[123]
Yuri slowly got up.
An unwelcome nightmare had soaked his entire body with sweat.
‘Damn it.’
He sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath.
“Is something wrong?” Chris asked, standing at the doorway. His hair was disheveled, but his posture remained straight. His clear blue eyes, visible even in the darkness, showed that he was completely awake.
‘This damn place doesn’t even have proper doors.’
Yuri felt irritable for no reason.
Unlike the sensitive Yuri, Chris usually fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. The only reason he would have woken up was probably because of Yuri’s sleep-talking.
Yuri tried to figure out what he might have said, then decided to stop thinking about it.
“Come here.”
A hoarse, murky voice came from his lips.
“Crawl on all fours.”
Chris seemed to understand something instantly and transformed into a wolf before approaching Yuri.
If there were any voyeuristic perverts monitoring the fighter’s room in the middle of the night, this would be safer than approaching Yuri in human form.
Yuri’s fingers dug into the soft fur. Chris noticed that his hand was trembling slightly.
“That house where you lived… when you started frequenting the bookstore. Remember?”
Chris blinked.
The bookstore mention immediately reminded him of Magnolia, the antiquarian bookshop he used to visit when he was working as a Northern Light agent with his memory wiped.
He couldn’t understand why Yuri was bringing up that house.
Whatever his true thoughts were, Chris just nodded.
“The guy who lived next door was quite arrogant.”
‘The neighbor…’
Chris vaguely recalled a face that was now just a dim memory. He remembered a skinny, rather irritable person who had angrily lectured Chris when he first moved in, explaining that each unit had designated times for using hot water.
Whenever Chris used the bathroom, the neighbor would sing loudly. Loudly enough to give him a headache.
If there was anything else he remembered…
‘That man made insulting comments about Yuri, who was posing as the bookstore owner.’
Saying how fantastic it was that even the police had turned into stalkers.
If it weren’t for that comment, Chris would have completely forgotten about the neighbor.
“You know what? That bastard was secretly watching you.”
His voice lowered, as if lost in memories.
“He made a small hole in his door. And watched you coming and going every day. Every single day.”
As Yuri spoke slowly, his fingers ran through Chris’s fur.
“That’s why he sang those courtship songs whenever you were home.”
Chris was stunned by this revelation.
‘I thought he was just someone who had a habit of singing in the shower.’
“How dare he.”
Yuri muttered to himself, looking at Chris with narrowed eyes.
Even though Chris was in wolf form and his expression would be hard to read, Yuri seemed curious about what Chris thought of his statement.
“So I removed him.”
Chris blinked.
He had thought the neighbor’s sudden disappearance and Yuri moving in was part of the surveillance operation.
But realizing it was a form of protection somehow made him… happy.
“Stop wagging your tail. It’s distracting.”
Only after Yuri snapped at him did Chris realize he had been wagging his tail.
It was a miracle he hadn’t been caught until now.
Yuri tousled the crouching wolf’s fur and moved his lips.
“My dog is really high-maintenance.”
His eyes seemed to ask, “Isn’t that right?” and Chris responded with a soft “woof.”
Yuri, who should have scolded him for barking at night, pressed his lips together.
“In my dream, you weren’t there.”
He had seen the past before he knew of Chris’s existence.
The days after his parents’ death when his godfather confined him and forced him to hone his Guide abilities.
How his godfather drew blood from him without any guilt, claiming it was for his godson’s health.
The people who had worked with his parents disappeared one by one or vanished for unknown reasons.
Rosenhauser’s belongings filled every corner of the house he had once loved.
Even though he wanted to escape, he was trapped inside rose-vine-covered stone walls, nurturing poison day by day.
Days when he was disgustingly weak and powerless.
Rosenhauser’s detestable face and his followers.
Everything was so vivid.
“I don’t understand why I’m recalling that time when there’s no reason to remember the past.”
It was a past he had already left behind. His revenge was completed long ago.
Nevertheless, Yuri couldn’t rest. He had to prepare for what was next.
When the Thorns Order appeared, he might have felt relieved in some way, even while thinking he had expected it.
Revenge was like a habit for him.
On nights when his mind was restless, he always slept with hatred as his pillow. It was like trying to sleep on a bed made of cold ice. But if he didn’t push himself, he couldn’t feel at ease.
‘That was easier, in a way.’
But after Rosenhauser’s death, this habit became a problem.
There had been too many days when he used hatred as a companion to fall asleep. It was difficult to recall what he wanted after shedding this emotion.
