Chapter 95 – A Promise That Couldn’t Be Kept

In her confusion, Evelyn hadn’t noticed it before, but now she realized that she and the Lizardman had been the only ones left in the forest.

‘Could something have happened to her?’

Sensing the direction of her worries, Axion’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.

“There was only one missing person reported during this year’s hunt, and that was you.”

“What…?”

He gave a brief account of what had happened while she was wandering the woods. A pale, shaken young woman had appeared at the hunting grounds in tears, pleading for a search party to be sent into the forest.

“And yet, who’s worrying about whom here?”

His voice dropped, cold and grave.

Seeing the storm in his expression, Evelyn found herself at a loss for words. She could only watch him anxiously before finally asking, almost in a whisper.

“Is there a problem with the monster?”

Axion let out a deep sigh, then replied.

“It bore the same mark as the bastard we encountered before.”

“What do you mean…?!”

Her face hardened, mirroring her fiancé’s grave expression. His words meant only one thing: the mark before their eyes was evidence of sorcery.

Evelyn blinked slowly, piecing together the events of recent days. There was the young lord, who had approached her so insistently at the moonlit banquet, and the monster that had attacked her in the woods. Both bore the same strange mark. Although it was only a suspicion, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was their target.

Judging by the chill that seemed to fall over them, Axion had reached the same conclusion.

‘Someone is using monsters to orchestrate all this?’

Why had she become their target? The confusion was overwhelming.

At last, Axion’s crimson eyes flashed with cold resolve as he spoke, his voice steady and low.

“I’ll hold the imperial family responsible for this.”

Since it had happened at an official event under the emperor’s watch, the palace wouldn’t be able to evade the blame.

Evelyn nodded faintly, but a sense of unease lingered. It felt almost as if someone was deliberately trying to make the imperial family look guilty. If the emperor truly wanted her gone, he would have found a way long ago.

‘Then who could be behind all this?’

As she gnawed anxiously on her thumbnail, Axion suddenly swept her up into his arms.

Her eyes flew wide in disbelief.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“It would be best if you went back and got some rest.”

Axion, his expression as unreadable as ever, nodded toward the entrance of the forest. Only then did Evelyn notice her ankle was swollen and aching. Yet, being carried in his arms was so mortifying that her face grew hot with embarrassment.

“I’m fine, really! Put me down right now!”

“Then should I just leave you here to walk back to the hunting grounds?”

This jerk…

She glared at him, though she couldn’t quite bring herself to be truly angry. There was something strangely unsettling about being held so securely in his broad arms.

Even though she tried to avert her gaze out of discomfort, instead, her eyes landed squarely on his chest. The lines of muscle beneath his shirt, a few buttons left undone, were impossible not to notice. A sharp jawline, a body sculpted by training, he could have been the male lead of any story.

‘What kind of training does he do… to look like that?’

She couldn’t imagine any of the male leads in her favorite novels being more impressive. Not that she’d ever had the chance to stare at another man’s body so closely. Snapping out of her thoughts, Evelyn quickly looked away, only to meet Axion’s crimson eyes instead.

At some point, he’d been watching her, and now a faint, languid smile tugged at his lips.

So flustered, Evelyn swallowed hard, the sound escaping through her parted lips.

‘I didn’t mean to stare…’

Just as her eyes darted anxiously, both cheeks burning—

“Evelyn.”

“….?”

—The man leaned in ever so slightly, lowering his voice so only she could hear.

“If you keep looking like that, you might start to drool.”