Prologue
“So you thought that if you seduced me and we became lovers… the author would change this novel’s ending?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“Ah. So, tonight… you want me to fall for your seduction?”
He stared at her as if to ensnare her, then threw the novel he was holding onto the bed and began to approach her.
“No, I-I mean…”
Himena, backing away to avoid him, felt her back hit the wall. With nowhere left to retreat, she was utterly trapped between him and the wall, with his two arms on either side of her.
‘W-what? Why is he acting like this all of a sudden?’
His hair was a glossy black. His red eyes were so intense they felt like they could pierce her heart. His nose was a sharp, straight line, his jawline was strong, and his lips were well-defined and cold, untouched by casual playfulness.
‘You’re, you’re too close!’
She turned her flushed face away from his unbearably intense gaze, and this time, his eyes fell to her plump lips, which she had bitten lightly. The sweet scent of wine mingled with his breath, tickling her nose. Her heart suddenly began to beat faster.
“Your… your grace, could you please… step back a little…”
As Himena reached out to push him away, he grabbed her wrist, pinned it against the wall, and whispered in a low voice.
“Why are you pushing me away? You’re the one who asked me to. You asked me to fall for your seduction.”
“Y-yes, I did… But I-I meant for you to pretend to do so, not to actually do it…”
“If you’re going to deceive someone, you should do it properly.”
“What?”
He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against him.
“Ack!”
She could barely breathe, pressed against the firm, broad chest of Marquis Kylian Thermos, the leader of the ‘Red Moon Knights,’ who had made a name for himself across the continent of Granelfis and had been hardened by countless battlefields.
‘I-Is this man crazy? Just a moment ago, he said I was disgusting… He didn’t even bat an eye when I tried to seduce him… Why is he suddenly so aggressive when I mention the novel?’
Flustered, she forced a smile and leaned her head back as far as she could. “P-properly? How far…?”
“Well, let’s find out how far you’re willing to go, one step at a time.”
“What? What do you mean by that!”
His hot breath was just about to reach her as his persistent gaze, holding her tightly by the waist, shifted to her lips. In that instant, a single thought hit the back of Himena’s head.
A knight’s uniform with a red moon! A tall man with a sword! His sudden change in attitude after she mentioned the serial killer’s threatening letter and the novel!
‘Wait, why did I assume the killer transmigrated as a woman? What if they didn’t? Oh, damn it!’
Just as Kylian’s lips were about to touch hers, Himena grabbed his hair and yanked him back hard.
“Ack!”
With a short groan, his head was thrown back, and their bodies separated. In that moment, she swiftly kneed him in the stomach, knocking him down.
“Kugh!”
Climbing on top of him, Himena pulled a dagger from her thigh holster beneath her dress and held it to his throat. She asked in a voice as cold as if she were about to devour him whole.
“You bastard, you’re that psycho, aren’t you?”
Kylian’s red eyes, which had been looking up at her in confusion, twisted into a cold glare.
“Senior Kang, he ran to the rooftop! Requesting backup! Author Ham is badly hurt, but I’ve applied pressure and called 911.”
“Understood! I’ll be there soon, so you be careful too, Detective Cha!”
Seo-hyun, having finished the call with her senior detective, Kang, took out her gun and stood in front of the closed rooftop door, taking a deep breath.
Damn it, she was too careless. She should have gone to get the late-night snack herself. She had let her guard down completely when Author Ham said that delivery people just ring the bell and leave the food nowadays. She never expected the killer to be waiting behind the door to stab them.
Since last year, a total of five web novel authors had been murdered. All of them were famous female romance authors. The stated reason was always the same: the ending didn’t please the serial killer.
When the first victim appeared, the police focused on motives among people close to the author. But when the second and third victims were found in succession, Seo-hyun’s team at the Seoul Metropolitan Investigation Division’s homicide department formed a special task force to hunt the suspected serial killer.
The murdered authors’ works were all female-oriented romance or fantasy romance novels with similar keywords. During the investigation, a number of suspicious accounts that left malicious comments on other serialized novels were discovered. However, since IP tracking was difficult, a few female detectives, like Seo-hyun, had been assigned to live with the authors to protect them from further harm.
Just yesterday evening at 7 p.m., the final chapter of Author Ham’s romance fantasy web novel The Price of Obsession was uploaded by the editing department. The two of them had watched together at her home to see if any malicious comments were posted. Since no suspicious comments appeared, they relaxed a little. Around 1 a.m., they celebrated the final chapter by ordering fried chicken, and that’s when this disaster happened.
But why would the killer run to the rooftop, a place where he was sure to be cornered?
Seo-hyun took a deep breath and cautiously turned the round doorknob of the residential-commercial building’s rooftop door. As soon as she swung the door open, she aimed her gun and scanned the surroundings.
“What?”
