<Episode 76>

[Penalty: Divine powers are restricted for one week.]

“No!”

Abellard screamed in anguish.

“Give me any other punishment! This is too much! No, really!”

As he shouted, Crown Prince Ferite glanced at him with a perplexed expression and stepped back.

At that moment, the words on the paper in Abellard’s hand changed.

I’m sorry, Goddess. I won’t do it again.

Realizing that he had to say those words himself, Abellard quickly shouted.

“I’m sorry, Goddess! I swear, I won’t do it again! I’ll behave! But please, don’t take my divine power! I’m begging you!”

With his plea, the writing on the paper shifted once more.

The imposed penalty will apply to everyone. The weight of the penalty remains unchanged.

Penalty: The landscape will change for one week.

“Ha ha ha!”

Abellard laughed in triumph as the words on the paper disappeared.

“Young Lord, have you lost your mind?”

“Ha ha ha! Yes, I’ve lost it!”

Abellard replied with genuine joy, laughing wholeheartedly. Without his divine power, Eveline would likely find him useless.

Though she had assured him that his worth wasn’t solely based on his divine power, he couldn’t be sure of that.

After all, no one would love someone who wasn’t worthy of love.

Abellard laughed, thinking his only value lay in his divine power.

Suddenly, a massive light burst forth from the sky.

When he blinked his eyes open, the cabin and Crown Prince Ferite were gone from his view. Instead, snow began to fall thickly amidst the forest.

Heavy sleet, blanketing everything.

The time was 12:05.

* * *

12:00.

Eveline realized that Elkais, who held her tightly, was trembling. She understood that he had reacted this way upon seeing the words that appeared in water.

Target.

She was that target.

It was clear that Elkais, too, was bound to kill her.

Yet, seeing him so frightened over it surprised her.

Eveline was both pleased and terrified at the thought that Elkais feared losing what was most precious to him.

Due to the application of a double penalty, the weight of the initial penalty will lessen.

Penalty: The most precious thing (Eveline Wilden) will disappear.

New penalty applied: The second most precious thing will vanish for one week.

Eveline hadn’t seen the words. She was nestled in Elkais’ embrace.

Elkais, who had seen the message appear and disappear behind her, let out a sigh of relief.

But then…what was his second most precious thing?

He knew that Eveline was his most cherished one, without a doubt.

But as for a second?

He had nothing of value besides Eveline. If anything, the only item he carried with him was his long sword.

Beyond that, there was nothing he needed or cared for.

With a small sigh, he held Eveline even tighter. The way their bare chests touched embarrassed him, yet the sensation stirred something within him, making him conscious of his feelings but unwilling to pull away.

Then, suddenly, a blue light descended over his head.

“Urgh…!”

“Elkais?”

As his grip loosened, Eveline looked into his eyes.

The light faded, leaving Elkais dazed for a moment.

“Elkais!”

He was listening to her voice, but it felt as if that voice floated above water while his mind sank below the surface.

His mind went blank, yet he glimpsed memories.

‘Why won’t you complete the imprint?’

The person who spoke was the former Duchess de Robein—Elkais’s mother.

‘You could just enjoy it without the imprinting, couldn’t you? Why bother?’

Elkais recognized the shameless voice as his father’s.

When he overheard this conversation, he was only ten years old, hiding in a wardrobe. He’d hidden there to surprise his parents, thinking they’d love him more for it, as he’d heard noble children often did.

‘Do you know what people call me? They call me a courtesan who couldn’t even get an imprint after bearing a child!’

‘Who would dare say such a thing? You’re exaggerating again.’

‘Why refuse to imprint with me? Why! Do you even understand how miserable you’ve made me?’

Elkais had always found it strange that his mother wore a choker, even after bearing him.

After marrying an alpha, an omega usually removes the choker from their neck.

This is because, once imprinted, they no longer respond to other alphas’ pheromones, longing only for each other’s. For this reason, high-ranking nobles—elite alphas and omegas—often flaunted the bite marks on their necks as symbols of status.

But on his mother’s neck, there were no such royal alpha marks. It was a disgrace, and even more so because their marriage was only prompted by an unexpected pregnancy.

