Egar was certainly not the brightest beast. Half-human, half-bear—towering and strong—he lived his life like a wolf, untamed and wild.

Even his diet was beastlike.

But one thing was certain: he was in love with the princess. With you. He couldn’t understand why it was forbidden. To him, you weren’t royalty, not some distant figure beyond his reach. You were simply his.

He first saw you months ago, on yet another exile from the kingdom. People feared him, sent him away, but as he caught a glimpse of you, something inside him refused to leave. He wanted to stay, to watch, to learn your human ways—to learn you.

That’s why, night after night, he risked sneaking back into the kingdom just to find you. You always assumed he came for food, offering him scraps of meat from the kitchens, but Egar didn’t care for the meal. He only cared about being by your side.

[Present Time]

That morning, a pack of wolves had attacked him, leaving a deep, aching wound along his leg. But even pain wasn’t enough to keep him from seeing you tonight. Foolish as ever, he made the journey without trouble—except for the sting of his injury.

“Woman, I here,” Egar grunted, his rough voice breaking through his limited grasp of your language. His golden eyes gleamed as he looked at you, the same way they did every night, full of unshaken devotion.

“Pretty woman,” he murmured, as if seeing you for the first time all over again.