Chapter 5

Evelina immediately shook her head and swore up and down that she'd been on her best behavior. Hadrian looked only half convinced and gave a perfunctory nod.

"It's fine. When have I ever not covered for you? If you really get into trouble, pin it on me. I'll take the heat for you."

Evelina was genuinely moved by that. She scooted closer, wrapped both hands around his arm, and gave it an enthusiastic shake. "I knew you were the best, Hadrian!"

Hadrian froze. At some point, Evelina had become more and more withdrawn. It'd been ages since she last showed such intimacy with him. Clinging to his arm like that and speaking in that soft, coquettish voice… those were things she only did as a kid.

His lips curled upward, and his mood became unusually good.

…

The hovercar came to a stop outside Evelina's villa. She hopped out and, still unwilling to give up, held up the gift box.

"Hadrian... are you sure this crystal can't be returned?"

"Items like that are nonrefundable. Just keep it for yourself," Hadrian said before noticing the way her expression fell.

Right. With mind force as weak as hers, she'd probably struggle just to activate the crystal.

He offered a sympathetic smile. "You can decorate the house with it."

Evelina watched as Hadrian's hovercar shot off into the night before resigning herself to this outcome and heading inside.

It was well past midnight, and the villa was completely dark. After shutting the door, she turned around and immediately jumped in alarm.

Jasper stood a short distance away, his grayish blue eyes fixed on her.

She blinked in confusion. Why was he standing there?

In the pale moonlight, she noticed a pair of wolf ears perk up before they started twitching restlessly.

Up until this moment, her impression of him was that of the loyal guard he came to be in the story. And since he was also heavily injured, she subconsciously lowered her guard and even stepped forward to ask, "Why are your ears—Ah!"

To her absolute shock, Jasper suddenly staggered forward and fell toward her. She was still in a daze when she hit the floor. The moment her body slammed against the floor, his burning body crashed down on top of hers.

"What are you doing?" Evelina began to struggle as the alarm bells finally went off in her head.

It finally hit her what an incredibly stupid mistake she'd made by allowing a fully grown male to remain alone in the same house with her.

She silently cursed her stupidity. She'd even dismissed her guards to hide Jasper's presence, conveniently forgetting one very important detail—he was the heroine's loyal guard, not hers!

As it was, her feeble attempts to struggle were meaningless against the overwhelming strength of an adult male beastkin.

"Jasper! W-What are you trying to do? Let me go! I'll give you whatever you want!" she shouted desperately.

But Jasper didn't respond. He continued to pin her tightly beneath him, ragged breaths escaping his throat.

A loud crack rang out. It was the unmistakable sound of teeth grinding against the gag.

Chills ran down Evelina's spine.

Thank goodness she hadn't removed it. Otherwise, he probably would've bitten straight through her throat.

"Jasper Lunareth! Is this how you repay someone who saved you?" Her voice cracked from fear.

Evelina was on the verge of tears. Why was Jasper willing to be one of the heroine's unimportant pawns, yet when it came to her, he was being such a complete ingrate?

Perhaps due to her constant struggling, Jasper pulled her even closer once more, pressing their bodies together tightly. She flinched from the overwhelming heat of his body. Why was he burning up right now?

And then she realized something. Was he in a rut?

Only then did Evelina remember what she'd completely overlooked.

The male beastkins in this world possessed extremely aggressive mind force. At regular intervals, that aggression transformed into primal instincts, be it physical desire, ravenous hunger, or violent impulses, and they remained in that state between one and three days. This was known as the rut.

Without a female to soothe them during that period, their minds could spiral into chaos. In the worst cases, they would undergo a permanent feralization, reduced to a beast without humanity for good.

Was Jasper in a rut right now?

Evelina wanted to cry. Her mind force was pitifully weak, so she couldn't soothe him.

Jasper drifted through a haze of unbearable heat and confusion. This rut had struck without warning. He had exhausted every ounce of strength just to preserve the tiniest fragment of reason. Some distant part of him understood what he was doing, but he simply couldn't stop.

The scent drifting from the female beneath him drew him closer and closer, leaving him unable to stop himself from the desire to become one with her. The soft, fragile female was trembling in his arms, crying helplessly beneath him.

"You ungrateful monster! You beast! Let go!"

Jasper lowered his face, breathing in Evelina's scent. His cheek brushed away the tears on her face. She smelled so good…

He still had a final thread of reason—enough to know that what he was doing would anger her deeply, perhaps enough to kill him.

Would this finally be the end?

That was great news.

Evelina's trembling fingers reached for the personal terminal on her wrist. She decided to kill Jasper. A neural chip was planted into all the slaves, and the masters had access to their slaves' chips. If a slave were to fight back, the master could use the chip to make the slave's heart explode.

With her own life at risk, she couldn't care less about her plans. Her only thought was to deal with him first.

Suddenly, she heard a muffled whimper beside her ear. Warm moisture spread across the side of her neck.

Evelina was dumbfounded. Was Jasper crying?

What the heck? Her tears were shed from the fear that he might kill her. Why was he, the killer, crying as well?

Just as she was about to activate the chip, she caught sight of his face. It was completely scrunched up in pain. Those cloudy grayish blue eyes were swimming with tears and filled with despair.

She froze.

"Damn it!"

To hell with it!

While cursing herself for being softhearted, she wrapped both arms around Jasper and desperately exerted every last bit of mind force she possessed.

His entire body jolted, and his frantic breathing gradually slowed. Subconsciously, he lowered his head and rubbed affectionately against the side of her neck.

The rigid body in Evelina's arms finally relaxed.

After some time, Jasper finally held the unconscious Evelina in his arms, feeling rather lost himself. What was that explosion of heavenly scent from earlier? How had that scent alone managed to soothe his frenzied mind force?

And why… didn't she kill him?

…

Evelina's mind drifted, and she found herself dreaming of a vast, empty void. A single luminous white flower could be seen in the center.

It had neither stem nor leaves and was hovering in midair all by itself, a faint silver glow shimmering along the edges of its petals.

An unusual scent hung in the air around the flower. For reasons Evelina couldn't explain, she felt irresistibly drawn toward it. She couldn't resist the urge to inspect it.

But as soon as she stepped closer, an invisible barrier stopped her.

The little white flower quivered slightly.

Evelina felt perplexed. Was she imagining things? Why did it look like the flower was pitifully complaining that it was hungry?

She stood still in confusion, and the flower seemed to get even more upset, for its petals started to shake even more.

Suddenly, the world seemed to spin around, and Evelina snapped out of her dream, her eyes opening. Staring at the dazzling crystal chandelier overhead, she remained dazed for a moment.

Then panic hit. She scrambled upright, only to realize she was lying safely in her own bed. She looked to the side and met a pair of clouded, grayish blue eyes.

Jasper was kneeling respectfully beside the bed. The moment he heard her wake up, he quickly lowered his head, the silvery wolf ears on top of his head twitching slightly.

Evelina hesitated. Had he carried her back to her room?

"Are you feeling better?" she asked tentatively.

Still wearing the gag, Jasper couldn't speak. He simply nodded.

Seeing his meek posture, Evelina finally relaxed. From the looks of it, he'd only attacked her due to the rut that robbed him of his rationality. He hadn't done it on purpose.

Just then, a loud growl echoed through the room.

For a few seconds, no one spoke. Evelina glanced at Jasper's belly, and he lowered his head even more.