If Chris hadn’t been there to fill that void.
If the wolf who had died from his bullet hadn’t come back to life.
What would his life have become?
“Maybe I would have been satisfied if I could have killed him twice.”
Yuri said this with a bitter smile.
His quiet voice was soaked with disillusionment.
Chris, who had been watching carefully, suddenly licked Yuri’s cheek. Yuri visibly froze at the moist touch.
‘Was that a mistake?’
Chris nervously watched for his reaction, but Yuri just sighed, ruffled the wolf’s head roughly, and stood up.
Yuri went into the shower and closed the door. A soft reddish light could be seen through the door crack. Chris trudged over and lay down in front of the door, waiting for Yuri. The sound of falling water filled the silent night.
Before long, Yuri finished his shower and came out. Water was dripping from his wet hair. He was startled, looking down at Chris, not expecting to find him at his feet. Still, Chris noticed his eyes softening for a moment.
Taking larger steps to avoid stepping on Chris’s tail, Yuri returned to the mattress, sat down, and roughly dried his hair.
When Yuri lay down again, Chris placed his front paws on the mattress.
It meant he wanted to get up.
Even though they couldn’t actually communicate verbally, Yuri seemed to understand Chris’s intention from his gaze and clicked his tongue.
“No.”
The wolf’s white ears drooped. Despite his massive size, his puppy-like behavior should have been disgusting, but instead, it made Yuri’s heart soften even more.
After a while, Yuri slowly moved toward the inside of the bed. The mattress creaked as the enormous wolf climbed onto it.
Feeling the bed tilt from the wolf’s weight, Yuri closed his eyes.
The warmth from nearby was almost scorching. He felt like he would inhale fur instead of air if he breathed too deeply. He felt a tail wrapping around his legs, then quickly returning to its original position, as if surprised by its own action.
‘I won’t be able to sleep now.’
Still, this tilted bed, the weight pressing down beside him, gave him a strange sense of security.
Thinking that it might be okay, Yuri closed his eyes and opened them again.
Surprisingly, it was fully morning.
“Are you awake?” asked Chris, bringing a steaming mug.
He had returned to human form at some point and was neatly dressed in a shirt. The only evidence that a wolf had been beside him last night was the wrinkles on the sheets and a few strands of fur floating in the light.
“I’ll have to ask for cleaning.”
His tone was quite cold. But Chris had already noticed that Yuri’s expression was relatively soft.
What a dishonest man.
“I’ll request housekeeping for the afternoon.”
Yuri’s eyebrows rose slightly. He had deliberately acted prickly to cover up the intimate behavior from last night, but he was rather pleased that Chris responded as if he had been expecting it.
Whether aware of this or not, Chris approached and handed Yuri the mug he was holding.
“…”
Holding the mug with both hands, Yuri realized that the contents were warm milk, not coffee.
“I’m not a child.”
Yuri swallowed a sigh, but despite his words, he brought the mug to his lips. The feeling of warmth spreading through his stomach wasn’t bad at all.
It also brought back memories. Just a little.
‘When I was young… I think my father used to make me cocoa when I woke up from nightmares.’
Or was it his mother? He wasn’t sure.
But this was a memory Rosenhauser hadn’t been able to corrupt.
“We have a lot to do today. How long are you going to dawdle?”
“I was waiting for you to wake up. I don’t have the authority to enter competitions without you.”
His tone was earnest.
“Oh, and,” Chris spoke as if suddenly remembering something.
“I’d like to go meet another fighter this afternoon. Would that be okay?”
This was something they had agreed upon beforehand.
They had decided to become friendly with Obl. There was much they needed to learn from him.
“Well…”
Yuri deliberately pretended not to understand and brought the mug to his lips.
Having unexpectedly lost sleep and ended up sharing a bed with Chris, he needed to focus on John Doe’s true role.
“I hope you’ll let me do this much. I’ve been doing everything you’ve asked.”
Chris subtly implied the “match-fixing” that Yuri was receiving through the broker.
“So that’s why you’ve been hovering around me with a drink since morning. You’ve done something cute in your own way.”
Just the pronunciation was “cute”; his tone suggested he could have just as easily said “terrible.”
Chris remained silent, staring at Yuri. When he felt he had kept him in suspense long enough, Yuri spoke.
“Fine. Go ahead.”
A meaningful smile appeared on his face.
At least, that’s how it would appear to others.
“After warming my bed, I can grant you that much.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