Her eyes fell on the railing, and she was so shocked she doubted what she was seeing. The killer, dressed in black, was standing precariously on the railing of the 35-story building. He stood there motionless, looking down at the city’s nightscape.
“Freeze! Police!” Seo-hyun shouted, aiming her gun at him.
But the killer didn’t even flinch, despite clearly having heard her voice. He was wearing a black tracksuit, a black hat, and a mask, with his back to the light, making it difficult to see his face.
“H-hey! What are you doing? You’re not… you’re not going to jump, are you?”
A cold feeling suddenly washed over Seo-hyun, and she intentionally lowered her voice to avoid provoking him, even as she kept her gun aimed.
Then, the killer slowly turned his head toward her. His eyes, illuminated by the faint rooftop light, were emotionless.
He threw something toward Seo-hyun.
Clang!
Startled, Seo-hyun quickly looked down. It was a blood-stained knife. The killer had thrown the murder weapon, which would have been crucial evidence, to a detective. Seo-hyun knew instantly what he was planning.
He was going to commit suicide.
“Wait, I-I’ll lower my gun. Shall we… talk?” Seo-hyun swallowed hard and slowly lowered the barrel of her gun.
The killer still looked at her with his dead eyes.
‘Did he plan for this to be his last murder from the beginning? And then he was going to kill himself?’
Seo-hyun crouched down and slowly placed her gun on the ground.
“See, I’ve put my gun down. Hey, about Author Ham… she didn’t die, thankfully. I stopped the bleeding quickly, and I called 911, so she should be fine. So, this… this can be considered an attempted murder. So… first, come down from there and let’s… talk a little…”
Seo-hyun spoke as slowly as possible, maintaining eye contact with the killer to buy time. She inched forward until she was within arm’s reach.
‘Okay. Just a little closer…’
But just then…
“Freeze! Police!”
Suddenly, police officers stormed onto the rooftop, shouting. The killer’s eyes shifted away from Seo-hyun for a moment, and then she saw him extend his foot into the air.
“No!”
Acting on pure instinct, Seo-hyun threw herself forward and grabbed the killer’s pants. The two of them fell over the railing together.
Damn it!
“Detective Cha!”
She felt her senior, Detective Kang’s desperate cry fade into the night as she plummeted downward.
“S-so who… am I, again?”
“…You are the only daughter of Duke Gonzalo Silvester, Lady Silvester…”
“Wait! Again, please. Wh-who?”
The elderly butler, receiving the same question for the fifth time, was beginning to sweat.
‘Does she want… a different expression? Why does she keep asking the same question?’
The butler, whose lady had woken up after two days of being unconscious, gulped as he desperately racked his brain. She was staring at him with wide eyes, repeating the same question. It was obvious that if he made a mistake, he would be beaten by this ill-tempered duchess again. He spoke in the most elegant tone possible, even gracefully gesturing with his arm to praise her.
“You are… the only daughter of Duke Gonzalo Silvester, a founding member of the Kedem Empire on the continent of Granelfis and the lord of Carapeidon… and the most beautiful, elegant, and dignified person in high society…”
“No, why are you adding so much extra information! My name! My name! What’s my name?!”
“Hi-Himena Silvester!”
Startled by her sudden shout, the butler’s mouth blurted out just the name.
“Himena… Silvester? Isn’t that the name of the villainess in the web novel I was investigating?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, geez. What is this? I thought I died and went to heaven, but it was just a dream. I guess I’ve been really tired lately. Don’t mind me, just go about your work. I’m going to sleep some more. It’s a pretty realistic dream, though. Especially you, old man, you’re so realistic. Wow, hahaha.”
As she laughed boisterously and pulled the blanket over herself to lie down again, a young maid standing awkwardly beside her cautiously asked, “Um… my lady. You’ve been unconscious for two days… Aren’t you hungry? Maybe you should eat something before you sleep…”
“Huh? No way. I couldn’t possibly be hungry in a dream…”
Grumble…
Before she could finish her sentence, her stomach let out a thunderous growl, and her hand, which had been pulling the blanket, froze.
“…I couldn’t be hungry, could I?”
She suddenly shot up and ran to the large mirror in the bedroom.
“W-what, what is this?!”
Reflected in the mirror was not Detective Cha Seo-hyun of the Seoul Metropolitan Investigation Division, but a foreign woman with long dark-brown hair, a small face, large purple eyes, and fair, smooth skin. Her figure was flawless, yet her expression was one of shock, and she seemed to have a bad temper.
She looked at the mirror and touched her body, pulled at her hair, and pinched her cheeks. Finally, she put all her strength into her hands and slapped her cheeks.
Slap!
“Kugh!”
Thud!
“Ack! My lady!”
‘Oof… I hit myself… too hard…’
Leaving clear red handprints on both cheeks, she fainted once again.
Always the slap