Chapter 44
“Do you know Baeksa?”
Maya asked the wolf.
“To think I’d be killed by a lowly human like you…”
But the wolf didn’t seem to hear Maya’s words.
“Baeksa, do y—”
“I’ll kill you!”
The wolf lunged, completely ignoring Maya’s question. Maya, anticipating its movement, dodged to the right while holding Serren in her arms.
Crash!
A pillar shattered into pieces.
But Maya still had more questions to ask.
“How do you know?”
The massive gray wolf, large enough to be compared with Baeksa, was enormous.
It didn’t make sense that a monster of this size had gone undetected.
Even more absurd was that Baeksa’s death had been kept strictly confidential—only a few in the royal family and the Mage Tower knew of it.
So how could this wolf possibly know?
“Y-Your Grace… we need to call for help…”
Serren, trembling in Maya’s arms, broke her train of thought.
“We… we have to go.”
Even Pendragon, who usually nagged to fight, was urging her impatiently.
“Forget this woman. Let’s just go. Come on?”
If they left now, Serren—who was too shaken to even stand—might avoid danger.
But Maya couldn’t just leave the monster alone either.
‘Even if I call the knights, it won’t help much.’
The current head of the Imperial Knights, Graham, was someone who had lived a peaceful life.
He had the intelligence and skill to reach the position of commander, but none of it was forged in real combat.
‘I’ve broken that man’s pride more than once when he underestimated me.’
In short, he was of no use.
The noble knights beneath him were the same—swords dulled from years of peace.
So to minimize casualties, Maya had to fight herself.
But there was one problem.
A monster like that couldn’t be defeated without revealing her powers.
‘I’ll have to show my strength.’
She and Serren had spoken of mutual support, but Serren didn’t yet know the full story.
Maya could still pretend to struggle and wait for the knights to arrive, just as she told Lisefield she had no power.
That would be the easiest way to avoid complications.
But people would get hurt. Some might die.
And Maya didn’t want that.
‘I’ve seen enough death in my last life to be sick of it.’
She had sworn never to live with regret again.
So Maya decided to trust Serren.
“In exchange for helping, I ask you to keep this matter a secret.”
“A secret about what?”
“About what is about to happen.”
“…Pardon?”
Serren looked at her, confused.
Maya flicked her fingers.
At her signal, Pendragon—who had just been shouting to fight—transformed into a sword.
The gleaming white blade sparkled against the night sky.
Seeing Maya in her elegant gown, holding that holy sword, Serren was momentarily mesmerized.
‘That sword… just appeared out of thin air.’
And it clearly belonged to Maya.
Serren recalled the history of House Pendragon.
Pendragon of the Sword.
She now realized Maya’s unshaken composure from the start—even as a monster appeared—had been odd.
‘I thought she was in shock…’
But that wasn’t it.
This woman had never been afraid.
She had accepted a monster that even the Imperial Knights avoided without hesitation.
Serren stared at her, entranced.
Maya, meanwhile, was quickly analyzing the situation.
She had to lure the wolf away to an area with no people.
‘If only I had a wyvern…’
She regretted not bringing one—even in her handbag.
“Maya!”
So when she first heard Tristan’s voice, she thought it was a hallucination.
“Huh?”
Maya’s eyes widened when she saw him.
The man flying in on a wyvern was undoubtedly Tristan, now reverted to his boyish form.
Even from a distance, his face was unmistakable.
“Tr— I mean, how did you…”
Realizing she still had Serren in her arms, Maya stopped herself mid-sentence.
“I’ve come to get you, Lady Maya. Please, get on.”
Tristan, seemingly aware of the situation, called to her urgently.
The way he added “Lady” and blinked was his way of resetting his status in front of Serren.
‘It’s weird hearing him call me “Lady” in the middle of all this.’
Something about it felt off.
Why though?
“T-That thing…”
Serren’s face turned pale at the sight of the wyvern.
She clearly thought it was another monster.
Maya nodded slightly.
‘…Well, she’s not wrong.’
It was a monster—just a tame one.
“He—”
Maya quickly covered Serren’s mouth before she could scream and gave a rushed explanation.
“It’s one I tamed. You don’t need to worry.”
“T-Tamed…?”
The more she learned about Maya Pendragon, the more questions Serren had.
‘How did she hide all of this?’
Taming monsters and using them? That kind of thinking alone was beyond normal.
‘…And yet.’
Serren liked her more because of it.
They say humans are drawn to what they lack.
‘It’s only natural to admire someone who can do what I can’t.’
Watching Maya—who stood in stark contrast to herself—made Serren’s fear gradually fade.
“I know this is a ridiculous thing to say in a moment like this. But…”
There wasn’t enough time to explain everything.
“Will you trust me?”
A sudden request—for trust, no less.
But her voice held a force that was hard to refuse.
Because it was sincere.
Serren had met countless people in the social world.
Even if they masked themselves with noble speech, one’s true nature always showed.
Many approached her, but none had ever truly tried to understand her.
When asked why they liked her, most just said something shallow about her appearance.
They never knew what effort it took for her to reach where she was—only clinging to what she was born with.
She was sick of it.
Raised under a father who used “love” as an excuse to push his ideals, she had lived a life of suffocating expectations.
And yet, she never learned to get angry.
She had become so used to it all, she couldn’t even recognize how wrong it was.
Many young ladies lived similarly—but none ever voiced discomfort.
‘Am I the one who’s wrong?’
They said blood ties were unbreakable. But Maya had shattered that belief.
A new world opened up before Serren.
“I’ll trust you.”
She looked Maya in the eye and spoke clearly.
“What do you want me to do?”
Her eyes sparkled with firm resolve.
Maya was quietly surprised by the trust Serren placed in her.
To be honest, she hadn’t expected someone like Serren Baker to accept her words so easily.
‘…What’s going on?’
This wasn’t the same woman who had been trembling just moments ago.
“Please keep everything you witness from now on a secret.”
“They say whoever stands beside Serren Baker stays with her. I swear on my name.”
Maya was taken aback.
She knew how much weight a name-bound vow carried.
In the social world, Serren was often referred to not as the Lady of House Baker, but simply as Serren.
That was how much pride she had in her own name. And now she was vowing on it.
‘…I don’t know why things are going so smoothly all of a sudden, but…’
There was no reason for Maya to reject such a favorable turn of events.
More than that—
She didn’t want to doubt someone who said they believed in her.
No, more than that—
‘I want to trust myself.’
She wanted to trust that her instincts—telling her Serren Baker was being genuine—were right.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
Maya beamed brightly.
“Well then…”
The wolf continued rampaging across the garden.
“I need to lure that thing somewhere with no people…”
The wyvern had risen near the clouds to avoid the wolf’s gaze.
The higher altitude made it colder, though only Serren was visibly shivering.
“You should put this on.”
Maya offered the dress shawl Doschen had given her before they stepped outside.
She shrugged lightly—guess she’d gotten used to the cold after staying up north for so long.
Of course, Tristan didn’t even seem to notice the cold.
While watching the wolf from above, he turned to Maya and frowned slightly.
“When did you injure your face?”
