How to Run Away from Obsessed Men

Episode 72

Lindsey slowly opened her eyes. Mikhail had recognized her at a glance, despite her completely altered appearance.

Her heart fluttered uneasily.

“How did you recognize me? I look completely different.”

Mikhail approached her slowly, and Lindsey noticed that he didn’t seem well.

Her eyes softened.

It was clear that Mikhail had not received proper healing since Sylvia was sent to the monastery.

It was a subtle difference, one that only she would notice. He was doing his best to hide his condition.

Lindsey reached out and took his hand.

She felt her cheeks flush under his intense gaze, though she couldn’t quite explain why.

“You could have come to find me in the Asen Empire. If you had, I would have healed you.”

Mikhail’s hand was warm.

Was that really the only reason she had reached out to hold it?

‘Baek Ji-hyuk’s hands were warm too.’

Her eyes welled with tears.

She kept remembering that moment—when Baek Ji-hyuk’s form shattered, breaking into pieces. It felt like she could still see him enduring his pain right before her eyes.

Then, without warning, Mikhail’s hand touched her face.

And in the next moment, he pulled her into an embrace. Lindsey’s eyes widened as she stared blankly at him.

“I had a dream…”

Mikhail’s arms tightened around her.

“I saw a woman who looked like you. Her appearance was completely different, but her personality was just like yours.”

“…”

“She had black hair and black eyes.”

What on earth was he talking about?

Lindsey’s eyes trembled.

“That woman died in front of me.”

“What are you talking about? A dream?”

Lindsey felt a wave of confusion.

What he was describing felt strangely familiar. She couldn’t shake the feeling of disbelief from her mind.

‘This can’t be possible.’

He said he saw a woman in his dream who resembled her? And that she died?

A woman with black hair and black eyes.

The only person Lindsey could think of was Han Ji-yoo. Did that mean that Baek Ji-hyuk knew Han Ji-yoo?

‘If he knew Han Ji-yoo…’

Could that mean that Mikhail might actually be Baek Ji-hyuk?

Mikhail loosened his embrace.

He slowly pulled away from Lindsey, leaving her with a faint sense of regret.

She was startled by the unexpected feeling of disappointment she felt.

‘Get a grip, Lindsey Kesion.’

She scolded herself internally, feeling a wave of self-disgust. The emotion she was experiencing was undeniably attraction.

She was developing feelings for someone other than Baek Ji-hyuk.

Lindsey shook her head.

After witnessing Baek Ji-hyuk’s final moments, she couldn’t allow herself to feel that way.

She had a duty to remember Baek Ji-hyuk fully and completely.

She had never imagined herself harboring feelings for anyone else.

‘Why? And why Mikhail, of all people? We hardly have any real connection.’

She still didn’t know much about Mikhail. Just because he spoke of a dream didn’t mean it was necessarily about her.

Mikhail had helped her repeatedly for no apparent reason, and there were times when his kindness had baffled her.

Lindsey bit down on her lower lip.

“What do you mean by that?”

“…”

“Why did you suddenly bring up this dream?”

Mikhail thought for a moment before replying.

“I’m not sure.”

“You mean you brought it up without any purpose?”

“…”

“Maybe… maybe there’s a reason you did.”

Lindsey’s voice trembled with uncertainty as she looked at Mikhail.

She cautiously asked him.

“Do you know the name Baek Ji-hyuk?”

“…”

“I want to know why you had that dream. So… there must be a reason you’re telling me this, right?”

Mikhail remained silent for a moment.

As the silence stretched on, Lindsey felt a small spark of hope.

Perhaps Mikhail truly was Baek Ji-hyuk. Maybe he knew something, and that’s why he had reached out to her.

A tiny ember of hope flickered to life.

‘He wouldn’t act without a reason.’

Every action Mikhail had taken so far had a purpose. But his next words shattered that hope completely. He spoke with a firm tone.

“No. There’s no reason at all.”

