<Episode 89>

“Are you alright, Young duke?”

“Ah…”

Dekarv finally regained his senses. His mind had gone blank for a moment while inhabiting Abellard’s body, but the voice brought him back to reality.

For a brief moment, his vision blurred, and the figure before him appeared pitch black, almost inhuman. Then, as if a mirage cleared, the figure took the shape of a man with silver hair and golden eyes.

It seemed he had momentarily seen an illusion.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Recognizing Crown Prince Ferite, Dekarv addressed him as such. Normally, he wouldn’t bother using honorifics for a lowly human, but he believed Ferite to be someone he had brought into this place.

“Let’s go find Duke de Robein.”

“Yes.”

Ferite studied Abellard for a moment, as if to confirm his condition, before smiling. Dekarv smirked faintly and nodded, leading the way.

As they walked through the snow, Dekarv noticed something strange. He distinctly recalled Ferite’s leg being injured earlier, but now it seemed perfectly fine. It must have been a trick of the mind, he thought.

After all, this was someone he had summoned. Perhaps he had healed him unconsciously. His body, imbued with the goddess Yulias’s favor, might have instinctively used divine power without his knowledge.

Whatever the case, Dekarv dismissed the oddity and continued walking.

“How do you plan to make Lady Wilden kill Duke de Robein?”

Whenever Dekarv tried to question Ferite, it felt as though his thoughts were blocked, as if a wall prevented him from seeing any further.

So he let go of his doubts and answered.

“By dying in front of Eveline Wilden.”

“But you can’t kill Yulias’s chosen piece, can you?”

“I won’t die. I’ll stop just short of death and then recover.”

Dekarv spoke without hesitation, but then paused again, doubt creeping back in. However, it quickly faded, and he resumed walking.

“To what extent are you cooperating with the goddess Yulias?”

“Only as far as killing Elkais de Robein.”

Ferite smiled as he observed Dekarv’s alternating moments of hesitation and focus, finding it amusing.

“It seems Remeros’s chosen piece is more formidable than expected.”

“Very. I didn’t expect him to choose someone like that.”

“What age did he choose them at?”

“We all select at the same time—when they’re three years old.”

“Ah, so he chose Eveline Wilden, Abellard Wilden, and Elkais de Robein when they were three?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Dekarv stopped again, standing still for a longer time this time, before finally breaking free of his doubts and walking forward slowly.

“Then you’ve been preparing for this wager since then?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because both Yulias and I are dissatisfied with Remeros being the leader.”

The goddess Remeros was the leader of the three gods, not only because she was the strongest, but because neither of the other two could surpass her in strategy, power, or character.

Yulias, by nature, wasn’t competitive. Normally, she wouldn’t care if Remeros won or not. The real problem was Dekarv, who was obsessed with defeating her.

Ferite chuckled, thinking about how Dekarv seemed to be getting used by Yulias once again.

“What’s so dissatisfying about her being above you?”

“Anything being above me.”

Dekarv froze completely. Ferite met his gaze and erased his thoughts again, bringing him back to a state of submission.

Then Ferite resumed speaking, once more appearing as the composed crown prince.

“Young duke, are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

Dekarv, within Abellard, felt it strange that another memory had vanished, but even that thought faded quickly.

“Elkais will return to the cabin. Let’s just wait for him there.”

“Very well, Young duke.”

With that, they headed back to the cabin.

* * *

Elkais woke up and reached out with his hand.

“Eveline.”

But when he realized that the warmth he had been holding onto was gone, his eyes flew open in surprise.

“Eveline.”

He called her name, sounding alarmed, but there was no trace of her anywhere. Her white shirt and pants, which she had taken off, were still there, but her outer coat was gone.

Could she have just stepped out and planned to return?

He glanced at the dried bloodstains left on his thigh, evidence of Eveline. What had happened last night wasn’t a dream. He had shared his love with Eveline and confessed his true feelings to her.

He was certain now that his memory loss was real.

As he thought about her, the rapid thrum of his heartbeat and the way her mere presence made everything feel extraordinary brought him to the undeniable conclusion.

