Chapter 1
His scorpion tail thrashed wildly, his eyes consumed by bestial instinct.
He had gone berserk.
“Sophia……”
Even now, he called her name.
I let him bite my arm.
As the fresh blood entered his throat, he slowly calmed down.
“Thank you……”
Instead of whining about the pain as usual, I pushed him away and wiped the remaining blood on some plants.
The withered leaves instantly recovered.
My life force diminished a bit more.
“I’m moving near the lab. You’re my bodyguard, so you have to come with me.”
Lucas froze.
“But……”
“I nurture you with my blood every month, not so you can deal with her heat cycles.”
His chest was covered in love marks. I forced myself to look away, my eyes stinging.
The words of accusation on the tip of my tongue.
Turned into a threat instead.
“Don’t forget your mission. If anything happens to me, the Federation won’t let you off.”
Post-apocalypse.
The biosphere had been reshuffled, and food crops were on the brink of extinction.
I was the Federation’s only botanist.
“Understood.”
Lucas lowered his eyelids.
“Then I’ll go out first.”
As he reached the door, I called out to him.
“Lucas, what do you think our relationship is?”
He stopped.
His broad shoulders shrugged, honey-colored muscles tensing. On his waist was the indelible mark of a disposable item.
If I hadn’t spent half my life protecting him back then, he would have been dead long ago.
“Employer and bodyguard.”
“You provide me with blood, I protect you.”
The expected answer.
No matter how much I gave, his heart would never have room for me.
Why force it? He would never be my Ethan.
He would never cherish me above all else.
No matter how similar they looked, he wasn’t him.
Tears blurred my vision. I tried to wipe them away, but my fingertips had turned transparent.
“I might not be able to afford your wages anymore.”
I was disappearing.
Lucas didn’t take it seriously.
“Then I’ll find a new employer.”
He strode out, leaving the door ajar, and me sobbing quietly.
I often joked with him.
But this time, it was real.