Raoul was barely holding on, ignoring his tattered arm.

At this rate, there was no chance of winning.

Diana contemplated how to kill the monster, drawing on all the knowledge from books, dramas, movies, and this world that she had seen so far.

‘A monster that doesn’t die when stabbed… Undead. Then its weakness is…!’

“Raoul! Let’s fight together!”

Raoul continued running without even acknowledging her.

‘The weakness of the undead is usually the brain or the heart. That thing looked like only the brain was left, with its eyes, nose, and mouth melting away. But it didn’t die even with an arrow in the back of its head. Does that mean its weakness is the heart?’

If they couldn’t run away until the end, they would have to fight.

“If we run any further, we won’t be able to fight! I’ll draw its attention, so aim for the heart in the meantime! If that doesn’t work, try somewhere else!”

With those words, Raoul tossed Diana aside.

With a dull thud, Diana’s body rolled on the dirt ground.

Where she fell was in front of a deep burrow dug by an animal.

“Ugh… What are you…!”

Diana’s eyes widened as she discovered the sunken pit.

Are you telling me to hide alone now? As she lifted her cheek that was stuck to the ground, she saw Raoul charging at the monstrous creature.

He had changed to human form and was transforming parts of his body to aim for the monster’s heart.

As sharp wolf claws grazed near the heart, the creature’s movements became even faster.

‘It just curled up its body. The heart really is its weakness!’

While the usual Raoul might have been fine, the current Raoul was in an injured state.

At some point, he had become completely unable to use his left arm.

“No!”

The never-before-seen monster was even capable of body transformation. Its five fingers, which had been like a human’s, merged into one and changed into a sharp awl-like form.

Just as the creature was about to pierce Raoul’s body with its hand, it happened.

Raoul also transformed part of his body and quickly jumped up from the ground.

The spot where he had dodged caved in like a volcanic crater.

She couldn’t just stand by and watch anymore.

Diana clutched her heart and barely managed to raise her knee.

‘I have to help…!’

At that moment, there was a sound of rustling leaves from inside the pit.

Is it the monster?

Tears welled up in Diana’s eyes as she turned her head.

[This is the timeline separator]

Raoul felt that he could no longer move his body as he wished.

‘I can’t read its attack pattern at all… Maybe Diana was right that its brain is already dead.’

He needed to aim for the heart, but he had lost feeling in his left arm since earlier.

A wound he had kept secret from Diana was swelling up.

He had been hit by an arrow on top of the carriage and casually broken it off, but the poison on the arrowhead was no ordinary thing.

He was barely counteracting the paralyzing poison with the extremely strong detoxification ability of a lycan.

He needed both hands free to attack and defend simultaneously, but at this rate, there was no chance of winning.

‘For now, I need to lure it as far away from Diana as possible…!’

Just as Raoul was biting the creature’s arm and gradually retreating, it happened.

With a thunderous sound, a huge shadow fell over the sky.

“Get away from Raoul!”

Along with the thunderous footsteps, a huge stone hand grabbed the black body.

“Throw it away, Sebastian!”

Following Diana’s order, the monstrous creature’s body fell down the endless cliff.

Raoul’s eyes widened as if he had seen a will-o’-the-wisp.

“Stonehead?”

At the same time, boom! An enormous amount of pink clouds bloomed so large that they covered the sky.

Cough! Cough!

The man standing next to the coughing Diana was none other than Sebastian!

“Hahaha! The savior has arrived!”

Raoul’s body went limp.

[This is the timeline separator]

Yesterday afternoon, Sebastian, who had suddenly become an orphan, wandered the forest, reminiscing about his days as a stray cat.

‘I guess no one dares to bother a divine beast like me after all. Hmph.’

At first, he too had searched around the river out of concern for Diana and Raoul, but after discovering a butterfly with an unusual shape, he momentarily lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, he was already halfway up the mountain.

‘What… was I doing?’

His memory was hazy, so he just played around for a while.

He commanded the monsters, echoed his voice from the cliffs, and even saved and befriended an animal called a wombat when he got bored.

When it invited him to its burrow, he went to play and fell asleep for a while.

When he opened his eyes to a familiar voice, a girl who had appeared out of nowhere was threatening the wombat with a ghostly expression.

“Sebastian! Save Raoul!”

Is this a new monster! Just as he was about to exterminate it, he remembered the two people he had forgotten.

“Diana, is that you?!”

Upon closer inspection, she didn’t look fierce at all.

She was that girl who usually doted on him.

Sebastian, who had instantly defeated the monster, proudly raised his shoulders in front of the wombat.

“How about that? Your friend is amazing, right?”

While the divine beast and animal friend were bonding, Diana checked on the exhausted Raoul.

“Now that Sebastian is here… we can safely return to the castle.”

