TSOMFL 06

Chapter 6

‘This boy is pretty handsome, isn’t he?’

Not only did he have burning eyes and sharp features—

Even though he was still young and had a lean build, the muscles on his bare upper body were firm and well-trained.

‘How should I say it… he’s the type with a very promising future.’

The boy’s presence was far from ordinary.

And with those gray eyes and fast healing ability…

The puzzle pieces about his identity slowly began fitting together inside my head.

‘But if I want to know whether he’s really that person, I need to confirm a few more things.’

And before that—

“Why did you save me?”

First, I should answer the boy’s question.

Right now, he was staring at me with passionate eyes.

‘Whoa! His gaze is hotter than the campfire in front of us.’

I looked at the boy and calmly opened my mouth.

“Well, to answer your question about why I saved you…”

Resting my chin on my hand, I looked straight at the boy across the fire before shrugging lightly.

“You were just standing in front of me at the time…?”

“…Do you think that explains anything?”

“Ah! More accurately, you were below me.”

“….”

“I’m telling the truth.”

I decided to honestly tell him what I had felt back then.

“At that moment, I thought I could defeat that magical beast.”

That was true.

For some reason, I could read the movements of the magical beast.

“And in the end, I actually did it… right?”

I raised one corner of my lips while resting my chin on my hand.

The boy flinched slightly, then looked away instead of answering.

An awkward silence settled between us for a while.

“….”

“….”

‘Hmm, I guess this isn’t working.’

There were things I wanted to confirm from him, but now he had completely closed his mouth.

‘But if this boy really is the person I think he is…’

Then it would make sense.

That person was also an incredibly quiet warrior.

The type who only went wild on battlefields against magical beasts.

‘In that case, I should approach him first and gather more clues.’

I looked at the boy and spoke.

“My name is Genuere.”

My name is Genuere.

My name is Genuere…

My voice quietly echoed through the cave along with the crackling sound of the fire.

At that, the silent boy slowly turned his head back toward me and met my eyes.

“…Genuere? That’s your name?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded.

Then, while looking at the boy who still stared at me with confused eyes, I continued speaking.

“To be honest, I’ve never really gone outside before. This is the first outing of my life.”

“….”

“So I guess I might seem strange to you.”

“…Your name is strange too.”

“Yeah, I know. But you look pretty strange to me too. So who are you? What’s your name?”

Now it was the boy’s turn to introduce himself.

The boy blinked before slowly opening his mouth.

“I am…”

But then he hesitated and closed his mouth again before finishing.

I widened my eyes.

‘…Is this his first time?’

It seemed the boy had never introduced himself to someone before.

He kept biting his lips nervously, and soon his face turned red like a tomato.

‘That’s kind of cute.’

The moment I thought that—

The boy suddenly lifted his head and spoke.

“My name is Tashik.”

His low voice slowly echoed throughout the cave.

‘Tashik.’

The sound of that name struck deeply into my mind.

“I have a mission.”

Beyond the campfire, the boy’s dark blue hair swayed softly as he spoke.

“I have to hunt magical beasts. As many as possible.”

Just like his determined voice, his gray eyes flickered like flames.

“…Only then will Father acknowledge me.”

At that moment, golden light slowly began to shine within his gray eyes, like ink spreading through water.

‘I knew it.’

Now I was certain.

The boy who controlled wolves and hunted magical beasts.

The “mission” to earn his father’s acknowledgment.

And the golden glow inside his gray eyes.

‘This boy is…’

The male lead of The Beloved Daughter of the Grand Duchy.

The future war-crazed beast man—

Tashik Febusion.

If the Enar family were the guardian grand duke family of the north, then the Febusion family were the guardian duke family of the south.

However, the Febusion family had a very unusual method for choosing their heir.

To put it simply—

‘Infinite competition.’

The Febusion family selected the person with the blood of the strongest warrior among all heir candidates.

And the meaning of “blood of the strongest warrior” was simple.

‘The one who kills the most magical beasts.’

And not just weak magical beasts.

They also had to kill powerful ones.

Inside the underground vault of the Febusion family existed a guardian artifact that measured all those achievements together.

That artifact decided which heir candidate possessed the blood of the strongest warrior.

‘Only one.’

Only one person chosen by the artifact could become the heir of the duke family.

Because of that, children born into the Febusion bloodline competed fiercely from a young age, fighting magical beasts, getting injured, and surviving brutal battles.

‘But unlike the other candidates, Tashik still doesn’t know that he’s part of the Febusion bloodline.’

His mother, who descended from a wolf tribe, had no power within the duke family.

Because of that, after giving birth to Tashik, she constantly faced threats against her life.

So she escaped to the northern snowy mountains where the duke family could not track her down, and even hid the identity of Tashik’s father from him.

‘But at the same time, she desperately wanted Tashik to become the heir of Febusion.’

