Beneath the wing of night, inside a room that was ant to belong to him—and him alone—
Ethan pressed himself against the wall, staring in disbelief at the girl standing before him.
He swallowed audibly, his words stumbling over one another.
"Y-You... you’re Moon, right? You’re not her twin sister or sothing like that?"
At the question, Moon raised a brow.
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? I don’t have a twin."
The unintentional seriousness in her tone was enough to confirm it for him.
This was truly Moon Heart .. his stern captain, the one with whom he shared that strange, tangled connection.
"You seem agitated. What’s wrong?" She took another step toward him.
Each step she took pulled tighter at his nerves until he raised a hand to stop her.
"Please! Put sothing on—I don’t know where to look."
At his flustered reaction, Moon glanced down, realizing she was still wrapped in nothing but a simple towel over her bare body.
"Ah... sorry. You startled with your return. I forgot what I was doing."
Despite her apology, she didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest, which only deepened Ethan’s confusion.
’What the hell is going on here? Am I dreaming?’
No matter how he examined the situation, he couldn’t make sense of it.
Moon, on the other hand, paid no mind to his near nervous breakdown. She walked calmly to the bed where so clothes had been laid out—clothes Ethan hadn’t even noticed before.
Then, slowly, she turned back toward him.
"Would you mind looking away for a minute while I get dressed?"
He nodded repeatedly and turned his back to her at once.
"Thank you."
She said it casually, dressing without the slightest trace of tension .. as though she were alone in the room.
It didn’t take long. She was swift in everything she did.
"You can turn around now."
At her signal, Ethan slowly faced her again.
She had changed into sothing more modest—but his heart hadn’t cald.
These weren’t her usual clothes. They looked more like sothing one would wear indoors.
Which gave him the unsettling impression that she had no intention of leaving.
They stared at one another in silence.
Moon .. composed, perfectly at ease.
Ethan .. completely at a loss for words.
Fortunately, the silence did not last forever. Moon gestured to a chair.
"Sit. Try to calm down a little. I’m not going to bite you."
Carefully, Ethan pulled the chair closer and sat opposite her. She, in turn, settled atop his bed.
"Moon... I’m honestly confused. There’s so much I want to say, but first—"
He swallowed again before asking the question that mattered most.
"What are you doing here... in my room?"
At that, Moon fell silent for a full minute. A flicker of what looked like disappointnt crossed her face.
"So... you truly don’t rember."
"Excuse ?" Ethan replied imdiately.
She looked at him for a mont longer before lowering her gaze.
"When you said you lost your mory, but still rembered certain things—the curse, the Eternal Night—I hoped that what existed between us would be among the few things you retained."
No matter how closely he observed her, Ethan could tell sothing was off.
He found himself asking again and again—Is this really Moon?
She seed... gentler. Completely at ease.
The aura of the formidable warrior, the unshakable captain, had vanished.
She looked like an ordinary girl now.
And sohow, that was even more unsettling than her stern persona.
Carefully, he asked,
"What exactly was the relationship between you and ? And which version of you is the real one?"
"Ask one question at a ti if you want a proper answer," she replied promptly, prompting him to sigh and rephrase.
"Then start with the nature of our relationship."
Moon studied him for a long mont before speaking.
"We were never rely captain and squad mber. What bound us was deeper than that... We were..."
She hesitated before finishing.
"We loved each other."
Her words sent a pulse of pain through Ethan’s head.
"We were lovers?" he asked.
Moon considered the term briefly.
"Our relationship wasn’t conventional. It never left the boundaries of this room. No one else knew about it. So I’m not sure if ’lovers’ is the right word."
She fell silent for a second before continuing.
"Since only the two of us knew... I hoped you might not have forgotten. But I was more optimistic than I should have been."
Ethan raised a hand again, stopping her.
"You’re telling that you and I were in love... but it was a secret relationship, known to no one but us?"
Moon nodded.
"That’s correct."
Her confirmation only made his mind burn hotter.
Yet ironically, many things suddenly began to make sense.
Why she had seed especially shaken when she learned of his mory loss.
Her excessive concern .. though she likely would have cared for any of her squad .. but her emotions had surfaced far more openly whenever it concerned him.
"I don’t understand... Why would we keep sothing like that a secret between us? The entire situation feels unreal to ."
Moon exhaled softly, taking it upon herself to explain everything from the beginning.
"We kept it hidden at your request... and because of your connection to your maiden."
She pointed out sothing Ethan had completely forgotten.
"Lucille..."
At the ntion of the na, open disdain flickered across Moon’s face.
"That princess was obsessed with you. We feared she might do sothing to you if she discovered what existed between us."
In other words... the Blood Curse had been the chain that restrained them.
The princess’s obsession had since turned to disgust after Ethan lost his hand and his body was left scarred—permanently marred beyond repair.
In her eyes, he had beco unsightly.
Had Ethan remained his forr self, nothing would have held him and Moon back now.
