A low, chilling voice, like one rising from the depths of a cave.
It was Eon.
“Haven’t you heard that excessive curiosity can be poisonous?”
The rule that stated, ‘Do not speak of anything before entering the Tower,’ echoed in my mind. Maybe I had just violated it. Even so, I never expected Eon to appear so suddenly.
Is this the end for me?
A chill ran down my spine. It was a foolish thought, but I reflexively brushed my fingers along my collarbone, as if to make sure my head was still firmly attached.
“It seems you’re still unfamiliar with the rules of the Tower. I’ll have Karen properly instruct you.”
Though that was what he said, it felt like he already knew I was aware of the rules. His piercing gaze bore into me without a single blink, making it difficult to endure.
I averted my eyes and barely managed to squeeze out a response.
“Understood.”
Eon took another step closer, lowering his posture so he could follow my gaze. In the end, I had no choice but to meet his eyes again as he invaded my field of vision.
His lips curled into a satisfied smile as he spoke.
“Your thoughts were so noisy, Lady Selena, that I couldn’t even read in peace.”
“If that was the case, you should have just sent a telepathic message instead of coming here yourself.”
“I preferred to see you in person.”
That was a problem. I had just gone to great lengths to clarify things with Selli, and now he was saying things like this?
What utter nonsense.
I flinched at my own thought. I had forgotten—he could read my mind.
“You’re adorable, even when you’re cursing, Lady Selena.”
Despite being a noble, Eon didn’t seem particularly offended by insults. No, he actually seemed to enjoy them.
The one truly suffering here was me. Selli was staring at me, and I wanted to explain that my face was heating up purely from embarrassment.
“Are you planning to begin your research today? You could rest a little longer.”
Eon’s gaze flicked down to my leg as he spoke.
“I’d be too bored just sitting around.”
Of course, that was a lie. The real reason I had dragged my tired body to the laboratory was to get a sense of its atmosphere. If possible, I also intended to make some external healing potions. I quickly corrected my words.
“Actually, I was thinking of making a healing potion. Your ever-loyal maids went as far as to throw away the ones I brought.”
I shrugged. There was no point lying to someone like him. I had no interest in forming some deep, heartfelt connection with a murderer, but at the very least, I needed to be honest.
“It’d be ridiculous to limp around for a whole month when I have perfectly good medicine, wouldn’t it?”
“And if you recover, will you try jumping off the Tower again?”
“I’m not stupid. I won’t do anything reckless again. So just pretend you didn’t notice me making the potion, will you? This injury is actually pretty painful. Even washing up is a hassle.”
Eon didn’t grant permission, but he also didn’t forbid it. I took that as a yes.
“Once your leg heals, let’s go buy alchemy materials together,” Selli chimed in from behind.
I had been so focused on Eon that I’d momentarily forgotten about her. Looking at her now felt like seeing an ally.
“Buying materials?”
“Yes, we have to purchase what we need ourselves. It’s kind of a hassle. Tower Master, couldn’t this system be improved?”
There were two things surprising about this.
One: Selli spoke so casually to Eon, making requests without hesitation.
Two: We were allowed to go outside.
“Is that really true?”
“Yes.”
“We actually go out to buy materials…?”
“You think it’s a bother too, huh?”
When Karen told me about the second rule, I assumed that getting permission to leave was impossible.
I didn’t expect something so ordinary would allow me to go outside.
My heart pounded. If I could leave, I had to find a way to meet Ludis. Plans to make that happen kept forming in my mind, and I struggled to suppress them. Even if I couldn’t hide anything from Eon, I wanted to conceal this at all costs.
“Selena, I doubt you’d find this a hassle. No, I’d say it’s quite the opposite.”
Eon answered on my behalf, as if he could see right through me.
How am I supposed to do anything like this?
He studied my face like he was watching something amusing, then suddenly asked an unexpected question.
“May I call you Selli from now on?”
Selli?
It wasn’t like Eon was trying to give me a cute nickname. Reflexively, I glanced at the researcher, Selli. She looked completely dumbfounded, as if she had lost all words.
“Why do you want to call me that?”
“Your name is quite long, and it’s cumbersome to say.”
He gave a flimsy excuse. No way that was the real reason. There had to be something more.
“My senior’s name is Selli.”
“Senior?”
“The researcher over there. She joined before I did.”
At that, Eon glanced briefly at Selli.
“You’ve decided to call her ‘Senior’?”
He sounded intrigued, and I shot back sharply.
“Her name is Selli.”
“I know.”
