The White-Haired Ghost
But he was nothing like the Kallen she remembered.
His hair, white as snowflakes, was wildly tousled. The shirt with two or three buttons undone had its sleeves roughly rolled up to his elbows.
He was no longer the perfectly groomed heir to the Addis family head.
“You,” Canna managed to ask. “Are you the mercenary hired to guard me?”
Kallen twisted his lips into a smirk.
“If you are Tatiana Evgenia, then yes. I’m the mercenary assigned to guard you.”
Canna simply could not understand the situation.
Hadn’t Kallen died?
If he was alive, why was he working as a mercenary? And why was he pretending not to know her?
That was when it happened.
“Hey, white-hair.”
A burly man strode over and stopped beside Kallen.
“They say you’re supposed to be some hotshot?”
He then provocatively dropped a heavy hand on Kallen’s shoulder.
In that instant, a chilling silence fell over the room.
The already quiet inn grew so still that even breathing seemed faint.
“No matter what, there are rules in this business. You think it’s okay to snatch someone else’s request? And more than once, at that.”
“Move.”
The mercenary burst into loud laughter and clamped down hard on his shoulder.
“Your reputation precedes you. Why don’t you show us what you’ve got? I’m dying to see just how amazing you are that you keep stealing other people’s jobs.”
The corner of Kallen’s mouth lifted.
“Blaming your own lack of skill on others. Trash.”
“What? You son of a—!”
The moment the mercenary drew his sword, Kallen moved like a ghost. He dodged the incoming blade and seized the man’s head, slamming it straight into the table.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
Blood exploded across the tabletop.
Yet Kallen laughed like a savage and mercilessly pressed the man’s skull down harder. Veins bulged viciously across the back of his hand.
“What pathetic skill. Who the hell would pay good money to hire garbage like you? Right?”
“K-khhk.”
“Go on, trash. Oh, can’t talk because you’re trash?”
Bang! Bang!
He grabbed a fistful of hair and repeatedly smashed the man’s face into the table. The force was so brutal that the mercenary flopped about like a rag doll.
“Boring.”
Finally, all strength drained from the man’s body. Kallen clicked his tongue and hurled the mercenary aside.
Thud. The unconscious man collapsed. Everyone stared at the scene in tense silence.
Canna was stunned.
This can’t be real.
That’s Kallen?
That violent man is Kallen?
But Kallen simply pulled out a handkerchief as if nothing had happened and calmly wiped the blood from his hands.
Then he flashed her a crooked grin.
“My apologies. A fly was buzzing around.”
“……”
“Right, then. Let’s settle the route.”
He took out a map.
“If we cut through this forest, we can reach Britzke in a week. We’ll have to camp out, though.”
His long finger tapped the forest on the map.
“If we take the roads, we can stay at inns every night, so it’ll be comfortable, but it’ll take over twenty days.”
His tone was blunt, his voice rough and irritated.
This was absolutely not Kallen’s way of speaking.
“I’ll leave it to the client. What will you do?”
“……The faster route.”
“You and I seem surprisingly compatible, client. I like it.”
He smiled. A very roguish smile.
This, too, was far removed from Kallen.
“Then we leave immediately. I’ll be in your care for a while. The name’s Ren.”
“Ren?”
Canna asked before she could stop herself.
“Who gave you that name?”
He looked at her as if she were strange.
“Who else? My family.”
“……”
His family gave it to him?
Suspicion bloomed wildly. A family that gave him a name…
Who did he meet?
After losing his memories, it was highly likely he had encountered someone he now considered family.
Or else…
He really was someone else.
Throughout the ride, Canna secretly observed Kallen.
He was every inch a mercenary.
Every movement was rough, like a beast pretending to be human.
“Eat this?”
Canna frowned at the pile of jerky he had tossed at her.
Kallen sneered.
“What, did you think there’d be a fancy restaurant in the middle of the forest?”
“……”
“This is exactly why spoiled young ladies from rich houses are hopeless. Tsk.”
You’re the one who’s the spoiled young master, you know?
Canna held back the retort.
The current Kallen looked like nothing but a hardened, battle-worn mercenary.
The way he fought that mercenary earlier… it’s nothing like him.
The Kallen she remembered was the very picture of a noble gentleman—high-end fountain pens, documents, and perfectly tailored suits.
Yet now he was viciously tearing into jerky and crunching into an apple, skin and all.
Apple juice ran down his firm forearm.
When she stared at him in disbelief at his wild-animal behavior, he held out the half-eaten apple.
“If you want some, just say so.”
“……I’m fine.”
A little later, when they found a clear stream, he jumped straight in to wash himself.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to wash?”
“……”
He was like a dog that had found water.
No matter how much memory he had lost, could a person really change this much?
That night, Canna deeply regretted her decision.
Damn it.
She should have chosen the route more carefully. She had been so shocked to see Kallen that she had decided hastily, and now she was paying for it.
Ugh, it’s so hard.
Canna tossed and turned inside her sleeping bag.
In contrast, Kallen was sleeping soundly. He looked completely used to sleeping outdoors in the forest.