But a new problem had arisen.
Ethan was no longer the sa person.
Even if the forr him had loved her, the current one did not.
Gradually regaining his composure, he returned to his usual calm deanor.
"What about my other question? Which one is real?" he asked, his tone deeper now.
Who was the true Moon Heart?
The one he saw upon the battlefield and during his judgnt?
Or the one standing before him now?
Moon answered without hesitation.
"Both."
"What?" Ethan blinked, surprised by her choice.
"The version of you’ve seen until now is the Moon Heart born from expectations. A captain who does not break. A warrior unmatched upon the battlefield. A talent worthy of being the granddaughter of the Uncrowned Emperor."
She then gestured to herself.
"But the one you see now... is the girl hiding beneath those expectations. Concealing herself behind carefully crafted masks."
Moon smiled at him—like any ordinary girl might.
"A version of no one has ever seen. No one... except you."
Her words stirred sothing strange within Ethan.
A bitter sensation, accompanied by a dull ache behind his eyes.
It didn’t take a genius to realize that Moon truly loved him.
Loved him enough to reveal a self she had never shown to anyone else.
The only person before whom she removed her mask.
’That’s wonderful and all... but.’
Ethan stared at her, unsettled.
’Those feelings... they aren’t ant for .’
Not him.
But the owner of this body before him.
Her powerful emotions did not bring him joy. They brought nausea.
Because he had stolen all of this from the real Ethan Heart.
That smile.
That love.
All of it.
It had belonged to soone else.
And for that reason alone, he could not accept it. He could not force himself to.
Looking at her, utterly serious, he decided to end this before it could even begin.
"Moon... I’m sorry."
His voice was firm.
"I don’t know what existed between us in the past. But I can’t return the feelings you have for ."
He rejected her.
Shock flickered across her features—but he continued before she could speak.
"To , I barely t you yesterday. I’ve known you for a single day. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for —yes. I value our bond as hunters—yes. But that’s all."
Again, he apologized.
"I’m truly sorry. But I have to refuse these feelings."
Ethan was decisive. He severed everything from the very beginning.
In truth, he had never believed in the concept of love to begin with .. not after his past experiences.
And even if Moon’s feelings were genuine... he simply could not accept them when he did not reciprocate them.
Moon showed signs of shock. Hurt.
But she regained herself with astonishing speed.
Her nerves were made of steel.
"I see... So you didn’t just lose your mory. You lost everything else as well."
There was sadness in her voice.
Yet she smiled.
That surprised him.
"Moon..."
"There’s no need to pity . And no need to regret your decision. This isn’t the end of the world for ."
She rose from her seat, her fingers brushing lightly across the objects in the room—as though bidding them farewell.
"Even if the fire dims, it does not die. And from the ashes, another fla will rise. One just like it... perhaps even greater."
Listening to her, Ethan understood what she ant.
But he said nothing.
And she did not expect him to.
Turning back to him, she gave him a sweet smile .. one he likely had never seen before, and perhaps would never see again.
"I’m sorry for intruding into your room, Ethan. I promise it will be the last ti."
She respected his decision completely.
She did not argue.
"From tomorrow onward, we return to being nothing more than companions bound by the hunt. Nothing will change. We’ll simply forget what happened here... as if it never occurred."
Every word must have hurt her.
But she concealed it flawlessly, as expected of her.
"But learn this well, Ethan," she said, that sa gentle smile on her lips as she wrapped herself in a black cloak.
"The heart does not lie."
"The heart follows what it desires... and whether you wish it or not, your heart has already found what it longs for."
With those words, Moon left him.
She opened the window and slipped out through it with effortless grace ..
like a shadow dissolving into the night .. unnoticed by anyone.
The mont she was gone, Ethan exhaled heavily and collapsed into his chair.
He understood what Moon had ant.
She was not stubborn. Nor was she clingy.
She knew how to asure distance.
After his rejection, she had restored their relationship to that of captain and subordinate hunter—nothing more.
But she had not surrendered.
Claiming that just as he had once loved her, she would find her place in his heart again.
Ethan let out a dry, humorless laugh at that.
"Sorry... but my heart is rotten. Twisted. Ugly. There’s nothing inside it but darkness."
Slowly, he rose and extinguished the lights.
He stripped off his clothes and threw himself onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Because of everything that had happened, all traces of drowsiness had fled him .. replaced instead by insomnia.
"Just as I expected... human relationships are complicated. They don’t suit ."
They seed to bring nothing but pain .. and sleepless nights, of which he’d already had more than enough.
Moon, whose heart had fallen for soone who no longer existed.
And him .. forced to receive emotions that were never ant for him, knowing they belonged to another man.
It felt as though both of them were dood to suffer together—each in their own way.
Yet...
Ethan managed to sleep that night.
Certain .. at least in his own mind .. that he had made the right choice.
For the first ti in his life, he had rejected a girl.
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