He moved through the hall, opening doors until he found a bathroom. While rummaging through cabinets, his bloody hands left marks on the white surfaces, but he didn't care. He retrieved a first aid kit from the top shelf.
Quickly selecting what he needed—gauze, bandages, painkillers, hydrogen peroxide, and sterile gloves—he removed his bloodied shirt and pressed a clean gauze against his abdominal wound.
He bit his lip to suppress the pain as he took a deep breath. Then he turned on the faucet in the sink. After washing his hands with soap, he put on the gloves he had taken out. He poured hydrogen peroxide onto the gauze and cleaned the wound.
The wound was large and most likely needed stitches. However, there was nothing here to stitch it up. He rummaged through the first aid kit and bandaged the wound with sterile adhesive strips. He then applied pressure to the wound with gauze and wrapped it with a bandage cloth, neither too tight nor too loose.
After finishing, he pushed the materials he had used to the edge of the sink. He checked the wound one last time. The bleeding had stopped, there was no swelling, and the bandage was in place. Disposing of the gloves, he looked at himself in the mirror.
Pale face, dry lips, a blank expression—and calm crimson eyes. His tangled hair, falling to his shoulders, was a dark teal with a shade close to black. Among the black strands on the left side were streaks of red.
"Ah, these eyes," he sighed. His bright crimson eyes had striking vertical pupils. "I really have become Aren Rayne..." He looked at his reflection in the mirror mockingly. He turned on the tap, washed his face, and rinsed away the blood. Then he took the painkiller he had taken out of the first aid kit earlier.
After finishing his work, he stepped out of the bathroom and entered one of the doors he had opened earlier. This was an adult bedroom. Opening the wardrobe, he took out a T-shirt and a jacket for himself. They were too big for him when he put them on.
When he left the room, silence greeted him. He walked down the hallway and entered the living room. At the entrance to the high-ceilinged living room stood two massive columns. The furnishings had a rustic look. With an atmosphere reminiscent of those large mansions seen only in TV series, it resembled a mountain cabin in a deserted forest.
He had already realized from the window that this place was in the middle of a forest. As he was heading to the kitchen to use the back door to leave the house, his foot caught on something, and he fell.
"Huh? A stuffed bear?"
His eyebrows furrowed when he saw that the thing his foot had caught on was a stuffed bear on the floor.
He paused when he heard footsteps as he was about to get up. He heard quiet footsteps amid the sounds of raindrops hitting the window. He held his breath and waited on his knees in the living room.
They're here! Damn, I lingered too long!
As he hid behind the couch, the door burst open with a loud bang. Ten people in black combat camouflage suits stormed in. Each wore a black mask over their head. The weapons they held in their hands looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Two squares on top of each other, with an L on the bottom right and top left, standing on the edges of the squares...
Two squares stacked, and one each in the bottom right and top left, with an L in the corners… There was no doubt—they were Avalon Guards. Somehow, I can handle them. Luckily, they're not from Aegis.
The emblem on their shoulders confirmed it. In the novel, Avalon Guards were one of the three prestigious institutions of the Holy Kingdom. Castle dealt with emerging dungeons. Avalon Guards maintained order among humans. And finally, Aegis dealt with the Nyx, who were involved in crime.
The fact that the Avalon Guardians came here means they don't know I'm a Nyx.
"Search everywhere! Check if anyone is still alive!" A man's deep voice echoed as the group responded in unison.
"Yes, sir!"
"Sir, everyone here is dead."
Aren frowned at what he heard and looked behind the couch.
He saw several Avalon Guards standing in front of a man sitting on the couch. Aren was surprised because he hadn't noticed him before. Examining him, he saw that the man had golden blond hair. His throat had been slit, and his face bore an expression of sheer terror. He had died with his eyes open, from the fear he had seen and experienced before dying.
Seeing the man's wide-open eyes were ruby red, like his own, Aren's eyes widened.
Damn it! That must be Aren's father. In the novel, the reason Aren's sister hated him was because his eyes were like their father's—red as rubies.
Aren noticed more corpses around.
"Commander, someone is alive!" said a female soldier checking a body, relief in her voice triggering alarms in Aren's mind.
"Huh? Doesn't this person look familiar to you, too?" In a muffled, low voice from another soldier, the commander the woman had addressed went over to the female soldier, crouched down, and checked the person the woman had said was alive.
While their attention was on the corpses, Aren crawled to the kitchen.
"Commander, no one else survived—everyone is dead!" Aren heard their commanders sigh at the report from the soldiers.
"At least we have one survivor. For now, let's take Madam Eli Bryne to the base. We'll question her when she wakes up after her treatment."
"Madam Eli Bryne? Who was she?"
"Are you stupid? Don't you know her?" Just as the angry soldier was about to reveal who Eli Bryne was, Eli Bryne opened her eyes.
"Commander, she opened her eyes!"
"We can see that." The female soldier scolded the two soldiers who were chatting idly there.
The woman opened her eyes, looking around as if trying to understand where she was. When she saw the masked men gathered around her, her eyes widened in shock.
"There's no need to be afraid. We are Avalon Guards," the commander said in a calm voice. Despite her injured state, the woman grabbed the commander's arm with unexpected strength.
"A monster! That monster did it! It will kill us all! It will kill us all!" she screamed in terror, leaving everyone around her stunned.
"A monster?"
"There was no report of a monster appearing here," the soldiers muttered in confusion, their faces reflecting both shock and uncertainty. At that moment, the woman's gaze fixed on something.
Through the open kitchen doorway, she saw Aren gripping the knife from the counter. With trembling urgency, she raised her finger and pointed at him.
"There! The monster is there!" she cried out.
When the commander turned his head, his eyes locked with Aren's gaze.