‘First, I need a place to hide Raoul… Since he’ll need to be restrained if he loses his senses, I’ll need restraints, and a lasso in case he tries to escape…’

There were many things needed.

‘I’ll persuade Raoul to come to the secret villa. He won’t be able to leave there without my permission.’

Diana looked at the bright full moon and shuddered, closing the book.

The moon, partially obscured by clouds, was clearly a perfect round shape.

A lycanthrope entering the transformation period (adult awakening period) cannot control their bestial instincts. Extra caution is needed as they may lose their reason when the pain reaches its peak.

Diana headed to Raoul’s bedroom with her heart pounding.

If the door was locked, she’d have to think of a way to enter through the bedroom window.

She swallowed hard once and knocked on Raoul’s door with trembling hands.

“Raoul…?”

As expected, there was no answer. When she tried turning the doorknob, it surprisingly opened easily. Click.

The tightly closed door opened very slowly.

Diana entered Raoul’s bedroom quietly, holding her breath.

The dim room was quiet to the point of being desolate. Diana calmed her trembling body and slowly shifted her gaze.

The blanket that had restrained his body was already torn to shreds beyond recognition, and the bed frame was completely broken, revealing the white wooden interior.

Creak creak.

“No…!”

At the loud hinge sound, Diana threw aside the chains and approached the wide open window.

There was a depression where Raoul had jumped down. It was an escape!

She barely choked back tears and ran frantically.

She had to find him quickly before Raoul hurt someone or escaped outside the castle.

Diana held the dagger they had collectively obtained at the prayer meeting and kept watch on her surroundings.

It was a weapon imbued with holy power, capable of easily taking down evil beasts, if not Raoul.

The night forest was tense with nocturnal beasts lurking about.

The rustling of leaves and the yellow glowing owl eyes made her heart race.

The still cold spring wind passed by her white neck and shoulders, as if mocking the frightened Diana.

She rubbed her goosebump-covered arms and called out Raoul’s name with a tearful expression.

“Raoul…? Come out now. If you come back, I’ll tie you up tightly with chains…”

He was so well hidden that not even a strand of hair could be found when looking around.

Diana slowly followed Raoul’s footprints that still stretched far ahead.

‘Should I just leave him and go back? Maybe it would be better for Raoul to stay in the forest.’

But she soon gathered her resolve.

‘He’ll be caught again and imprisoned like last time. I can’t bear to see that.’

Diana held a capture lasso in her hand, ready to use if necessary.

It was an item sent down by Benjamin to Diana’s bedroom on the day Raoul won the match against Ellen.

‘I never thought I’d use it like this.’

She planned to restrain him before he could do anything dangerous if he refused.

At some point, the footprints disappeared.

Diana, hesitating at a fork in the road, headed towards the side with more light.

‘I’ll go this way and if not, I’ll go the opposite way.’

Climbing up a narrow path with trees growing unevenly, surprisingly, an unfamiliar field spread out before her eyes.

The white flowers filling the vast land had large buds and emitted a mysterious light.

Diana was momentarily speechless, overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery.

It was a breathtaking sight that made the lasso and dagger in her hand seem out of place.

Diana, who had been admiring the spectacular view without even breathing, finally came to her senses at the sound of rustling flowers.

Upon closer inspection, she could see places where the flowers’ breath had died down sparsely. Diana thought it was Raoul’s trace and moved without delay.

As Diana moved forward, the long flower stamens reaching up to her knees kept hitting her legs.

Walking quickly, somehow the distance didn’t seem to close, and her legs kept moving out of sync.

The intensely fragrant flower scent made her head spin, and her vision began to whirl.

Just as Diana was about to lose consciousness and collapse to the ground.

“…Wait! Stop!”

A high, soft voice like a gentle breeze tickled her ear.

As Diana knelt down and sat in the flower bed, small life forms, whether illusion or reality, swarmed towards her in groups.

The life forms, about the size of a human thumb, appeared to be nymphs that suck honey, judging by their pointed ears.

Among them, a colorfully bright nymph flew right up to Diana’s face and caressed her cheeks, nose, and eyebrows.

“What…? Why did you come now?! Stop the attack! It’s a human I know!”

In an instant, the dizzying flower scent subsided. Diana finally took a deep breath.

She felt disoriented, as if she had fallen from the sky to the ground.

She could feel the cold touch of grass, hear the noisy murmuring, and see the bright flowers and nymphs’ light illuminating the darkness.

“…Why did you come only now? How long have I been waiting!”

The nymph, whose body was dyed in five colors, landed on Diana’s shoulder with a welcoming expression.

“Everyone, say hello! This child is Marius. She’s human but very kind. Young nymphs probably won’t know her.”

“So you’re Marius…? I’ve heard a lot about you!”

Diana was dumbfounded and just watched cautiously.

‘You know mother…? How?’

She didn’t know what to say.

As she bit her lip and just watched cautiously, the nymph sitting on her shoulder touched her neck, then jumped off her shoulder in surprise.

