“What do you mean…….”
Elijah’s gaze turned to Adam. Adam, who met his eyes, flinched in surprise and shrank his shoulders.
“Adam-ssi, didn’t you see? The man who bumped into me on the road…….”
Adam shook his head with a face that showed he didn’t understand.
“I looked away for just a moment and you had collapsed…….”
Elijah let out a hollow sigh. That face, that scent……. Everything was definitely Rose. Did I see an illusion again? But the sensation of the hand that had grabbed and lifted him up was still too vivid.
It was as if he had been by his side just moments ago. Strangely enough, young Rose’s face flickered before his eyes as if he had seen it just yesterday.
“…….”
Elijah let out a deep sigh and buried his head over his crouched knees. In reality, he was in a position where he should run away desperately if he encountered him, yet on the other hand, he felt ridiculous and pathetic for longing for Rose.
His chilled body trembled with shivers. Where really was Rose right now? Was he even looking for him?
“……When are we leaving for the Royal Palace?”
He wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. Only then did it seem he could escape from the hallucinations that kept appearing out of nowhere.
If it was the Royal Palace, there would be many great magicians there too. Then Rose wouldn’t be able to approach carelessly, and perhaps that place might be the safest for him right now.
“We’ll depart as soon as we settle our affairs. We’ve been quite delayed in our schedule because of you, Elijah-ssi.”
Bailey answered while handing him a glass of water.
“……Thank you.”
Elijah carefully received the glass with trembling hands, lacking energy. Even the slightest movement made his head ring as if it would split. His stomach churned and his vision blurred as if suffering from severe motion sickness.
“Rest more, Elijah-ssi. It’s late at night.”
Kalian, who had been watching him, stood up from his seat. Even at a glance, Elijah’s complexion looked very poor.
“We’ll take our leave now. I’ll be in the room right next door, so let me know if anything happens.”
It was welcome news to hear, so Elijah quickly nodded. After they left, finally, silence filled the room. His body, which had been tense the whole time, now seemed to relax a bit.
Elijah, who had placed the water glass on the bedside table, collapsed onto the bed as if falling. His fingertips tingled and felt numb as if they had been submerged in ice-cold water for a long time.
It seemed Kalian hadn’t frightened him for no reason. He didn’t know there would be such aftereffects from merely touching a holy relic.
“…….”
While he lay with his eyes open for a while, blankly counting the patterns on the ceiling, suddenly a strange sound came from the door.
Rustle, rustle. It sounded like someone stepping on dry grass in the forest, or like fingernails scratching the door.
Elijah, who had gotten up, pushed off the blanket and got down from the bed, carefully approaching the door. Rustle. That eerie sound rang out again.
“……Is someone there?”
Elijah tried to squeeze out his voice that had crawled in from needless tension.
“Wh-who is it? ……Kalian-ssi?”
Outside was only silent. Was this inn always this quiet……? It was an ominous silence.
Elijah, who very slowly opened the door, stuck only his head out to look outside.
In the dark corridor, only the shadows of candles placed at regular intervals flickered, and there was no sign of people. After stepping one foot outside the door and confirming there was completely no one, Elijah came back inside.
Click. He locked the door firmly and turned his body toward the bed, then froze in place at that moment.
“…….”
Even in the darkness, a solitary pale white face slowly tilted to the side.
“Didn’t you want to see me?”
It was the moment when Elijah, who had urgently drawn in his breath, instinctively tried to call for help.
“Kal-, mmph……!”
A cold hand instantly covered his mouth. It was a grip that felt like it would crush his jaw.
“Don’t call that bastard’s name. I might actually get angry enough to kill him.”
Elijah quickly shook his head. Even to himself, it was an absurd response. What would he do by calling Kalian now……. Even though they had a relationship with absolutely no trust, it seemed inevitable to grasp at even a rotten straw when faced with a life-threatening crisis.
“I, I was wrong, Rose……. Save me, save me…….”
As soon as the hand fell away, Elijah begged frantically. An unbelievably sweet voice swayed right before his nose.
“Why would I kill you, Elijah?”
“Hk…….”
“You still don’t know me like that.”
“I was wrong……, hk, wrong…….”
The hand caressing his eyes was eerily tender. Rather than wiping away tears, it was more like just gently smearing them.
“Why are you crying……. It breaks my heart.”
Elijah prayed and prayed again that this too was a hallucination. His legs trembled so much that he absolutely couldn’t stand properly. Eventually, between his collapsing legs, firm thighs wedged in and supported his body.