When they first met at the lake, he had been rough with her, startled and unsure, but it hadn’t been just a reaction to her pheromones.

Their intimacy had been euphoric, but it wasn’t the physical pleasure that lingered in his heart. It was Eveline calling his name, clinging to him, smiling at him. The joy of knowing she thought of him, looked at him, and laughed with him far surpassed any fleeting physical sensation.

Sure, the desire to share that closeness again remained instinctive, but if she rejected it, Elkais felt he could still be happy. As long as Eveline stayed by his side, that was all he needed.

After their night together, he no longer feared the effects of pheromones. The physical aspect of their bond was just an incidental pleasure. What truly brought him happiness was all the small, endearing things about Eveline—the way she moved, smiled, and acted.

Even the cave they had shared felt different. Despite its dreariness, it had been special simply because she had been there. Her discarded cloak, her lingering scent—it all felt significant to him.

Elkais tried to sense her pheromones, hoping to find her.

But the royal omega pheromones clinging to his body made it impossible to pinpoint her location. If he left now to search for her and they ended up missing each other, Eveline might think he had abandoned her.

The thought terrified him.

He was worried and scared in a way he had never been before. What if Eveline had chosen to leave him? What would he do then?

Even though he couldn’t remember much from his blanked memories, one thing was clear: Eveline Wilden had become his master. His entire being was consumed by her presence, and anything else felt like an impurity to be discarded.

Even breathing itself seemed to revolve around her, and he couldn’t deny his feelings any longer.

And surely, Eveline felt the same way.

<I love you, Elkais.>

She wouldn’t have said those words just as a plea for him to stop. Even if she had used them as a pretext, Elkais knew that her feelings mirrored his own.

Her gaze, her heartbeat—they matched his perfectly.

There was no way she had abandoned him.

“Eveline.”

He whispered her name, trying to calm himself with the thought.

But hours passed, and Eveline didn’t return.

* * *

“What is the method?”

Eveline felt a moment of relief as her wedding dress reappeared after she secured the gun. Though the sleeves were longer now, the dress was still far too cold for the harsh winter. She slipped on Elkais’s coat over it.

The scent of Elkais clung to the coat, and her heart raced as she put it back on.

[Discover the true purpose of the goddess Remeros.]

“Isn’t your goal for us to kill each other?”

[The purpose Dekarv gave you was to kill everyone. Is that correct?]

“Yes.”

[Abellard Wilden’s purpose is for you to survive on this island and to continue living until the end of your natural lifespan.]

“Is that truly my brother’s goal?”

[I swear upon my divinity that it is.]

Eveline was startled to realize that her goal and Abellard’s were different.

“Then, is the goddess Yulias’s goal aligned with my brother’s?”

[Yes.]

Eveline found the conflicting goals perplexing. Were they not all aiming for the same thing?

[However, Elkais de Robein’s goal is likely to eliminate Abellard Wilden.]

“Why do you believe that?”

[Have you forgotten? He has repeatedly saved Abellard from near-death, only to later abandon him. Every time.]

Eveline had to admit the words rang true. When she had inhabited Abellard’s body, Elkais had made no hesitation in attempting to kill her.

If that was the case, perhaps Elkais’s goal wasn’t different from hers. Maybe Abellard was the only outlier.

[Now, can you trust my words?]

Eveline realized that the original story she had read was entirely useless now. Yet, the possibility that her goal might align with Elkais’s made her sigh in frustration.

“Elkais was commanded to take my gun and to bond with me through an imprint,” she said. To her, those two commands alone suggested that his goal wasn’t entirely separate from hers.

Taking the gun and forcing her reliance weren’t actions that necessarily pointed to outright killing. They could imply a need to subdue her instead.

And if that was the case…

[Elkais de Robein likely has a sequence to his killings. Abellard would be first, and you would be second.]

Eveline clenched her jaw as she read the words Yulias displayed on the ground. The goddess was putting into writing what she had avoided saying out loud.

[If Elkais de Robein kills Abellard Wilden, will you be able to kill Elkais de Robein?]

 

 

 

 

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