Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: My Choice
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“You need to hear this too.”
As Theodor added that, a flicker of tension passed through Lara's eyes.
Did she sense something?
After reorganizing the Aren mansion following the phantom raid, Theodor headed straight for the imperial capital of Lepayrun.
The night before departing for the capital, he carried Lara on his back to her room and stayed silently by her side until she fell asleep. Neither Theodor nor Lara asked each other anything. Theodor simply kept his promise to her, remaining there wordlessly until she awoke.
Scarcely had a few days passed when Anton Reto sent Anima after Theodor.
All of this had happened with Moonlight as the turning point.
What did it mean?
By now, Theodor knew well that more than just one or two families were aware of the “Bride of the Wolf's” existence. So before it was too late, he had to tell Lara the truth and give her a chance to choose.
Having brought her here, it was the bare minimum duty he owed her.
“What... do you think I am?”
Lara blinked slowly. It was a somewhat abrupt question.
What he thought of her? How should she answer?
Soon, Lara realized what Theodor was asking. She understood he was referring to what had happened on the night of Moonlight.
Lara's gaze dropped briefly before lifting back to Theodor.
His red eyes were still fixed on her. Her lips parted.
“Master Theo is Master Theo.”
No matter how deeply she thought about it, that was the only answer Lara had.
“Even if there's something different between us... to me, Master Theo is Master Theo.”
No matter how many times he asked, Lara could only say the same.
Expressing emotions in words was still difficult for her. She wasn't clever or well-educated; this was the only thing she could say.
“...You're right. I'm different from you, Lara.”
Theodor rose slowly from his seat.
He slowly removed one of his leather gloves—the ones he never took off, even indoors.
Lara followed his every movement with her eyes.
“The me you know is only part of who I am.”
From the start, when he'd brought her here, he'd never imagined showing his true form to this small human child.
How could he? It was his greatest weakness, a flaw he didn't want anyone to see.
“You might have walked right into a trap.”
A human child. One who could have been adopted into an ordinary family and lived an ordinary human life.
Her being the “Bride of the Wolf” had nothing to do with living that way.
It was the Wolfkin who were swayed by that existence. The obsession, twisted affection, and bizarre hatred toward the “Bride of the Wolf”—the only one who could bring peace to the five deep-rooted curses of the five families—was something only Wolfkin could harbor.
What had the previous Bride of the Wolf wished for before vanishing from the world?
Perhaps, above all, a more ordinary life.
Theodor thought that as he looked at Lara.
What she needed was just another being who would see her as human.
Was that being him?
Lara believed Theodor had saved her. He could tell from her eyes. The reason she followed his orders was because she believed he'd rescued her.
But had Theodor truly saved her?
An inexplicable doubt washed over him.
“I'm going to hurt you.”
That must never happen. He'd make sure it didn't. He didn't want to see her afraid. So he had to stop here.
But the Anima that had bared its fangs and lunged at her, and the black phantom of Lykan controlling the shell—they were shaking him.
“You've come to the home of one who isn't human, Lara. A mansion where a cunning, arrogant wolf might sink its teeth into your neck at any moment.”
His words were laced with self-mockery. Just before Moonlight, Theodor hadn't been able to suppress the intense urge toward Lara, the “Bride of the Wolf.”
The curse etched in his blood craved her fiercely. Amid the maddening chorus of voices in his head, only hers rang clear. He'd believed nothing would happen if they were in separate spaces, but in the end, he'd left his sanctuary and sought her out himself.
“I'm giving you one last chance. Go back to the human world, Lara. I'll make sure you can live normally and enjoy everything. You don't have to stay by my side.”
Why was he saying this to her?
To scare her? To make her fear him?
Or did he hope she'd regret something? Regret coming to a Beastkin's mansion, led by the hand of a monster like him?
He was doing something utterly ridiculous right now. What did he even want to confirm from this small, fragile human?
“So you—”
In that moment, Theodor's eyes widened.
Lara's hand touched his bare skin first—the hand always gloved.
A sharp pang squeezed his heart. To Theodor, at least, that instant felt like clear pain.
“......”
Theodor looked at Lara's expression. Right then, white light began seeping from his body. It was an intense glow that hurt the eyes.
Truly, it was ridiculous.
This light only brought him darkness.
Theodor, heir to one of the five most powerful Wolfkin families in the Beastkin world, had a grave flaw.
He couldn't control his Beastkin transformation as he wished—something any Beastkin should be able to do. A body that transformed upon contact with someone was abnormal, a defect, enough to be called a disgrace to the Beastkin race.
Lara didn't let go of Theodor's hand. Even as the strange, intense light filled the space, she had no intention of pulling away. Though forced to close her eyes, she clung to his hand as if she could never release it.
The light faded. The squeezing pain in his heart was gone.
Lara slowly opened her eyes and embraced the familiar silver wolf gazing at her from before her. Its fluffy fur tickled her cheek.
“It doesn't matter if Master Theo is a wolf. Even if there's something I don't know, it's okay.”
Her voice seemed to tremble.
“Please...”
“......”
“Let me stay by your side...”
Lara slowly lifted her head. The waning moonlight reflected in her mismatched eyes.
It had been the same that day.
The skinny human child, arm roughly grabbed by the old, repulsive noble, had looked up at him with desperate eyes.
It had nothing to do with Theodor. He could have walked past. He wasn't kind enough to heed the pleas of a clinging human child.
But Theodor hadn't passed her by.
His grandfather's dying words weren't important to him. He didn't believe them from the start. Whether she was truly the “Bride of the Wolf” no longer mattered.
Theodor realized it in this moment.
He hadn't brought Lara because she was the “Bride of the Wolf.”
“Is this your choice?”
Theodor asked.
“Yes.”
Lara answered him immediately, as if the wolf before her wasn't frightening at all.
Just like that night when Lykan's phantom had hurt her, Lara gently stroked him.
A low rumble escaped the wolf-formed Theodor. The sensory overload tormenting him was already being suppressed by Lara's mere presence.
Utter calm descended, but now Theodor was shaken for another reason. Whose sensation was this? What was it? He didn't know.
As Lara stroked the bridge of his nose, she spoke as if answering his doubt.
“This is my choice...”
So it wouldn't change, no matter how many times he asked.
“I won't regret it.”
Whispering that, Lara buried her face in the nape of his neck.
Theodor yielded his embrace to her and thought.
She always exceeded his expectations by far.
This was Lara's answer to a threat that wasn't quite a threat—one even he himself didn't fully understand.
The throbbing heart settled back into place. At the same time, Theodor felt a satisfaction and relief like having prey at his feet.
‘Satisfaction?’
Theodor swallowed a hollow chuckle deep in his throat.
The arrogant wolf could still only describe his emotions this way. He knew something was wrong, but not exactly what.
Had he ever desperately wanted something before? Not in his memory, at least. Even when he desired something, Theodor could never have it. Reaching the pinnacle of Diarc wasn't what he truly wanted. He'd taken the position only because he needed it.
So what he was doing now didn't suit him at all.
He wished Lara would stop crying.
At least, that you, by my side, would cry no more.
In this moment, that was all Theodor wanted.