Chapter 5

He rushed over and looked me up and down. I'd wrapped myself from head to toe — even covering my face — and he assumed I was too badly used up to let anyone see me. Too ashamed to show myself.

"Thank God. I always knew you were hard to kill."

Ethan had no time to ask how badly I was hurt. He pressed forward, urgent.

"What about them? Are they calm?"

I dropped my voice and mimicked the weak, hollow tone I used to use.

"Yeah… they're all asleep."

Ethan shoved me toward the back of the cellar, then grabbed the vial of perfume and sprayed himself down like it was going out of style.

"Calming three apex beast queens on a Blood Moon night — that's a feat no one in history has pulled off. That's my achievement."

A smile of absolute certainty spread across his face.

"When they wake up and find me beside them, they'll be more devoted to me than ever."

He straightened his clothes and sprinted toward the main hall.

The cellar door closed.

I pulled the wrappings off my face and looked at my skin — reborn.

The old poison-stains on my arms had sloughed away, revealing new flesh with a faint golden sheen underneath.

The comments in front of me were still arguing at full volume.

[Something's off! When the queens wake up, they're going to know something isn't right!]

[You're overthinking it. The male lead has his system buffs and the perfume — it's always worked before. Beast shifters can't tell faces apart. They go by scent.]

[But… I thought I saw Ugly change in the main hall? I couldn't see clearly — the feed was all blurred out.]

[Who cares? The male lead is the male lead. Ugly is a stand-in prop. That's just how it works. That's the law.]

I let out a quiet laugh and settled cross-legged on the ground, circulating the beast queen energy through my body.

Meanwhile, in the main hall —

Ethan gazed at the three women sleeping in breathtaking beauty even mid-slumber, and swallowed.

He lay down on the bed and arranged himself into a pose of someone just waking up.

A moment later, Seraphine's gold slit-pupils snapped open.

Ethan pulled her into a hug. "Sera, you scared me to death last night. I pushed through everything to calm you down — I'm completely exhausted."

In the past, Seraphine would've melted with guilt.

But this time, she frowned. Her nose twitched.

"What is that smell? It's overpowering."

Beside her, Vyx and Thalara were waking up too.

Vyx's ice-cold serpent tail lashed out and sent Ethan flying ten feet across the room.

"Get away from me. You reek."

Ethan hit the floor, completely stunned.

The comments were stunned too.

[WAIT — it's backfiring?!]

[How is that possible?! The male lead's charm stat is maxed out!]

[What is Vyx talking about?! What does she mean he REEKS?!]

Thalara murmured under her breath, "The person last night — I couldn't see his face clearly. But the texture of his skin… it didn't feel like rabbit."

"It felt more like… warm jade."

The plan was unraveling.

Ethan panicked. He scrambled to his knees and started crying, holding up his wrist to show a red scratch mark.

"That was me last night! I came in to save you — that scratch is from you. As for the smell — I was worried about bothering you, so I scrubbed myself down so thoroughly I washed away my own scent…"

It was a reasonable story. The suspicion in Seraphine's eyes began to ease. She reached out and helped him to his feet.

"I see… I'm sorry. We misjudged you."

Thalara still looked uncertain, but when she saw Seraphine accept the explanation, she let her killing intent recede.

"Stop crying. If you really did save us, you can ask for whatever reward you want."

Ethan's heart leapt with triumph. He'd gambled right.

He was just about to name his price —

A faint breeze drifted in through the great hall doors.

Carried on it: a scent. Barely there, understated — and yet completely, overwhelmingly dominant.

The hand Seraphine had been running through Ethan's hair went rigid.

Thalara's pupils contracted to pinpoints, her gaze locked onto the direction the wind had come from.

That scent — it was identical to the memory that had been carved into her bones last night.

"It's coming from outside."

The smile on Ethan's face turned to stone.

The direction the scent was drifting from was the cellar.