“You… aren’t Marius…?”

“…Not Marius?”

“…Then who are you?”

“Marius is a saint, so she has a small mark on her neck, but you don’t have anything!”

“…This fraud! Who are you!”

“Who are youuu!”

“Calm down…. I’m Marius’s daughter.”

“Daughter… you say daughter?”

“Yes. Do you know my mother?”

“Of course! She drove away the evil energy in the forest!”

“Originally this land was drying up from drought. She revived it!”

The five-colored nymph spread her arms wide, pointing to the lush flower bed.

She asked questions with sparkling eyes.

“So, you say you’re Marius’s daughter?”

“Why didn’t you come with your mother?”

“Is Marius doing well?”

The nymphs who knew Marius looked at Diana with expectant eyes.

However, all she could deliver was old news of her passing.

“I’m sorry, but mother passed away while giving birth to me… She’s been a star in the sky for a long time now.”

Gasp! Silence suddenly fell over the field.

The nymphs drooped their wings and covered their mouths.

As one nymph began to sing in a voice as sorrowful as morning dew, the other nymphs began to follow along, singing a song of mourning as if resonating.

Following their singing, the flower buds opened and closed repeatedly, and mysterious light welled up from the ground.

Only after the ritual was finished could Diana ask the question she had wanted to ask all along.

“…I’m sorry I’m not the person you were looking for. I’d like to tell you many stories, but I have someone I need to find urgently now. Have you seen a lycanthrope?”

“Gasp! That scoundrel?”

“We scolded him for trampling our flowers, is he your friend?”

“…That’s right! He’s my friend. Where is he now?”

“…We, we didn’t know he was your friend. Really.”

“That’s right. If we had known, we wouldn’t have done that.”

Diana’s heart beat anxiously at their diminishing voices.

“What happened to Raoul?”

“We just chased him away so he wouldn’t trample the flowers. But that…”

“Tell me quickly! What is it?”

“That guy was intoxicated by the flower scent… so… he went towards the waterfall… but there…”

“There’s a huge water snake living there that no one goes near! Last time, a wild boar intoxicated by the flower scent went there and… gulp! It was eaten in one bite… wah!”

The five-colored nymph covered the mouth of her tactless friend.

However, Diana was already running in the direction the nymph had pointed, without looking back.

She could hear pitiful voices calling out to Diana from behind, but there was no time to look back. Raoul was in danger.

Passing through the flower field and entering the dense forest, the refreshing sound of falling water could already be heard.

Her mind was so urgent that her feet got tangled, and her useless shoes had long since come off.

Diana ran barefoot without even thinking of picking up her shoes.

She felt a prickling sensation on the soles of her feet, as if thorns had pierced them, but she had no energy to care.

‘Where on earth are you!’

Diana, who had reached the waterside, stared into the water that shimmered transparently under the moonlight.

As the nymphs had said, it was the habitat of a giant predator.

Diana was frozen in place, unable to move a step.

It felt like the beast would crawl out and swallow her whole at any moment.

At that moment, the snake began to coil in the water.

Looking closely, a gray-furred beast was struggling, caught in the center of its body coiled in several layers.

Diana cried out in shock.

“Raoul!”

There was no time to hesitate. She jumped into the lake with the lasso in her hand.

Splash! Splash!

Large ripples formed wherever she stepped.

As the water reached her waist, Diana shouted, creating bubbles on the water’s surface.

The water snake changed direction, as if the plan had worked. The water’s surface rippled, waves rising in the shape of the snake’s movement. It was incredibly fast.

Diana turned to run away, but in that moment, the image of Raoul struggling flashed through her mind.

“I have to take it down. Otherwise, it’ll go back to Raoul…!”

Not knowing where such courage came from, Diana instantly threw the lasso and hit the beast’s neck.

The enchanted magic lasso, made of ethernite from the eastern mountains, was incredibly sturdy.

It seemed to have worked properly as the beast stopped moving and the fierce water currents also calmed down.

‘I should tie it there….’

She saw a thick chestnut tree nearby.

It was at that moment when Diana was about to take a step forward with the lasso rope over her shoulder.

The calm water surface violently churned as the water snake leapt above the surface.

Cold water droplets rained down over Diana’s head, and the long stretched lasso rope was pulled taut.

Swoosh!

Diana’s body was sucked into the water along with the snake.

The water snake pulled Diana into the deep water with quick and flexible movements.

“Haa… ugh…!…ump…paa…! ump…!”

Diana struggled as she was dragged to the center of the lake. She tried to resist desperately, but it was futile.

She could let go of the lasso, but the moment the water snake became free, she would be swallowed in one bite.

“Ugh… phwa! Let go of this!”

The snake’s cold scales brushed past Diana’s body.

It was in the process of coiling to restrain her. Fortunately, she managed to grasp the dagger fixed at her waist.

Diana overcame her fear and plunged the knife into the beast’s waist!