<Episode 50>

“Brother?”

Eveline couldn’t hide her astonishment as she looked at her own body. If she was now inside Abellard’s body, then Rubellite and Abellard might have also switched bodies.

“Are you insane?”

Elkais’ cold voice startled Eveline. Though he had always been kind to her, now he displayed the same fierce attitude he had when they first met.

“Why are am I….?”

“Hah.”

Elkais, trying to suppress his irritation, put down the cloth he had been using to clean the unconscious Eveline’s face and walked over to the real Eveline, who was now in Abellard’s body.

“Listen, Elkais. I am… ugh…”

“What nonsense are you spewing now? Weren’t you the one who vowed to protect Eveline? Then explain why she’s in this state and why the grand duke is unconscious.”

“Elkais! Ugh…”

Elkais tightened his grip on Eveline’s collar. Despite feeling suffocated, Eveline was astonished by the strength he now had.

“Let go… kuh…”

Elkais, trying to control his anger, released his grip.

Eveline coughed, trying to catch her breath, and then checked her body.

Her body and Rubellite’s appeared to be asleep but were severely injured.

“Treat her immediately.”

“What?”

“Treat her! Eveline is bleeding heavily, so hurry!”

Elkais tried to remain calm, but having lost his temper once, he couldn’t completely quell his anger. He bit his lip hard and sighed.

“Ah…”

Eveline was panicked. She had no idea how to use divine power. But her own body was gravely injured, with a gash on the neck.

On the other hand, Rubellite seemed mostly unharmed. He was just unconscious, with minor wounds on his ear and palm. The scar on his palm wasn’t even significant.

And although one of his ears should have been completely blown off, it was now only slightly bleeding, with its shape still intact.

What on earth had happened?

Eveline tried to calm down and assess the situation.

Losing her composure in an irrational situation would lead to disaster.

She had survived this way, and controlling her emotions was something she had prioritized even when she became a police officer.

“Elkais.”

“Hurry up and treat them. Don’t make me say it twice.”

Eveline realized that Elkais’s relationship with Abellard was far from being close. The way he treated her was entirely different from how he treated Abellard.

Maybe it was because they were both Alphas?

While pondering this, Eveline reached out to her unconscious body.

However, without knowing how to use divine power, she couldn’t heal herself.

“I can’t do it.”

“Hah.”

Elkais knew that Abellard’s feelings for Eveline were genuine. Therefore, he couldn’t comprehend his current behavior and attitude.

Could it be that Abellard’s proclaimed sincerity towards Eveline was actually false?

Normally, Abellard would have been crying and whining loudly enough to pass out.

But now, he stood calmly, looking down at Eveline with a cold expression.

Something was definitely off.

Perhaps it would be better to keep them apart for a while.

“Go fetch some firewood before the sun sets.”

“Isn’t there already plenty of firewood that Elkais gathered?”

“It won’t last through the night. Go get more, now.”

Eveline reached for Elkais’s sword, but he slapped her hand away harshly.

“You can do it with your bare hands.”

“How am I supposed to manage without a weapon?”

“Just gather some dry wood. You’re useless for anything else except purification.”

“Why are you talking to me like that?”

Eveline suddenly understood why Abellard had always questioned his worth.

<Am I useful now?>

Perhaps Elkais and Eveline herself had treated Abellard this way, making him so obsessed with being useful.

“Isn’t it true? You couldn’t even protect Eveline.”

Eveline felt a strange mix of emotions. Elkais was angry at her for not being able to protect herself.

“I’m Eveline.”

“What?”

“Our bodies have switched, Elkais.”

Eveline tried to explain rationally, but his cold attitude made her blurt it out without thinking.

“Hah.”

Elkais laughed openly, rising from his seat. He gripped her shoulder roughly, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“If you spout such nonsense again, I’ll snap your neck. Understood?”

“Elkais.”

“Firewood. Now.”

