Prologue

“Hey. Shinbihan, going to be off the market tomorrow?”

As I straightened up my desk to leave work, my colleague from the neighboring seat jokingly tapped me on the shoulder. A grin stretched across Beohan’s face.

“Not marriage, just an engagement.”

The term “unavailable guy” somehow made me awkwardly scratch the back of my head. Everyone found it intriguing that, in today’s society, making such an early decision and, at the age of twenty-seven, considering it an early marriage was unusual. Though he had thought about getting married relatively early.

Having grown up as childhood friends and neighbors for nearly twenty years, they had been inseparable. Although they had only started dating properly about five years ago, there was no one else they could think of besides each other.

Parents had asked why they were bothering with an engagement if they weren’t going to get married right away, but Beohan wanted to earn money for the wedding himself. Even now, he could easily ask his parents for money, but the man’s pride wouldn’t allow it. Fortunately, she understood Beohan’s feelings. Their goal was to save money together and get married in about two years.

As he was leaving the police station, his phone rang. There was no need to check who it was. It was undoubtedly her, Hyein.

“Yeah.”

He casually responded, hearing her laughter on the other end, easily recognizing her without needing to ask. She seemed to be in a good mood, much like Beohan.

“Done with work?”

“I’m heading out. What about you?”

“Just got a massage. I’m meeting some friends now.”

“Don’t stay out too late. You’re not planning to drink, are you?”

“Of course not. I have the engagement ceremony tomorrow.”

A few more words were exchanged before they hung up.

The sky, where the sunset had begun, was gradually turning reddish on one side. Even the twilight looked beautiful. Well, perhaps everything would seem good today.

The engagement preparations were flawless. Their familiarity after all these years eliminated any conflicts. Amid others arguing over venues and dresses, they never quarreled once. They anticipated each other’s preferences, sometimes even assisting in selecting outfits.

Having been neighbors for years, they skipped formalities. Post-engagement, they even pondered a joint vacation with their parents. Ironically, the couple themselves were too busy to entertain the notion of an engagement trip.

Tomorrow’s forecast promised sunshine. Luck seemed to follow him even on his way home. The bus he needed arrived just as he did, and despite leaving slightly earlier than usual, he found the bus nearly empty, allowing him a comfortable seat.

Everything was so impeccably aligned. Perhaps that explained the strange elation he felt. Friends had questioned the novelty in getting engaged to a decade-long friend, and he had shared their skepticism. But now, as his friend morphed into his partner, it felt peculiar.

Could he label this sensation as “fluttering”? The precise term eluded him. Rather than exhilaration, it was akin to his heart fluttering.

Sleep proved elusive. After some restive tossing and turning, he rose and flung the window wide open.

A pale moon adorned the midnight sky. Almost full or completely so, it radiated larger than usual. Its brilliance seemed intensified, surpassing even media-hyped supermoon discussions. Enveloped in moonbeams, he observed the heavens momentarily.

Outside the window lay Hyein’s room. Sharing their upbringing as childhood companions, they were akin to siblings. Whenever she desired, she’d beckon Beohan through that window. Be it squabbles or celebrations, Hyein would lean out and exclaim, “Shinbihan!”

Was she perhaps wrestling with sleeplessness, too? Intrigued, he directed his gaze towards her room, yet he detected no movement. The lights were off, the window being the only element swaying in the gentle breeze.

“Hyein, Yoo Hyein. Are you asleep?”

He softly called out, cautious not to disturb others. Still, there was no response. Should he try her phone? The idea briefly flickered, but if she was already asleep, there was no point in rousing her.

The engagement ceremony loomed, less than half a day away. Despite it being an engagement and his role as the man not requiring elaborate preparations, sleep beckoned him now. Tomorrow’s dawn would find him accompanying her to the beauty salon to assist with makeup and hair. Contemplating forcing himself to slumber, he noticed a silhouette moving within her room, cast by the streetlamp’s glow.

“Yoo Hyein?”

Calling out, he sensed an unsettling oddity. The figure he gazed upon wasn’t the familiar form of Yoo Hyein. It was too tall, decidedly uncharacteristic of a woman…

In a heartbeat, a shiver raced down his spine, primitive unease clawing upward. He bolted from his room towards her residence. Hand trembling, he rang the doorbell. Without concrete sight, anxiety swelled to a maddening extent.

“What brings you at this hour? Could it be that, on the cusp of your engagement, you’re suddenly yearning for Hyein?”

The prospective mother-in-law greeted him, her smile warm.

“How’s Hyein?”

Anxiety superseding formalities, he inquired about Hyein’s well-being. Her mother chuckled, indicating upstairs where she was already sound asleep. It had been a while since she retired, so sleep had likely embraced her.

Unheard were the remaining words.

Without preamble, he entered the room. Amidst the dimness, his attention was drawn to Hyein sprawled on the bed. Her posture wasn’t orchestrated for his eyes. The tousled sheets, coupled with the distinctive metallic aroma, indiscernible even in darkness… The poignant scent hindered him from summoning the courage to illuminate the room.