There was no trace of the former heir to the Addis family, the noble among nobles.
Is that guy really Kallen Addis?
Crackle. Crackle.
The only light in the darkness came from the flickering campfire. Canna stared at his white hair glowing red in the firelight.
Was he Kallen or not?
It was an extremely important question for her.
There is a way to check.
Because they had lived as family since childhood, she knew certain things.
For example, the small mole just below his left chest.
Conveniently, Kallen had left two or three buttons of his shirt undone. If she nudged the fabric aside just a little, she would be able to see it.
After a moment of hesitation, Canna quietly sat up.
She wasn’t unbuttoning anything or taking off his clothes—just lightly pushing the shirt aside.
If he woke up, she could simply say she was trying to brush away a bug. It was that innocent a touch.
Canna swallowed hard and carefully reached out. Just before her fingers touched his collar—
Grab! He seized her wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
He muttered in a low, sunken voice without even opening his eyes.
Canna calmly gave the answer she had prepared.
“A bug landed on you. I was trying to chase it away.”
“Ah. A bug.”
He let out a short laugh and slowly opened his eyes.
“What a cute excuse.”
In one smooth motion, he sat up and pushed her shoulder down. He climbed over her with agile grace and smiled.
“You weren’t trying to take my clothes off, were you?”
His weight settled heavily on top of her.
When their lower bodies pressed together, Canna’s face stiffened.
“Get off.”
“No need to play hard to get now. You’ve been stealing glances at my face all day, haven’t you?”
He didn’t give her a chance to speak and simply laughed.
“Don’t pretend otherwise. I’ve had plenty of clients like you.”
“You……”
“Want to see? Then give the order. I’ll show you, no problem.”
He straightened his upper body.
Looking down at her, he began popping open the buttons of his shirt one by one.
There was a seductive allure in the way he smiled while undressing—something Canna could never have imagined from Kallen.
Yet she didn’t stop him. She simply watched.
The situation had taken a strange turn, but if things continued like this, she could still achieve her goal.
When he finally undid all the buttons, the deep line of his chest and his defined abs were teasingly revealed.
“Well, well.”
Kallen laughed with clear amusement.
“You’re looking quite greedily. Does my body please you that much?”
“Shut up and finish taking it off.”
Canna snapped coldly.
At her direct words, Kallen’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he burst into laughter.
“As you command, client.”
He yanked his shirt wide open.
“……!”
Under the moonlight, his broad, solid chest was completely exposed.
And on it…
There was no mole.
Nothing at all.
That can’t be!
Canna half-rose and reached toward his chest.
Kallen’s body tensed instantly, but she ignored it.
She ran her fingertips across his chest, but all she felt were hard, bulging muscles like lumps of iron. A mole should have had a slight raised texture, yet there was none.
It’s gone!
There was no mole. That was impossible!
“If you rush like this, you’ll regret it,” Kallen murmured, his breathing ragged. His chest rose and fell heavily.
Maybe it was on the right side?
Canna shifted her gaze to his right chest. It was the same as the left. No matter how she touched it, the result was identical.
There was no mole.
Kallen definitely had a mole below his chest… didn’t he?
Then he’s not Kallen?
No, that couldn’t be. It was probably just too dark to see properly.
Canna sat up fully and pushed him backward.
Kallen obediently let her climb on top of him. She brought her face close to his chest and examined it carefully.
It’s not there.
It really wasn’t.
It wasn’t a matter of poor lighting. The mole was simply gone!
At that moment, Kallen’s hand grabbed her waist. Breathing heavily, he urged her on.
“Damn it… hurry……”
It was a burning plea.
Canna flinched and looked down at him. Then she was startled.
His pupils were languidly unfocused.
He licked his dry lower lip as he gazed up at her.
“Stop looking with just your eyes and do something. Anything. Quickly. I’m in a hurry.”
She didn’t need him to say it. The way his arousal pressed insistently against her made his expectations painfully obvious.
What exactly is he expecting?
While she had been seriously searching for evidence, Kallen had apparently entered an entirely different genre.
Well, it was understandable. Her actions could easily be misunderstood.
Swallowing her contempt, she pretended not to notice the particularly firm muscles beneath her. Without a word, she moved off him and sat to the side.
When her weight disappeared, Kallen glanced at her.
His eyes were still burning with heat.
“What? You’re not going to continue?”
“Continue what?”
He let out a dumbfounded laugh.
“You’re going to stop here?”
“Yeah.”
“After getting me like this?”
Canna was momentarily at a loss for words.
There was no real excuse, but she decided to brazen it out.
“I changed my mind. So get off my sleeping bag.”
“How cruel.”
Even as he grumbled, he obediently moved aside. But he couldn’t let it go and asked,
“Why the sudden change of heart? Did I do something wrong?”
Canna didn’t answer. She simply crawled into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes.
In the end, Kallen let out a sigh.
“What a willful client. I can’t stay like this. I’ll go cool off for a bit. I’ll be right back, so don’t go anywhere.”
She heard the rustling sound of him moving away.
Canna let out a troubled sigh.
He has to be Kallen. He must be.