Eveline hadn’t expected him to believe her immediately, but she was taken aback by how quickly he dismissed her.

With no other choice, she left the cabin feeling both humiliated and frustrated.

Perhaps everything would be resolved when their bodies woke up. Elkais would protect her body from harm.

For now, she needed to focus on gathering firewood and finding a way to use divine power.

“Damn it.”

She realized, only after being thrown out, that her current physical state was a mess.

Her entire body ached as if it had been thoroughly beaten. Her nose was the worst of it.

“More nosebleeds.”

When Rubellite woke up, Elkais would handle him. As a sword master, he could deal with any threat.

Rubellite was dangerous, but with Elkais around, Eveline felt secure.

It would be best to gather the firewood and return before sunset.

Wiping away the blood, she looked around.

This place was humid and hot. The sun during the day was so intense that it dried the rain-soaked ground from the night before.

There were plenty of dry branches. She picked them up one by one.

Elkais’s kindness to her was probably due to the Omega pheromones, she thought.

This realization made her feel uneasy, so she tried to focus solely on gathering firewood.

She collected branches for a while. Since she hadn’t ventured far, she could return to the cabin quickly.

“Ah… more nosebleeds.”

Eveline worried about Abellard’s body. Her foolish brother must have strained himself to stop Rubellite.

His poor condition was likely due to the effort he had made to save her last time.

<Your heart stopped for a moment.>

When she first encountered the red man, no, Dekarv.

“Do I really have to… ugh…”

She had forgotten about the restriction placed on speaking about certain things and trembled with pain from the tightness in her throat.

Did she really have to kill everyone to survive alone?

But in the original story, three people made it out. So there must be a way.

Eveline forced herself to swallow the taste of blood in her mouth and calm down.

She gathered all the firewood she had picked up and returned to the cabin.

* * *

Elkais was pacing anxiously around the cabin.

“Divine power?”

“I still can’t use it. Do you know how to use it by any chance?”

“I’m not a priest. I wasn’t close to any priests either. The only people I was close to in the temple were the holy knights.”

Eveline had somewhat expected this response.

Most priests were women for reasons she couldn’t understand, making the higher ranks of the temple predominantly female.

The holy knights were just an attached order, but it was the priests who held the real power.

Elkais disliked Omegas, and there were many Omegas in the temple.

Besides, how would someone who rarely got injured get close to a priest?

“Then do you know anything? Even the basics? I really don’t know how to use divine power.”

Elkais felt odd hearing Abellard’s voice sound so much like Eveline’s. And to think he was being addressed formally.

Eveline even had the same habit of looking him straight in the eye when speaking.

Thump.

“Don’t sit too close.”

“Yes.”

Elkais’s heart sank. Perhaps it was the pheromone-suppressing fruit, but he felt a discomforting pressure in his chest.

“Do you feel any divine power in your chest?”

“Let me check.”

Eveline focused on the area near her heart, trying to sense any power. Indeed, she felt something like a band of energy there.

“Move that divine power to your fingertips and then release it outside.”

“You know the theory quite well.”

“I’m a general. I had to study Clergy too.”

“But you said you didn’t have any priest friends.”

“I don’t need friends. Just knowledge is enough.”

Despite his words, Elkais couldn’t help but keep glancing at Abellard.

The understanding gaze, the calm demeanor, and the polite yet warm tone—it was all exactly like Eveline.

“Let’s try it. I think I need practice to use it properly.”

“…Alright.”

Elkais thought he might need to regain the ability to sense pheromones.

If he could prove that his attraction to Eveline was solely because of pheromones, he wouldn’t consume the golden fruit again.

“Give me your hand.”

“…Why do you need my hand?”

“Your hand is injured, Elkais.”

He looked at the wound on his palm and, almost instinctively, gave her his hand.

In his mind, he knew he should refuse, but Eveline’s tone and expression made him comply unconsciously.

“Why are you doing this?”

Eveline asked, her eyes wide, noticing Elkais’s flushed ears.