OKHS 09

Chapter 9

The scene of sunlight settling on perfectly symmetrical, harmonious features was utterly unreal.

‘It’s a dream, right?’

But no matter how hard she rubbed her eyes, the man breathing softly in his sleep like a picture was still there before her.

Good heavens…

“Mmm.”

As she stood there dazed, the man stirred in his sleep.

At the same time, the blanket slid down toward the sunken side of the mattress, revealing his slashed abdomen.

“Eep.”

At the sight of the firmly muscled body that made her vision swim, Mona tumbled off the bed in alarm.

It was because the image of that trained body pressed tight against hers had suddenly flashed through her mind.

Even the moment the bed leg had broken under the man’s violent movements came back to her in rapid succession.

That wasn’t all.

Gliding through the shadows as if swimming, wrapping around her body… firm yet cool…

Barely swallowing the groan that threatened to escape through her teeth, Mona frantically gathered the clothes scattered on the floor and put them on.

Even though her entire body ached as if she’d been beaten, the shock crashing over her left no time to hesitate.

To that degree, every scene from the previous night drifting through Mona’s mind was something she couldn’t handle with a clear head.

In truth, they were all things she would never have done if she hadn’t been drunk on the perfume’s scent.

‘Damn it, what on earth did I create…’

To think she’d made not a perfume that makes you friends with monsters, but a perfume that turns you into a beast faithful to instinct.

‘I should just die. Just die.’

As she hurried her steps breathlessly, her reflection in the wall mirror near the mansion’s exit looked strange.

Her dyed ash-gray hair was nowhere to be seen—instead, pure white hair stuck out in a mess.

She’d dyed it just yesterday, so why…

After fumbling about, she finally tore off a layer of her skirt and threw it over her head.

Mona escaped the unfamiliar space without looking back.

Then, like a child trying to escape a nightmare, she ran and ran like mad.

For the first time in a long while, Richard had fallen into a deep, restful sleep.

It was a lethal dose of peace, brought to him by a woman whose identity he didn’t even know.

But when he opened his eyes after his sweet slumber, the sheets beneath his fingertips had already grown cold.

His blue eyes, surveying the empty space where not even a piece of clothing remained, cooled like shards of ice.

The being that had given off that sweet fragrance had vanished without a trace.

…Why had she disappeared?

All night long, the woman had wrapped her arms around his neck, made sounds as if she were about to stop breathing, and constantly urged him on.

So why.

As if waiting for the vanished other, he had been persistently burying his nose in the sheets where her sweet scent faintly lingered—then he slowly rose.

He had marked his territory so fiercely, and yet she had disappeared.

Deep in his belly, a raw anger that only a monster could feel seethed violently.

Within it was not only rage at the one who had dared to eat him and run.

It was tangled with irritation at himself for having been lulled to sleep by the sweetness.

To lose what was his within his own territory.

Primal emotions he had never once felt before becoming a half-monster by accident blazed before his eyes.

Amid the turbulent waves of emotion that were even unfamiliar to him, he slowly bent down and picked up the white mask that had fallen to the floor.

“…I’ll have to find her.”

The moment he made that decision, the sharp sensation that had been stirring in his belly subsided somewhat.

At the same time, the noise that had been clamoring in his head also faded.

Yes, if he’d lost her, he simply needed to catch her again.

“Why hasn’t Mona been coming to the lab lately?”

Jake, a senior researcher who had shown up late to work, remarked as he looked around the lab.

“I know, right. It’s already been three days of unexcused absence…”

“What’s a poor researcher got to be so confident about, skipping out like that?”

“Maybe because she’s skilled? Mona may lack social skills, but she’s good with her hands and good at controlling variables…”

“Hey! She’s been absent without excuse for three days and you’re defending her? Are you in your right mind?”

“W-well…”

Just then, Benny, a researcher well-versed in social circles and gossip, shrugged.

“Well, even if she looks shabby, she’s still from a count’s family. Rumor has it the Bellose family is doing quite well these days, you know.”

Benny rubbed his thumb and index finger together in a circle like a gold coin.

“But why does Mona always look like that?”

“What parent would want to support a gloomy daughter who does nothing but monster research?”

“Seeing as she’s not coming in now, maybe she’s getting married.”

“But would any young lord want to take in such a tacky girl?”

“Who knows? Maybe there’s an old man with peculiar tastes.”

“Well, the world does have diverse tastes.”

With no professor around, the researchers were using Mona as an excuse to snicker and kill time—that was when.

