Chapter 102

When the white light disappeared, Asad arrived at his desired destination.

It was his bedroom in the main palace. Perhaps because he felt he needed to lay the human down somewhere quickly, he had set coordinates for the most familiar place.

It was the first time he had let someone in here. Originally, Asad hadn't liked having others in his territory.

If someone had told him a month ago that he would let someone into his bedroom, he would never have believed it. Let alone that it would be a human.

"It would be ridiculous to move him now anyway."

Asad muttered as if making excuses to himself.

Moreover, the bedroom wasn't the only first.

The dragon's treasure vault, where splendid treasures lay scattered like roadside stones. Since each item inside was something rarely seen in a lifetime, it was hidden by magic to prevent treasure-hungry thieves from entering. As far as he knew, since the vault's creation, only dragons had entered it.

Now there was one more person.

"Why did I go there?"

His demonized self was a beast without reason. If he had enough sense to go to the treasure vault, he wouldn't have been called a magical beast. Even if by some coincidence circumstances had aligned for him to go there, it was strange that he hadn't destroyed anything.

Of course, the strangest point was that the human was unharmed.

Earlier, he had dismissed it thinking the human must have hidden somewhere and appeared after the situation passed, but examining everything properly now, many things didn't add up.

The human had been inside the treasure vault then. The door had been locked with his magic.

For the human to find a place hidden by dragon magic on his own, enter it, and make the demonized Asad lock the door... it was impossible without even thinking deeply.

Which meant he must have brought the human there himself, but that would have been impossible without contact.

But if he had contact with his demonized self, how could the human be unharmed?

Furthermore, it made no sense that his demonized self hadn't harmed the human and had instead put him in the treasure vault.

'Why on earth? Was I trying to show off my treasures to him?'

Unable to guess his thoughts while demonized, his mind kept producing ridiculous speculations.

"Ugh!"

Asad frowned as he tried to recall the situation. Just thinking about it briefly brought on an unbearable headache. As if someone was warning 'Don't remember anything.'

He thought this voice was his protective instinct, and he had always followed the warning. He didn't want to endure the pain like his brain was splitting to recall painful memories anyway.

But somehow now...

"Is he still sleeping?"

Asad walked toward the bed at one side of the room.

It was an enormous bed that could fit about five grown men. Gauzy fabric hung from its four posts, showing only the silhouette of the person on the bed.

This bed too was a treasure that had come from somewhere, though he didn't remember well. It didn't have any special abilities, but the materials used to make it were extremely precious or something like that.

Asad, who had insomnia, had tried various methods to sleep properly. He had changed his sleeping place several times, but later left it alone after realizing it was useless. This bed was probably one of those replacements. The one sent to the human's quarters was one of them too.

Though he had changed beds dozens of times, burned incense, and taken medicine, nothing had helped. Until he met the human.

Before pulling back the canopy, Asad quickly looked around. His golden eyes flashed fiercely. He looked as if guarding against someone who might steal what was inside.

Though he wondered belatedly why he had done that, he forgot when he saw the human lying on the bed.

"..."

The human was quietly sleeping, just as when he had last seen him. His small face was pale as paper. If not for his chest rising slightly with each breath, one might have believed him dead.

Asad stared intently at that face. Somehow unable to keep his hands still, he chewed his thumb. An anxious, unpleasant feeling. No, it was slightly different from that. His chest stung, and he felt so heavy as if crushed by something that he even wanted to run away somewhere.

If someone had read Asad's heart then, they would have been amazed. The emotion the dragon was feeling was clearly guilt.

Asad placed his hand next to the human to compare. With their forearms side by side, it looked like comparing an ancient tree to a twig.

Indeed, his thought that the human had become thinner wasn't wrong.

No wonder he hadn't regained consciousness after dealing with an alpha in rut with such a body.

Asad roughly messed up his hair. His chest felt tight.

"Stupid human, why didn't you just run away?"

