In the heart of the shadowed continent lies the Kingdom of Noctaris, a hidden realm ruled by a vampire dynasty. Surrounded by dark forests and shrouded in permanent twilight, Noctaris is protected by a legendary beast: a massive, black dire wolf with fur as soft as midnight clouds and eyes that shimmer silver in the dark. His name is Kim Seungmin, a guardian bound by blood and magic to serve the royal family.

But Seungmin is no ordinary wolf. Under the blood moon, he can shed his beast form and walk the halls of the castle as a young man—mysterious, soft-spoken, with tousled black hair and the same silver eyes. In this form, he is quiet but fiercely protective, and no one dares to challenge him.

When Crown Prince Hwang Hyunjin, a reluctant vampire heir with a cold demeanor and a secret longing for freedom, turns 100 (the age of royal coming-of-age), he is given full control of the kingdom’s Night Guard—and with it, the official protection of Kim Seungmin. Their bond, forged centuries ago when Hyunjin was still a child and Seungmin first saved him from an assassination attempt, begins to awaken something new—something dangerous.

As Hyunjin and Seungmin grow closer, a forbidden love begins to bloom between protector and prince. But whispers stir in the dark corners of the realm—of a coup, of an ancient curse that ties Seungmin’s fate to the vampire throne, and of a prophecy that warns: “The dire wolf shall fall for the crown, and in love, the kingdom will bleed.”

—

The moon hung low, blood-red, casting a crimson hue across the stones of the sacred castle. The scent of wet earth and ancient magic lingered in the air, dense and humming like a warning. The forest behind the walls whispered secrets in the wind, restless.

Seungmin stood at the base of the castle’s towering gates in his dire wolf form—massive, imposing, fur black as onyx and glistening faintly in the moonlight. His breath came out in steady clouds of fog, silver eyes locked on the distant path through the forest where hooves would soon echo.