Chapter 1
I nurtured a beastman bodyguard with my own lifeblood.
Six years. I loved him, cherished him, poured out every ounce of my heart, only to get one answer: “Don’t even think about taming me.”
During the Creature Uprising, he shielded another girl, leaving me to be trampled.
He was *my* bodyguard.
Yet he always left me behind.
He even used his scorpion tail to constrict my throat, forcing me to give my blood to save that girl.
He didn’t know that every drop of blood I shed diminished my life force.
He also didn’t know it was the last of my lifespan.
“Anya, I swear I’ll make it up to you. Please, save her.”
The proud creature finally bowed, acknowledging me as his master.
My fingers slowly became transparent.
“But… we don’t have a future.”
His scorpion tail thrashed wildly, his eyes glazed over with primal rage.
He’d gone feral.
“Chloe…”
Even then, he called her name.
I let him bite into my arm.
Only when my blood touched his throat did he slowly calm down.
“Thank you…”
I didn’t whine or complain like I usually would. Instead, I pushed him away, wiping the remaining blood on a nearby plant.
The withered leaves instantly revived.
And my life force dwindled further.
“I’m moving closer to the lab. You’re my bodyguard, so you’re coming with me.”
Kael froze.
“But…”
“I feed you with my blood every month, not so you can handle her heat cycles.”
His chest was covered in love bites. I forced my gaze away, my eyes stinging.
The accusation almost spilled from my lips.
But it twisted, turning into a threat.
“Don’t forget your duties. If anything happens to me, the Federation won’t let you off.”
In this fractured world, after the great creature upheaval, food crops were on the brink of extinction.
I was the Federation’s only botanist.
“Understood.”
Kael lowered his gaze.
“I’ll head out then.”
As he reached the door, I called out to him.
“Kael, what do you think we are to each other?”
He paused.
His broad shoulders shrugged, taut, golden-bronze muscles tensed. At his waist, there was the indelible brand of a rejected specimen.
If I hadn’t spent half my life saving him, he would have died long ago.
“Employer and bodyguard.”
“You provide the blood, I protect you.”
The answer I expected.
No matter how much I gave, his heart would never have a single corner for me.
Why force it? He was never my Liam.
He wouldn’t cherish me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
No matter how much he looked like him, he wasn’t.
Tears blurred my vision. I tried to wipe them away, but my fingertips were already turning transparent.
“I might not be able to pay your salary anymore.”
I was fading fast.
Kael didn’t take me seriously.
“Then I’ll find a new gig.”
He strode away, leaving the door ajar and me to my quiet sobs.
I always joked with him.
But this time, it was real.