#110

When Keinhrih began clapping like a seal and throwing a ridiculous fit, I became certain.

If this kept up, Zerakiel might really kill him.

So I decided to intervene. Without hesitation, I ran up behind Zerakiel and wrapped my arms around him.

“You came to rescue me, right?”

In that instant, the murderous energy he was directing toward Keinhrih weakened. He turned to face me and gripped my shoulders.

“I heard everything. The knights from Hebel were pathetically weak.”

“Well… that guy turned out to be stronger than expected.”

I recalled the moment Keinhrih hijacked the carriage and continued.

“For a discarded beastkin, his pheromones were unusually strong.”

Most abandoned beastkin had weak pheromones. After all, if theirs had been strong, they likely wouldn’t have been discarded to begin with.

“You’re not hurt?”

“Mm-hmm. As you can see.”

I gave him a small smile, and the corners of his lips softened too.

I didn’t know when it had become so easy to calm him down like this, but I liked seeing Zerakiel go gentle just for me. It made me quietly giddy.

And that’s when Keinhrih had to open his mouth.

“Well, that’s because I had my pheromones tampered with.”

“…What?”

Everyone turned their eyes to Keinhrih. No one had expected that to come out of his mouth. Oblivious to the sudden tension, he muttered, reminiscing like he was telling a casual story.

“That was right after I escaped the lab. When I met Lord Zerakiel, I thought I was going to die from a pheromone seizure because of the damn drug they gave me.”

“A drug? Wait, you’re saying the seizure you had back then was because of a drug?”

Zerakiel, unexpectedly intrigued, pressed further. Eager for attention, Keinhrih jumped at the chance to explain.

“Yes. They fed it to beastkin who escaped the lab to make sure no loose ends came back. They were obsessed with staying hidden.”

“So there was an organization.”

I let out a low sigh. Right in front of me stood the very survivor Ella had searched for so desperately in the original story.

The reason Keinhrih had such strong pheromones for an abandoned beastkin… it had to be artificial.

‘Maybe my body’s the result of pheromone tampering too.’

If not, there was no other explanation for me having two pheromones.

They probably assumed I didn’t have any and went ahead with the experiment anyway.

Of course, that was just a theory. When I first opened my eyes in this world, survival had been the only thing on my mind.

I didn’t know what had happened before that.

“They didn’t just mess with our pheromones—they tested drugs to induce pheromone seizures too. Only one in a hundred survived. It was that brutal.”

Keinhrih looked visibly shaken just recalling it.

“If I hadn’t met Lord Zerakiel when I did, I’d be dead now for sure.”

“Well. Guess it’s a good thing I let you live.”

Zerakiel gave a faint, meaningful smile. He’d already been planning to investigate Cersia’s pheromone situation.

And now a drug that causes pheromone seizures?

With Victor dead, things had been looking bleak—so this unexpected connection was a stroke of luck. Thanks to an unintentional good deed, they’d gained a valuable witness.

Zerakiel raised his sword and gave a chilling warning.

“Now be a good dog and come quietly to Jabis Castle.”

But rather than be intimidated, Keinhrih looked thrilled.

“Gasp! You’re accepting me into Jabis?!”

“Depends on how you behave.”

Despite Zerakiel’s cold reply, Keinhrih was already wagging his tail.

“I’ll do my best! I’d even lick your boots clean if you asked!”

“I don’t like that kind of thing.”

Zerakiel grimaced and quickly pulled his boots behind him, as if worried Keinhrih might really flop down and start licking them.

With how eager he seemed, that wasn’t out of the question.

I stepped between them and asked Keinhrih directly,

“Do you remember anything that might identify the group that experimented on you?”

In the original story, Ella’s captors had always worn masks with a butterfly insignia. I asked just in case it was connected to the same organization she’d been chasing—and sure enough.

Keinhrih shrugged and replied nonchalantly,

“They always wore masks with a butterfly pattern. Called each other weird nicknames like ‘The Thirsting Ones.’ All they ever talked about was ‘Paradise this, Paradise that’—while throwing beastkin into hell.”

Of course, he didn’t stay casual for long. The way his fists clenched said enough about how much he remembered the cruelty.

So he was the other survivor of the pheromone experiments Ella had been looking for in the original.

I let out a quiet sigh and muttered, scowling at the thought of that cursed group,

“Classic cult behavior.”

This confirmed it—Ella and Keinhrih had both been victims of the same organization.

Although the Ella I met didn’t have any pheromones, unlike in the original story, where she was forcibly altered.

Even so, it was hard to dismiss the group entirely—not when there was a chance they’d manufactured the drug that triggered Zakari’s rampage.

Keinhrih snorted and agreed with me.

“Yeah, definitely a cult. They were obsessed with finding some flower or whatever. Kept going on about it.”

“Flower?”

“They said it was a flower that leads to Paradise. But I doubt it was even a real one. Probably just a metaphor—since they were the ‘butterflies,’ they called their goal a ‘flower.’ I don’t know much more. They messed with my memory during the experiments. There are gaps I can’t recall.”

Just like in the original.

Ella’s memories had also been tampered with. She hadn’t even remembered she was a pheromone experiment subject for quite some time.

As we were talking about the organization, I saw Ella and Ivan approaching from a distance.

I’d felt bad about parting ways while she was still in beast form—but thankfully, she’d returned to her human state.

“Ella! Over here!”

I waved excitedly, welcoming her back.

Then Keinhrih turned—and his eyes grew as wide as saucers.

He suddenly pointed at Ella, his face going pale.

“You… you’re alive?!”

He said it like he already knew her.

A moment later, his tone jumped several notches.

“It’s me! Number Three! You’re Number Nine, aren’t you? You survived! I thought you died back then!”

Ella’s expression went rigid as soon as he called her “Number Nine.”

I was just as confused.

‘Number Nine’ was the code name Ella had been called during the pheromone experiments in the original story—when she had no memory of her own name.

That was the entire reason the emotional bond between her and Hiscleif had developed over time.

It was Hiscleif who had given her the name “Ella.”

Because calling beastkin by numbers instead of names was inhumane—he’d insisted on giving her a real one. And because of that, she’d followed him blindly.

‘Wait… could Ella have also been a pheromone experiment subject? But she doesn’t have any pheromones now…’

I glanced between her and Keinhrih, my mind a whirlwind of confusion.

It made sense now why Keinhrih hadn’t recognized her sooner—he’d never seen her in human form.

If he had, he probably would’ve identified her back when they kidnapped us.

Ella spoke firmly.

“I’m sorry, but… my name is Ella.”

“Huh? But you are Number Nine. We were in the lab together, remember? You seriously don’t remember?”

“I’ve never been in a place like that.”

Ella shook her head and drew back slightly, clearly uncomfortable. Keinhrih, flustered, began speaking faster.

“Is it because I look like this? Oh, right… back then I was being punished, so I couldn’t shift into human form. That’s probably why you didn’t recognize me! Want me to transform? Maybe that’ll help jog your memory!”

He even offered to transform into his beast form to help her remember.

But the more he explained, the more Ella recoiled. Her expression turned cold, and her reaction grew stronger.