On the contrary, I even found it unsettling.
“It’s nothing. I just feel sad that the werewolves injured one of our kind.”
Magnus’s reaction earlier had been far too strange.
Now, looking at him like this, I found it hard to trust him.
I stood firmly on the side of humanity, but Magnus seemed to lean toward the werewolves.
He was human too. So why would he side with the werewolves? It was too bizarre!
My instincts told me something was off about Magnus.
Recently, I’d noticed my intuition becoming sharper. More often than not, when I felt something strange, the outcome would surprise me.
“Am I understanding this correctly? The werewolf killed that human?” Magnus suddenly asked.
I shook my head.
“Then it means the werewolf didn’t intend to actually kill the human. Maybe it just wanted to turn them into a werewolf,” he said.
Turn them into a werewolf?
I thought back to what Leo had told me before.
“But if the human’s body can’t handle it, they’ll die,” I replied.
“That’s survival of the fittest. If their body can’t handle it, it only means they were weak to begin with,” Magnus said.
His reverence for strength unsettled me.
He was a doctor-someone who was supposed to heal and help the weak. And yet, he seemed to see the weak as disposable.
If he truly believed that, then wouldn’t he just abandon his patients if they were too frail to survive?
To me, that seemed to go against basic humanity. And for someone like Magnus, who was supposed to save lives, it was especially troubling.
“Seraphina, what’s wrong? I’ve noticed you’ve been looking at me with such a surprised expression today,” Magnus said with a smile.
“It’s nothing,” I said, trying to sound casual. “I just think our perspectives clash a lot. I hope you don’t mind me being straightforward.”
“Not at all. I’ve always known my views are… unconventional. That’s why I usually keep them to myself. But after becoming a doctor and treating so many patients, I realized how fragile humanity really is. There are so many diseases we can’t cure. Don’t you think it would be a good thing if humans could alter their genes, become werewolves, and heal themselves? They’d gain strength and no longer suffer from illness.”
I shook my head. “I still believe humanity exists as God intended. Life and death, sickness and health-they’re all part of the human experience. I’ve finished my meal, Magnus. Take your time.”
I placed my tray back and walked out of the cafeteria.
Damn it. I hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye to Magnus properly.
As I left, I could feel his gaze lingering on me. But I didn’t dare turn around to look. I kept walking, head held high, refusing to glance back.
It wasn’t until I stepped outside and felt the fresh air that the heavy feeling in my chest finally began to dissipate.
For the first time, I felt genuinely uncomfortable being around Magnus.
Being with him wasn’t even as easy as being around Kael, a werewolf.
Perhaps it was because of Magnus’s unusual admiration for werewolves.
That kind of reverence-it was terrifying.
A human who idolized werewolves while belittling his own kind? No matter how I looked at it, it felt like a betrayal of humanity.
And yet, Magnus’s behavior was so normal most of the time that I didn’t know what to think.
A voice in my head warned me to stay away from him.
In the afternoon, I had class. I decided to focus on my studies so I wouldn’t dwell on the unpleasantness with Magnus.
Halfway through the lesson, someone entered the classroom and whispered something to the teacher before leaving.
The teacher turned to us and said, “Students, there have been several recent incidents in the town where humans were attacked by wild animals. Please avoid the woods on the outskirts of town for now. And don’t stay out too late at night-wild animals tend to be more active after dark.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the students started murmuring.
“What? Wild animals? Isn’t the town’s security supposed to be really good?”
“Yeah, this is so weird. I’ve lived here my whole life and never heard of anything like this happening.”
“Actually, the news has mentioned it recently. I heard the town even hired professional hunters to deal with the issue.”
The chatter continued, but Evelyn glanced at me with concern.
“I bet those ‘wild animals’ are werewolves,” she said quietly. “These foolish humans refuse to believe me. One day, they’ll regret it.”
Her frustration was evident. She wanted to tell the truth, but all she received in return were laughs and ridicule.
Evelyn decided to stop trying to convince them.
And I… I didn’t feel like saying anything either.
When I told Magnus about this, not only was he unafraid, but he even seemed excited.
My feelings were complicated.
Would Magnus actually seek out that werewolf? Would he want the werewolf to turn him into one of them?
From what I’d read, some werewolves were primitive, unable to control themselves. Only the intelligent ones, like Kael, could fully suppress their animalistic instincts and live like humans.
The primitive ones were probably like the werewolf I’d seen last night-completely indistinguishable from a wild beast, perhaps even more savage.
People like Magnus, with thoughts like his, weren’t uncommon, were they?
Some humans admired strength so much that they might wish to become werewolves themselves.
As more savage werewolves appeared, humanity would seem increasingly small and powerless.
For some reason, the thought made me feel sad.
“Are you okay, Seraph? You look so down,” Evelyn asked, turning to me.
“I’m fine,” I said. “But also… not fine.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you think there are people who admire werewolves and want to become one?”
“Are you crazy? Why would anyone want that? If such people exist, they must be monsters or antisocial lunatics,” Evelyn replied immediately. “No normal person would want to turn into a werewolf. They’re monsters!”
“But think about it. Werewolves have absolute strength. In every way, they’re superior to humans, aren’t they?”
“But would you really want to turn into an ugly beast?”
An ugly beast?
For some reason, I thought of Kael.
I’d seen him summon his wolf before.
But his wolf wasn’t ugly.
In my dreams, I wasn’t even afraid of it.
However, Marek’s wolf, as well as the werewolf from last night, had been frightening.
Maybe it was because they were more primitive-less human-and their savage aura was far more intense. That’s why they scared me.