Asha jolted her body, then realized who it was and reassuredly replied.

“Sosa.”

Asha got up straight away and approached Sosa, who was looking out from the entrance.

The moonlight made his silver hair glow faintly.

“The captain told me to go in and rest for a while. Usually, he wakes up even at the slightest whisper, but he must have been very tired.”

At that, Asha looked back at Jackal.

A deep fatigue lay over his stern face.

It was reasonable to assume he was tired from constantly devising escape routes and methods while leading the subordinates without rest, but he hadn’t shown a single sign of exhaustion to avoid dampening the morale.

Looking at him collapsed in sleep, her heart seemed to ache.

“Sosa, you also go in and get some sleep. I’ll keep watch here.”

“Huh? No, there’s not much time left until dawn, so don’t worry about me and go back to rest.”

“I’m sorry, that’s why.”

Asha’s expression looked genuinely sorry, so Sosa closed his mouth.

He soon sighed and said.

“… Okay. But in 20 minutes, you’re swapping with me again, right? Wake me up if anything happens.”

“Yes. I will.”

Sosa went into the cave, then turned back and said.

“Don’t worry. No matter what happens, the captain will definitely protect you. You are a very precious person to the captain.”

He smiled meaningfully and went inside.

Left alone, Asha looked up at the starstudded night sky, lost in thought.

In fact, she hadn’t shown it in front of Sosa, but the scene she had seen in her dream kept flickering before her eyes, and her body was still trembling.

Especially when she saw Jackal’s sleeping face, the image of him dying and bleeding from his mouth flashed before her, and she involuntarily shut her eyes tightly.

The scenery she saw in her dream was not much different from the forest they were in now, and she felt unbearably anxious.

‘Do you know why we don’t bring in female hunters? Because one woman could bring down the whole organization in one go.’

Suddenly Gebev’s words from the past came to mind.

Maybe those words would become a selffulfilling prophecy.

They would be caught by the knights in this forest and meet their deaths without escaping…

Asha looked up at the flickering moon and made a firm resolve.

If it was her destiny to be captured by the imperial palace and unable to escape from the emperor, there was no need for everyone to lose their lives in vain because of her.

It was the same as not being able to save the villagers in her previous life.

She couldn’t just leave it to happen again right before her eyes.

Asha was lost in deep thought, while the lieutenant tucked himself under the blanket and closed his eyes.

In fact, earlier, he had learned from Jackal that she was the empire’s “butterfly.”

He also found out that she had died while escaping from the emperor and had regressed to the past before meeting him.

The lieutenant was speechless for a while at the unbelievable story.

But in his mind, the points that had been doubtful until now were quickly fitting together like puzzle pieces.

The reason Asha suddenly appeared in the snowfield and approached them, the sudden change in Jackal’s mind to include her in the organization, the fact that she had a divine talent for archery.

And finally, the reason why the knights were chasing them as if they couldn’t kill them…

After a long silence, the lieutenant said only this to him.

“Asha is our lycanthrope.”

Jackal chuckled, holding his shoulder with one hand.

They would stand with Asha to the end. They would protect her from the tyrant.

She was now their precious comrade.

Above all, the lieutenant was sure.

Once they safely escaped and settled in a safe haven, Jackal would truly welcome her as a companion.

Being of the same wolf tribe, the lieutenant knew better than anyone what the dagger he gave to Asha symbolized.

That dagger was nothing less than a treasure of the Kelpie tribe.

Though Jackal hated the sword and had never used it, only preserving it, he wouldn’t have handed over such a meaningful sword thoughtlessly to anyone.

So he was determined to do his best for the captain’s successful “companion welcome.”

And he had no doubt that this would be the will of the whole organization.

Asha waited until the lieutenant’s breathing was stable, then quietly got up.

And before leaving, she looked around the organization members once more calmly.

The familiar faces that had been together all this time stuck in her eyes and hurt as if her heart was being torn.

But Asha forced her gaze away and looked back at the sleeping Jackal for the last time.

She whispered in a soft, wavering voice like the wind.

“I’m sorry… and thank you for everything…”

Asha quietly left the cave alone and mounted the brown horse with a flutter.

And she started to gallop back the way she came.

The fierce wind scratched her face and tousled her hair roughly, but Asha did not blink once as she headed towards the valley where the knights were camping.

At that moment, a few knights on guard duty spotted a woman riding a horse from a distance and shouted.

“A stranger!”

Soon the bells rang loudly in the camp, and one by one, the torches near the tent began to light up.

Asha got off the horse and walked slowly towards them.

The sentries simultaneously thrust their spears in from all sides and shouted menacingly.

“Who goes there!”

“Call for Sir Duran, the Knight Commander.”

At her calm words, they were momentarily taken aback and slightly loosened the grip on their spears.

It was strange for a woman to appear alone at this hour of the night, and the terrifyingly calm atmosphere made them think that she was no ordinary woman.

But then,

“…What’s all this commotion?”