Raoul wiped the tears of the sobbing Diana and leaned his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes.

“What’s wrong?! Are you in a lot of pain?”

“I’ll just… sleep for a moment and wake up.”

The poison had spread too much. Now was the time to regenerate cells for recovery.

[This is the timeline separator]

Diana, sitting next to the bed, sighed as she looked down at the gentle face.

‘Why didn’t you say anything….’

As soon as they returned to the castle, they laid down the collapsed Raoul and called for the royal physician.

When they removed his tunic, a wound hastily bandaged with grass and vines was revealed below his left shoulder.

“It’s a poisoned arrow.”

The arrowhead, which had only been broken off without being removed, was deeply embedded.

The physician checked the wound site and shuddered.

If they had been even an hour late, the left arm might have become necrotic.

“His heart must be exhausted….”

Diana blinked her long eyelashes slowly as she leaned on the bedside.

She could feel the rough scars left after removing glass shards on her delicate palm.

The child’s body was literally in tatters.

Only now, in this state, did Diana understand why Raoul had raised his voice in the cave.

‘There’s no need to sacrifice yourself for me, think of yourself first. If your bright future is ruined because of me… how could I bear it.’

Unwanted sacrifices only burdened the other person with debt and worry.

[This is the timeline separator]

When Raoul opened his eyes, he looked for Diana first.

“Diana….”

“Raoul…!”

He tried to hug Diana with his arms spread wide, but surprised by his exposed bare chest, he quickly hid his body back under the blanket.

“Why… are my clothes….”

“You kept sweating, so I was wiping you down….”

“That’s dirty….”

Diana was holding a white cloth she had just been using. He quickly put on the clothes placed by the bedside table, his cheeks flushing bright red.

“What’s dirty about it… I could do it for you as many times as needed.”

Diana rang the bell, and a servant quickly brought a bowl of warm meat porridge.

“…You must be hungry. You’ve been sleeping for 3 days since you arrived.”

As she blew on the hot porridge and brought it to his mouth, Raoul hesitated and opened his mouth slightly.

Embarrassed by the act of being fed like a baby bird, he took the spoon with his functioning right hand and ate.

“How did we get here?”

“Don’t you remember riding on Sebastian’s back?”

“…Not at all.”

He couldn’t remember anything after collapsing in the forest.

The young beast that had fallen face-first into the muddy ground didn’t regain consciousness even when Sebastian transformed into a giant bird and took to the sky.

Raoul’s condition was serious at the time.

His face was as white as a corpse, and his body, which had been hot, was shivering as if doused with ice water.

“I thought you were going to… I was so scared.”

Diana looked resentfully at his nonchalant face, then tidied up the tuft of hair sticking out in front.

She felt relieved that his forehead felt hot as usual when she touched it.

“Now do you understand?”

“Understand what?”

“How I must have felt.”

“You mean when I let go of your hand…?”

“Yes. Don’t ever do that again. I don’t want to lose someone precious right before my eyes anymore.”

Diana nodded with a guilty feeling.

[This is the timeline separator]

Not many days after that, Raoul got up and out of bed.

Despite the wound that had nearly caused his arm to become necrotic, a lycan’s recovery ability was astonishing.

“But to return to training so quickly….”

Strictly speaking, it was a work injury, and looking even closer, it was child labor exploitation, but the castle’s work-life balance and human rights awareness were close to garbage level.

Ironically, only Diana, who didn’t have a single scratch, was on sick leave.

On the day Diana returned to the castle, Angela had come out to the outer gate entrance to wait for news of the rescue team.

She had cried so much that her eyes were so swollen Diana could barely recognize Angela’s face.

“Should I call the royal physician again? Your complexion doesn’t look good.”

“No, Angela. Please stop now.”

Diana didn’t think Angela’s attitude was exaggerated.

Diana had experienced an assassination attempt and nearly lost her life falling off a cliff.

It wouldn’t have been strange if she had fallen ill from just the mental shock.

However, Diana had Raoul by her side, who was not just healthy but vigorous.

While Raoul, who was more severely injured, was flying around, there was no reason for Diana, with all limbs intact, to be confined to bed.

“Angela, I’m really fine now.”

“Even if you look fine on the outside, your internal organs or bones might be injured.”

Angela said as she set down a plate of neatly cut fruits.

The summer fruits entering her mouth were sweet and sour, but thinking of Raoul made her uneasy.

Speak of the devil, Raoul knocked on the door of Diana’s bedroom.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Angela looked at Diana with a sullen expression.

“I’ll meet him.”

Afternoons with Raoul were the only time of day Diana looked forward to.

Angela tactfully excused herself to fetch dessert.

Left alone with Raoul, Diana whispered quietly in his ear, worried that Angela might barge into the room.