He was utterly nonchalant, as if he had just heard someone say that this fruit is called an apple, and that fruit is also called an apple.
“If two people working in the same lab are both called ‘Selli,’ wouldn’t that be strange?”
“Is it strange?”
Of course, it was. Especially if a murderer was the one assigning the names—it wasn’t just strange; it was downright ominous.
“If you don’t find it strange, then I suppose there’s nothing to be done. But aside from that, wouldn’t it be inconvenient? It would be hard to tell people apart.”
“Telling them apart… Is that necessary?”
I had overlooked something. To him, we were nothing more than disposable beings—existences that could be discarded at any moment. The idea that we each needed a distinct name was probably no different from suggesting that cuts of meat at a butcher shop required individual names.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there a problem with my answer?”
There was no point in hiding my feelings—I couldn’t suppress my fury. I let my emotions spill out at Eon.
“Of course, there’s a problem! What exactly do you think people are?”
“Well, why don’t you ask your senior? I’d be curious to know if she shares your sentiment.”
“My senior?”
I had no doubt that Selli would firmly speak her mind. She wasn’t like the maids.
“You don’t like it either, right? The Tower Master calling me ‘Selli.’”
But she shattered my expectations in an instant.
“No, I don’t mind.”
“You don’t mind?”
“This name was given to me by the Tower Master anyway.”
Selli laughed breezily as she spoke. The same eerie sensation I had felt from the maids emanated from her.
“Then… what was your original name…?”
“I forgot it.”
She cut off the conversation cleanly, as if there was nothing more to say. Then, turning to Eon, she smiled brightly.
“Please do as you wish, Tower Master.”
“So, your senior’s opinion is as you heard. What do you think, Miss Selena?”
Eon’s voice was smooth, dripping with satisfaction.
“Would you care to hear my story? Actually, this name is quite special to me.”
His eyes drooped downward, as if he were about to put on an act.
“Selli was the name of someone precious to me.”
There was a hidden story here—one I hadn’t come across in the novel. But I didn’t care to know about the past of a murderer. Yet, he continued talking without being asked.
“She cherished me dearly. She truly loved me. I thought those happy days with her would last forever. But one day, she simply vanished. Her letters became less frequent… And in the end, she stopped contacting me altogether. As if she had forgotten me.”
His sigh-laced lament sent shivers down my spine. Dark thoughts began creeping into my mind.
‘She didn’t just leave you—you got rid of her, didn’t you?’
“She told me herself that she wanted to leave.”
Even my unspoken thoughts were being laid bare for him to scrutinize. The frustration was unbearable. I asked the question that had been bothering me.
“That ‘Selli’… Did she have brown hair?”
“Yes.”
“And green eyes?”
“Yes.”
Now, I was certain. This lunatic had been naming female researchers ‘Selli’ over and over again. Every time he got rid of one victim and captured a new one, he assigned them that name.
Eon ran a hand through his hair several times, as if concluding his little reminiscence, before speaking again.
“Considering your opinion, Miss Selena, how about calling you ‘Selli No. 2’ or ‘Beta Selli’ instead?”
That was the best he could come up with after taking my opinion into account.
“So there’s only one ‘Selli’ right now? Judging by the fact that I’m not ‘Selli No. 3’ or ‘No. 5,’ I assume so.”
“I don’t call just anyone by that name. And besides…”
Eon paused for a moment before a chilling smile crept onto his lips.
“Thanks to Nos. 2, 3, and 4 all being dismissed in succession, the position of No. 2 is currently vacant.”
He wasn’t just arbitrarily renaming people—he was numbering them like objects. There was a limit to how much one could toy with another person. For the first time, my fury toward Eon burned hotter than my fear.
“Why don’t you just call us ‘slaves’ instead?”
“Slaves?”
“Well, it’s two syllables, just like ‘Selli.’ And honestly, I think it fits better.”
“I don’t like such crude expressions.”
“Crude? Being called ‘No. 2’ or ‘No. 3’ is far worse. At least as a ‘slave,’ I’d have a longer lifespan than a ‘Selli.’”
Eon’s drooping eyes lifted back to their usual shape. For a moment, he had been acting as if he had human emotions, but now his eyes had reverted to those of a beast.
“Lifespan… Lifespan, huh.”
I had clearly struck a nerve. But out of everything I had said, that one word seemed to be the only thing that caught his attention.
When Eon spoke again, his breath, which had carried a trace of warmth just moments ago, now felt like a chilling frost.
“Miss Selena, are you afraid that I might devour you?”
