Chapter 1

He Left Me To Die, Then Begged For My Love

I nourished a beast-hybrid bodyguard with my very lifeblood.

For six years, I cherished him, poured out my entire heart, only to receive a single cold declaration in return: "Don't ever think you can tame me."

During the Great Beast Uprising, he shielded another girl, letting me be trampled underfoot.

He was *my* bodyguard, for crying out loud.

Yet he always, *always* abandoned me.

He even coiled his scorpion tail tightly around my throat, forcing me to use my precious blood to revive that girl.

He didn’t know that every drop of blood I shed meant a piece of my life force withered away.

He didn't know this was my final breath, my last remaining lifespan.

"Aurora, I swear I'll make it up to you, I'll be everything you want. Please, save her."

The arrogant beast-hybrid, who had always scorned submission, finally knelt before me, acknowledging me as his master.

My fingers were fading, turning translucent against the light.

"But... there was no 'us' anymore. No future."