MTMLF CH 24

Chapter 24

Collar Preference

“I understand. I’ll remember, Lady Jania.”

Noah answered politely, though inside he was clearly irritated.

Jania already knew his politeness was just on the surface. But knowing that didn’t mean she could do anything about it.

She might be Rupert’s fiancée, but for now she was still just an ordinary human without any power or status.

All she could do was ask politely and hope Noah would listen.

‘We argue now, but with time we’ll get along better.’

Jania forced herself to think positively.

She had to. After all, they were the main characters of the original story.

Right now they were just young and clashing a lot, but later they’d surely become close. The novel wouldn’t make them enemies.

Thinking that way made her feel a little lighter. Holding the sniffling Ella in her arms, Jania smiled softly.

***

Rupert had returned to the lakeside where he had slaughtered monsters not long ago.

No one had touched the area since, so the monsters’ torn corpses still lay scattered about.

He scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes and frowned.

‘Something’s off.’

Even the first time he came here, he had felt a strange unease. At the time, he thought it was just because of the monsters in the lake.

But after discovering the druids, he felt he needed to take a closer look.

Crunch.

A dried monster corpse crumbled under his boot. Rupert stared down at the shattered remains with a blank expression.

The forest was under a barrier that restricted beastmen powers. Because of that strange energy, beastmen called it the “Cursed Forest,” and both beastmen and animals avoided it.

It wasn’t strange for monsters to take over a place like this. But still, something didn’t sit right.

‘Their movements were restricted.’

That was what had unsettled him while he fought the lake monsters.

Normally, monsters run when faced with someone stronger. Even aquatic monsters would have fled into the forest in desperation.

But these didn’t. They only attacked blindly, trying to tear him apart—as if they were brainwashed.

‘And the monster habitats… they cover the whole forest.’

Now that the barrier was gone, he could sense even more monster presences.

But monster territories usually don’t overlap so heavily. Like wild animals, they avoided overcrowding.

Here, though, the habitats were tightly packed, almost like a net designed to trap something.

Strangely, not a single monster was near Jania’s house. But around this lake—far from her home—the habitats formed a dense wall, as if purposely built to stop anyone from leaving.

‘So the entire forest really was a giant cage.’

Clicking his tongue, Rupert pulled something out from the ground.

It was a druid totem, leaking a sinister purple haze. Clearly, this was how they had controlled the monsters.

“Disgusting.”

Druids had always been enemies of beastmen. They lived deep in forests, luring others with strange magic, making them hard to track and kill.

Though Rupert had wiped out the druids here to silence Jania’s secret, their homes were still being searched by his knights.

If they recovered and studied all the totems, it could lead to useful results.

He turned to the knights lined up behind him.

“How many monster habitats have we located so far?”

“Two in the south, three in the east, four in the west and north each.”

“That many…”

Just as he thought—there were more closer to the capital. The druids had deliberately isolated Jania deep in the forest to keep her from reaching the city.

“Recover all the totems.”

“Yes, sir!”

Rupert gave his order in a calm voice, then turned his gaze toward the direction of Jania’s house.

Finding the purifier had been a miracle. Without her, he might have lost his life to this cursed forest. She had truly been heaven-sent.

“Jania…”

He whispered her name quietly.

When he first came, he hadn’t expected to really find the purifier. In fact, before Jania discovered him, he had been ready to accept death.

Jania had become his salvation—his everything. And if anyone tried to take her away from him, he would never forgive them.

His golden eyes gleamed coldly as he made that vow.

***

“Hmm, not as much to pack as I thought.”

After Rupert returned home, Jania immediately started preparing to leave for the capital.

Rupert had suggested she rest longer, but Jania refused. After half a day of rest, her strength had mostly returned, so she wanted to leave before she changed her mind.

Before going, though, she carefully searched the house one last time. Last time, while looking for a nail, she had discovered a paper left behind by the real Jania.

Maybe there was another hidden message she had missed.

“Is that note the only thing she left behind?”

But no matter how she searched, she found nothing else. Straightening her stiff back, Jania sighed.

“Phew.”

Most things they needed would be at Rupert’s ducal estate anyway, and the food the knights brought was much better than what she had here.

Packing spare clothes and a few belongings didn’t take long.

“No more notes, huh…”

She muttered regretfully. Maybe the paper really was all the real Jania had wanted to leave her.

‘Did she just want to escape this place all her life?’

Looking out the window at the bright blue sky, Jania’s heart grew heavy. To her, the scenery had always seemed peaceful.

But to the real Jania, exploited by druids and trapped here, it must have felt suffocating.

Realizing that so late filled her with guilt. Her expression darkened.

“Jania.”

“Ah.”

Rupert had approached without her noticing and was now watching her closely.

Meeting his eyes, she nodded.

“Finished packing?”

“Yes.” She clutched her bag tightly.

Even in human form, Rupert was intimidating to face. Dressed in his sharp uniform, he looked so out of place next to her shabby clothes. She felt small beside him.

As he studied her, he asked again, “Did you forget anything?”

“Forget… something?”

Jania tilted her head. She was sure she had packed everything. But maybe he was right—people often remembered something only after leaving.

Touched by his thoughtfulness, she turned to double-check—only for Rupert to move faster.

“You forgot this.”

“…What?”

He placed something in her empty hand.

Puzzled, Jania looked down—

“….”

It was a collar. The same black collar she had once placed around his neck when she thought he was just a wolf.

Speechless, Jania stared at it.

“I’ve felt empty without it since yesterday. You should put it on me yourself.”

“….”

Tapping his bare neck with his fingers, Rupert spoke calmly.

Jania gaped at him. The collar had only been used because she mistook him for a wolf.

Now that he was clearly human, there was no reason for this nonsense.

Why was he acting like this? She forced herself to stay calm and asked carefully:

“You’re… joking, right?”

“Why would I be joking?”

“You’re a person, why would you wear—”

She froze.

No way. Surely not. But what if…

Her eyes shook as she glanced between the collar and Rupert.

“…Do you… have that kind of taste?”

“….”

Her face twisted like she had just seen something horrifying as she asked.