Ren and Vivian, left alone on the boat floating on the lake, remained silent for a moment.

Their lips were so close that they would touch if either moved even slightly.

Neither moving away nor coming closer, they simply swallowed dry saliva, unable to do anything.

With the distance so close, even each other’s breathing could be heard vividly.

Vivian, who had been frozen without blinking for a long time, fell into contemplation while looking at Ren’s face.

Is his cheeks looking particularly red now because of that bright red sunset, or…

If he too was wondering the same thing while looking at her flushed cheeks, she hoped he would think it was due to the sunset.

Their gazes intertwined like a net. Their eyes wavered more strongly than the waves beyond that ocean.

Finally, as if having made a decision, Ren’s wavering eyes became calm.

Slowly but surely, he began to approach Vivian.

She carefully closed her eyes.

Whether drawn by the romantic atmosphere, lacking the confidence to face him, or her heart unknowingly turning towards him.

The exact reason was unclear, but it was a very natural action for Vivian.

Just as their lips were about to touch.

“Eek!”

The boat’s balance, barely maintained, collapsed and their bodies swayed greatly.

The two bodies that were tightly pressed together separated.

When they came to their senses, they were already at opposite ends of the boat.

Ren and Vivian briefly made eye contact at the sudden situation.

Vivian couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Ren’s face full of bewilderment.

“Hahaha! What is this!”

Ren came to his senses at the sound of her hearty laughter.

‘I must be crazy. To dare to try to touch Lady Vivian.’

Only now realizing the meaning of what he was about to do, he couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

At first, he just couldn’t take his eyes off her pretty eyes that were solely focused on him.

When he became aware of the excessively narrowed distance, he didn’t want to move away, intoxicated by her sweet scent.

He was dominated only by the desire to remain in this state a little longer.

However, he didn’t think that emotion meant wanting to touch her.

His body was more honest than his mind.

Ren had tried to explore her lips.

It was rather fortunate that the boat shook.

If not, he might have committed the mistake of daring to touch her without permission.

Yet even as he berated himself, he strangely couldn’t hide his smile.

Because he felt something akin to hope in Vivian’s attitude of not avoiding him and accepting him.

Until now, he thought she only saw him as a friend or family, not as a man.

So all he could do was be wary of the insects approaching her or show off his closeness to them.

In reality, he had only circled around her, afraid of being disliked if he approached her as a man.

But today, Ren realized for the first time that there was a possibility for him.

Whether this possibility would become hope or end as false hope, he didn’t know.

Nevertheless, he had no intention of missing the opportunity that had rolled his way.

Ren’s eyes looking at Vivian flashed with darkness.

The sunset had already passed, and it quickly became dark around them.

“Let’s get out of here for now. Boating is dangerous late at night.”

They hurriedly rowed and left the lake.

“Shall we look around more before we go?”

“No, let’s go back. I’m getting tired too.”

Vivian yawned and covered her open mouth with her hand.

Although all they had done today was enjoy a picnic, lie down, and go boating, it was still somewhat fulfilling.

It would have been better if they had seen the whole park on a day like this with no people, but it was satisfying enough.

However, if there was one thing she regretted, it was this awkward atmosphere now.

Perhaps because it was surrounded by a vast forest, the park quickly darkened as the sun set.

Walking along the twilight path, both Vivian and Ren were almost silent.

Only the sound of night insects barely filled the space between them.

Vivian’s head became complicated.

‘I was definitely going to talk about the demon today, but I missed the timing.’

Originally, she had planned to have a deep conversation with Ren after thoroughly enjoying the boat ride.

But after that ‘situation’ suddenly occurred on the boat, it became difficult to create an atmosphere to bring up serious and dark stories.

And above all, apart from all this, Vivian herself wasn’t ready to open up about the demon.

Her head was full of thoughts about Ren.

‘Was I really about to kiss Ren earlier? I must be crazy, crazy.’

Was it because of the romantic sunset? Vivian tried to compose herself, sure that she must have been possessed by something.

To Vivian, Ren was almost like family.

It was nonsense to suddenly see him as a man like this.

It was equally nonsensical that Ren would see her as a woman.

She had shown him all sorts of ugly and incompetent sides of herself until now, so it was impossible for him to see her as a romantic interest.

‘Earlier, maybe he was just trying to reach for something behind me? And I misunderstood it as a kiss?’

As this assumption didn’t seem very plausible, her head started to hurt again.

‘I don’t know, I don’t know. I won’t think about it.’

If it was a problem that wouldn’t have an answer no matter how much she pondered, it was better to let it go.

Vivian shook her head from side to side and lightly slapped her cheeks.

Grrrr.

At that moment.

Vivian froze at the sudden unpleasant growl.

That terrifyingly familiar sound.

She slowly turned around, hoping her thoughts were wrong.

Pure white pupils. A pitch-black back mane that gave her goosebumps. Fangs as large as a human fist.

The four-legged beast resembling a hyena was something Vivian couldn’t forget no matter how hard she tried.

That time when she entered the forest, deceived by Leonie’s trickery. That very day when she witnessed the terror of death due to the magical beast.

An monster that looked exactly like the one that had threatened her life was slowly moving as if it would kill her at any moment.

The moment her eyes met the magical beast’s, Vivian’s thoughts stopped.

Thinking calmly, she could have just hugged Ren and run away.

But right now, she couldn’t do that.

Face to face with the magical beast, she was no longer the ability user Vivian Schmidt, but reverted to her weak younger self.

This is how trauma weakens people.

No matter how fine one may seem in normal times, when placed in a similar situation, it turns them into helpless fools.

‘This time, this time I’ll really die.’

Thoughts of death began to strongly dominate her mind.

As Vivian stood still, unable to do anything, the magical beast that had been prowling around rushed towards her as if it had finished its reconnaissance.

Vivian tightly closed her eyes.

She was about to be torn to shreds by those sharp fangs.

However, contrary to her expectations, what enveloped her body was not the rotten tongue of the beast, but warm and soft arms.

Vivian cried in Ren’s embrace.

‘No, Ren. If you do this, we’ll both die. Please run away.’

There was so much she wanted to say, but she who could barely breathe had no way to utter any words.

Meanwhile, Ren only held her tighter.

Hoping that everything that scared Vivian would not reach her eyes and ears.

With only such a wish, he firmly hid the face of the one he loved so much in his embrace.

In fact, this wasn’t the time for this.

Having thoroughly hidden his shadow ability until now, it would have been the right choice to at least pretend to confront the magical beast with a normal weapon.

However, there was something more important now than hiding his identity.

Still strongly embracing Vivian, Ren calmly looked at the magical beast.

The shadow that stretched long behind his back instantly split into several parts and surrounded the magical beast.

The shadows pounced on it at once and unhesitatingly stabbed its vital points.

The magical beast fought back, tearing the shadows in reverse, but it was a futile action.

The severed parts of the shadow, split in half by sharp claws, reattached.

Again and again, the creature resisted, but it couldn’t defeat the immortal shadows.

Grrrk. Grk. Grk.

Finally, the magical beast made strange noises and gradually lost its breath.

Vivian, who had been watching the process from the middle, only mumbled.

She didn’t know what words to bring up.

“Wait, Ren. You……”

It was a word she had barely chosen after much deliberation.

Her mind was in chaos.

The fear of the magical beast that had dominated her until just a few seconds ago was long gone.

Vivian realized that shock could be covered by an even greater shock.

‘That shadow… That ability…’

Only Callys could use it.

It was the moment she first realized Ren’s true identity.