Creak—

Speak of the ogre and it appears—Mona Bellose came shuffling into the lab.

Jake, upon seeing Mona’s gaunt face, immediately flew into a rage.

“Mona, have you lost your mind!? Do you think the lab is a playground? Coming and going whenever you please.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“You think saying sorry settles everything!? Huh!? Get your act together!”

Jake’s relentless scolding continued.

Mona, who had been standing with her head bowed, looking thin as if she hadn’t been able to eat even gruel, walked to the corner as soon as the nagging ended.

As she picked up her research journal that had piled up, one of the researchers tapped her on the shoulder.

“Given the mood, it’d probably be better to start by collecting the slime cores that have piled up.”

“…Yes.”

As Mona set down her bag and left the lab again, Benny narrowed her eyes and whispered.

“Could Mona have been dumped trying to get married?”

“Guess even old men can’t handle Mona.”

“Hahaha!”

Leaving the raucous laughter behind, Mona staggered out of the lab and headed with a blank face toward the room where the slimes were kept.

Opening the lab door, the characteristic damp smell of culture fluid filled the air.

Perhaps because they hadn’t been given their special treat of moss for the past few days, the largest slime in the center of the experiment table had sunk deep to the bottom of the culture fluid as if sulking.

Gazing at the slime that seemed to be protesting, Mona plopped down and let out a long sigh.

“What am I going to do…”

Since ‘that night,’ after ‘that incident,’ Mona had been bedridden for three full days and nights.

Amid terrible muscle aches and a high fever, she had wandered endlessly through nightmares.

Dreams of her throat being cut by the war hero’s sword.

Dreams of being swallowed whole by the red-eyed predator.

Even dreams of a pitch-black darkness approaching like a snake, gliding, enveloping her.

“Hey. What do you think that thing I saw that night really was…?”

Blub blub—murmuring to the slime that was blowing bubbles, Mona sounded like someone who had lost her mind.

At first, she had definitely thought it was a doppelgänger, not a person.

But it wasn’t a monster clumsily imitating a human.

It had a hot body temperature, and a heart that beat.

‘It didn’t disappear when morning came either…’

Mona recalled the man’s beautiful face bathed in morning sunlight.

In truth, it was closer to a human than a monster.

Her insides kept burning, and Mona swallowed dryly.

Surely… that being couldn’t be the real Richard Kronel himself, could it?

If it was him… what would happen?

A half-human, half-monster infected by a monster only appeared in ancient forbidden books.

‘If that’s the case, then I’ve learned the shameful secret of someone impossibly high above me…’

Honestly, it was a hypothesis she didn’t want to think deeply about, so Mona shook her head vigorously and began collecting slime cores.

Even moving just a little made her body ache from muscle pain, so the collection work finished later than usual.

‘Haah.’

Carrying the core samples while half-dead, she shuffled toward the lab—and the usually empty corridor of the monster research institute was buzzing.

‘What’s going on?’

In front of the institute’s announcement board, all the few internal staff and researchers had gathered.

Approaching the crowd with a puzzled feeling, Mona’s eyes widened as she read the notice posted on the board.

[Notice]

We hereby announce that Professor Thomas Levett has been confirmed to be involved in inappropriate conduct violating Academy regulations and has been suspended from his duties during the investigation period.

‘Suspended out of nowhere?’

Mona’s lips parted slightly.

‘Then who’s going to approve my thesis?’

…What about my early graduation?

As she stood there dazed by the unexpected calamity, Jake, who had been closest to Professor Thomas, cried out.

“On what grounds has the professor been suspended!?”

The clerk belonging to the Department of Monster Studies, who usually skipped work as if it were a meal, responded indifferently to his question.

“From what I hear, he was implicated in the prohibited drug crackdown led by Lord Richard Kronel this time.”

At the sudden appearance of the name ‘Richard Kronel’ at this moment, Mona felt her heart leap into her throat.

“The drug crackdown?”

“Yes. The salon Professor Thomas frequented was apparently the place where illegal cigarettes were most heavily distributed. So he’s currently under investigation.”

“Illegal cigarettes…”

Amid the stirring researchers, Mona anxiously gnawed at her lips.

That night, of all places, she had encountered ‘it’ near the salon where Professor Thomas frequented.

That was when.

“This incident is just bad luck for Professor Thomas.”

Benny, the social circles informant, approached the board and spoke.

“What do you mean?”

“Rumor has it the war hero turned the entire Luna district upside down looking for a single woman. So every salon in that area got raided.”

…What?

Turned the whole area upside down looking for a woman?