Flap. His gaze swiveled towards the sound of fluttering curtains, unveiling the source of the earlier shadow. Perched by the window, bathed in the streetlamp’s glow, the man observed Hyein serenely. A breeze tousled his long hair.

Instinct urged him to rush in, seize the intruder. Yet, as the man pivoted and their gazes intertwined, an enchantment seemed to paralyze him. Meeting those eyes proved impossible. His complexion appeared even more pallid than the moon’s glow. His impeccably chiseled countenance bore an uncanny quality, as if existing outside reality.

He wasn’t Korean. Despite his hair being as black as night, his facial features were far too distinct to be categorized as East Asian. He possessed a striking beauty. Whether or not such a description suited a man, his undeniable handsomeness carried an eerie aura.

Gradually, the man’s lips curved, forming a half-smile. The meaning behind that smile eluded him. In the presence of this surreal tableau, rational thought had vacated his mind.

Step by step, the man drew near, yet he stood rooted like a marble figure. The man halted, barely spanning any space. He loomed over him by more than a head, an alien presence, perhaps foreign. His gaze involuntarily climbed upwards.

Grayish-blue eyes? No, on closer examination, they differed slightly. Strangely, a reddish tinge swirled within his irises. Not red eyes, per se, but a hallucinatory manifestation, as if invisible energy was glimpsed. Ensnared in those eyes momentarily, he felt the man’s frigid hand on his cheek. The touch was so cold that he questioned the man’s vitality.

The man, having drawn nearer and slightly tilting his head, whispered into his ear. The breath was palpable, yet the words themselves escaped his hearing. The eerie sensation was so potent that it elicited shivers down his spine, prompting him to avert his gaze. Nonetheless, the man’s grip on his cheek held him in place, thwarting any movement.

The motion was gentle, yet the strength surpassed his anticipation. Beohan managed only to roll his eyes to meet the man’s gaze.

“Dragostea Mea.”

This time, he caught it clearly, though its meaning remained unfathomable. Despite his perplexity, the man’s countenance illuminated into an elegant smile. Concurrently, his icy lips brushed his cheek before receding.

Thump. Reflexively, he pushed the man’s hand away this time, retreating a step.

“Intalni din nou……”

The gentle smile dispersed into the encompassing silence. Biting into the tender flesh inside his mouth, he wrestled his thoughts from involuntarily gravitating towards the man. Almost as if attuned to this internal conflict, the man’s eyes narrowed subtly. A lazy smile graced his lips before he pivoted his form.

He had to apprehend him. Awareness jolted within him, and as he attempted to mobilize his rigid body, the man had already vanished through the window.

“Is Hyein asleep? Her lover came over, but she didn’t even come out to greet…”

From behind, he caught the sound of Hyein’s mother’s voice. Instinctively swiveling his head, he spotted Hyein’s mother fumbling with the switch beside the door.

“Why won’t the light turn on…”

As she began speaking, her eyes widened suddenly. Her pupils quivered, and her complexion drained of color in an instant.

“Ah… Ah…”

Her voice caught in her throat, and she crumpled to the floor, her legs buckling beneath her.

“Hye… Hyein… Ah… Aaaah!”

Her mother’s scream resonated through the house, albeit belatedly.

On the night, with not even ten hours left before the engagement, his fiancée was discovered in her white nightgown, now stained crimson.

The man with the long black hair, who had leaped from the window, cast a backward glance at the room he had occupied mere moments before, now consumed by piercing screams. Despite the increasing distance, the scent of blood clung persistently to the air.

Pheeeng. His irises reddened. The impulse to respond to the blood was involuntary, an instinctual reaction. Ssussuk. Between his lips, pointed fangs emerged. Shutting his eyes, he inhaled deeply. Hoo, when he opened his eyes after the drawn breath, the fangs and crimson irises had both receded.

Somewhere, a dark haze billowed, enveloping him. From the window, a figure extended outward, scanning the alleyway. It was the same person who had kissed him within the room. The corners of his lips formed an elegantly upturned curve. Though he remained in the exact same position, fixedly observing the room where the woman’s form lay, he remained imperceptible to the gaze of the figure extending from the window.

At last, he had located him.

Dragostea Mea. My love. He could never have fathomed finding his sole heart after centuries, within a distant land, within so minuscule a nation. How much suffering had he endured throughout these years, harboring the thought that they might never reunite?

Intalni din nou…… To meet again… Whether it took a handful of years or several centuries, he had patiently awaited and awaited this juncture—to be reunited.

Now that he had uncovered him, further waiting was superfluous. He wouldn’t squander this opportunity.

My… beloved.

His grayish-blue eyes sank into deep contemplation. The visage, robbed of its smile, exuded a coldness as profound as its beauty.

His name was Nox, signifying darkness and night in Latin.