Though the minor wounds on his body had mostly healed thanks to being soaked in the medicinal bath... the internal damage was unknown.

"This won't do. I need to soak him again."

Just as Asad made this decision and was about to move.

The neatly laid eyelashes began to move slightly. Though it was such a small movement, the dragon's body tensed stiffly.

Finally, the eyelids opened, revealing eyes black as obsidian.

The human blinked slowly while looking at the ceiling, then rubbed his eyes. To Asad, somehow this looked like a small animal washing its face after waking from morning sleep. In other words, it looked cute, though Asad didn't realize he felt that way. He just thought his chest felt ticklish. Having never found anything cute before, he didn't know that's how one felt when seeing something cute.

But that ticklishness didn't last long.

After rubbing his eyes repeatedly, the human sat up. Though Asad had expected his usual calm expression, the reality was different.

The expression that appeared on the human's face was lost, like a child who had lost their way.

"What..."

Asad let out a startled sound. The human turned his head toward where Asad was.

"Who..."

"Is someone there?"

As soon as he realized someone was beside him, the human's expression changed as if putting on a mask. It was the characteristically indifferent expression that Asad knew and was familiar with.

'Ah.'

Asad deliberately tensed his lips. Otherwise, he felt a groan might escape.

The lying human, seemingly unaware his moment of weakness had already been exposed, spoke in a composed voice.

"I'm sorry, but where is this?"

"..."

"Could you take me to my quarters? My name is Nine, and I'm the winged tribe's bride candidate participating in this selection."

Though clearly looking at Asad, the human spoke as if he didn't know who was standing before him.

The bedroom was bright as day with the lights he had left on. Yet the human seemed as if he were alone in pitch darkness.

"Please help me. I cannot see right now."

The unfocused black eyes meaninglessly swept through empty air. Seeing this, Asad's throat somehow felt too tight to speak.

"...Is no one there?"

Receiving no answer, the human sighed as if thinking he had misheard. Then he began moving clumsily, feeling around with his hands.

"Ah."

Soon a small cry escaped the human's lips. His movements had seemed unsteady, and sure enough, he nearly fell as soon as he got off the bed.

If Asad hadn't quickly approached and grabbed his waist to steady him, he might have hit his chin on the floor.

"Ah, thank you."

"..."

Asad glared at the face calmly giving thanks.

"...If you can't see, you should stay still. Why move around recklessly?"

"Lord Asad? Ah!"

Asad lifted the human up. Perhaps because he couldn't see, the human flailed in surprise when his body was suddenly lifted.

After setting the human back on the bed, Asad firmly gripped his chin.

"Lord Asad, I..."

"Stay still."

Though he examined thoroughly, there were no wounds on the eyes.

Asad bit his lip. If he had suddenly lost his sight without injury, there was only one possibility.

The demonic energy that had flowed from his demonized self.

"When did you stop being able to see? Don't tell me since the rut..."

"No. My eyes only became like this just now. I think it's probably because I'm too tired."

"Who loses their sight from being tired? Do you think I'm stupid?"

Asad wanted to shout angrily but couldn't in front of those black eyes looking at him.

Originally, though the human's eyes were objectively dark in color, when meeting them they didn't feel dark at all, but rather like looking at a clear lake. But now a murky energy hung like a curtain over his pupils, hiding their original clear light.

Perhaps that light would never be seen again.

Realizing this fact made him feel dizzy, as if the ground was falling away beneath his feet.

"I'm fine."

Just then, a calm voice pierced his ears.

"It's not Lord Asad's fault."

Asad was startled for a moment and looked at the human again. The words were as if he had seen what expression Asad was making now, making him wonder if his sight had returned.

But contrary to his hopes, the black eyes were still directed at empty air rather than at Asad.

"This happened because I approached carelessly, Lord Asad has done nothing wrong. So please don't torment yourself because of me."

Why are you comforting me when you're the one who's gone blind?

Unable to understand the human's behavior at all, Asad couldn't say anything.