⋆★⋆

Mikhail continued to gaze at Lindsey. For a brief moment, he had almost answered her question.

He had almost told her the truth—that he remembered everything.

But Mikhail couldn’t bring himself to do it. Telling her he was Baek Ji-hyuk wouldn’t change anything.

The person he had become as Mikhail was different from the Baek Ji-hyuk of the past. He had grown numb to everything.

Meeting Lindsey again stirred some emotions within him, but it wasn’t the same as it had been before.

Mikhail knew how others saw him.

He must seem like a monster to them. The more they learned about him, the more they feared him. It would have been easier if he could still feel emotions like Baek Ji-hyuk had.

But he couldn’t understand Lindsey.

‘Why is she angry?’

He studied Lindsey slowly.

She was glaring at him with a frustrated, almost resentful expression.

Mikhail felt his heart pound at the sight of her raw emotion.

Her vivid feelings stirred something inside him. The more he looked at her, the more he realized he was changing.

He had no intention of telling Lindsey that he was Baek Ji-hyuk.

Such a revelation would only bring her suffering. If he disappeared after his battle with Crain, her pain would be even greater.

His conversation with her earlier had been impulsive, out of character for him.

‘I never meant to say anything.’

There was nothing to be gained from Lindsey learning more about him.

And yet, he kept reaching out to her.

Even though he knew how much it would confuse her.

Mikhail tilted his head.

A strange ache pierced his chest as he saw the wounded look in Lindsey’s eyes.

‘Was I poisoned during my last mission?’

If not, he couldn’t explain the pain in his chest. He watched as Lindsey turned away from him.

‘This is strange.’

The pain intensified as he watched her retreating back.

⋆★⋆

Raysis couldn’t stand the irritation. He was already on edge, worried that the upcoming event might fail.

If all the efforts he’d made since Lindsey’s disappearance unraveled, even his own life could be at stake.

“She’s so bothersome. Why? She’s nothing, a nobody.”

“You’re referring to Roana, the cleric?”

“Yes, that woman. She’s nothing compared to Lindsey.”

Raysis shook his head. He couldn’t understand why this woman, who should have been insignificant, kept resurfacing in his thoughts.

The look of disdain she had given him.

The way she faced him reminded him of Lindsey.

How could she remind him of Lindsey?

It felt like an insult to even think that way. Raysis couldn’t make sense of his own thoughts.

As if entranced, he turned to the butler and asked,

“Butler, didn’t she seem… similar to Lady Lindsey?”

The butler’s face went pale.

He looked at Raysis as though he had lost his mind.

Roana, the cleric, bore no resemblance to Lindsey.

“Could it be that she’s actually Lady Lindsey? Maybe she didn’t die after all.”

“That’s impossible. Roana is vouched for by the Riken Duchy. And Lady Lindsey’s death is certain.”

“…”

“We even found her body, did we not?”

Raysis scowled.

He turned his gaze to the window.

From there, he could see Roana conversing with her knight.

The butler was right.

Lindsey was dead. His thoughts about her being alive were surely misplaced.

Raysis glanced at the nearby servants.

They looked at him with fearful eyes.

He muttered quietly, almost to himself, as he recalled Roana’s face.

“I’ll see her again at the banquet for the delegation, I suppose.”

“I thought you weren’t planning to attend the banquet, sir. Ah, is it because of Lady Rosalyn’s escort?”

Raysis’s eyes sharpened at the butler’s comment.

“No, even if I attend, I won’t be escorting Rosalyn.”

There was only one reason he was going to the banquet.

He needed to figure out why Roana, the cleric, unsettled him so much.

Roana would undoubtedly be present at the banquet held in the delegation’s honor.

If he saw her again…

And if he had the chance to speak with her, perhaps he could resolve the strange feelings she stirred within him.

Raysis murmured to himself as if making a vow.

“Yes, it’s just that. Nothing more.”

Otherwise, there was no reason for that woman to bother him so deeply.