Whether due to the aftermath of blood-sucking, his legs wobbled, having lost strength. The inside of his thigh that had been thoroughly sucked in that short time felt numb and tingly. He was in no condition to keep standing. Elijah’s body couldn’t hold out long and crumbled to the floor.
“You can’t walk like this. Right?”
A gentle voice was heard from above his head.
“So why of all places……”
Of all places, why did you bite there? The complaint that surged up reached the tip of his throat and then subsided. It was because the touch buttoning up the shirt that had slipped below his shoulders was annoyingly too affectionate.
In the end, he’d have to be carried again today. He couldn’t even remember when he had last walked outside on his own. The dejected Elijah tightly gripped the silver-white curly hair.
“Ow.”
Rose, whose hair had been suddenly grabbed, looked up at him with a slightly surprised face. Clear, gentle eyes slowly examined Elijah’s expression.
“Elijah……, are you angry?”
It was such an innocently pure face that he felt sorry for throwing a petty tantrum.
“I’ll be careful next time.”
Rose, who bent his large body, carefully burrowed into Elijah’s arms.
“I’m sorry, please don’t be angry…… Okay?”
The fine silver-white hair smoothly unraveled between his fingers. Elijah, stroking Rose’s head that had dropped against his chest, felt his conscience pricked instead.
“……I’m not angry.”
He knew well that Rose was restraining himself in his own way. This was because the frequency of blood-sucking had noticeably decreased compared to childhood.
What would be the point of venting his anger at him for no reason? The vampire’s habits were unavoidable, and Rose was blameless.
Elijah, who had brushed aside the hair draped over his forehead, lightly kissed above it.
“I’m sorry.”
Rose was not a child who would harm him. That’s why he had been able to live with him without fear until now. Of course, the time when he could control him by force had long passed, but Elijah had always trusted Rose enough not to feel the need to do so.
“Let’s do it again when your body is fully healed.”
A deep shadow fell over Elijah’s face.
“……Elijah.”
Thud, their foreheads with low body temperatures touched. He couldn’t avoid the red eyes that filled his vision and quietly met them.
“You, you’re mine, right?”
“……Yes.”
“What about me?”
“……”
“Whose am I?”
Elijah, who swallowed a sigh, answered quietly.
“Mine.”
Of course. Rose was his and he was Rose’s. Since there were only the two of them as people in these mountains, it was natural that they only had each other, yet he didn’t know why Rose wanted this confirmation every time.
The red eyes finally settled down as if reassured. Rose tightly embraced his waist and rubbed his cheek against his nape. Elijah, who had tumbled backward pushed by that large body, momentarily exhaled his blocked breath. It was strength that felt like his ribs would be crushed, with a bit of exaggeration.
Could this kid still think he’s small and delicate? So he can’t even control his strength like this…… A slightly uneasy suspicion arose, but there was no need to point out such things and make Rose feel hurt for no reason.
Elijah’s head, who had offered his neck to Rose, turned to the side with a thud. Igrit, rolling around in that corner of the floor, entered his view. He had clearly placed it neatly in a clean spot, yet he had no idea when it had been thrown around like that.
“……”
Elijah let out a small sigh.
* * *
In darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead.
Elijah desperately tried to push away the opponent heavily pressing down on his body. The surroundings were entirely dark so he couldn’t see the opponent’s face well.
Breath rose to the tip of his chin. Even though he was clearly lying on a bed, his breathing was labored as if running down a hill. Exhaling ragged breaths, Elijah scratched down the opponent’s shoulders that his hands caught with his fingertips.
‘Rose, stop……’
Elijah immediately identified the opponent’s identity by the name coming from his mouth. Moonlight seeping through a palm-sized window faintly illuminated the opponent’s outline. The jet-black curly hair darker than the darkness was definitely ‘Rose’s.’
Elijah finally remembered where he was. The room in the monastery where he had stayed with his peers during the time when Master was alive. The old stone walls surrounding all sides and the small window, a narrow room where only a small bed could barely fit.
The familiar background and the vivid texture of the rough bed sheets were clear, yet strangely only ‘Rose’s’ face was hard to see. Regardless of his will to confirm her face, Elijah’s body was doing its utmost to push the opponent away.
‘It’s hard, Rose……, please, stop……’
Huk, Elijah drew in a short breath. Momentary fear and shock, the pain of a red-hot harpoon penetrating between his legs vividly consumed his senses as if burned by fire.
At that moment, Elijah saw ‘Rose’s’ face. The snow-white face stained with blood was no longer ‘Rose.’
