Chapter 1
💫
How many humans know what it’s like to be a shooting star?
‘It’s bad enough that I’ve gotten stuck in a game, running away from people who want to kill me, and now I have to do it again…’
That’s what I thought to myself as I plummeted through the air.
At least I wasn’t alone.
I could see the huge golden wings of the man who was falling with me, holding me tightly.
But those huge wings were wounded and could no longer fly. Instead, the man held me close, as if he would not let a single strand of my hair escape.
The golden feathers fluttered and shattered like sparks of flame, scattering into the air, and a long golden tail followed our fall.
It was such a scorching crash.
“Close your eyes, Theia, it’s okay.”
His voice was still calm. I burrowed into his arms, ignoring the rapidly approaching green surface, trusting only him and his enormous wings.
Swoosh!
With a crash, a large branch snapped. We held on to each other and braced for the fall.
After what seemed like forever, my body finally stopped rolling. I came to my senses and looked up to check on him.
“Hmph… Adele, are you okay?”
“…Well, for now, Master seems fine.”
Adel’s wounds were large and deep, covering every inch of his body. I, on the other hand, had only a few small cuts on my forehead and the back of my hand.
It would have been better if he’d worn more layers of clothing. Adele hadn’t worn his top, saying it was uncomfortable when he drew his wings, so the cuts on his back and shoulders were deep. The once glowing skin was scarred with deep and shallow cuts like scrawls.
His handsome face was also covered in dirt.
His brilliant black hair, which resembled the Milky Way cut out of space, was tangled with dirt, and his eyes, as clear as the ocean, flickered between closing lids.
Worst of all were the wings. Once beautiful and majestic, they were a mess of ruffled feathers and broken bones as they struggled to support my fall.
“Adele, can you pull yourself up first? Are you injured somewhere?”
I slipped out of his arms and looked around. As I’d expected, the place we’d fallen was in the middle of a forest. It remained silent except for the trees swaying in the wind.
“All I need is my master, you know.”
“Are you still saying that?”
Despite his playful tone, Adele’s brow furrowed deeply.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever gotten out of shape so abruptly. I apologize.”
Flying long distances was a gamble in the first place. He was lucky to have survived. Right now, recovery is the issue.
As I tugged on his arm to support him, I was taken aback by an unexpected turn of events. Adele must have seen the look in my eyes
Adele noticed the way my pupils wavered.
“I don’t know if you’re slow or fast.”
Adele let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh, and I could feel a strange tremor in his breath. It sounded as though he was barely holding back something. I gasped and tried to lean away from him.
‘It’s hot.’
Adele seized my wrist, a hand so hot it felt like it could burn at any moment.
“Adele, are you…!”
“It’s… regurgitating, my power…”
I was speechless.
His power to transform himself into a flying beast. The balance was crumbling. Which meant…
“I’ll turn back into a beast.”
My body stiffened in his grip. I knew what he meant.
“This time, when it changes, there won’t be any reason left.”
A harbinger of a rampage.
Adele’s original beastly form resembled an eagle with a body larger than a lion’s, with wings that could obscure the sun.
Unleashed, its instincts would run amok, not even recognizing its master. If that happened, Adele’s body would recover quickly, but not mine.
“Now, master. I have delayed this long enough, and now it is time to choose.”
Perhaps it was the heat, but I could almost hear the hoarse cries of the beast’s throat, along with a faint chuckle, through Adele’s feverish, whispering voice.
“One. Get as far away from me as you can.”
“…”
“Two. Do your duty as a master.”
Even as he spoke, Adele refused to release the grip on my wrist. How could I abandon my wounded pet, who still clung to his master, and flee on my own?
Even if he was a beast that threatened my life.
I remained still without answering. Adele, reading my mind, slowly pulled my wrist. It was a soft, pleading movement, unlike the force of his hold.
Being as careful as possible not to hurt him, I placed my other free hand on his shoulder. He was still as hot as a beast.
“Hmph.”
Adele’s lips brushed over my shoulder as our bodies pressed together. His hot, moist breath heated my skin.
Goosebumps prickled my skin.
“Well, then, Master. Now… What do you have to do, do you know?”
Adele growled like a wild beast, but barely managed to speak.
“You haven’t forgotten my last lesson, have you?”
“Adele, are you sure you don’t…”
Despite calling her master, his tone was haughty.
Every time I heard him speak like that, I wondered where in the world he knew my secret.
Secrets I could never tell. At the top of the list, of course, was his identity, which Adele had forgotten.
He was a god, an entity that had spent his entire life as an appointed vassal of the sun, the final boss of this world, and his true identity was…
An amnesic crown prince of an empire destined to kill me at some predetermined time in the future.
But now, I gazed down at Adele, who was only my beloved pet.
Leaning against my shoulder, he seemed to feel my gaze on him. Rubbing his forehead, Adele swiveled to meet my gaze. He looked even more precarious in his damp, sweaty hair.
Seeing how I was still helpless, Adele smirked, then reaching out, wrapped his arms around my neck. He waited for me to make a move, like a well-tamed pet.
“Come on, tame me, master.”
With those words from Adele, I crashed down to claim his lips.
Of all the places, his lips were the hottest. After a childish peck, his lips parted mine with his tongue.
“Mmm.”
As soon as my lips part without protest, a soft moan escapes my lips, as if seeking some sort of relief. Before I have a chance to react, he explores my mouth even more roughly.
Our mouths locked together, never breaking apart. My breath was taken from me, and it seemed like I was feeding him my very soul.
Pets were always meant to be high maintenance. They weren’t meant to be something you could slip into your pocket and feed a few times and be done with it, like a game.
Honestly, I was under the impression that this world was going to be as simple as a game, and rightfully so. After all, I was inside a game.
Unable to ignore the heat of our pressing lips, my tightly closed eyes gently opened and I cautiously lifted my gaze.
There, floating in plain view where it ought to be invisible in the normal world, was his name. As if it were a game.
And the name was toggling between red, symbolizing threat, and white, symbolizing my pet Adele.
It was the first anomaly I had noticed earlier.
My eyelashes, heavy with heat, twitched.
“Hah!”
“Please stay focused, Master.”
Adele’s grip tightened around my waist as if he sensed I was distracted. His hands dug into my clothes, sweeping down from my chest to my back. His thick fingers tingled wherever they passed.
One rough swipe rose and fell, only to stop and slide back down, pulling firmly at my concave waist. He pressed and traced every inch of my body.
One moment he acted as though he was about to devour me, the next he leaned in to caress me.
From his lips to the sensations running down my back, he was taking over my entire body.
There was no longer any space between us, and though I could still feel the immense heat, it reassured me that every part of Adele that touched and tasted me was still in human contact.
I had never imagined taming a pet in this way.
‘This is not the kind of pet system I made for my game,’ I thought.
But there was no one to blame for my resentment. However much I wanted to deny it, this was the game I created.