Elijah looked down at his arm. As he lowered his head, the clear snot that had formed at the tip of his nose dripped down. Sniffle. He swallowed his crying and stared blankly at the arm that was clean without a single wound.
This is a dream.
This had to be a dream. Otherwise, there was no way Rose’s arm would be this intact.
“See, it’s not scary now.”
“…….”
Elijah raised his head to look up at him. A gentle warmth lingered at the corners of his mouth that curved upward in an arc.
“Rose…….”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Elijah burst into tears even harder.
“I’m sorry. I……, I didn’t mean to go that far. I really didn’t mean to hurt you…….”
“Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t.”
Large hands cupped his cheeks, messily wet with tears. His thumb gently stroked Elijah’s trembling lips.
“I just……, I just wanted to leave you…….”
At that moment, the hand’s movement stopped. His red eyes sank coldly. The fingertips that had been lingering on his lips pressed firmly and penetrated into the gap.
“Ah, mm…….”
“I see……, Elijah.”
The sensation of a cold hand was felt on his tongue. Elijah panted and sobbed. The finger that had been slowly rummaging inside his mouth slipped deeply into his throat at some point.
“Urk……, hk. ……Hieuk.”
His throat inside trembled at the gag reflex that reflexively surged up.
“So you’re doing well now, I see?”
Rip, rip, with sounds, long hands burrowed like a snake into his opened shirt.
“That bastard even bought you clothes……. You must be very pleased to have found a new sanctuary.”
“Hik, mm……, urk.”
“While you threw away the clothes I bought you like old shoes.”
Elijah, who could no longer breathe, tightly grabbed Rose’s arm. The hand that had been stimulating the inside of his throat slipped out. The shirt was pulled down below his shoulders, which convulsed from coughing out violent coughs.
“It’s not……. It’s not like that……, Rose, sniff…….”
“If you hated being tied down, you shouldn’t have run away in the first place. Forgetting all our good times……, you abandon me so coldheartedly like that? Is betraying people that easy for you?”
Cold hands gently wrapped around his slender neck. A chilling shiver ran through him at the sensation of fingertips slowly stroking down his surging Adam’s apple.
“Hk, mm……, I’m scared, Rose, please, don’t……. No, save me.”
At the sensation of lips falling on his nape, Elijah struggled and resisted frantically. The sense of crisis that his blood might all be sucked dry completely erased his reason.
“I’m hungry……, Elijah.”
Terror-stricken Elijah faced Rose’s face, pitifully contorted like a child.
“I’m starving without you.”
That expression was overlaid with young Rose’s face. The pure white, innocent child who looked only at him and waited only for him. The small, weak child who, even just breathing, somehow felt pitiful and drew his heart.
“But you’re waiting so obediently like this.”
However, Elijah now resolved not to be fooled. Even his pitifully sobbing appearance just looked like an evil spirit with a child’s face.
Rose was definitely enchanting him.
“Do you want me to drag you back by force?”
That’s why he felt so heartbroken. To enchant and captivate his heart, to manipulate him as he pleased, and ultimately to make him return to his embrace on his own.
This appearance was just his inherent characteristic. Because he was a vampire, cunning to the bone.
“Then you’d hate me……. Right?”
Nevertheless, his heart ached so much he couldn’t bear it. He didn’t know how he could still feel such emotions toward such a terrifying being.
“I even watch quietly……, without getting angry, as you cutely act coquettish toward other bastards. But you……. Why do you only cry and beg when you see me…….”
The hand that had been supporting himself against his chest weakly gave way. His body, trembling with fear, was placed under Rose’s fangs. His consciousness, which he had lost from extreme terror, faded far away.
His body, helplessly collapsed in those firm arms, went limp.
* * *
His body, which had fallen with a crash onto the hard wooden floor, lay face down and rustled.
“Ah, haa…….”
Elijah, who had barely escaped from the blanket wrapped tightly around his body, sat down blankly and blinked his dazed eyes. It seemed he had rolled off the bed. His shoulder and hip bone that had hit the floor throbbed.
Sunlight penetrating through the large window crossed the old inn room. The sleepiness gradually left his green eyes that had been following the dust floating in the air.
“Hk…….”
Suddenly, the events of last night flashed through his mind like lightning. Elijah, who had bolted upright, approached the mirror hanging on the wall. There were no new wounds on the nape of his neck, which he hastily checked by opening his shirt collar. After confirming the wounds that had almost completely healed and become faint, he fumblingly buttoned his shirt.