People looked down on Elkais’s mother as if she were a courtesan, though they treated her as a duchess with a veneer of respect while gossiping about her behind closed doors. She was an outcast among the nobility.

‘Why won’t you imprint with me! You promised to do it back when we…!’

‘I didn’t realize you were inexperienced back then. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have touched you.’

His father said this with a cold smile.

Elkais understood that the sobs filling the room belonged solely to his mother.

‘You got what you wanted—a title of duchess. I didn’t abandon you or the child. Can’t you just be satisfied?’

‘If you hadn’t tempted me with pheromones… I didn’t even want it then…’

Elkais’s father patted her shoulder, half comforting and half mocking, and added with a smirk,

‘Why not have some fun with other alphas? As long as they don’t leave a mark, it should be fine.’

‘Darling!’

‘I’ll make sure not to mark any other omegas myself.’

‘No… How could you say that…!’

‘One day, you’ll resent being the only one deprived of pleasure.’

The memory filled Elkais with nausea, the sheer filth of it revolting him.

‘I don’t care if you bring someone else. Just make sure they’re a decent alpha.’

That was the last image he had of his mother.

On that very day, his mother threw herself from the highest floor of the de Robein estate.

“Elkais!”

Eveline’s call brought clarity back to his red eyes.

“Lady Wilden?”

“Elkais?”

Eveline stepped back unconsciously, noticing the change in his expression.

“Is this some desperate attempt to seduce a high-ranking alpha now?”

“Elkais? What are you talking about…?”

“How did you undress me?”

Eveline felt unfamiliar with the chilling hostility in his expression. It wasn’t the same face that had smiled at her moments ago.

“Hah.”

Elkais stepped away from her, glaring with barely contained anger, his gaze sweeping over her form.

“An omega?”

He seemed momentarily surprised that Eveline was an omega. The scent wafting from her disoriented him, and he had to cover his mouth as his lower body responded against his will.

It was as if he found himself so repulsive, he might vomit.

“Elkais. Did you… perhaps lose your memory?”

Eveline asked calmly, her voice steady. Elkais, though confused, scanned his surroundings at her words.

They were in an unfamiliar forest.

It was far too dense to be a battlefield. Moreover, there was no scent of gunpowder anywhere.

“Elkais, calm down and listen to me.”

“Don’t come any closer!”

Elkais felt threatened by Eveline standing before him without a single thread of clothing, an omega exuding an intoxicating pheromone that clouded his senses.

Her red hair was damp, as if she’d just emerged from a lake.

Those sky-blue eyes. Bewitching red lips and a shapely figure. Her body was marked with signs that looked suspiciously like his own.

He wanted to bite her.

“Get away from me. Come any closer, and I’ll twist your neck.”

He trembled, horrified at his own desire.

“Elkais, I think you’ve lost your memory. So please, try to stay calm….”

“I said get away!”

Elkais grabbed a branch floating nearby on the water’s surface. A sharp, dark energy surrounded the branch as he wielded it.

“Disgusting.”

He was disgusted with himself.

Eveline Wilden—someone who had committed countless misdeeds and was ultimately confined to her estate.

And here he was, feeling an appalling physical reaction to her. Could an alpha really respond to any omega, no matter who they were, in such a despicable way?

He wished he could cut off his lower half; even now, his body had betrayed him, reacting on its own to her beauty.

12:05.

Then, blue light poured down from the sky once more, enveloping both Elkais and Eveline completely.

* * *

When Eveline opened her eyes, she saw an endless field of white snow.

She glanced around. Elkais, who had been in front of her just moments ago, was nowhere to be seen, and this place looked nothing like the lakeside.

Feeling the sting of the cold on the tip of her nose, Eveline gazed ahead.

Two islands were visible in the distance. Identical in shape, both were lush with tropical vegetation. At the very top of one island stood a blue temple, while the other island was crowned by a red temple.

The moment she took in this sight, a crimson note appeared in Eveline’s hand.

*Endure for one week. Elkais de Robein will come to kill you.*

*Trust no one.*