[Renée’s POV]

Flinch. After I said this, I was surprised and my shoulders flinched.

Wait a minute. If my guess is right… …

Bradley’s muse is a dragon, and that’s the dragon that told you to bring me?

‘Come to think of it, the half-dragon I saw for the first time in the palace also tried to take me.’

Is that all? The black half-dragon also talked nonsense about ‘him’.

The two half-dragons calling it “him” and trying to take me away……

I think it’s safe to say that it’s the same thing.

‘It’s from my muse.’ 

I blinked quickly at Bradley’s words that came to my mind again.

So stealing the dragon bones is also the dragon’s work? Then, then why me… … . You call Renée Blair your muse, right?

Just when it felt like my head was about to split in two again. A low laugh was heard from the front. The half-dragon was laughing with his head down.

It was a high voice until just now, but now it is infinitely low. as if it were someone else.

Sure enough, the half-dragon, who soon raised his head, looked completely different.

The face, the scales that cover the face. The inside of the eyes and the long pupils were the same, but the atmosphere was different.

‘The one who took the initiative right now is the original owner of that body.’

In other words, Bradley…

He looked at me as if he was observing me, and muttered while smacking his lips. His voice was very similar to the other Bradley who had kissed the back of my hand.

“I wondered if the owner was stupid. Pretty smart. You noticed right away.”

“……What do you mean? Are you saying my guess is correct?”

Instead of answering, he grotesquely tilted his head to the side. The eyes looking at me felt more terrifying than when the dragon spirit had taken possession of it. The fear that I had barely ignored seemed to slowly creep up from the bottom again.

Rather, if my guess is correct, why the hell did you call me a muse?

I didn’t understand, so I asked once more openly.

“Then why did you all write a letter…… Why did you call me a muse? I, I’m not a dragon.”

I stammered with fear. He giggled like I was funny.

“The letter was not sent by ‘us’. I sent it alone… …  I only wrote Bradley in the letter, not the Bradley brothers. Didn’t you see it?”

… … Are you kidding me?

I narrowed my eyebrows at the sudden words. Then he tilted his head the other way.

“You look like you don’t know what we’re talking about. With that face, that expression.  It’s very fresh. The inspiration… I think I can play a new song right away because it’s soaring.”

“…… Just answer the question. If my guess that the muse is a dragon is correct, why do you call me a muse as a human being?”

“It’s simple. My brother now considers ‘him’ a muse, but I still consider you my muse.”

“What…?”

“Aren’t you smart? Try to use your head and think a little bit more.”

He tapped my temple with his index finger.

“It’s true that we both considered you our muse until only two months ago….. But two months ago, when ‘He’ appeared before us….. Brother abandoned you. I get inspiration from the shell, but my older brother tends to get inspiration by talking to ‘him’.”

“… …”

“Still, don’t you see? Think about it. Who’s in that shell right now, who was originally there….”

He bent his eyes and murmured softly.

“You know it best.”

What?

“Well, that’s enough of the chatter.”

Bradley slowly raised the arm holding the sword. The sharp edge of the sword pointed at me.

“Shall we get to the point?”

“… … ”

“My muse. Won’t you just go to ‘him’ with me?  ‘He’ told me not to kill you, but to bring you back.… If you keep refusing, I will bring you back even by cutting off your arms and legs.”

My heart skipped a beat at his words as if there was only one option. How do I answer to stall? Of course, I don’t think there will be a positive result if I drag on time…

The agony was short-lived. This is because he continued to talk behind my back without waiting for my answer.

“But you know what? I’m very curious.”

He came towards me with a staggering movement. The hand holding the wine bottle naturally became tense.

“My muse, whose limbs are cut off….”

“… …”

“What kind of expression are you going to make and how will you inspire me…”

Before I could comprehend the meaning of the words in my ears, the man came running and raised his sword. He didn’t look like a person who had stumbled just now.

I swallowed the scream that was about to jump out reflexively and narrowly avoided the flying sword. The table on which the wine bottle had been placed fell in two pieces in a crash.

My heart raced like a seizure when I thought it would have been me who would have split in half if I hadn’t avoided it quickly.

What should I do? What should I do? Swing the wine bottle now? What if he swings his sword faster than I do?

I could hear Bradley muttering over the frantic thoughts.

“Don’t avoid it. I don’t like wasting time, I……”

“I, I don’t like having my limbs cut off either, do I?”

“Mouth… I guess you still have the spirit to tease me.”

He stopped speaking quietly and stretched out his hand toward me. His arm was out of reach, but when I wondered why it was stretching out, something foggy suddenly popped out of Bradley’s hand.

“What…”

I reflexively closed my eyes. Before long, something like cool air spread through my body.

As soon as I realized I wasn’t hurt, I opened my eyes.

“……What is this.”

I muttered in an incredulous voice and my eyes quickly darted to look around. The surroundings, which had been fine until just now, were filled with hazy fog.

‘What? Did you spray fog?’

I hurriedly covered my nose and mouth with my hands because I thought I would die if I breathed it in. Then I heard Bradley laughing at me as if he was watching me from somewhere.