A large hand drenched in red blood approached Elijah’s eyes. The lips visible between fingers moved and asked.
‘Does it hurt?’
The scream he let out with all his might couldn’t come out of his mouth and bubbled in his throat. His bitten neck was torn to shreds, and the futile scream bursting through it created scarlet foam.
“Huk……!”
Elijah opened his eyes, drawing in a dry breath. Someone pressed down on his upper body that had bounced up momentarily with their hand. Elijah, who met the red eyes right in front of his nose, could finally let out a real scream this time.
“Aaaah―!”
“……Elijah?”
Shh……, at the voice seeping into his ear as if soothing him, he flinched like someone pricked by a needle.
“It hurts, it hurts! It hurts!”
As if he would stop breathing at any moment if he didn’t do this, Elijah shouted like mad. It was because he had wanted to say this all along but his throat was blocked so it wouldn’t come out. The still unsettled breath burst out raggedly from his mouth.
Shh, shh…… Rose embraced him while continuing to calm him down. He wrapped both legs that were wildly kicking at the air behind his back and pressed down on both arms so he couldn’t move at all.
Elijah’s body, which had been convulsing madly, gradually subsided. It was the helplessness of one who realized he could never escape by force.
“Rose……, let go for a moment, I think there’s blood……”
Elijah’s voice, just pulled from sleep, trembled.
“Blood?”
Rose blinked slowly. Elijah desperately twisted his wrists trapped in his grip, eyes wide with the heat that had rushed to make them sting. The bloody smell still clinging inside his nose was vivid. His whole body felt damp as if soaked in sticky blood.
“Please let me go…… Blood, there’s blood, Rose. Blood is flowing……”
“There isn’t, it’s okay. It was all a dream, Elijah.”
Rose’s words didn’t register. The anxiety that he had to check with his own eyes made Elijah unbearable.
He fell into even more panic looking at Rose mounted on top of his body. It was disgusting and chilling as if the brutal murderer he had encountered in his dream was right before his eyes.
Suddenly a cold hand touched Elijah’s eyes. Rose, who fixed Elijah’s cheeks as he turned his head back in fright, swept his eye area with his fingertips.
Each time the cold fingertips swept past his eye area once, the vision that had been blurred with moisture cleared sharply.
“Elijah, look at me.”
“Keu, hup……”
Rose brought Elijah’s hand to tap his own head. Elijah blankly stroked Rose’s hair shining snow-white in the moonlight coming through the window.
“What color is this?”
At the gentle question, an answer flowed out as if entranced even while panting.
“White, hic……, white.”
“Then who am I?”
“……Rose.”
“Who is Rose?”
“Mine, ……mine.”
A gentle kiss fell on his eye area. Elijah could finally face reality completely. The senses that had been deeply submerged in the nightmare awakened one by one.
He urgently rolled his eyes to check the surroundings. It was the cabin, no different from usual. The ceiling patched here and there with different materials of wood, the window where the outside couldn’t be seen well due to accumulated dust, and…….
“Are you okay?”
My Rose.
Elijah felt his nape with trembling hands. Fortunately, his neck was still properly attached. Only after lowering his hand to check between his legs as well did Elijah finally exhale a sigh of relief.
The inside of his thigh that had been chewed during the day still throbbed. This pain had probably been recreated in a bizarre form in his dream.
“What dream did you have?”
Rose, who had brushed aside the hair stuck to his forehead, wiped away the beaded sweat.
“……I had a terrible dream.”
“What kind?”
He asked, stroking Elijah’s cheek. It was a touch as careful as handling a precious jewel. Elijah opened his mouth, recalling the vivid sensations still remaining in his body.
“A dream of being pierced by a harpoon……”
I was pierced by a harpoon and had my throat torn out by you……, he couldn’t say it as it was. He didn’t want to hurt Rose’s feelings by saying such things for no reason.
“……A harpoon?”
Perhaps the word choice felt somewhat out of the blue, Rose blinked with a puzzled expression and belatedly asked.
“Like a fish?”
“Yes. Like a fish.”
That was precisely the accurate metaphor. Elijah quickly nodded. How did Rose find such an appropriate expression without ever having looked directly into his nightmare?
As he said, Elijah in the dream had been completely skewered on a harpoon like a fish about to be grilled over a bonfire.
He shuddered slightly and burrowed into Rose’s arms. The shirt soaked with cold sweat was damp. He trembled as if chilled. He was in a state where he might catch a cold from just one dream. It was that terrible a nightmare.
