Evangeline arrived at the bamboo house where Nix once lived. She paused at the door for a long while before finally raising a hand to knock gently.

The bamboo house was utterly silent, as if even the wind had frozen in place.

Evangeline raised an eyebrow. Her fingertips gently traced the Contract Mark at her waist. The connection guided her; Loras hadn’t left. He was still inside the house.

"Loras?" she called out softly, knocking again.

For a long moment, there was only silence, no answer. But she could hear faint, rustling and scraping sounds from within.

Evangeline’s gaze narrowed. She finally pushed the door open and went inside.

The light inside the bamboo house was dim. Vines covered all sides, blocking out nearly every sliver of light.

She scanned her surroundings and finally found Loras in a corner.

He had wrapped himself in vines, forming a large cocoon as if trying to escape. Nothing could be seen through the impenetrable tangle.

Evangeline crouched down and placed a hand on the vines. "Loras? Are you planning to suffocate yourself in there?"

The moment she finished speaking, the vines sprouted jagged thorns and shot out, lunging to bite viciously at her wrist.

Evangeline didn’t dodge or flinch. She allowed the thorny vines to sink into her skin. As her fresh blood dripped onto them, the vines reacted as if scalded. The thorns retracted instantly, and the vines hastily pulled back.

A smile played on Evangeline’s red lips. Her blood-stained fingertips plunged straight into the mass of vines and ripped them apart.

The vine cocoon fell away, revealing Loras curled up inside.

He was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees. His beautiful, androgynous face was a mess of blue and purple bruises, and dried blood caked the corner of his lips. He looked to be in much worse shape than Caden Albright and the others.

Small, delicate vines still clung to his body, like a final, fragile shelter.

Seeing his wretched yet stubborn appearance, Evangeline’s lips twitched almost imperceptibly. She sighed softly, grabbed Loras by the wrist bone, and pulled him up from the floor.

Loras’s body stiffened slightly. His gaze faltered when he saw the still-bleeding wound on her wrist, but in the end, he didn’t struggle, allowing her to pull him over to the bamboo bed and sit him down.

"Does it hurt?" Evangeline took out some ointment and gently applied it to the bruise on his cheekbone.

The riot of colors on his face should have looked ridiculous, but with the corners of his eyes red, tears welling, and biting down hard on his lip, his beauty was undeniable. This fragile quality, unique to Loras, only made him look more vulnerable.

’Loras and Nix are two completely different people.’ The thought was exceptionally clear at that moment.

Loras pressed his lips into a pale line, his translucent violet eyes fixed on Evangeline. After a moment, he asked in a hoarse voice, "Why didn’t you dodge earlier?"

Evangeline’s gaze was focused on the wounds on his face. Hearing his question, the corners of her eyes crinkled slightly as she said softly, "Not angry anymore?"

Loras lowered his lashes and shook his head. "I hurt you. It was only right that they taught me a lesson."

"Oh?" Evangeline feigned a little surprise, wiggling her blood-stained wrist. "Then why did you hurt me just now?"

A drop of blood landed on the side of Loras’s neck and trickled down his collarbone, carrying a faint warmth.

Loras shuddered and jerked his face away. His long lashes cast a restless shadow on his pale skin.

"I..." His Adam’s apple bobbed, his violet eyes swirling with complex emotions. His lips moved as if to say something, but in the end, he only lowered his head in dejection, his voice barely audible. "...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to."

He had just been so angry in that moment.

In his mind, he saw her and Danton turn and leave, so decisively, without a hint of hesitation.

He had followed her back here... but she had just abandoned him.

The lashing vines had been an impulsive loss of control. By the time he came to his senses, he had already hurt her.

"It’s alright." Evangeline laughed lightly, wiping the blood from her wrist. After applying the medicine, the wound was almost invisible.

Her eyes curved into crescents, her charming voice tinged with amusement. "To keep you from getting another beating, I’d better heal myself."

Loras froze. He looked up into her smiling eyes and, after a long moment, pressed his lips together and asked, "Why?"

"Why what?" Evangeline asked, confused. She then scooted back a bit and pointed to his collar. "Pull that open. Let me see if you have any other injuries."

Her current relationship with Loras was complicated. Although they were still contract partners, there were no feelings between them.

In this state, it wouldn’t be right for her to start pulling at his clothes, even though she had seen this body of his many times before.

Loras watched her cautious movement, designed to avoid suspicion. His eyelashes fluttered, and he shook his head. "It’s nothing."

He stood up and walked to the window. "I’m fine now," he said in a low voice. "You can go."

"Really fine?" Evangeline walked over to him and glanced at him from the side.

Loras’s fingers curled, his knuckles turning white. He turned to look at her, the rims of his violet eyes red, and said with a cold sneer, "You’re clearly not sincere, so why pretend to care about me? When you look at me now, do you think you’re looking at Nix?"

Evangeline watched Loras’s sudden outburst, her eyes glinting.

’This must be what they call imprinting.’

Loras, who had always solved problems by running away, had met "Evangeline" as the first Beastman in his life. Unfortunately, their encounter hadn’t been a salvation, but had instead become another wound that refused to heal.

After leaving the Oasis Tribe, in order to survive on the brutal Beastman Continent, his soul split, creating Nix, while he himself hid away with a clear conscience in the deepest part of his consciousness, only emerging in the dead of night, when the moonlight was like water, to absorb its pure glow.

The world had never shown him an ounce of gentleness. No one had ever been good to him.

Even the other self that split from his soul wanted to kill him and take sole possession of his body.

Loras was used to running away and retreating because he had never experienced the world’s kindness.

And she was clearly the first person to offer him a helping hand. Perhaps mixed with the bond of their contract, this feeling had become more complex. It wasn’t love, but a kind of dependence.

When she had chosen to stand by and watch coldly as Caden Albright and the others attacked him, and even her late arrival to check on him, all felt like an unspeakable neglect to Loras. That’s why he was throwing a tantrum.

Evangeline’s lips curved upward. Sunlight traced the lines of her porcelain-white skin, gilding her smile with a vibrant hue.

She shook her head, her voice very soft. "You and Nix. I’ve never confused the two of you."

As she spoke, she raised her fingers and gently wiped the moisture from the corner of Loras’s eye, chuckling softly. "Nix doesn’t cry."

Loras’s lips were pulled into a tight, angry line as he glared at Evangeline.

"Here, there’s medicine inside." With a flick of her wrist, Evangeline tied a storage bag to Loras’s waist.

Loras went rigid. Just as he was about to speak, Evangeline had already turned and left.

He untied the small bag from his waist and stared at it quietly in his hand.

Embroidered on it was a Moonlight Flower growing on a cliff’s edge. Moonlight spilled down, blanketing the petals. It was so lifelike that for a moment, he could almost smell its rich fragrance. Even the veins on each leaf were perfectly replicated.

A storage bag. He knew she had prepared one for each of her Beast Husbands.

So, this one in his hand—did it belong to Nix, or to him?

Loras’s knuckles tightened unconsciously. After a long moment, a self-deprecating smile touched his lips. ’Pathetic, useless me. If it weren’t for Nix, why would she have brought me back?’