“Do you think that you shouldn’t inhale it?  Don’t worry, it’s not harmful to the human body.”

“… …”

“It’s just that it’s annoying to avoid it here and there….”

I see. You’re trying to hide yourself in this fog! Only then did I notice his intentions and put all my nerves on edge. Because I didn’t know where he might come from.

However, the fog was definitely effective, I couldn’t see him even if I concentrated with my eyes squinting. Even the shadow.

It was strange. Even though there was a lot of fog, I could still see the outlines of chairs and piles of broken tables. But how could Bradley be so invisible?

It was that moment.

I had chills and goosebumps running down my back from the back of my head to the bottom of my back. My heart sank as if someone had hit it with a fist. It seemed like the survival instinct, which I didn’t even know existed, was screaming to turn around right away.

My body reacted before my brain and turned around. And I saw it.

Blue-scaled hands reaching out to me through the fog.

Time to dodge? There was none. Then there was only one answer.

Brandishing the wine bottle that I still held onto. Fast and strong with the momentum to break your head!

Swish. I gritted my teeth and swung the wine bottle.

Honestly, I know I can’t do anything with a wine bottle. Just, I just want it to shock him a little bit. Even a little bit is good, so I hope it works!

But God was not on my side.

Just before the dull wine bottle touched Bradley’s temple, Bradley’s face dissipated into a haze.

Clink clang.

The wine bottle, which had just crossed Bradley’s face as it dispersed into mist, slipped from my hand and shattered in vain.

And as if the breaking sound was a signal, the dispersed fog gathered again and became Bradley.

There was no laughter at the shocking scene. There was no time for that in the first place. He, who was within reach if he stretched out his hand, grabbed me by the neck.

I grabbed Bradley’s arm with a groan as the dull pain pierced his throat. No, I was going to hold on. That is, if his arm didn’t become foggy every time I touched it.

I see. I don’t know how he did it, but he turned his body into fog!

That’s why I couldn’t see it even in the fog earlier… … . Because it remained foggy… …

It wasn’t enough to grab my neck, but Bradley also lifted me into the air. Naturally, I couldn’t breathe.

“It’s amazing. That I can touch you and you can’t touch me.”

“Kkeeue…”

“The flaw is that I can’t use it when I’m making an alter ego but.…. I think it’s very useful to catch something like you who avoids like a rat.”

The blood rushed to my face, and I felt like I was going to burst at any moment. My vision went blank and my mind went far away. I struggled until the end as if grabbing at straws, and kicking hard, but there was no way I could get through. A cool mist just touched my feet and then disappeared.

Soon after, I lost even my strength and my feet drooped down. Bradley’s mumbling voice faded away, and my awareness of whether I was in the air or where I was lying was also fading.

Ah, I’m dying. I’m really dying.

It was when I half-accepted dying like this.

I felt a strong light through my weakly closed eyelids. At the same time, a terrible scream pierced my ears. No, actually, I don’t know. I may have been mistaken because I was deaf.

Thump, suddenly I felt a shock in my butt and air rushed in through my throat like a storm. Coughs came out as if I was vomiting.

Reflexively, I went backwards, pushing off the ground with my feet. I don’t know why he let me go, but it was to get away from him somehow.

‘But really, why did you let go?’

The oxygen came in, and my brain started spinning faster. Hearing gradually returned. The first thing I hear is… … 

“Argh!”

It was a tearful scream. That’s Bradley’s.

How and what happened?

After the cough subsided, I slowly opened my eyes.

And for a moment I stopped breathing. It was because the light was pouring in through the gaping eyes. I reflexively frowned, then squinted my eyes to see where the light was coming from.

‘What!’

As soon as I checked the source, my mouth opened wide. It was my necklace that was emanating light. To be precise, the jewel attached to the necklace Reden gave me.

TL/N: I totally thought it would be Anastasia to the rescue!

Not only that, but it was floating in the air as if it was reacting to something. It would have already floated higher if it hadn’t been hung from my neck.

What the hell is going on here?

The question did not last long. Bradley’s voice screaming nearby pierced my ears.

“Right now, put it away! Get rid of it! Get rid of it!”

Oddly enough, Bradley screamed as if he was suffering from the light. He covered his eyes with one hand and stepped backwards.

For a moment, I even thought that I should wrap the jewels of the necklace with my hands so that the light could not reach him. That’s how desperate Bradley looked.

At that time, something like particles of light gathered from the jewels that were simply emitting light.

The scene was so unfamiliar that I forgot about Bradley. It was phenomenal, it was beautiful. I didn’t know what it was, but something great was about to happen.

It was as soon as I thought so. I felt a vibration that made my skin tingle. Right from the necklace.

“What…!”

When I was about to scream in confusion, Bradley’s roar, which was close to the roar of a beast, spread widely.

I reflexively covered my ears. The jewel of the necklace, which was still floating in the air, a dazzling light burst out so bright that I couldn’t bear to look at it.

And that, it hit Bradley.

TL/N: Wow this novel kinda amazes me at how it puts Renée in seriously life-threatening situations that really puts you on the edge of your seat! Like we all know she has plot armour but we don’t even know if someone will come in time to save her in those situations.