That was why Tashik’s mother pushed him to fight magical beasts alone from a very young age.

She told him that someday, if he continued fighting, his “father” would eventually find him and acknowledge him.

The “mission” Tashik mentioned earlier was exactly that.

‘And the golden light appearing in his eyes whenever he thinks about that mission is proof of the Febusion bloodline.’

Anyway, in the future, he would eventually be chosen as the heir of the Febusion family.

And not long after that, he would become the Duke of Febusion himself.

‘The crazy beast male lead.’

The man who protected the fragile heroine while brutally fighting magical beasts.

Honestly, I had really liked his role in the novel.

‘The war-crazed beast male lead.’

Until the heroine could create the crystal stones that purified magical beasts, this male lead fought enormous numbers of magical beasts almost alone.

True to his beast-like character, he defeated terrifying monsters with unbelievable physical abilities like some kind of superhero.

Thinking about it now, magical beasts in the story were basically just extremely strong monsters modeled after animals.

But the author’s writing skill must have been incredible, because Tashik’s battle scenes had always felt amazingly intense.

For me, someone who had to give up many things in my past life because of difficult circumstances, Tashik’s actions in the novel had felt like a kind of freedom beyond the dull society I lived in.

I opened my mouth and looked at Tashik.

“You’re cool.”

“…What?”

“You really are cool.”

I continued speaking to the stunned Tashik.

“A mission… I think it’s hard to keep making a promise like that to yourself and continue following it for such a long time.”

Tashik widened his eyes at my words.

Soon, both of his cheeks slowly turned bright red.

“…You don’t even know me that well.”

Embarrassed, Tashik quickly turned his head away.

I quietly laughed.

‘Actually, I know a lot about you.’

Of course, I couldn’t suddenly act like I knew everything.

Come to think of it, how old was Tashik right now?

‘Since I’m thirteen, the same age as the heroine, Tashik should currently be fifteen.’

That meant his mother had already died, and he still didn’t know he was a candidate to inherit the duke family.

He was still in the lonely period of his life where he endlessly fought magical beasts while following the mission his mother left behind—the only clue about his father.

‘Maybe that’s why he’s so quiet and has such sad eyes despite being so young.’

That was what I thought while watching Tashik, who somehow looked a little lonely in the shadows of the fire.

And then—

“Mm…”

Tashik suddenly messed up his dark blue hair with one hand as if struggling with his thoughts before slowly turning toward me.

“Genuere.”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

His embarrassment was already gone.

Now his eyes were glowing with golden light again like an uncontrollable flame.

“How did you create such enormous ice back there?”

…He was asking how I made the ice?

Understanding the question that way, I decided to hide the fact that I was a fake ability user and answered simply.

“…That’s because I’m an ice ability user?”

“I’ve seen ice ability users before.”

Was it because of the fire?

Tashik’s cheeks slowly became red while looking at me.

“But I’ve never seen anyone like you before.”

…Anyone like me?

I became a little confused inside.

‘That line is supposed to be said to the heroine.’

Why was he suddenly saying it to me instead?

Still, I quickly understood why Tashik looked so shocked.

The ice ability users in this world usually fought magical beasts by coating weapons like swords and spears with ice power.

In other words, they only used their abilities as support skills.

‘Honestly, ability users who can create giant ice like I do…’

Didn’t exist.

‘Other than me.’

That was because my power did not come naturally.

It was produced by the crystal engine inside me.

‘My ice is large and powerful.’

According to the novel, even the priests of Leventos had never expected this result.

What they originally wanted was a girl who could create small, pure ice capable of purifying magical beasts.

‘That’s why the Genuere in the novel thought her own power was ugly and crude because it didn’t look like the “real ice ability.”’

The Genuere from the novel constantly compared herself to the heroine, who created beautiful crystal stones that purified magical beasts.

Because of that inferiority complex, she tried to hide her own ability.

Of course, I was different.

At that moment, Tashik stood up.

Then he slowly walked over the campfire toward me.

“And even after seeing a magical beast for the first time, you weren’t afraid at all. Right?”

Tashik stopped right in front of me and stared directly into my eyes.

“To be honest… you seem talented.”

‘Huh?’

I stopped thinking and looked up at him.

‘Talented?’

Surely he didn’t mean—

‘Talented at killing magical beasts?’

I only thought it silently, but Tashik calmly nodded as if he had read my mind.

I shook my head.

‘No.’

At least, that was what I planned to say.

Because I wanted to become an ice sculptor.

But instead of answering, I quietly stared into Tashik’s eyes.

Because within those golden eyes, I could see the blazing soul of the beast male lead that I had admired while reading the novel in my past life.

Suddenly, my fingertips began to tingle.

If only I could capture that soul inside one of my ice sculptures…

It would probably become something truly amazing.

(To be continued)