Chapter 105
Dite brushed the sand off his palms and shouted after checking his wristwatch.
Ravian took off his jacket, wrapped it snugly around Nina’s shoulders, and sat her down on his lap.
Everyone else casually took their seats nearby.
The once noisy beach suddenly became still.
Moments later, as if on cue, a countdown began to spread through the air.
“…Nine—eight—seven—!”
Feeling a stare from somewhere, Nina turned her head.
Charlotte was sitting a short distance away, quietly watching Nina and Ravian.
It wasn’t just curiosity — her gaze was far too intense for that.
Nina tilted her head slightly.
‘Why is she looking at us like that?’
When their eyes met, Charlotte flinched and quickly looked away, flustered.
“Three—two—one—!”
Bang! Bang! Whoosh—bang!
Colorful fireworks blossomed across the pitch-black sky over the ocean.
It was like watching stars explode.
Cheers erupted from every direction.
“Wow…”
Nina’s mouth hung open as she stared up, completely mesmerized.
She had seen this in her dreams before, but seeing it unfold before her eyes felt so unreal, she could barely breathe.
‘This really feels like a dream…’
“Right, this—”
Ravian said something above her head, but his words were drowned out by the crackling of fireworks.
Then Nina suddenly felt her hair being gently pulled back. She turned her head with wide eyes.
“Mister?”
“Hold this for a second.”
Ravian gathered her thick hair in one hand and said it casually.
Still not understanding, Nina obediently lifted both hands and held her hair in place. The next moment, something cool and sparkling brushed against her neck.
Nina’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What is this?!”
Bang! Whoosh, bang!
Glinting in the multicolored glow of the fireworks was a delicate platinum chain. At its center hung a gem, shimmering with a mesmerizing absinthe-green hue.
“It’s made from your baby tooth,” Ravian murmured softly.
Nina blinked in astonishment and looked up at him blankly, only to meet his mischievous, smiling eyes.
“Let’s see if the tooth fairy shows up,” he added, grinning teasingly.
The same absinthe-colored eyes as the gem reflected the fireworks, shining even brighter.
For a moment, Nina couldn’t speak. Her throat felt tight as she swallowed hard.
A strange thought crossed her mind — that if she were to die right now, she wouldn’t regret it.
A feeling she had never experienced before — pure, overwhelming happiness — rose from her toes to the top of her head.
“…Thank you, mister,” she whispered at last, and threw her arms around Ravian’s neck, hugging him tightly. Then, she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Everyone around them froze solid.
The drink Kiz had been holding slipped from his hand and spilled onto the picnic mat.
The spilled liquid splashed all over Dite’s expensive pants — yet for once, he didn’t even complain.
It was as if they had all turned to stone.
Bang! Whoosh, bang bang!
Brilliant fireworks bloomed above their unmoving heads, lighting them in dazzling colors.
The beach roared with cheers and explosions.
And then—
[Found you.]
Amid the bliss swelling in her heart, a whisper suddenly crept into Nina’s mind.
[So that’s your trick. I thought you’d run off somewhere else.]
It was a twisted, mocking voice — mature yet strangely youthful.
Caught between joy and disbelief, Nina thought for a moment that she’d misheard, or that someone nearby was playing a prank.
She slowly lifted her head — and saw Ravian staring at her wide-eyed in shock.
As she blankly looked at that beloved face she had missed for so long, the whisper returned.
A voice that slipped directly into her thoughts.
[I granted your wish, didn’t I? Now it’s your turn — keep your promise and grant mine.]
The voice was both unfamiliar and eerily familiar at the same time.
Then came the sound of laughter — a low, echoing hehehehehehe…
✦ ✦ ✦
After the fireworks ended, well past midnight—
Messi, asleep in Ravian’s study, woke up when a cushion smacked him in the face.
The shameless human trash who’d thrown a cushion at a sleeping child, of course, was Ravian.
Messi groaned and sat up on the sofa.
“That’s child abuse, you know that, right?”
“Never heard of it. Why the hell are you sleeping in my room?”
“There’s nowhere else to crash. You went to the fireworks with Nina, right? How was it?”
Instead of answering, Ravian slumped into the sofa across from him, stretched his legs out lazily, and lit a cigarette.
He inhaled slowly, savoring the first drag.
“Ahh… that hits.”
“Wait—don’t tell me you went all day without smoking?”
“Yeah. Thought I’d die. Actually, I still feel like dying.”
“What’s so dramatic about that? You should just quit altogether.”
“Dramatic? Coming from the guy who faked being sick out of nowhere?”
His tone was sharp, mocking.
Messi crossed his arms and groaned.
“I couldn’t think of a better excuse, okay? It was an emergency—”
“Nina saw you.”
“I know.”
“You know…?”
Ravian’s brow twitched dangerously.
He looked ready to hurl an ashtray, so Messi quickly added,
“Even if she saw me, what could I do? Given the situation, it’s not like she’d ever think that was me anyway.”
“Oh, is that so? Pretty relaxed, aren’t you? Were you always this carefree?”
“…What? It’s not like any of that was my fault.”
His voice was starting to get irritated.
He had saved the kids faster than anyone else could have, and instead of getting credit, he was getting scolded.
Typical Ravian — the same foul temper as always. But after such a long, exhausting day, Messi didn’t have the patience to just swallow it.
Seeing Messi’s rare flash of defiance, Ravian blinked slowly.
“Are you talking back to me right now…?”
“No. But what’s the problem? Did Nina ask about me or something?”
“That’s just wishful thinking.”
“…”
Ravian’s tone softened slightly as he continued.
“Don’t be too disappointed. She did ask once where you’d gone.”
“Then—”
“Then explain this to me. How the hell did you know something was wrong with Nina before I even contacted you?”
“What? What are you talking about? You called me—”
“I did. But when I talked to the others just now and pieced the timeline together, it was obvious you moved before I called.”
Ravian exhaled slowly, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
That smile — sharp and predatory — made Messi grimace.
“So what, you mad about it? You’re gonna drop dead being that uptight.”
“Try me.”
The man and the boy glared at each other, the air between them crackling.
After a tense pause, Messi finally broke eye contact and sighed.
“I don’t even know what’s going on anymore.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
“…At first, I just thought it might be connected to what you said about your shoulder — that it didn’t hurt when Nina touched it. That’s… me, right?”
“You think I forgot? You ungrateful little mutt.”
Ravian clicked his tongue and rubbed his left shoulder where Messi pointed.
“I saved your ass, and now you bare your fangs at me.”
“Let’s be real — you were just smashing things that day and happened to stumble on me. I’ve always wondered, though… what were you even doing? Did you have a grudge against the Mage Tower or something?”
“Grudge? Nah. It just looked like something I wanted to blow up.”
The incident where Ravian destroyed the Mage Tower was still infamous years later, though honestly, Ravian himself barely remembered the details.
He’d just lost his temper, saw the Tower, and it happened to be unlucky enough to cross his path. When he came to his senses, a weird mutant dog had been attacking him.
“I mean, come on — I thought they’d be researching a real black dragon or something, but it was you that came out. What a surprise.”
“I was more surprised that you actually figured out what I was,” Messi replied dryly.
And fair enough — hardly anyone in the world knew what a Lyka even was.
All that existed were vague rumors and old myths — legends about the guardian hound of the Gates of Hell.
Ravian’s lips curved in a strange smile.
He’d learned about Lykas because of Anna, but before getting into that, he wanted to make one thing clear.
“So tell me,” he said quietly. “While you’ve been hanging around Nina in that form… what exactly have you been doing?”
