, but…”
What exactly did these people think a hero was?
Did they believe him to be so selfless that he’d marry a stranger just because they asked? Or did they assume he lacked personal agency altogether?
He couldn’t stop clearing dungeons, as it was the only place where he found any mental solace. And being called a hero was beyond his control. But at this point, he genuinely began to wonder what they thought a hero was.
Not out of curiosity, but with the cold detachment of someone doused in ice water.
“If you marry my daughter, Hero, you will become the thirtieth ruler of Three Seasons Castle…”
As the lord stepped closer, Kelian suppressed a familiar, yet distant, urge.
An urge that, if indulged, would paint the room in blood.
By all accounts, he was steadily losing his mind. No matter how many dungeons he cleared or how many trusted companions he gained, his deeply ingrained hatred of humanity and self-destructive impulses never truly disappeared.
Just as he was sinking further into that darkness, the voice of the one woman he had been unconsciously aware of this whole time pulled him back.
“You can’t marry him.”
No—rather than restoring his reason, her words only dulled it further.
Kelian failed to process them immediately.
“Kelian can’t marry anyone else… because he has me.”
Aine stared directly at him, blinking rapidly.
It looked like she was asking him to play along.
“The hero has no lover, or so I’ve heard. Who might you be?”
“I… I’m his lover. We’ve only recently started dating, so it hasn’t become widely known yet. Until now, neither of us truly understood our own feelings.”
“Hero, is this true?”
The lord’s suspicion did not waver as he turned his gaze toward Kelian.
“……Yes.”
He responded, though he couldn’t quite name the feeling behind his answer. Even as the lord muttered nonsense and eventually disappeared, Kelian still couldn’t take his eyes off Aine.
“I’m sorry, Hero. You seemed troubled, so I acted on my own…”
She apologized for lying, saying she had only done it because he looked like he needed help.
Hearing that apology only made his mood sink further—as if he had been too lighthearted before.
Kelian forced himself to appear calm.
“It’s fine. Thanks to you, I avoided unnecessary trouble.”
But inside, his thoughts were running wild.
Now that the meal was over, would they part ways here? And if they didn’t—then what?
Even he didn’t know what he wanted from Aine or why he felt this way, yet he desperately searched for a reason to keep her from leaving.
“Thank you so much. I’ll never forget any of you. I hope you all have a wonderful journey ahead.”
Aine had looked as though she had more to say, but in the end, she only left them with her final farewell.
Watching her walk away, an inexplicable thirst burned in his throat.
Dain, who had been watching Kelian with a deep frown, spoke in a warning tone.
“She’s definitely up to something. She must have approached us because she wants something.”
“Then I just have to give her what she wants.”
“…What? That’s not what I meant! And why the hell do you have to be the one to give her anything?!”
It would have been easier if she was after something.
At least then, it wouldn’t mean she had been avoiding his gaze and rejecting his help simply because she disliked him.
If the reason Aine had acted so unnaturally around him was because she wanted something from him… if she had left without ever managing to ask… then Kelian was more than willing to give it to her.
As long as she stayed by his side a little longer in return.
That was all he wanted right now.
It turned out the lord had left spies behind to keep an eye on them, which gave Kelian the perfect excuse to follow her.
“The lord has stationed people to watch us. Looks like Aine has been followed as well. Either to ensure I don’t escape or because he doubts our relationship.”
When he met her again and explained this, Aine didn’t seem suspicious of his words at all.
His reasoning had been long-winded, even pathetic, but it wasn’t a lie—she was being watched.
“So I’ll escort you to where you’re staying.”
“Thank you.”
They walked through the night streets, exchanging light conversation.
The road was unremarkable, the same as the one he had taken the night before. And yet, simply walking it together made it feel different.
Kelian stole a glance at Aine.
She seemed curious about many things but didn’t voice them aloud.
He quickly turned his gaze forward again. If he kept looking, he felt as if he would never stop.
“Ah. This is it.”
The place Aine had chosen to stay was a crumbling inn that looked ready to collapse at any moment.
When Kelian asked if she really planned to stay there, she responded cheerfully as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Unconsciously, he raised a hand to his mouth.
There were plenty of inns in this village, yet she had picked this one?
The door looked as though a single hit would send it toppling down. It was far too weak to protect her from anything.
“Why don’t you stay at our inn instead? This place doesn’t seem safe.”
“Ah…”
“I’ll cover the cost.”
Yes, he was worried about her safety.
But more than that—he just wanted to keep her close.
Dain suspected Aine of having ulterior motives, but in truth, Kelian was the one with the darker heart.
Standing before an inn he couldn’t stand to look at, he waited for her answer.
“Hero.”
