Chapter 4
Is there really no way to escape this moment?
The men had come so close that they could reach her simply by extending a hand. The moment when she would be forced to choose was approaching.
“Damn it!”
Ellen clenched her teeth. Surviving was cruel.
If this was the very end, then fine—she would see just how long this hateful life could continue.
And when she finally died, trapped in humiliation and despair, she would spit in the face of whatever god had put her here.
Gathering strength she didn’t even have, Ellen hurled the shopping bags she was holding at the men.
“Ah! You crazy b***h!”
Cursing, one of them shoved her violently.
Her body fell backward.
The empty air beyond the edge of the cliff brushed against her back.
If she fell like this, she would die.
It was such a simple, almost absurdly easy death.
So this is how she dies? Was ending a life without suicide always this easy? The thought was so hollow it made her laugh.
Ellen stared up at the black sky spreading across her vision and laughed.
“Ugh!”
Then she heard the sound of the men collapsing all at once. The spinning black sky suddenly stopped.
Before she could even turn her head, her vision flipped upside down.
When she came to her senses, she was in someone’s arms.
“Are you people insane?”
The man holding Ellen close shouted fiercely.
Her face was pressed against his chest. The shout vibrating through his body sounded like the roar of a beast.
“N-No, we were just—”
“Get lost.”
The man didn’t even let them finish speaking.
The firm dismissal made the men hesitate, but they still had the advantage in numbers. Like hyenas deprived of their prey, they glared without retreating.
“Hey—who the hell do you think you are, ordering us around like that?”
“She’s my woman.”
The man spoke again, emphasizing every word.
Both Ellen and the men gasped.
Ellen worried the frantic pounding of her heart might be audible outside her chest. Rationally, she understood it was simply the easiest excuse to defend someone in a situation like this—but she was still stunned.
The men exchanged glances.
Whether the claim was true or not, declaring someone as his woman could mean he was ready to fight to the death. And if it were true, taking her would mean assaulting another man’s partner.
Neither fighting nor committing such a crime would end well.
“Well… you should’ve said so.”
Muttering a final petty remark, the men disappeared into the forest.
The situation was over.
Ellen remained in the man’s arms for a while, blankly staring ahead. His heartbeat sounded unusually loud. It wasn’t her imagination—the man’s heart was pounding fast and rough.
He must have been startled too.
Ironically, hearing it reassured her. Only moments ago she had been ready to die, yet the sound reminded her that she was still alive.
The danger had passed.
So simply. So absurdly.
At last Ellen came back to her senses and got up from the man’s arms.
Strangely, her body resisted leaving. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so vividly alive. It felt regretful to step away from the heartbeat that had reminded her she was still living.
“…Thank you.”
The man released the arm that had been holding her and instead helped steady her as she stood.
“Are you alright?”
His voice was completely different from the one he had used to shout at the men—gentle, almost warm. Though his tone still sounded somewhat blunt.
Only then did Ellen look up at him. And she couldn’t close her mouth.
The man was unbelievably handsome, so striking that it was impossible to look anywhere else.
His gray hair, tinged faintly with green, was fairly ordinary. But everything else about him was extraordinary.
His golden eyes, rimmed faintly with red, were both mysterious and wild—an eye color she had never seen in any world she had lived in.
And his body was practically a work of art. Broad shoulders, a solid chest, a flat abdomen, a narrow waist flowing into long, powerful legs. It looked like the kind of body that could only exist if someone moved with perfect efficiency every moment of their life.
Without realizing it, Ellen openly examined his body. Noticing her gaze, the man curled the corner of his lips upward.
“Did I interrupt something?”
Seeing her unabashed stare at his body, he joked lightly. Blood rushed to her face.
“I came in here by mistake.”
She wanted to escape this situation as quickly as possible.
Ellen hurriedly picked up the shopping bags scattered across the ground. The man helped as if it were the most natural thing in the world and then took the ones she was holding as well.
“You wandered all the way here by mistake?”
He asked with a teasing smile. Even she knew it sounded like a weak excuse. But it was the truth.
“It really was a mistake. And… do you happen to know the way out?”
“Of course. If you need help, I’d be happy to guide you.”
This wasn’t some remote wilderness. Finding the way out of a garden shouldn’t be a big deal. The man offered easily, since it wasn’t difficult.
But the word help had an entirely different weight for Ellen.
She had never imagined that receiving help from someone could be this simple.
Something unexpected pressed quietly against her heart.
For a moment, she couldn’t find the words to answer.
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